JB Ranch

Day 4 – Crocodiles, Monkeys, Iguanas and Driving to Manuel Antonio National Park

admin August 28, 2024 0 Comments

Our fourth day was mainly a travel day. We left La Fortuna and drove through several hours of beautiful jungle and then along the coast to our destination, the Manuel Antonio National Park. We made several stops along the way including taking a walk along the “Crocodile Bridge.” It’s just a bridge along the road, but crocodiles are known to hang out here. And it did not disappoint. When we looked over the edge, there were several waiting for a meal to float down the river to them.

We continued our drive to Manuel Antonio, and when we arrived in town it was still light so we drove down to the beach and came across several monkeys just playing in the park!

We wrapped up our travel day by checking into the hotel and having dinner at “El Avion.”. This is a restaurant with a beautiful view, but what’s more interesting is the C-123 cargo plane the place is built around. The inside of the plane is the bar and you walk through it to get to the seating area. This plane, and another just like it (which crashed in the jungle), were used by the CIA to fly arms and drugs back and forth to Central America as part of the Iran-Contra scandal in the 80s. The plane was abandoned at the San Juan airport and the restaurant owner had it brought to Manuel Antonio as an attraction. Random, but definitely made for a unique attraction.

Day 3 – La Fortuna, Costa Rica

admin August 27, 2024 0 Comments

Today was our big adventure day.

The number one thing Kenzie wanted to do on this trip was Zip Lining. One of the biggest zip lines in the world is in La Fortuna. You take a tram up the side of the mountain (actually a volcano), and then a series of 7 zip lines take you back down. One of the zip lines is about 3/4 of a mile long, and you are about 600 feet above the jungle canopy. She was so excited! I was dreading it…

Almost all of the pictures are of her, but the company did manage to capture one of each of each of us on our first zip line. You can see that look of total excitement in her face, and total terror in mine!

It’s hard to describe how high, and fast and high this is. The pictures and video do not do it justice. I was surprised to find that about halfway through, the wheel on the carriage that attaches you to the line was so hot you could not touch it with your bare hands (from the friction and speed of it running down the cable).

She had a blast, and by the end, even I was enjoying it.

We also saw our first monkeys and sloths in the trees. These were both high on our list for this trip so that was really cool to see them along the way.

On the drive back through the jungle we stopped to buy some fruit on the side of the road and found that the few other cars that were stopped were actually a movie crew filming a movie. So we hung out for a bit and watched them, then headed back for a little souvenir shopping and dinner in town.

Our hotel was at the base of the volcano here in La Fortuna and the view out of the door was beautiful.

Day 1 and 2 – Costa Rica!

admin August 26, 2024 0 Comments

Kenzie and I had a chance to slip in a quick trip before school started again, so with the help of a great deal on airline tickets we decided to spend a week road-tripping around Costa Rica!

It was a long travel day, starting at 3:30am. We were so tired that we forgot to get the typical PDX carpet on the way out. Instead, we got San Jose, CA (not nearly as nice). After a long travel day, we got some sleep at a nearby hotel and then set off the next day for the drive to La Fortuna.

We had planned for an easy day of driving without any set plans. And I’m glad we did because we got lost on the back roads in the countryside. But as is usually the case, we have some of our best experiences when we are lost or have no plan. As we wandered through the little villages and back roads, we came across a little farm that offered tours of their plantation. They grow coffee, chocolate, and other miscellaneous fruit.

We dropped in to see if they had a tour available and as it happened there was a group of people from Spain who had arranged a tour and they were kind enough to let us join them.

We spent several hours wandering the property, eating LOTS of fruit off of the trees as we went (we were stuffed by the time it was over), and learning about how coffee and chocolate are made. This farm does everything from growing the coffee and chocolate beans right through roasting and processing both on-site. All on a small family farm. It was really interesting seeing (and sampling) the process at every stage.

We’re here in the rainy season, and the rain is no joke. It’s so warm, so it’s not bad being in it, but I’ve never seen rain and thunder/lightning so intense. We were caught in a rain storm during part of the tour and had to hike through a sudden flood of water that runs through the farm. But we both had a blast doing it!

After our tour it was another hour of driving to our hotel at our destination for the next few days, La Fortuna.

Day 5, Headed Home

admin June 30, 2024 0 Comments

Day five and it was time to head home. I had originally planned one more day, but for the last two day’s I’d been watching a storm brewing and based on what I was seeing, it seemed like something I did not want to be out in.

I was a little disappointed to be leaving early, but after seeing the storm building on my way back, I was sure that it was the right call. And I was happy to see that what I’ve learned over the last year about reading marine weather, wind predictions, etc paid off and translated into making a good decision and not finding myself in weather that was more than I could handle.

I left Fishermans Bay about 5am to take advantage of the high tides to get out and the smooth water before waves increased later in the day. By the time I’d made it to Bellingham Bay, the waves were enough that the boat was riding waves and the stern was being tossed around pretty well. Not so much that I was uncomfortable with the conditions, but enough that it confirmed I was right to call the trip a bit early!

Along the way in the morning, I saw seals, a beautiful sunrise, and spent a little time traveling alongside one of the Washington State ferries.

I feel like I’ve come a long way in the last year! A year ago at this time I barely knew how to raise a sail. And this week I visited four different islands and did nearly 100 nautical miles of solo ocean sailing. It’s been an adventure and I’m looking forward to learning so much more!

Day 4, Lopez Island

admin June 29, 2024 0 Comments

Day 4 was a short hop from Friday Harbor to Fishermans Bay on Lopez Island. It was only about a hour sail across the bay and the weather was beautiful in spite of it getting ready to turn bad the next day. The entry into this bay is tricky and has to be done at just to right time of day when the tide is high to avoid grounding. But all went well, and by noon I was set up and ready to explore the island.

I brought an electric scooter and it was the perfect way to tool around the sleepy little island. There are just a few country roads, one small grocery store, 2 gas pumps, a town library. But I had a great time over a few hours (until my battery ran out) exploring. I’d read that Lopez is know for everyone being so friendly and waving as they passed each other. I didn’t realize how true it was. EVERYONE drove around with their car windows down, and I don’t think a single one passed me with out waving. The grocery store even sells t-shirts that mention the “Lopez Wave” so I had to pick one up.

I had dinner at the marina restaurant and on my way back to the boat for the night stopped to look at a beautiful catamaran that was docked near me. As I was looking at it, the owner stepped out to see if I needed anything. I told her I was just looking at the boat, and she invited me in for a tour. They spent the next hour showing me all around every nook and cranny. I’ve been very impressed with how incredibly friendly and welcoming all of the folks in this boating community have been.

I ended the night sitting on the dock watching the float planes come and go, and taking in another beautiful sunset.

Day 3, Next Stop Friday Harbor

admin June 28, 2024 0 Comments

Day three was an easy day, with the destination being Friday Harbor. After a few hours of sailing and some motoring (I had to time my trip to avoid some very strong currents between some of the islands), I was definitely ready for a shower, some reliable internet service, and a real meal at a restaurant.

I had the new experience of calling into the marina on the radio to arrange a slip as I got close. When the marina is talking to you, they refer to you as “Captain” and “Skipper”. I feel like this experience definitely increased my street cred, and you know I’ll be placing my Amazon order for a captain hat very soon! 🙂

I had the afternoon to wander the town, had dinner while watching the float planes take off and land, and picked up a few supplies. Friday Harbor is definitely worth a return visit!

Stuart Island

admin June 27, 2024 0 Comments

I spent the night on a mooring ball in Prevost Harbor, Stuart Island, and arrived early enough to visit the island for a few hours. So I took the dinghy to shore and spent time hiking the island and seeing a couple of the highlights.

Stuart Island only has a handful of residents, and a one-room schoolhouse is the only public building on the island. One of the highlights of the day’s hike was coming across the “treasure chest.” It’s a few boxes full of shirts, hats, and postcards which visitors can buy. Nobody works at the store, it’s all based on the honor system. You take what you’d like, and each item has a note included with the price and instructions on how to mail payment back when you return home. It is run by a family on the island that has an embroidery business. The island gets mail delivered by plane 3 times a week, and because of this, they are able to ship their products out and make a living this way. So cool to see this operated as an honor system and that it has been this way for years.

Day Two in the San Juan Islands

admin June 25, 2024 0 Comments

I ended my first day on Susia wandering the island a bit and chatting with others folks who were there for the night. I was invited to several campfires and got some great advice about my route from others who had been there before. I’ve been so impressed with how friendly and willing to share other boaters are!

Day two turned out to be more exciting than I had expected in several ways. The plan was for 14 miles of sailing to Stuart Island along the Canadian border (a portion of which has several big currents that meet). I did my final weather check (which looked OK) and headed out.

I wasn’t 10 minutes out of the harbor when I heard a mayday call from another boat about two miles away. They had hit a drifting log and the boat was taking on water with 5 people and a dog on board. I had my first experience talking with the Coast Guard on the radio getting their coordinates so I could go to them (check that off the to-do list!). I was about 15 minutes away, but fortunately, someone else was closer and arrived before I did. Based on what I heard on the radio, the boat sank completely in under 5 minutes but everyone (including the dog) on the boat was OK. Over the course of the day, I heard 4 other mayday calls for boats that were either sinking or needed help in some way (hint: this is foreshadowing, turns out that the weather report WAS NOT very accurate this day…).

My next hour was beautiful, and the highlight was when a pod of dolphins showed up and swam along with me for about half an hour. Such a cool experience!

It was about the time that the dolphins swam away that I entered the area where currents were merging and the wind also increased significantly (and pretty suddenly, and much more than the forecast showed). I’ll just say that the combination of wind and waves that came on so quickly created some “challenging” conditions for me. I had far too much sail up, and trying to reduce sails in waves and wind had me spending the next 30 minutes wondering if I’d bitten off more than I should have. When I’m up on deck I wear a harness that attaches me to the boat in case a wave comes over the bow and tries to knock me overboard, but it turns out that was very little comfort. 🙂 Based on what I heard on the radio I was not the only person that did not expect these winds, and in the end it all worked out and the whole thing was another learning experience.

The wind cleared out as quickly as it arrived, and after things settled down the rest of the day was “smooth sailing” and beautiful. And Stuart Island was a great stop! I’ll post something else about it later, but it’s a can’t miss if you are ever in the area!

Sailing the San Juan Islands

admin June 24, 2024 0 Comments

For years I’ve been interested in the idea of sailing, so last year about this time I decided it was time to get this out of my system one way or another. I’d never been on a sailboat, and only ever been on little recreational boats a couple of times in my life. So I took a couple sailing classes down on the river to figure out how to put a sail up and what all the different ropes do, and then bought a sailboat with the idea that I would try it out and if it wasn’t for me, put it right back on Facebook Marketplace and sell it.

Well, as it turns out, I loved it! And I’ve spent the last year learning everything I can about sailing, navigation, weather, and all the other things it takes to do this safely. Most of my sailing so far has been on the Columbia River.  But this week I’m trying my hand at ocean sailing for the first time and headed up to the San Juan Islands for a week of single-handed sailing near the Canadian border.  The plan is about 100 miles over 5 days.

Day one did not disappoint!!!  I put in the water at Bellingham and sailed to Sucia Island.  It’s a Washington State Marine Park, and only accessible by boat.  Along the way I passed freighters, sea lions, and saw an incredible sunset!

No major mishaps, 20 miles of sailing, and I arrived in one piece. Success for day one!

Venice

admin August 12, 2023 0 Comments

The last stop was Venice for two days before heading home. Venice was flooding throughout our time here which was really interesting to see firsthand. We had great Italian food, went to St Mark’s Square and the waterfront, and generally just enjoyed just wandering through the maze of alleys of Venice.

We visited what is probably the most unique bookstore in the world (the more valuable books are stored in a gondola and bathtubs to keep them safe when the store floods), played in the water, and had LOTS OF GELATO!

One of the highlights had to be that we were able to get tickets for a classical music performance held in an 11th-century concert hall. It was mostly stringed instruments (violins mainly) and the acoustics were incredible!

And then it was time to head home. We left at about 3am and took a water bus to the airport for the long trek home.

Over two weeks we visited six countries, sweated through ridiculous heat as well as rainy downpours, splashed around in a magical river, explored medieval towns, and rode donkeys up the rim of a volcanic crater. (Oh, and found the biggest tub of Nutella ever, Kenzie would be upset if I left that out…). We stumbled upon places we never expected to see and along the way I think we all found places that we want to go back and visit again. And most of all shared some special memories with great friends. Thank you, Laura, Kailynn, and Derick for such a great adventure!