Paradise costs $100/day

It took us 5 days to cover the 300 miles of water between Costa Rican mainland and Isla del Coco.
We started out relatively quick doing 5-6 knots (nautical miles/hour) on day one but were soon becalmed except for the occasional squall.  Here's something I wrote after our first squall:

"I sailed a bit, albeit 90 degrees away from our destination.  Between 9 and 10pm the wind was light so I motor-sailed until about 11.  Then at 11 all hell broke loose.  Lightning was striking in all directions around Ustupu.  One blast that was directly overhead and lasted 2 seconds made my forearms and hands flap up and down uncontrollably until the sky darkened again.  Easy hands, everything's gonna be alright.  Then the wind built, and fast.  I threw a double reef in the main sail once we hit 6.5 knots (pretty much our max speed), but we didn't slow down so I slowly reefed the jib until it was totally furled in.  With just the double reefed mainsail we were still doing 6 so I tried to drop the sail.  The wind had done a 180 and was now behind us.  The main wouldn't come down.  I knocked like an irritated UPS delivery guy on the deck until Sylvie came out to help.  Once we doused it the torrential downpour started and lasted 45 minutes.  It was wild.  I hid inside until the thing passed.  It's over hands, I told you it would be ok.  Also, the lightning was so bright and strong that it was turning our solar panels on.  Crazy."

We arrived at Coco unscathed and unelectrocuted.  Within minutes of tying up to our mooring buoy we were snorkeling.  There were fish everywhere.  Shortly after we were visited by the park ranger to pay our $100/day fee.  He brought an informative dvd to our boat but no player to watch it.  Obviously it didn't work on our laptop.  The main thing he told us was not to swim where we'd just been swimming as that's where the Tiger Sharks hang out.  Sheeit.

The following day we snorkeled first thing in the morning.  Coco is a national park and not fishing is allowed within a 12 mile radius.  This has allowed fish species to thrive and adapt under normal circumstances.  Of the endless species we saw here are a few: half moons, starfish, white & black tipped reef sharks, spinney lobster and a truckload of colourful tropical fish.

We did a beautiful hike from our bay, Chatham Bay to the next one Wafer Bay.  Surrounded by cliffs, boobies, frigates and unspoiled nature.

The following day we repeated the process.  We were told there were harmless Hammerhead Sharks around but only one was spotted as it zipped by.  Neither Sylvie or I saw it.  We then hiked in the warm rain to a waterfall with a swimming hole.

The island was absolutely perfect and was exactly what we set sail for.  It was a shame to have only spent 2 days there, but at $100/day paradise is a bit pricey.

Sent from our boat,

Dan, Sylvie & Ustupu