The one thing we were excited about being in a marina was the chance to plug into shore power and fire up the standard-equipment Manta air conditioning. The heat and humidity in the rain forest has made the whole boat feel damp and we really looked forward to drying it out and cooling ourselves to boot. So where is that shore power cable? It’s been so long since we plugged in that we had to dig out the heavy yellow cable from the bottom of a locker and when we handed it over to the dockhand he took one look at the plugs and raised a wary eyebrow.
“Do you see this?” He held up the end to show us a very blackened plug. Damn. Jack thought it would be ok, but when I flipped the breaker in the boat I heard unusual clicking sounds and switch it off immediately. Our dream of AC vaporized in the searing afternoon heat. We checked the minimalist onsite chandlery but they only had one that was half the length we need and at three times the stateside price plus tax. We asked Scott about a loaner and ordered one from West Marine, which may arrive in 2-3 weeks. Did I say it’s hot?
We learned about the local farmers market that starts Friday afternoon and runs through Saturday, so after having been underway and without any fresh fruits and veg we walked through the dusty boatyard (why are they always dusty?) and along the malecon to the market. Holy cow! An actual honest-to-goodness market! We haven’t seen one since Martinique last December!
We were so excited to see some of the variety we hadn’t enjoyed in months. Golfito is a beautiful spot but a Mecca for foodies it is not. We enjoy seeing the crafts at the market, too.
We’re exploring the town little by little each day, trying to stay out of the worst of the heat. Although Quepos is a larger town and much closer to the population center of Costa Rica, it’s still in the jungle, with a jungle river running through it.
Back at the sport fisher ranch we thought we’d check out the onsite bar. It was pretty empty in the middle of the day, but nice enough. If this were a sailors bar there would definitely be more people here all day long. Not that we drink more, mind you, just that we seek out company as often as we can. And we see that unlike sailors bars which are normally festooned with club burgees, this one is adorned with caps. Lots and lots of fishing caps.
Either Jack is holding a couple iced teas, or those would be mighty strong rum n cokes!
How about just buying the shortest cable you can find and cutting off the plug and replacing your bad one?
Normally we would do it, but at $175 plus tax for the 25′ cord they have in the shop those are two very expensive plugs. Yikes! Normal price for a 50′ cord is about $89.
Sales tax is 13%