Mom and I had a wonderful time on the Star Flyer in Costa Rica, November 2011!

We sailed along the Pacific coast and stopped in small inlets along Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

We had sunshine and great weather the entire trip which was lucky because it rained the entire week before. We hope our eco-tourism and shopping at local markets will make a small improvement to their economy.

photo credit: http://blogs.travelweekly.co.uk 

The ship was small but elegant. The crew came from 40+ different countries. The passengers were about 50% American, 12% British, 12% German, 12% French and a few other Europeans. And, yes, the nationalism was quite strong.

Cruise director Philip made all of the announcements in English, German, and Spanish---all kind of mixed up together so you weren't sure if you were supposed to be understanding him at the time or not. It was all very informal however so if you got confused it didn't really matter...

Three members of the sport team, Cuban Marcos, Swedish Fredrick, and the Swede with the long hair. They were all very helpful.

photo credit

http://stillhowlyntravels.blogspot.com/ 

Getting off the boat each day was quite "exciting." One guy fell and bruised his hip and another broke a finger. Notice the claw-like grip this woman has on Marcos' arm---this was serious business.

Erik misses the gangway again and Fredrick tells him to come around again. Imagine 8 to 10 middle-age/elderly people perched on the blue part of this raft wearing ill-fitting life jackets while a twenty-something Swede opens up the motor to full throttle---that was our daily experience. Yikes. My greatest fear was that my glasses would blow off in the wind and water. Mom was concerned about simply falling off the raft.

 Assuming you got into the Zodiac safely, your next challenge was getting onto land. One at a time we would drop over the edge into water and waves. After a few days of this, I got used to being wet up to my hips. I was very glad I brought water shoes.

This woman looks a bit grouchy about the whole process. Not an uncommon attitude.

Once safely on shore, we were rewarded with beautiful views of hills, sea, and sky. Most of the beaches were volcanic and black like this one. We visited one that was more white from the coral offshore.



 We saw dormant volcano islands in Lake Nicaragua...

looked into a volcano crater...

and choked on sulfuric fumes. It was awesome!

Days were spent walking and touring with native guides. Here is our group in the old Spanish town of Granada, Nicaragua. Tour guide Enrique (aka Henry) was very proud of his country and kept up a constant commentary for about two hours straight on the bus, "I know you didn't come here to see me but this is important so please listen. Our country..."

Here is mom in one of the open-air restaurants where we had lunch. I usually had rice, beans, fried ripe banana, and coffee. Delicious! Neither of us got sick either!

Chris, an eco-tourism doctoral student at the Costa Rican University, tells us that color in the forest means danger.  He was very knowledgable and told us how to survive in the forest by starting a fire with bamboo and eating the termites. We all said, "No thanks!"

The forest.

It was interesting but Melinda was dissapointed because we didn't see anything colorful except butterflies. We did spot a couple of howler monkeys and a few white-faced monkeys. Chris told us not to smile at the monkeys because when they see your teeth, they think you are being aggresive. They didn't like us being there and showed us a lot of their teeth.

Morning exercise sessions with young Fredrick looked something like this. Push-ups and crunches were a crowd favorite! I was glad to have the stretching and strengthening before the process of getting on and off the ship. 

photo credit: sailmagazine.com

A beautiful beach in Costa Rica. Mom and I were both careful to stay in the shade and covered with sunscreen.

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Evenings were spent partying with the passengers and crew.No pictures because I was having too much fun to go get the camera!

The entertainment was more like watching a school play than the Las Vegas kind of acts on bigger cruises---the sports team dressed up in moth-eaten pirate costumes and led a game of limbo---but I thought it was hilarious.   

The Star Flyer with sails down.

photo credit: http://blogs.travelweekly.co.uk 

When the crew raised the sails, Conquest of Paradise music from the movie 1492 was piped on deck. Some found it romantic but it just made me giggle. I kept looking around for Jack Sparrow...

Johnny Depp wasn't on board but Captain Kraaling did have a beard and an earring. He was a very nice man though who sailed a reproduction of a 1700s Swedish square sail clipper around Africa a couple of years ago. Captain Sparrow would be jealous because Kraalings ship, the Gothenburg, seriously looks like a pirate ship. It was built with original materials including a layer of horse hair in the hull.

Captain doing his job.

http://stillhowlyntravels.blogspot.com/

We used wind power each evening although we never had full sails up---they were having trouble with two of the square sails. In the foreground here are our new friends Grandma Sharon and 10-year-old Jack.

We were told the ship goes to dry dock once every three years. In between there is a team of guys who are constantly polishing the brass, varnishing the wood, chipping off rust, and painting the metal. The noise and smell was a reminder that this was a working ship, not a toy.

Melinda, our new friend from London, was very brave climbing the rope ladder to the mast. She didn't make it to the top, but gave it a good try. There was no way I was going up on that rickety thing.

Jack made it to the top.

 Relaxing on deck, in the shade.

 It was actually a bit of a challenge to find a seat in the shade at times. Despite the admonition not to save seats, passengers would put a towel and book on a chair in the shade and then leave. Aargh.  One cool thing was that you could walk right up to the navigation cabin. I had a chat with the navigation officer one afternoon and learned that he had been on board for months and was looking forward to going home to his 16-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son.

photo credit: Bob Jenkins

We had a number of beautiful sunsets. Amazing moonsets, too, but I didn't get any pics of them. The moon would drop to the horizon, glow red, and then blink out.

This isn't my photo, but this group of Nicaraguan youth performed on our ship too.

This isn't my photo either, but it's pretty much the way the dancing by the passengers looked. Wish I had a pic of the crew doing their line dance!

Our bird list

Jabiru (national bird of Costa Rica)  over the forest preserve

photo from Wikipedia 

Great-tailed Grackle

Rock Pigeon

Three-striped warbler

Magnificant frigatebird

Laughing Gull

Pelican

Cattle Egret

Spoon-billed something or other

Black Vulture

Kingfisher

Golden nape woodpecker

Rufous Tail Hummingbird

Viologus Trogram

Magnolia warbler

Mammals

Howler monkeys

White-faced monkey

Varigated squirrel (found  only in Central America) in the bushes on the way to the beach

Photo from naturephoto-cz.com

Others

Green iquanas (the females were green but the males were orange because they were mating)

Black iquana

Crocodiles (fortunately too small to be very scary)

 I highly recommend the Star Flyer for an amazing vacation!

"Time lapse" view from the porthole in our cabin



Can you feel the rocking? Funny thing was I didn't get seasick on the boat but felt like the earth was rocking for several days after I got home. Disembarkation sickness they call it. I'm very glad it is gone now...

I would totally recommend this trip if

-you don't get seasick on small boats

-you are relatively strong and flexible

-you like an informal atmosphere

-you don't mind getting wet and sandy

     and you like meeting new people.

When I get the money, my next cruise will be on the eastern side of Costa Rica... on the Star Flyer, of course!