SALSIPUEDES in Spanish means, “Leave if you can.” In one aspect I took it as, “Good luck getting out of here Moody Blues.” Another aspect was, “Moody Blues, how can you leave beautiful Islas Murcielagos (Bat Islands)?”

Why leave? Because we had not checked into Costa Rica yet, and we didn’t want to get into any trouble or be fined for breaking the rules. 

So we put off weighing anchor for as long as we could. The fact two turtles were making-out off  Moody Blues’ starboard side slowed us down—it’s their fault! But how often do you see Loggerhead Turtles in the throws of passion? Turtles usually see a boat coming and dive under. This male turtle dove up and could care less that we were there. He was on a mission!

About an hour after we left, the sky became somber from gigantic onyx clouds rumbling up into the heaven like the plums of a coal driven choo-choo train. The wind quickly blew into the roaring 20s. “I knew we shouldn’t have shaken out that reef, Gene!” I moaned.

The spattering of dime size water drops on the dodger announced Victory at Sea time. The rain soon became a deluge. Gene had no choice but to go reef the main. I took the hard job, staying under the dodger out of the rain and driving. Playa del Coco, the Port of Entry in Bahia Culebra was only 23 miles away.

Welcomes to the “wet season” in the tropics. Feel like getting deluged? Hop on board!

(This post is dedicated to the Bentzen brothers who have been through it all.)