liveaboard marinas in costa rica, east or westcoasts

[Dave22q]

having difficulty determining which marinas welcome liveaboards. any information welcome.

[wingssail]

You night get in in Golfito. A rather dreary little town known mostly for duty free shopping and rain. You can bus to Panama for real shopping.

We found that the other marinas in Costa Rica, were high end places which catered to the wealthy Costa Rican sports fishermen and weekenders. Very high prices served as a barrier to the cruising community which was not wanted or needed.

I'd love to be wrong about this now.

[model 10]

There are boats living in Puntarenas. There are several marinas and a boat yard. These are not the slick Sport fishing boat marinas. One has a bunch of single floating docks out in the river. The whole gulf is a mini cruising ground. You don't need to go to sea. You can anchor out all over the place. Puntarenas kinda sucks, but not far inland are better places and the bus.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Ecos

There are boats living in Puntarenas. There are several marinas and a boat yard. These are not the slick Sport fishing boat marinas. One has a bunch of single floating docks out in the river. The whole gulf is a mini cruising ground. You don't need to go to sea. You can anchor out all over the place. Puntarenas kinda sucks, but not far inland are better places and the bus.

That is good to hear because a few years ago there was really one marina operating, that was at the Hotel Puerto Azul. It was nice and we stayed for month and enjoyed the town and pool. The price was reasonable, we paid $475. The river is shallow and somewhat tortuous, and there was only one berth in the marina in which we could float, and that only because some other boat had dug it out with their keel.

Across the river there is a boat yard but not really any berths there.

Another marina, the Yacht Club, not operating just up the river past Puerto Azul, there were some boats tied up there but no one in any of the buildings or offices. There are half a dozen floats in the river each with two boats tied to them.

And perhaps one more marina was being planned between these two, but no sign of it when we were there.

There were no other liveaboards in either the marina or the nearby locations that we could detect. There was nobody at Puerto Azul, hotel guest or marina tenant.

Google earth image from Apr 2019 looks about the same.

That being said, we enjoyed our month at Puerto Azul in Punt arenas. It was quiet, the town was nice, the stores good, and it was a good base for touring Costa Rica. There are some good cruising spots nearby but the Gulf of Nicoya is limited due to shallows near most shorelines. It would be worth exploring however.

I think I'd get bored living there for lack of social.