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Livingston, Guatemala |
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14 October 2008
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Anchored outside Livingston waiting for Customs and
Immigration
Note the yellow "Q" flag. Always flown in national waters
before you and boat are cleared in.
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Arrived in the Rio
Dulce on 14th October, having finally broken the last ties to the Moorings in Placencia.
First leg, 23NM Placencia to Newhaven, was our maiden voyage
onboard Dreaming On. With a very light following wind, we tried the main sail and
the genoa. Both are easier to handle than on Dream On, despite the main
being much larger.
Newhaven is a mangrove lined lagoon still in Belize close
to the southern town of Punta Gorda.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=16.2537,-88.5913&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Caught a cero mackerel on the way so fantastic fresh
dinner on arrival.
Overnight stop in Newhaven, then an early start for 30NM leg
across the Gulf of Honduras to Livingston, entry point for Guatemala.
Seas 1 to 4 but still nothing was put away as we had to
do on Dream On every time we sailed. Nothing fell over. Coffee out of china
mugs all the way! Still enough motion to enjoy, but a head wind all the way
so motored this leg.
The Rio Dulce has a 5 sand bar across the entrance at
Livingston. Dreaming On draws only 4 4, (compared with Dream On at 5 8).
Boats with draft deeper than 5' have to be heeled by hauling their mast over
to another boat to get across
at high tide.
Pre-arranged clearance at Livingston with Raul, the local customs agent
who arrived onboard with an entourage of customs, port authority, health and
immigration within 10 minutes of anchoring. All very cordial and efficient, then we
returned to shore with them, (we dont have a dinghy yet) to walk around
town, collected our passports and entry papers 45 minutes later and took a
water taxi back to the boat..
Arrived in Livingston just before 12 noon and by 1pm were
on our way up the river. |
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Livingston from
the sea
Livingston lively
main street
Heading away from Livingston towards the Rio Dulce gorge. |
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Rio Dulce |
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15 October 2008
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WOW! Entered the
Rio Dulce
river gorge as soon as we left Livingston. 300 high cliffs, with dense
jungle on each side and occasional glimpses of 300 feet of bare rock faces.
The river meanders through the gorge for around 8NM. The occasional small
thatched fishing camp, then a few tasteful private residences. There are no
roads here so all transport is by boat, so a busy thoroughfare.
On entry into the first lake, El Golfete, the ground drops
and the river widens. We passed large areas of water lilies at this point.
El Golfete is around 15 miles long before it narrows at the town of
Fronteras and the only road bridge which spans the river 90 feet high.
We expected to collect our borrowed
dinghy from friend Curtis house half way up El Golfete, but we thought that
he had returned to US for a few days, so went on to Fronteras.
In Fronteras, we found all the marinas, bars, restaurants
and most important of all our old friends from our first Bahamas trip in
2005, Art & Joan Schuck on their new boat, OK Fine. They called on the radio
to check our progress just as we arrived outside the marina they now call
home. They were soon out to greet us in their dinghy and guide us into their
marina.
Our marina, La Joya del Rio is just through the bridge
but before the river widens into Lago Izabal, a 30 NM long lake, the largest
in Guatemala.
This was our first attempt at docking the catamaran, as
the Moorings' staff always moor all boats on the Moorings' dock in
Placencia. However, with 2 engines 24' apart Dreaming On can be maneuvered
very easily, so it went very smoothly.
The catch, as with most marinas and restaurants here is
there is no road link. The only way to leave the marina for shopping etc.,
is by dinghy and we don't have one! Art & Joan have offered their services as both taxi and guides
for a few days until we collect our borrowed dinghy..
We also caught up
with Nick and Eli, who skipper for Moorings a new crewed Leopard 46. Their
haul-out complete, they were making their way back to Placencia.
It rains here!!! A very large low pressure system stalled
over Honduras, Guatemala and Belize. We arrived just in time on the day it
started raining. Took a week to begin to clear with very heavy tropical rain
every day. Our photos of the trip through the gorge were not as bright as we
had hoped due to the cloud build up.
The level of the river and lakes also rose considerably,
bringing with the flood a great deal of silt of the mountains, so we had
brown water for a few days. The current in the river outside our sheltered
lagoon is very strong.
As this is written, our dock is only 1 inch above water
level. Dreaming On will soon be above the dock!
Rio Dulce impressions: Friendly people - Scenery - River activity - Nesting
egrets at dusk - Islands of water hyacinth and water lilies floating down
river - any boats in marinas and at anchor.
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Into El Golfete,
looking back towards gorge.
El Golfete and clouds gathering |
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Fronteras |
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16 October 2008
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The Fronteras
bridge
The water level is rising over the dock
Everyone is
waiting for the rain to stop
A wet egret |
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There are many
marinas on both the sides of the lake around Fronteras, some small, some larger more
established marinas. This is the peak season, during the hurricane months
when people leave their boats secure and fly back home, or use the time to
get jobs done onboard. Few marinas have available space, so we will have to
look around and book
ourselves a slip for next August. We have a great
choice of restaurants, mostly in marinas all looking out over the water.
Prices and food are generally good and there is a very active social scene.
The Rio Dulce radio net on is hosted by a rota of cruisers at
07.30 every morning on VHF channel 69. First call is for any emergency
traffic. Next call is for any newcomers to the river and anyone leaving.
Next is restaurant highlights and specials for the day, followed by mail run
information, a help session for anyone with a technical problem, then "items
from the bilge" for sale or trade. It's a good way to get to know what is
going on and some of the characters of the river. One guy calls himself
"Space Cowboy" over the radio. Not sure what he did in his previous life but
he's an amateur astronomer now. He is on the net regularly informing us all
of night time sky events, including an impressive meteor shower in November.
Fronteras is a great little town. Many shops, none very large on a very
narrow busy high street. Busy, noisy bustling with activity. We were surprised at the variety of shops and
availability of goods. After the horrific prices and poor choice and quality
of supplies in Placencia in Belize, the prices in Fronteras are very
reasonable. There is a far greater choice of foodstuffs and good fresh fruit
and vegetables. Very few shopkeepers speak English, so we are doing our best
to quickly learn some basic Spanish. Art & Joan have
been great guides and taxi drivers in their dinghy. They leave here on the
26th October to fly back to the US, so we have to get our dinghy organised.
Mind you, the current out in the river is so strong we are not sure our
small outboard will cope. Many jobs on Dreaming On.
Modification to the helm to take changes in instruments, lots of wiring of
new gizmos, some carpentry in the salon and some technical glitches to
resolve. We are in a rush to get everything fixed,
in some cases on a temporary installation, so we can take advantage of a
weather window to head north before the end of the month. |
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Sergio and Gustavo working on the mods to the helm set-up to
fit new chartplotter
The new helm with the new chartplotter
Dennis with his crew putting the finishing touches on the new
salon table
Swallows take a
break during a sunny spell
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Late October 2008
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Starter motor
dismantled
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We are still
"Dulcinea-ing" on in the Rio Dulce as the new graphics for "Dreaming On" to
complete re-name and registration are "in the mail." Quite how long mail
takes from Annapolis, US to this one horse town of Fronteras is unknown,
but they are on their way.
It has rained, (torrential tropical rain) every day but one since we arrived
on 14th. Our dock has all but disappeared as the lake and river waters rise.
Jobs we are having done are slow due to the weather.
But we are having fun. We have met up with old friends here and made new
ones. Lots of great little watering holes competing for the best happy hour
deals and meal specials.
Prices are good, local people very friendly. Learning a little Spanish as
very few here speak English.
Much higher percentage of catamarans here due to the shallow waters around
Belize and the shallow bar at the entry to the Rio Dulce. Cruisers down here
are serious long-timers and have some great tips on equipment and
improvisations. |
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Art and Joan from
OK Fine
Dave Lee and
Deborah onboard Expectations
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Halloween |
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Halloween at
Mario's
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Every day on the
morning VHF net there are invitations from the various independent and
marina based restaurants to happy hours, daily lunch specials, dinner
specials and any other excuse to get people together.
Halloween was no exception. With the predominance of expats
in the Rio being American and with Halloween being such a big thing in the
US, it was a foregone conclusion that someone would run a Halloween do.
Mario's Marina, a little way down the river and usually a
step ahead in the social scene organised a fantastic BBQ and Halloween fancy
dress evening. Collection provided free by fast launch as it's a long way in
a dinghy particularly at night. We did not have the
wherewithal to prepare fancy dress, so went with Dave and Deborah from
"Expectations" dressed as two British cruisers! It
was a great evening. |
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John McCain and
Sarah Palin!
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Still in the Rio Dulce |
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First week of
November 2008
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Dreaming On with new graphics
La Joya del Rio
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Our documents and graphics arrived to re-christen Dulcinea as Dreaming On.
There are all kinds of superstitions about renaming a boat. But, we felt
that Dulcinea, having been a working boat, needed a new soul, a new identity
and would happily accept re-christening. And she looks smart in her new
livery, although we only have graphics for the stern fixed so far.
Our port engine starter motor packed up. As that engine
drives the refrigeration, we switched the starter motor from the starboard
engine to keep the port engine available for daily refrigeration cooling.
Then tried to repair the broken starter locally. A few false starts made us
realise that a repair might be possible but we would still have an old
starter with an unknown lifespan. Better to buy a new replacement. So
ordered 2 new units from the US. Shipping and duty are expensive so looking
into alternative methods of getting them to the Rio Dulce.
The rain has stopped, the weather is beautiful, the water level is dropping
and we now have our little dinghy on loan so are independently mobile,
(within limits)..... See below.
Met up with Dave Lee and crew member Deborah on catamaran Expectations.
Deborah is changing to another boat to make her slow way back to the US.
Dave is heading off to the Bay Islands of Honduras and beyond but will be
back on the Rio for the next hurricane season. We enjoyed their company.
Dave has a great sense of humour, a wealth of local area knowledge and
catamaran and fish-catching experience. He has given us some very useful
tips. We look forward to meeting up with him again next year.
Also in the same marina is Roberto on the 88 year old wooden Chesapeake
fishing boat "Winnie Estelle" that he found wrecked on a reef in Belize and
has restored piece by piece. A great character with a real challenge on his
hands keeping Winnie Estelle in good order while waiting for the fuel price
to drop so he can afford to move her again!
Our immediate marina neighbours Uschi and Gode on catamaran Mola Mola are
from Germany, Again great catamaran experience along with 10 years of
sailing and diving around the Belize and Honduran coasts and most of the
Caribbean. Geoff can confirm that Uschi makes great homemade cheesecake. |
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Fronteras Bridge
Looking towards
Tortugal Marina
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The Dinghy |
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Dave with Deborah
taking us shopping to Fronteras in their dinghy
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A dinghy is an essential piece of
equipment. Shopping, socialising, clearing in and out of customs and
immigration, cleaning the sides of the boat and in the case of the marinas
on the Rio Dulce, a dinghy is the only way to go anywhere as there are no
roads.
In storage in Annapolis, we have a large
11 5 hard bottomed inflatable dinghy with a 10HP engine.
However, Dreaming On came without a
dinghy. Fortunately, our friend Curtis Collins who now lives on the Rio
Dulce agreed to loan us a dinghy for the trip back to the US. Its an 8
foldable inflatable dinghy with a hard panelled but flexible floor and we
carried a new 2.5HP engine in a bag when we flew down to Belize. Small they
may be and vulnerable we may feel when crossing the Rio Dulce to go
shopping, but we have been surprised by the guts of the little engine and
the stability of the little boat.
Our journey lengths are limited by its
size and the state of the water, so we could not make all the social events
around the river as some are just too far, but it copes with essential
transport for now. |
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The local dinghy -Cuyaco
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A quick trip to
Honduras (San Pedro Sula) and Florida |
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5-8 November 2008 |
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Iza made a brief
trip back to Florida between the 4th and 8th November
to pick up 2 new starter motors. (Air fare being cheaper than shipping costs
and potential duty). A 4 hour bus ride at 10 am
from Fronteras, (our local town on the river) to San Pedro Sula in Honduras.
There's a brief stop outside Morales to change buses, quite comfortable with
air-conditioning. Another stop at the border; $3 or 60 Honduran
Lempira. Arrive at 2 pm at the main bus station in San Pedro. A bus ride (7
L) to the centre of town. Roberto had recommended the Gran Hotel Sula
which is in the main square and which has a lobby, business centre for
internet access and a coffee shop as a place to wait as the flight to
Fort Lauderdale with Spirit Airlines does not depart until 2am. Plenty of
time to wander around the town. Every second shop appears to be a shoe shop!
At 9 pm, time to find a taxi to the airport ($15).
Surprisingly, the flight is only 1 hour 50 minutes, arrival in Fort
Lauderdale very early the following morning, ready to race around shops and
post Rio Dulce mail. Spent two nights with great
friends John & Mikki Powers in Vero Beach. John & Mikki have been our mail
drop since we left the US, so were receiving daily deliveries for us. Also brought back other bits for
Geoff to finish cabling and configuring the electronics.
Spirit departs Fort Lauderdale at 11.30 pm, arriving San
Pedro Sula 12.30 am local time. Customs and immigration very polite and
quick, no questions regarding the various boat equipment. 2 am taxi to town,
having made no hotel arrangements as was concerned that would miss the early
bus to Guatemala. Hoping that the coffee shop at the Gran Hotel Sula would
be open, unfortunately only opens at 6 am but the receptionist let Iza sit
in the lobby until 5 am. Taxi to the bus station (200L). The bus line is
Fuerte del Norte, bus leaves at 6 am. Stop for Guatemalan immigration at the
border then a change of buses outside Morales. Bit of a wait as the
bus to Fronteras was full and had to wait for the next bus. Arrived
Fronteras 11 am, then some serious sleep deprivation catch up once back on
board Dreaming On. |
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Ready to leave? |
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11 November 2008
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Ready?
Castillo San
Felipe, Lago Izabel
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We have enjoyed our stay in the Rio
Dulce, made many new friends and met some old friends. But, we are still
camping out on board Dreaming On with all our stuff still in US. So amidst
the many essential and a few non-essential jobs we decided to complete in
the Rio, we were constantly looking for a suitable weather window to
Florida.
The sail back to Florida at this time of
year was always going to be a challenge. The winds are persistently from the
north and the Yucatan Current up the northern coast of Belize and between
Mexico and Cuba runs up to 4 knots north, so wind and sea conflict causing
some really nasty seas.
A few days after Iza returned to the
Rio, a weather break finally appeared, but a very brief one. Northerly winds
were due to ease on Tuesday 11th and gradually move to easterly,
though not very strong. Seas were also due to settle. However, there was a
strong cold front heading south from the US, due in the Yucatan area late on
Saturday 15th and we would have to be in safe harbour for that.
Making it all the way through to Key West by Saturday afternoon within the
weather window would be tight.
After fitting the new starter motor and
some of the electronics cabling, we took Dreaming On out for a test into the
river and the beginnings of Lago Izabel, the enormous lake just a short
distance up river that we had not seen yet. Guarding the entrance to Lago
Izabel is the Castillo San Felipe and very attractive old fort right on the
water's edge. We also topped up with water and fuel for the trip north.
On Tuesday 11th, we pulled
out of our lagoon marina La Joya del Rio into the main Rio Dulce
river at 7am to head down river to
clear out at Livingston. Not all of our electronic configurations were
working but enough to make the decision to go. |
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back to top |
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On route to Florida |
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