Goodbye Honduras - Hello Guatemala
Also entitled "Welcome to the Jungle"
I will back up alittle. On Monday, May 14th, our new hard top was installed and ready to go - so off we went to Utila, an awesome little isle to the west of Roatan and on the way to the Rio Dulce which is our destination (for now!).
We enjoyed a nice 6 hr. sail, with constant winds allowing us to sail @ 6-8 kts. Utila is a great stop over to the Rio Dulce and their dive shops are known for having the cheapest PADI certification courses, so had to check that out. We will be coming this way on our return trip in the fall.
Jade Seahorse, Utila - all in mosaics made from a variety of materials. (Someone was on drugs!!!)
We left Utila @ noon to schedule our arrival at the opening of the river for the next morning when it's light and you can SEE! Yes, we sailed all night. I had the 9 p.m. - midnight shift, which thankfully was uneventful - other than watching a freighter come up close behind us. Paddy had the midnight - 3 a.m., and lucky him, there was a thunder storm that came thru @ 2 a.m. Larry was still with us, so we were all up to help change the sail configurations. Back to the bunk to rest up for the arrival and strategic entry to the river. There is a "bar" (sand bar) at the mouth with a maximum depth of 5 -6 feet at high tide. If your boat draws more than that, you DO NOT come into this river! Traveling with us was Silver Sea, Salida, and Manana (latter 2 are catamarans). Silver Sea, a mono-hull, draws 5.5 feet so they followed us in (LCB draws only 4 feet) as I radioed to them the depths every few yards. The bar is about 1/2 mile long, so we had some nervous people on that boat. Teal Sea draws 7 feet, so they have to research the moon, tides, etc. which only allows their opportunity of entrance as once a month! .....full moon! After successfully crossing the bar, we arrived at Livingston, Guatemala where we radioed the Port Captain announcing our arrival. He and his entourage came out to the boat, checked our paperwork for the vessel, as well as our passports. After getting approved, paying the Q1350 (Guatemalan currency is a quatzale = @ 7.84Q per $1 USD), we toured the little town and got soaked, "drenched to the bone" as they say since we got caught in a real frog choker!
The town laundromat......................and YOU were debating on a top or front loading washer!
Count your blessings!
Finally, we are ready to cruise up the Rio Dulce via The Gorge with lush jungle scenary (Johnny Weismueller filmed his Tarzan movies here!) and waterfalls. The trip is 20 - 25 miles from the mouth of the river to Fronteras, Guatemala where our marina is located.
Mouth of the river.
The Gorge.
Self explanatory!
Downtown Fronteras
River scenary.
The El Tortugal is a marina and is also considered an eco-resort. (www.tortugal.com ) Hence, we are indeed in the jungle. The surroundings are lush, green, and wet. Yes, it is the rainy season here, so most days are overcast and later in the day we have the squalls rolling through. A lot of the cruisers spend the summers here because it is known as a great "hurricane hole". There are probably 12 marinas here, big and small, numerous restaurants and many locals that do a variety of boat work from hauling, cleaning, and painting the bottoms to making dinghy covers which we need!
View from the stern.
The boat is tied up "med moor" meaning the stern faces the dock. There is an intimidating plank (yes, I said plank!) that we use to access the dock.
Grounds of the resort.
We leave on June 11th to return to the states for a few months to "take care of business and family". The next few weeks will be spent preparing the boat for the summer; i.e. removing and storing all the sails as well as all the cockpit cushions, lines and anything else outside. There will be a food fest since alot of the food needs to be consumed or thrown out.
Looking forward to being on a diet when I get back to CR! - never thought I'd say the "d" word lovingly.
