Guatemala

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Motoring up the Rio Dulce, or Sweet River was so different from everything we had experienced so far. The river winds narrowly to the SW and we were flanked on both sides by thick rainforest. Looking into the foliage we could see the colorful feathers of tropical birds and we could hear the calls of the Howler Monkeys. Wow.

The Rio Dulce has been a refuge for sailors for hundreds of years. It is a very unique place in the world in the simple fact that there are few roads, the main form of transportation is boat! We spent our time tied up at Mario's Marina. It is possible to anchor off the main town, but due to some security incidents we decided it was better to stay in one of the many marinas available there.

I was particularly thankful for the hot showers available at the marina because I managed to contract head lice! I managed to get rid of it quickly using horse shampoo. Seriously. We went to a vet supply (really a feed shop) and got horse shampoo for $7 when lice shampoo costs upwards of $25- and mine worked quicker! But enough about that.


No News and Moonshadow med-moored together at Mario's in the Rio Dulce

We caught up with Moonshadow, and Tiffany went 'home'- 35' is really small for 3 adults! We checked out our surroundings, the market in the little town was packed with fruit and veggies, something we hadn't seen a lot of in awhile. Two weeks there was enough for us, we were new to this cruising life and had very 'itchy feet!' We did, however, take one land trip during that time.

Antigua, Guatemala. A city rich in history, it was the third capital of Guatemala, serving as the military seat for 200 years during the 15th and 16th centuries. We missed the famed New Years festivities, but throughly enjoyed our (small)taste of the arcetecture and tradition still very much alive there.

Tiffany also accompanied us to Antigua, but treated herself to a 4-star hotel while we stayed in (private room) hostels! This is also the city where Jeff and I adopted out kitten, Maya, who was to be our companion on No News for the next few months. Jeff and I braved the bus system for our trip back to the Rio. We had to change busses in Guatemala City, not one of the safest places in Centeral America! The 3 of us (Maya included) made it home unscathed and within 2 days we were loaded up and headed back out to the salt water. We were limited by the moon cycle for the highest tide, so if we didn't leave when we did we might have been 'stuck' there for another 2 weeks.

Our next adventure was a tipping point in our cruising life... stay tuned!

Christmas and a Sand Bar

View Larger MapWe parted ways with Moonshadow after Belize City, with plans to meet up again in the Rio Dulce, Guatemala. It was important that we meet back up with them because we had Tiffany, their crew! When we parted ways, we were headed out to some of the outlying Cays (pronounced Keys) to do some extra snorkeling. Tiffany was pretty keen to get some more time in the water before heading up the murky river so we invited her along, it was only a week after all!
We'd never had crew before, and boy did we learn a lot- but I'll get into that later.
We did end up getting into a few good anchorages and got some snorkeling in. Belize is riddled with large Barracuda, so I didn't spend too much time in the water, but I was happy to man the dingy for Jeff and Tiffany! It was now December 23, anchored in a small lagoon with a small pass through the coral reef. Another boat (a Moorings charter boat) was anchored next to us. During the night the wind shifted and picked up, the charter boat dragged anchor and ended up leaving in the middle of the night. We were stuck because we couldn't make it over the submerged reef (the other boat was a catamaran) with our 2 meter draft. I remember that night to be one of the longest of our trip- Jeff and I took turns on 'anchor watch' all night, and first thing in the morning we were out of there!
Christmas Eve 2004 was a long day... Exhausted from a long night. I climbed up a few of the mast steps to help read the water depth from a higher vantage point. I put my foot on one of the winches on the mast the wrong way and it spun around.
I fell. Hard. within a few minutes I had a colorful bruise stretching from my ankle to my neck- OW! Luckily Tiffany was there with us, Jeff was working on getting us safely into deep water while I went immediately down below to cry. I didn't want Jeff to know how badly I was hurt until we were safely away from the coral! We made it out. I had ice (again, I had an amazing freezer that Jeff built from scratch!) on my wounds and Tiffany to fill in the gaps. She made us pancakes for breakfast (I can't believe I remember all of this so vividly!) and we headed towards the entrance to the Rio Dulce in Livingston, Guatemala.

The entrance to the Rio Dulce is guarded by a sandbar. A shallow sandbar. Remember, we draw 2 meters at this point, weighed down with all of our cruising gear. The bar is reportedly between 4 and 5 feet deep, but it shifts. There is a GPS way point and heading that, if followed exactly, will get larger boats over the bar. Also, the locals have a booming business pulling sailboats over the bar with large fishing boats. Being frugal cruisers, we did not want to pay someone to help us. Luckily as we were approaching Livingston the wind shifted and picked up. We were able to sheet the sails in hard and heel over at an amazing angle. Jeff kept the engine on full throttle and we sailed/pushed ourselves over the bar! It was thrilling, exhilarating, and empowering that we did it ourselves.

We anchored off Livingston that night. Jeff launched the Kayak and went ashore to officially check us into Guatemala, and he came back with lettuce and fruit, what a Christmas present! We put our twinkle lights out in the cockpit that night, I made a Christmas meatloaf in my pressure cooker, and we had many celebratory drinks. I don't remember what gifts we exchanged that night, I think a seashell was involved, maybe a treasured CD passed forward. Truly a great night after a long few days.






Captain Jeff, in total concentration steering over the 'bar'


Yes folks, this is what you call 'heeling'!