December 21, 2024

We did some basic provisioning in Rio Dulce (after having done some “specialty” provisioning in Antigua and Guatemala City with my sister and niece) and were ready to get on with exploring new destinations.

Getting out of Guatemala

We left at 8:30 in the morning on the 19^th for Livingston where we would check out of Guatemala. A lovely 2 ½ hour run down the Rio Dulce where we had arranged to meet Raul. Raul is an agent that facilitates with check in and out. It is all very doable on your own, but it is not terribly expensive and makes it so easy.

We did not have to even get off the boat. 30 minutes later we are checked out and we cross the infamous Rio Dulce bar (depth of about 5 feet.) OK for us but one wants to cross at high tide and take a known path. Many sailboats or deeper draft boats have to be pulled across the bar with their boats tipped. We say 5.1 ft but never felt the bottom.

We were sad to leave Guatemala and know we’ll be back because we have family there, but likely will never be back in the Rio Dulce in our own boat. It is always sad to move on, but a new adventure awaits.

Crossing to The Bay Islands in Honduras

I had carefully found a very nice weather window to The Bay Islands. Should be smooth sailing although a few rain storms and a very slight chance of lightening were possible. It was this window or wait a full week for the next window which did not look as good. 7:30 pm seemed like the perfect time to leave so we anchored just around the back side of Cabo Tres Puntos. A bit rocky and we can see a storm brewing to the north, but we find a good spot, take a short nap and have a quick bite of dinner.

Off we go into the dark in the southern Caribbean. It is raining a bit and the clouds make it VERY dark. I have the first 3 hour shift of our 14 hour passage and Jim agrees to hang with me until we round the point. The water is a bit rocky, but OK. We round the point and Jim heads off for a nap. I’m on until about 1 am. The waves continue to grow and toss us a bit. And it is raining a LOT now. The rain is only supposed to continue for an hour, but it continues. And the rocky water does not subside as expected.

Jim is beginning to feel a bit queasy and we’d taken not drugs as… this was going to be a smooth passage. Oops! I was not feeling great either, but I had things to do managing the boat so was hanging in there. Then a big wave came and tossed the pilothouse. I called Jim to help me organize things a bit and calm down. This did not help Jim. He headed down for some rest and lost his cookies. Dang! It happens to everyone at some point. All I could do was keep driving. There was nowhere to go but continue on in the washing machine.

If we could have seen a horizon, we might have been OK. But it was inky black. A freighter on the horizon gave me something to stare at for quite awhile which helped. Now it was Jim’s turn to drive. I was so glad to be off watch. I came down and did my best to not loose my cookies to no avail. Fortunately, there was nothing to offer. I did manage to get a bit of rest, but the rocky ride continued. I was back on the bridge at 3 and things had gotten perhaps a tiny bit better. By this time though we were so ready to be done. I was considering how to sell the boat in Roatan.

Slowing things got a bit better and by the time I got my 2^nd rest at 6, it was calming more. About an hour out of Utila (our check in point for Honduras), it was finally fairly calm.

And the kittens? They DID get drugs which saved them. Both kittens ended up in the pilot house with us which shows how scared they were. Chicha even gave a meow of “I’m scared.”

But we made it!

Utila, Honduras

We anchored in the bay at the island of Utila, the closest of the Bay Islands to Guatemala and an easy spot to check in.

Still a bit shell shocked, we launch the dinghy and head to shore to check in. Very simple and costs a whopping $16 for us and the boat. No questions about anything and we did not mention the kittens. They are open for tourism here.

Now, we have another 4 hours trip to French Harbour on Roatan to meet up with Mark and Christine on Grey Matter. We had communicated with them via text, Jim and I independently text-meeting them while in Belize back in April. We officially met in Rio Dulce as they were there and had their boat painted at RAM the year before. We were not really up for more travel, but off we went. The waters were calm thank God!

French Harbour

We arrive in French Harbour on Roatan around 4:30. We’ve now been traveling for 32 hours. The plan was to raft up to Grey Matter for the night. Easy entrance and docking. Whew! We are done and tired. We have an early dinner at the marina restaurant and head to bed. I really did not think I’d be able to go to bed at 8:30 and sleep all night, but I did.

We did a shopping trip to Eldon’s Market, purported to the the best in the Caribbean. It was pretty darn nice. They had Crisco, Cornish game hens and wild rice, but no fresh berries or mushrooms. Go figure. We are now well stocked though with lots of yummy food!

Port Royal

The plan is the head to Port Royal Harbour, a peaceful bay and unpopulated area for Christmas and then we’ll head back to French Harbour for a week to do some town exploring which mark and Christine had to Guanaja, another island. The hour and a half ride to Port Royal was smooth and uneventful. The kittens were reluctant to go again, but did fine.

Jim is working on the poop pump. That darn thing seems to not be pumping overboard as it should. Somehow, without him knowing what he did, he now has it working. Yeah! but always frustrating when you don’t understand the fix.

Tomorrow Mark and Christine will show us some of the snorkel sites as they have spent quite a bit of time here in previous years. There are a few remote lodges and a fun mangrove dinghy ride.

We are ready for some fun.