Down to the Banana Republics

The Steve Goodman song about American ex-pats taking up residence in any of the Central American countries certainly applies to Rio Dulce. The Rio is known as the river that swallows gringos because norte americanos come here and never leave. We had a plan to come here for months and we also have a plan to leave in months. It's obvious why this is such a great hurricane hole. Our insurance company specifically endorsed our policy approving our layover here. The triangle of the Caribbean that ends at Livingston gets narrower with lots of points of wind shear that would suck the life from the storm and then there are the mountains around here. So having made it we are here until the end of hurricane season. Not that we will be here the entire time because we do plan to travel back to the US for 2 months to visit friends and family plus we want to sight see in the region.

The day before the day before we left some folks on another boat came over and gave us 3 big bags of marlin. We grilled one bag that was excellent, gave one away and have one more to grill.

Dinner the night before we left with our crew member Jim Upson at the George Town Yacht Club.

Getting to Rio Dulce is the culmination of planning, discussions and preparation of more than a year. We left Oxford, MD in September and traveled just under 3300 nautical miles down the US Coast, through the Bahamas, Jamaica, Cayman Islands and into Guatemala. This is really only the first leg of our multiyear cruise through the Caribbean. Sometime in the last few weeks we got below the sun. The sun is now north of us and will be until sometime late in the summer.

A passenger along for the ride.

Jumping off from the Caymans became a big deal because we were getting ready to take the longest, most challenging and final step to going to Guatemala. After cruising for almost 9 months we had come to the last jump. The rhum line passage from Caymans to Livingston, Guatemala was about 470 miles so in reality it would be more because of the ancillary travel needed along with some turns in our course. I estimated that it would take us between 70-75 hours to make the crossing because we can usually do 160-180 nm per day. But this time we were complicating it by going with a buddy boat. Our friends on Kuaka, Serge and Charlotte Crottaz who are originally from Switzerland but have moved to New Zealand and are now on their way back home down under.

An offshore shot of Kuaka rocking in the swells.

Keeping in visual contact and matching speed with our buddy boat.

Amekaya sailing partially hidden by a wave.

We haven't traveled with a buddy boat in the past because we haven't needed to and we prefer to keep our own schedule. However, this time with the length of the passage and security risks we were looking for a boat going our way near our time schedule. After several conversations Kuaka agreed they wanted to team with us. They were smaller and slower than Amekaya but we agreed that we would keep to their speed because the value of their companionship offset the increase in time. They actually left before we did but we caught up with them and stayed close until late in the second day when we agreed to stay in visual contact so that potential attackers would know there was another boat close by and not try to approach us. The classic mantra of strength in numbers is true offshore. We also turned off our AIS but used our lights at night.

Kuaka in quieter waters going up the Rio Dulce.

So we actually made the trip from Barcadere Marina on the Sound side of George Town to our anchorage across the Bay from Livingston in about 80 hours. After we anchored across from Livingston we had run the engine 24 hours of the 80 hours of the trip. Most of that occuring in getting out of North Sound, motoring the night of the squalls and motoring when the wind died into the anchorage. Other than that we sailed trying to match Kuaka's speed along the way. With the wind almost dead behind us most of the way the apparent wind was low producing minimal wind power so our batteries ran low at night with the heavy draw of the autopilot, the electronics and everything else. The autopilot drew heavily because of the large waves running behind us. One night we ran the engine for a couple hours to juice up the batteries and gain some speed. The next night we ran the engine because of the squalls and the third night we ran the generator to charge the batteries. During the day we got ample solar to run everything and keep the batteries charged for several hours.

Looking up the Rio Dulce from Livingston as we start our trip.

Across the river as we head inland.

On Monday morning (29 May, Memorial Day in the US) we took a taxi to the Port Security office in George Town, Grand Cayman (GCI) to clear. We returned to the boat, made the boat ready for sea, filled up with fuel and departed. Normally, we fill with fuel when we arrive, but in the Caymans after you clear for departure you can buy fuel duty free so it saved us $.70/gal on 68 gallons. The Barcadere Marina in GCI was wonderful. Using a weekly rate the dockage was only $1.25/ft and water that was only $.15/gal compared to $.40 or more in the Bahamas. It was also conveniently located to town, the airport and they had a free shuttle to some common places. Leaving was very hard because it was such a wonderful place.

Cockpit view looking upriver.

Jungle foliage along the shore.

After getting our fuel we left the marina and after we got out of the inner channel we ran aground because I didn't turn soon enough. Coming in it was easy to follow the marks but going out the outer marks weren't obvious and I was trying to follow our chartplotter tracks. We tried getting ourselves off for a few minutes and then a small power boat came out and pulled us out and we continued out the way we came in passing the outer marks.

We motored out through North Sound even though there was a fair wind blowing because the Sound is shallow, the route goes through hazards where I wanted firm control and the multiple turns would have required tacking at crucial steering points. We cleared the barrier reef and began to sail. We sailed up to northwest point on GCI where we jibed and then went to our waypoints. We had a third crew member with us who made the trip from Virginia to help us. Jim Upson arrived on Sunday afternoon after we suggested he delay his original arrival because of forecasted bad weather which never materialized.

Egret in a tree along the river.

One of the river's many bends.

Several days before we left I had reviewed the paper charts and selected some points that would guide us through several shoals just west of GCI that we wanted to avoid and on to Guatemala. The route would take us around charted hazards and keep us far enough north of the Honduran coast where pirate attacks have originated. Serge and I discussed the route and he agreed it was reasonable and we wanted to be sure we steered far enough away from any potential hazards. It's hard to believe that in the middle of the Caribbean there are shoals with rocks and islets sticking up that show on charts but you may need to zoom in on a chart plotter to see them. They are on the paper charts and unless I had gone over the entire route on the chart plotter at a small detail I never would have seen them. That is why you need paper charts along with chart plotters.

Some of the houses along the river.

Details of the day to day were posted in blog updates. Generally we were in a summer tropical weather pattern with light winds in the morning and early afternoon building during the afternoon and very strong overnight with squalls and storms around. Winds were very constant from an easterly direction sometimes more southerly. Wind shifts occurred around the squalls for short periods as they blew through but that didn't usually effect us. Every night there was serious lightening around but mostly far off so it wasn't an issue.

On Tuesday, our first morning of the passage a water spout developed off our port stern. A water spout is a weak tornado caused by wind sheer in the cloud. It usually isn't as strong as one on land because you don't have the great disparities at sea as you do on land. We watched it develop and tried to track it on radar but it didn't provide a return. It appeared to be moving in our direction so we turned on the engine and pulled in the sails to try to get away from it faster and minimize damage in the event it did hit us. Not far from us it dissipated and the cloud passed over us dumping heavy rain for a few minutes. Our buddy boat got nothing out of the cloud.

The water spout forming.

The water spout with the disturbance on the water.

Thursday we began to smell the end of the passage and we needed to get in before dark to an anchorage and also avoid forecasted bad weather coming in the evening. So about noon when the wind was down to single digits we began motoring. Later the wind came up but we needed to keep up speed. We rounded the Cabo Tres Puntas (Cape of Three Points) and got the anchor down just as darkness fell. Overnight the breeze died and we had a quiet peaceful night on anchor after 3 nights on the passage.

Some locals in one of the common forms of travel on the river.

We had made it to Guatemala but 3 formidable challenges remained. We needed to cross the shallow bar into Livingston, we needed to clear through the authorities and we needed to negotiate the river up to the town of Rio Dulce.

To help us successfully get through the bar we would follow Kuaka who had a 3' draft. To negotiate our way through the authorities we agreed to use an agent and we had cruising guides to help us find our way up the river because our electronic charts stopped part way up it.

Parked at the fuel dock at RAM Marina.

When we awoke Friday morning it was still overcast and foggy. Good thing we didn't plan to leave early because low tide was about the time we would get there. So we had planned to leave about 8 which would get us there on a rising tide. Kuaka left first and we caught up with them and followed them through the bar. We came to a point just outside of Livingston where Serge warned us about a shallow spot that should have been enough for us to clear so I accelerated thinking that if it was a little high we could push through. I had turned on the AIS trail for Kuaka so I could go exactly where he did. Well we got to the area of the high spot and boats came out from shore towards us and were sitting there waiting as we ran aground. We were just outside the deeper water. The first boat tried to pull us off and couldn't. He then went and got another boat that gave us a line for our halyard and tipped us as the other boat pulled and we got off. Tipping a full-keeled boat doesn't necessarily help because the one side will go up but the other side will go deeper. We haven't run aground this whole trip and now in this trip we hit twice and needed help. Won't make that mistake again.

Kuaka in the morning fog.

Once off the bar we called our agent and he said he would be out shortly. Well it was over an hour later when he appeared with all the authorities in a launch who came on board asked for our papers which we gave them. They asked a couple questions, took our papers and we were told to go tour agent's office at 1430 to get our permits and papers back. So we had lunch on the boat and then dinghied in to walk around the town and get some local currency. We left Jim, our crew member on the boat to keep an eye on it so nothing disappeared. We found an ATM at a bank that gave us the local currency, Quetzoles, and we spent some buying bananas and a souvenir T-shirt for our crew.

Livingston was a busy little town. There is no highway coming there so all the traffic in and out is by boat. Lanchas carrying large number of folks and larger boats carrying cargo to the docks, even vehicles delivering material to this isolated town.

Busy street scenes in Livingston.

Our business concluded about 1530 so it was now too late to get to our marina in Rio Dulce so we talked with Kuaka and planned to stop in a cove off El Golfete known as Bahia de Tejano or Texan Bay.  We turned and began our trip up the River. It wasn't very wide but it was deep and had some current running. With the hills and mountains the wind was inconsistent and weak so we couldn't sail. Also in the course of the trip up to El Golfete the river went every direction at least twice as it wound around through the very scenic highlands. Supposedly, this is where the Tarzan movies were filmed and the jungle clearly could have been the setting. The pictures will hopefully convey the beauty.

The rigging shop on the Rio Dulce in Texan Bay.

A woman working in a shop on Texan Bay.

The trip through the jungle took about 2 hours and we found Texan Bay using only the charts in the guide book and dropped the anchor. The Bay was very well protected from the breezes out on the lake and in fact it was a very still and quiet night. Once we got the anchor down a Mayan family in a canoe paddled over to us showing us there crafts to sell. It was a father, mother and 8 month old little girl. They had some very nice hand-made items and we bought a pair of hand-carved turtles from them. As they were there Kuaka came in the Bay and asked to raft up with us and we helped them tie on to us. In the over 30 years of sailing they had never rafted to another boat. We were honored they did it with us. Once we got settled they came over for a happy hour that went until well after dark.

Looking out the mouth of Texan Bay about sunset.

Saturday we got up not so early after a very quiet and restful night at anchor and got ready for the culmination of our journey. Our last night on anchor for months. We savored it and hated to leave but we were anxious to get to the finish line. The last 15 miles through the rest of El Golfete and up the river to Rio Dulce was an adventure, especially without any charts other than what was in the guidebook. Finally we rounded the turn and saw the bridge and the marinas we were here.

Coming around the bend. The far side of the bridge is visible.

We were unable to raise the marina on the radio, either because we were on the wrong channel or whoever had the radio didn't speak English. But we called them and they had us come in to the fuel dock to wait and we topped off with fuel. A short time later they showed us our tie-up on the face dock across from the fuel dock between 2 boats that was almost wide enough for us to fit into. The wind was blowing us into the dock so I turned out and backed along the fuel dock as far as I could and with the wind blowing the bow over I drove into the slip. The crew threw lines to the handlers on the dock and they pulled up right in. Our dinghy was just about hitting the bow pulpit of the boat behind us and our bow was over the swim platform of the boat in front but we were in.

Amekaya parallel parked in her new home on the Rio Dulce.

So here we were. The end of almost 9 months of travels where we would be for 5 months. We would now be switching from a travel dynamic to a maintenance dynamic with an entirely different set of considerations. We have work we want to get done here, enjoy the local culture and travel throughout the region to do sightseeing.

Today our crew left and we just sat down to decompress. Tomorrow our new adventure begins.

Creative gelcoat design on one of the boats in the yard.