Amekaya's Blog: Back to the Rio

Back at the dock in the Rio

After more than 6 months cruising, we’re back in the Rio. Returning here is bittersweet for many reasons. First, it means that our sailing is done for several months after having so much fun with friends around the islands many of whom have gone back to their other lives

Our marina in the Rio

and some wonderful sails that are fun in themselves. But, going back to the Rio means securing the boat for us being gone from her for several months while we go back and visit family and friends. On the other hand, just being in the Rio is fun with lots of friends and things to do. The living is easy.

Castillo de San Felipe on an evening Sledgehammer Cruise

People say there is no schedule but there is. Staying out late into the summer was great. Nice steady winds for sailing, uncrowded anchorages, easy access to shore facilities and warm water. But there is only so late we can push the season. Visiting up north we need to be back before it gets cold there which means September. So, to spend enough time there dictates when we have to be back. This year we have the additional challenge of being ready to leave for Panama before the weather changes in the Fall so though we have no schedule there are marks on the calendar we need to honor.

Hiking along the pipeline road

One of the benefits of being in the NW Caribbean is that one can cruise during hurricane season without much worry. If a storm is headed that way it only takes a day to get back to the Rio for protection and once back, there is a high degree of assurance from storm risk.

Bananas growing in the jungle uncultivated

Many people cruise in the eastern Carib during hurricane season reasoning that if a storm comes, they’ll just sail away from it. That works if the storm follows the forecast. In recent years storms have hit Grenada, brushed the ABC’s and devastated havens in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Anywhere in the storm box can be a risk.

A nice home along the Rio

We returned to the Rio after spending final weeks in Roatan, Utila and Belize. After we left Guanaja we knew there was a countdown clock until we left the Bay Islands and returned to the Rio. We looked at the tide charts and decided that the best tides would be early in the morning of the first days of July so that gave us about a month after we got back to Roatan’s West End although our Honduran visas expired in the middle of June. So how to spend our time?

We sailed to a Cay with a plan to continue but the anchorage was so rough we returned to Placencia. A very confusing evening sky on our sail back to Placencia.

There were several things we wanted to accomplish before leaving Roatan. I wanted to do more diving and take the Self-Reliant Diver course from Roatan Divers. We also wanted to enjoy for a final time some of the wonderful dining experiences we had. So, we headed back to the West End of Roatan for one final week of diving and fun. Living aboard in the West End of Roatan is just easy. It's very inexpensive, diving is close and pretty much anything you want is available. We stayed there for a week before we went further west to Utila.

A squall line moves into Utila. Winds got to over 40kts and torrential rain for about an hour.

I was able to do some dives with friends, but the highlight of the week was the Personally Reliant Diver course I took. The course is designed to increase confidence through training to deal with contingencies that normally could be handled with a partner. The course is probably the most challenging dive course I've taken so far. Key requirements identified additional equipment needs, coping without a mask or breathing apparatus at depth and navigating underwater. It took 5 dives over 3 days as we had to reestablish buoyancy that was distorted with an extra tank and the additional gear.

Entertainment for our last night in Roatan.

Our last night in Roatan we enjoyed a final trip to Ibigari for a wonderful meal.

After our last week in Roatan we headed to Utila. By the time we left Roatan pretty much all our friends had already gone back to the Rio. We were late leaving the Rio in January because we were waiting for our batteries and last year we had a short cruising time as we had to go back for Linda’s surgery. When we left Roatan for Utiila there was a nice wind dead behind us that allowed us to sail part-way until it died as we approached Utila so we motored the rest of the way.

Another night of Tapas at Mango Tango

Since we had to leave the Bay Islands on 15 June or seek an extension of our visas we considered our options that would get us to our preferred time to cross the Rio delta on or about 2 July. The weather outlook going forward was for heavy winds and high seas. But we really wanted to try and reach Lighthouse or Glover’s Reef in Belize on a downwind approach. So, looking at our weather there appeared to be no point in waiting and hope for the best.

A very late lobster dinner with our friends Ron and Terri Churchill from Namaste

When we left Utila the winds in the harbor were blowing in the low 20’s as forecast. Since there wasn’t much shelter from the winds, we expected conditions outside the harbor to be similar. But when we got out the winds were blowing in the 30’s and as we turned to try to go upwind the waves were breaking over the bow. The waves were big and fast and to sail into them would have required a high reach and lot of pounding to get up the east side of Utila to make Lighthouse on a good angle. Facing the prospects of a beat we opted to turn and run downwind and go around Utila to the west and head into South Water Cay in Belize.

Dinner at Rick's Cafe, one of our favorite places in Placencia. A real Club Sandwich.

Rounding Utila to the south and west is challenging. Rounding the island in that area in the past boats have reported attacks and fears of attacks along with the many reefs and shoals in the area. We managed to stay in deep water missing the reefs and had no sighting of any threats. Once around Utila we got on a broad reach with just the mainsail that took us all the way to South Water Cay in Belize overnight. Instead of the 20-25 kts as forecasted much of the wind was in the 30’s with periods in the 40’s. Seas continued fast and steep with waves breaking into the cockpit from behind. We dropped our enclosures that helped keep us dry.

Belize ho off port bow.

Overnight we saw lightning all around us on shore. There were storms in Honduras and Belize with an interesting light show as we were far away. Day began very early with the first light coming just after 0400 and as the sun came up the lightening dissipated and the winds dropped to the 20’s. We pulled out the jib and sailed up to the cut we left 3 months earlier heading to Utila. We pulled in the sails to go through the reef and followed our waypoints that we made when we left and had the anchor down about 0930 had breakfast and went to bed.

Our last morning in Honduras. The view from Utila looking at the mainland.

Over the night we didin’t sleep much switching on and off to take brief naps as the conditions made real sleeping difficult. But, once behind the reef it was just a gentle rocking and we went right off to sleep. We didn’t make the atolls, but this was still a nice place. I had already arranged to do some diving on Lighthouse Reef but that also was lost. But, we were able to sail the entire way from our anchorage in Utila to the cut in Belize with no power issues. Often the overnight load of the house circuits, the instruments, radar and the autohelm drain the batteries before sunup but with the wind we had we were able to maintain enough power to keep it all going. Even on a downwind sail.

Sunset at South Water Cay

At South Water Cay after our nap we did some snorkeling to enjoy the reef and the critters living there. The next morning we were eating our breakfast and a boat pulled in to anchor and on closer inspection it was our friends and dock mates on ProfASea who we had last seen on Guanaja. After some snorkeling we got together for happy hour on shore and watched Claudette’s son fly a drone around the island. He is a professional action photographer and got some excellent footage of our boats. He even has one flying through our rigging.

The gelato offerings at Tutti Frutti our favorite place in Placencia.

The next two weeks in Belize consisted of another trip to the Pelicans and then Belize. Lobster season just reopened so lobster was on the menu everywhere. Placencia had its annual Lobsterfest and was quite the party.

The watermelon eating contest at Lobsterfest that our favorite bartender won.

Placencia in the rearview mirror

On 1 July we checked out of Belize and sailed back to Cabo Tres Puntas with 20 kts of wind dead behind us. We made it to the anchorage before dark and had a quiet night. Just after sunrise the morning of 2 July we pulled up the anchor and headed to Livingston. We got in by 0700 and had to wait for the offices to open. We completed or processing by 1100 and headed up the river which was nice to move upstream before the winds filled in which make the anchorage really rough. We got back to our slip about 1400 and just chilled for the rest of the day.

The walk through the little village of Esmeralda

The next morning work began. Over the next couple weeks we completed a lot of work including major routine services on the engine and generator. Got dinghy repairs and retrieved our spare outboard from the Yamaha dealer where we had left it in January

Dinner our last night in the Rio at Dreamcatchers

needing parts. They were able to get the parts, repair it and it has been running great. We keep the spare in a locker in case something happens to our primary outboard. The primary is a 2014 Yamaha 15 hp 2 stroke engine and the spare is a 2000 Mercury 9.9hp 2 stroke. We got a rigging inspection and a new survey for our benefit to address any identified issues.

Tom from Cayo Quemado rigging up the mast doing our rigging inspection.

So here we are now heading back to the States missing our home but looking forward to seeing family and friends before heading back for more cruising.