Guatemala - 6 weeks in Rio Dulce

Our main reason for going to Rio Dulce, was that we had a couple of tears in our Main Sail, and costs in Miami to do the repair and reinforce all the seams on the Main was huge. In Rio Dulce, there is a Sailmaker, Chloe in Cayo Quemado and she is very competent with staff to help with the moving of large sails for sewing purposes. As it would have it, when visiting her, she was busy with work for 2 weeks before she could take delivery of our Main and begin our work. So we hung around Cato Quemado doing little chores aboard. Taking off the Main and lifting it into Chloes Loft was quite a procedure, but all went well with her staff and Nicholas.

Chloe said the repairs and resewing of all seams would take about 2 weeks, so we headed up river to Fronteras to stock up on Fresh Supplies, and I wanted to visit the excellent dentist Cledente for Teeth Cleaning. I also recently discovered a spot on my Face which I was not happy about and wanted to see a Dermatologist about.

Sailing up through the Golfete Lake and to Fronteras

We anchored close to Catamaran Marina where we’d berthed last season

Catch up dinner with Ben of SV No Cry at The Shack

Excellent Pina Coladas

And excellent The House Burgers with Fries

Friendly House Cat

You might recall we brought some boxes from Miami for a Fellow Cruiser. Well we met them and they were kind enough to Thank us with a dinner at Dreamcatchers with Chef Lizelle.

Nicholas had an excellent Pasta dish with Shrimp

I had Rib Eye Steak

Meshugga at anchor, boat to the left in the photo.

We decided to try sell some of the huge amount of equipment that Nicholas has upgraded on Meshugga, so we took a table at the bi-weekly Cruisers Swop Market. NO luck…….

Off to the Dentist for an excellent Teeth Cleaning

To go to the Dermatologist it’s a half hour ride away in the town of Morales. Even though Nicholas said I should take a taxi, I was most happy on the local Litequa Bus. I met Horst, who sat next to me. A 85 year old German sailor, who was also going to visit the same Dermatologist. 

We kept each other company and chatted about our sailing lives.

Walking around Morales, whilst we waited for the bus back to Fronteras

Whilst at anchor near Fronteras, one night during a Huge Thunderstorm we Again got a Lightning pulse and it took our out Wind instrument. We rushed to order not One but Two Wind Instruments from Hodges in Miami and had them AirFreighted in.

 

Chloe messaged us to say our Main was ready for collection so we Motor-Sailed the 10 miles to Cato Quemado where her loft is, to collect our Main, and deliver our New Gennekar which Nicholas wanted slightly cut as it was a bit long and low when flying it.

Installing our Main

The local fishermen are Very proficient at throwing their Throw Nets

I got stung/bitten ( I think by a spider), the welt was huge, red and inflamed. Antibiotic crème and no scratching helped it along and a week/10 days later all was back to normal.

We delivered our Gennaker to Chloe, and here’s Nicholas marking where Chloe should cut the Gennaker to his specifications.

Main installed, we went back to Fronteras to again stock up with Fresh Produce and collect our DHL Airfreight Wind Instruments. This time being more prudent of a possible Lighting Strike, Nicholas did not isntall it, and thought he’d only do it as we left Rio Dulce.

Nicholas decided to try a Faraday Cage around the Wind Instrument. Hopefully it’ll deflect another Lightning strike.

Final dinner with Ben. No idea when or if we will see him again. This time at Ah Wei, which tonight specializes in Margaritas and Tacos

My Shrimp Tacos

Carne (meat) Tacos

Houses alongside where we were anchored at Fronteras.

Back to Cayo Quemado and collected our cut down Gennaker, 

Leaving Fronteras

The wind looking favorable for our voyage, we motored the final 10 miles to Livingston to clear Customs and Immigration.

Stunning Ravine of the Rio Dulce

Heading to go under the Dreaded Power Lines again. But this is our 6th time, so getting used to it, although we still hug the Left bank where the Lines are higher.

A quick visit to Raul, the Agents, office we were all legit with a Zarpe and stamped passports and free to leave Guatemala.

The tides showed that High Tide all week was in darkness, so we took the Bull by the Horns and crossed the bar at 3am, following our previous incoming track, sailing 10 miles across the Bay to anchor in the lee of the headland, and getting a few hours sleep.

Morning gave us a sloppy swell, which was not great for Nicholas to go up the mast to replace our Wind Instrument and lift our 8 foot VHF aerial which gives us VHF and AIS comms, but there was no alternative.

Final prep to sail to Panama….

Guatemala, Rio Dulce & Cayo Quemado

I had another week of dentistry issue. First with one of my molar crown implants coming loose, and I was able to go to a local dentist, about a 20 minute dinghy ride to have him remove and re-tighten the crown onto the implant abutment.

Cledent has a dock, as most people, Cruisers and Locals travel on the Rio. 

Secondly, the Implant Bridge I had made in Guatemala City had been the wrong color, and now with the lab open after the festive period, I had to return to Guatemala City for the new, correct color implant  bridge to be made and fitted.

I took the midnight Litegua bus to Guat City, and was astounded that it only took 4 hours, with no traffic.

Walking thru the parks between appointments to get some fresh air and exercise.

I spent 2 days in Guat City, and then straight back home to Rio Dulce, this time a seven hour ride, with two accidents causing delays.

Hopefully that’s the last of dentists for me

Back at Meshugga, Nicholas has had the Volvo Penta service agents G&M Servico servicing our engines which they started mid December. Not 100%, as they did not have a few spares, but have furnished Nicholas with a comprehensive list so that the next mechanic in Miami does not have to do diagnostics first.

Meanwhile Nicholas finished installing the new Depth Sounder and AIRMAR Wind instrument. In checking electronics, he found that most of our instruments would not switch on, and spent hours trying to activate them. Eventually he had to admit defeat and we reached out to Frederic Ramiere a Belgium National who is a Raymarine Agent, and lives and works in Cayo Quemado, 20 miles away from us at Catamaran Marina. Luckily that’s downriver, as Meshugga cannot get under the vehicular bridge at Fronteras which is only about 80’ high.

We made an arrangement with Frederic, and on Friday we left our Marina berth, motored, and hand steered the 20 miles to Cayo Quemado. Frederic spent numerous hours both on Friday and Saturday trouble-shooting our issues.

Whilst in South Africa in July/August Meshugga was struck by a Lightning surge, and it blew out both our Chart plotters (Salon and Flybridge), the Auto Pilot, the old Wind Instrument, the Lagoon Explex which drives everything, the VHF, and the ITC5. So we’re pretty much stuffed, and cannot safely sail to Miami without these instruments.

Guatemala has some weird rule that Cruisers cannot Air freight anything over $1000 into Guatemala, and hence the items have to be Sea Freighted taking 6 weeks from the time it reaches the Freight Forwarders from the Suppliers. OUCH!

Our plan hence, as I have a BioMetric appointment the week of 22 January, which is why we’ve been in a hurry to get going, is now to fly up to Miami. We’ll pre-order, and get all the instruments sent to our Key Biscayne UPS postal box address, and I’ll fly back with all the sensitive instruments in my hand luggage.

So, we’re stuck here in the Rio for a few more weeks. Once we have the instruments on Meshugga we’ll return to Frederic for him to do a Professional Compliant installation thus ensuring all the warranties are properly effective.

Fun with Ben of Sv Rendevous, our neighbor from Catamaran Marina, also down here in Cayo Quemado. We went to Texas Mike’s restaurant for a night out. 

Not the best photo, but one of Texas Mike

Nothing more Frederic can do for us, until we get our new instruments, we left their dock this morning.

Frederic and Pascal

Very cute Dock and Workshop