Guatemala - Rio Dulce, It’s Hot

Back at Meshugga. Jet Lag. Heat. Humidity. Rain at Night. TG for AirCon!

It took me a week to get over Jet Lag, and slowly become accustomed to the heat again.

I tried a New Schedule of: Get up at 5.30am, coffee and read the news, and get going on any outside cleaning tasks by 6.30am. At 7.30am my alarm goes off, have iced coffee and listen to the Rio Dulce Cruisers Net for any info of interest, and then back outside to clean til about 9am. By this time the sun is already high enough that it's become too hot for me, and retreat inside for another rest and then look at at tasks I need to do inside. 

HaHa. That lasted a day or two. The heat is relentless. I'm tired all the time! We run the Fans inside all day long, to move the heavy hot humid laden air.

Daily temps are 35+ deg C/ 95 deg F, and humidity at 80 %.

Catamaran Marina and Resort has a lovely pool, but it's in the sun all day long, and hence the water is warm. At about 4pm the shade from trees overhangs the pool, and I like to pop up for a warm swim - the best is getting out of the pool for the cool breeze that sets in each afternoon to airdry my body. So cooling!

Meshugga is on the western side of Catamaran Island, and the afternoon breeze, often reaches 10 knots is from the east, so we don't get the wind in our slip, and the inside of Meshugga remains stifling hot. At about 4 or 5 pm we close up the boat, and switch the Aircon on. Heaven, as the boat cools down. We first do the Salon, and after dinner open the doorway to our Cabin, and let the cool air flow down the stairs to cool our cabin for the night. When going to bed about 10/11pm Nicholas switches the Aircon off, and within a couple of hours as the ambient outside temperature drops to about 25 degrees, much the same as our internal temperature, and we open Cabin hatches to let the evening breeze flow in.

Drinks with fellow Cruisers, Ladies Who Sail Luncheons, Yoga, Poker Games, Dominoes. There is lots to keep busy with, not to mention the daily specials various restaurants put on to entice.

Dinghy ride to Casa Perico, the venue for our Ladies Lunch.

Michelle of SV Reach at the Ladies Luncheon.

Volleyball at Catamaran Marina

Pool bar drinks, every evening at 5.

The front seats on our bows are beginning to look shoddy as Lagoon did Veneer Teak on Marine Ply, and after 10 years  the veneer is beginning to lift and peel off. So we’ve been looking for solid teak. We heard about a lumber yard, and after some research found one close to us, with Plantation Teak, not Burma teak (which is the Gold Standard, and very hard to get, not to mention expensive).

We dinghied to Tortugal Marina and walked through the Mangroves on a boardwalk and then about 2 miles on a path finally coming to the Sawmill. We were able to buy a few ‘planks’ of Plantation Teak, and arrange for one of the workers to help Nicholas carry the teak back to our dinghy. I was lucky to walk unhindered by such weight.

I was amazed to come across Cacoa trees, with large heavy ripe pods.  Wow. They belong to someone, but the urge pinch a pod was huge …..

At least twice a week, I jump in the dinghy and drive the 1 mile to Fronteras, the town, and do my shopping for fresh produce and any other necessities. I've still not explored the whole town, and still hear from other Cruisers about a Store providing an interesting Service or selling something interesting. The Fresh Produce Vendors often sell different produce, so it’s always worth trolling down both sides of the street to check out who might have Avo's, or Mangoes, Papaya, Apples, Pears etc. Not to mention Red Peppers or Fresh Broccoli or a nice head of lettuce. 

Dispensa has just reopened, another great addition to availability of goods. 

A short video of our Main Street in Fromteras

I was astounded to see this fresh delivery of a pallet of eggs. 

This I’d the most eggs I've ever seen in one store!

Twice a month the area hosts a Cruisers Market, where Cruisers can sell off  'Stuff' they no longer want, and local Vendors also set up tables of Cruiser Interesting Stuff. It's always interesting and worthwhile to spend a couple of hours perusing the tables. You never know what you might just Have to Buy.

In between there’s the necessaries Cookie days!

Oats, Coconut and Cranberries

Marshmallow CRISPIES for Nicholas

Days morf into each other. I'm making a new Boom Cover, that require huge amounts of Sunbrella and Dacron. I arranged to use the Restaurant floor, as there is nowhere on Meshugga big enough to allow a 10m/34 foot length of fabric to be rolled out, measured and marked for cutting.

Cutting fabric on the FlyBridge with the Hot Knife 

Sewing on the dining table as I really needed space to hold all the Fabric

Finished and installed. Double layered with Marine Sunbrella on top and Dacron underneath, sewed with Tenara PTFE thread. New Boltropes sides with 25 foot YKK 15 gauge zips.

It should be good for 10 years, keeping the sun off our Mainsail, and dry. 

Ashore in Fronteras on Independence Day, Busses were festively decorated. 

 Early mornings, we always have a lot of swallows coming to eat the bugs. 

Shopping at La Torre as opposed to in the street market - bit more expensive, but air-conditioned 

Meshugga at Catamaran Resort and Marina (tall mast on the left)

I had fun on Saturday doing a Virtual Baking Class by King Arthur Baking

Another month and another Ladies Lucheon.. This time at Tijax. Lovely venue, hot, but with fans and interesting women to bond and exchange info with. Great networking opportunity. 

At Catamaran Marina one of our barmaids, Diane, is pregnant and about to go on Maternity Leave and the Cruisers rallied to support her with gifts for her baby girl.

Diane

Geoffrey and Ruth of SV Jroo

Michael of SV Tenagra and Dan of SV Zia, toasting Diane

Our Resort Staff

Cruisers at the Shower

Bahamas - Long Island, Salt Pond

One of the main reasons we sailed to Long Island is that Nicholas requires a furling part trimmed on a Metal Lathe, and we were told that a workshop with a Lathe exists in Salt Pond.

So first order of business is find the workshop. I contacted Leslie Harding (242) 465 3437, who runs the workshop and he confirmed he had a Lathe and could assist us.

We dinghied to the Long Island Petroleum jetty, as Leslie had said it was the closest to him, as we needed to walk there

Getting closer we could see a set of stairs on the left hand side, as the jetty was rather high to try climb onto

Dinghy tied and chained to the staircase handrail. We have no idea of how safe the area is in terms of dinghy theft

 

Immediately ashore is the Harding Seafood, where one can buy fresh sea food directly off loaded from fishing boats

Our half mile walk down Queens Highway to find Leslie’s workshop

Bougainvillea is in bloom everywhere

By passing the Tourist Office - it was still closed, as it’s soon after 8am

Leslies workshop - no sign outside. He said walk until you see a workshop with a lot of vehicles outside. Leslie knew exactly what Nicholas required and said he’d have the part shimmed by tomorrow afternoon

Walking back, the Esso Fuel station.. 

Back into the dinghy and our next stop is the Public dock, used by fishing boats and Cruisers

All the Cruisers dinghies tied up. It was quite a low tide and only 1 staircase to climb up to the jetty. Cruisers kindly all move their dinghies to other bollards as that arriving or departing dinghies had access to the staircase

Our aim is to rent a vehicle for sightseeing. The Cruisers books all say Foxes Auto rents vehicles, but we went there and it seems the owner Mr Fox has started a new business from his home which his wife runs, and is directly behind Foxes Auto

Jenny at Seaside Car Rental, quite a well setup with a huge covered shade area for the vehicles to be stored, washed and vacuumed. We rented a large SUV for 2 days, from tomorrow at $85 per day including insurance.

A little further on is the Hillside Food Supply, and I was greatly impressed at the variety of items for sale, from dry to fresh to frozen, as well as a kitchen ware and hardware sections

The road down to the Public Dock

3pm Tiny’s Bar & Grill opens and we’ve not been to a bar or Restuarant in 2 months! We picked Karen’s and Duane up, and zoomed over to Tiny’s jetty

Tiny’s Beach Bar

Duane and Karen, and Cathy and Tony who drove up from Clarence Town where they are in a marina awaiting a weather window to sail to Turks and Caicos

Excellent Rum Punches and late lunch/early dinner. We had a fabulous time