Guatemala - Rio Dulce, Lightening Stike, New Instruments

Fred, the Raymarine chap, found that we'd been hit by Lightning. Not a direct strike, more like a side blow, but enough to take out all our Instruments. That included our Chartplotter, Auto Pilot, Wind, Depth, and Lagoon Eplex system that drives the whole boat.

We went on-line to order and Airfreight new equipment to us, only to discover that Guatemala has some weird rule that you can only Airfreight up to $1000 worth of equipment, and many of the items cost way more than that. Sea Freight was a possibility, but at 6-8 weeks. :-(

Our solution was for me to fly to Miami and fly back in with all the equipment, and decided to do this in conjunction with an appointment I had at USCIS for Biometrics for my UK Citizenship application.

We had thought we'd be in Miami for my Appointment, but with no instruments our trip to Miami on Meshugga was put on hold.

Motor Sailing back to Fronteras, with no Instruments, using my iPad Navionics for navigation

On Sunday 28 February I did the long 6-7 hour bus ride on Litegua again to Guatemala City, taking an early morning 6am bus so that I could ensure I make my 5pm flight to Miami. All went well with no road accidents and I made good time arriving by Uber from the Bus Station to the Airport by 2pm. With just hand luggage and a timeous Hotel Shuttle, I made it to my Airport hotel by 10pm.

Monday 29th was a hectic day for me, traveling to Miami North for my Biometrics appointment, as with all government departments, it's hurry up and wait in various queues. But the actual Biometrics appointment was quick and professional. Then it was another long haul down to Key Biscayne where we have our UPS box. 

Riding the Free Miami Loop, amazing 

I got to UPS to find that 4 packages had not yet been delivered, although scheduled for Monday. I ended up spending a few hours sitting on the floor in UPS waiting for USPS and Amazon to arrive. Four big shopping bags, quite heavy with all the protective packing, I caught an Uber back to my Hotel at the Airport.

Loot

I stayed at Staybridge Suites, an IGH hotel, and was most impressed with both the suite.

In addition, they do full hot breakfasts, and Mondays, Tuesday, and Wednesdays, have a Happy Hour with Free wine and beer and snacks. On arrival back from UPS I grabbed a glass of wine, a plate of snacks and chilled for a half hour.

I then had the task of packing all Nicholas stuff into my Tog Bag, and Cabin Bag,  ensuring that all delicate instruments were traveling in my cabin bags. In addition to all the new Instruments, was a new Bosun Chair and Climbing harness.

Tuesday morning was up early, check out, and Uber to the Airport as the Shuttle only starts at 7am. All checked in, I went to the American Express Centurion Lounge for an excellent breakfast and Mimosa to celebrate a successful trip.

Whilst in the Lounge I started coughing, which got worse on the Plane, and Bus thereafter.

I had worn a mask traveling to Miami both on the bus and plane, but not on Monday whilst using public transport and Ubers, nor at my Biometrics appointment. I again wore a mask all the way back to Rio Dulce. But the damage was done, I had picked up some germ - whether Flu or Covid.

I arrived back in Frontiers at 11pm, and Nicholas met me at the Litegua Station. Back on Meshugga I immediately took Anti-biotics and started Nicholas on them too, as he was bound to get my germs.

I've been man down in bed for 10 days. I did have a temperature of 39.5C for a couple of days, so it might have been Covid, or otherwise just bad Flu. With all our Covid Vaccinations, I've been sure that I should be fine. Nicholas got sick too, but not as bad as me.

Nicholas continued this whole while, at a slower pace, installing all the new Instruments, with the hundreds of cables, old being stripped out and new cables being installed.

Making a New Instrument panel

Cutting out the correct size holes for the new Instruments

Wires everywhere

More cables - so glad he knows what’s going on

A plan coming together well

Guatemala - Cayo Quemado

It’s been a quiet week.

We’ve been aboard at Cayo Quemado. I’ve done normal yacht chores, and I’ve also started with my bulk storage Stock-Take, which I’ll now keep meticulously updated so that I can do proper Victualing before we leave USA headed for Panama and French Polynesia later this year. This is just one of my bulk lockers. 

Every day meals have to be prepared; tonight is BBQ grilled chicken and baked potatoes with salad and beans.

Stunning sunset with hardly a breath of wind

Nicholas has been continuing with various repairs and maintenance and new Projects.

Here he is running electric cables to install 110V electricity sockets in the workshop, as we are a 220V boat.

Our view into Cayo Quemado inner anchorage, where Chloe the Sailmaker and Frederic the Raymarine chap reside.

He has also begun with the task of un-installing all the lightening damaged instruments.

A pile of uninstalled equipment is piling up on our cockpit table

The Nav table station is beginning to look quite bare with all the instruments uninstalled and wires pulled out.

We had a couple of neighbors arrive, this yacht is quite pretty. 

Today, Sunday is quite cool. With misty conditions on the surrounding mountains and a mizzel all day, we find this weather wonderfully cool - it’s 25C / 80F.

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

Guatemala - Rio Dulce, New Year and Mast Drama

 Happy New Year to Everyone

Although I did not make midnight, I was awoken by all the fireworks, the closest about 100 meters away at a resort abutting Catamaran Marina. I got up and sat on the transom steps enjoying 10 minutes of fireworks, a ring of displays around the Rio Dulce bay.

Repairs, Maintenance and Projects continue.

We replaced Running Rigging for our Genneker. First up was a new Halyard. Second was new sheets. Lovely new rope!

The stripped out old Halyard

Then Nicholas went up the Mast to uninstall equipment at the very top of the mast. Above the second spreader at about 110 feet, his Bosun Chair failed, first one strap and then immediately the second strap. He was able to grab the mast. Below, I did not know what happened, and he shouted for me to release the halyard. He was able to hold onto the halyard, to which he had tool buckets tied, and his butt sank down onto the bucket and he sinked/slid down the mast to the spreader.  I called for help to our neighbor Ben. Unfortunately he did not have a Bosun Chair, but my shouting for Ben, raised the alarm to the Cruisers playing Volleyball about 50 meters away from Meshugga. A few came down to Meshugga to see if there was a problem (Cruisers don’t usually shout on their boats). Yoga friends Marty and Annie came, and I asked them if they had a Bosun Chair we could borrow to send up to Nicholas. They did, and a couple of Cruisers came onto Meshugga to help out with sending up the Chair and attaching a Tag line.

The incident ended well, with Nicholas sporting a few bruises and a cut on his stomach from sliding down the mast. Afterwards Nicholas was pretty unfazed, but I needed a stiff whiskey as I realized how close things could have gone pear-shaped struck home. At 120 foot, or 8 floors, Nicholas would have either died or be paralyzed. 

Broken straps of our Bosun Chair.

We borrowed Marty’s Bosun Chair, and Climbing Harness, and decided to start being ultra cautious, Nicholas going up on two halyards, with 2 totally separate systems, so that if one failed, he would still be attached on the other.

We had a few must-do jobs. Below is our new AIRMAR wind speed unit with new cabling, as our previous Raymarine wand had failed.

Next was new cabling for our existing VHF / AIS aerial unit, as we had some crackling and wanted to improve our reception.

Next was a new 8 foot VHF / AIS aerial with new cabling for even greater communication range.

Not shown is a new Masthead Tricolor and Anchor light, also with new cabling.

Nicholas also had to replace the lamp in our Steaming light.

All, except the Steaming light was at the Very top of the mast, 120 foot up. I think he did 6 trips up the mast, each trip 1-2 hours. 

So as not to shout to each other, we used our Sena Headsets, which work on an Intercom system and is voice activated, ideal as it leaves your hands free, both for Nicholas to work, and me when I’m hoisting or lowering him. Without the Headsets I find it difficult to hear Nicholas shout for me to stop or hoist above the noise of the electric winches, and creates a lot of anxiety. I love the Headsets, as I can hear every little word, both for hoisting and lowering and I can monitor him working to anticipate when he needs to move. 

At the first Spreader installing our second, spare Radar.

HUGE thanks to Marty and Annie of SV Anchor Management for the loan of their brand new Harken Bosun Chair, and Climbing Harness.  We were not able to buy either in Rio Dulce at any of the Boating or Hardware stores.

A new Bosun Chair and Climbing Harness is in our Shopping Cart, and as soon as we’re on our way to the States, we’ll pull the trigger on that, so that we’ll have it ready for our collection on arrival in Key Biscayne, Miami.

Our weekly binge on 2.5Lb/ just over 1kg of Camorones (Shrimp/Prawns) with Garlic, Chillie spice and Lemon.  No fresh lemons at the markets, so had to make do with bottled.