The end of the summer and the hurricane season is fast approaching. The cooler autumn weather brings greater stability to weather patterns in the Caribbean so it is safe to head out sailing again.
Not that we are feeling any cooler up river yet.
Our visit to the Rio Dulce river of Guatemala has been lovely. We have had a chance to complete boat projects while making new friends and catching up with old ones. The humans had a chance to travel inland, but only wish they had made more time to see more of the interior.
The Mayan ruins of the once great city of Tikal
There is still a mountain of work we would like to do to the boat before we head back out (isn’t there always), but it is time to prioritize and start provisioning. I can not believe how quick the season has passed us by.
We seriously ‘blew’ the budget replacing the house bank of batteries this year!
Moving to Nana Juana Marina has meant that we have been closer to friends to socialize. I do not know how ‘conducive’ this has been to getting work done, but the human’s have had more fun in between.
Now that it is the end of the season we are starting to say goodbye to many fellow cruises heading out. A few we might see again, but many are heading north or rushing ahead to get to the Pacific early enough to get a full season on those islands. It is sad to say goodbye to good friends we have made and can only hope our paths will cross again.
S/V Our Rose and Ta-B’s going away party. Note the many empty bottles!
But we have lots to look forward to this sailing season, and I will share more of our plans later, but to start with the holiday season is fast approaching and we have company for Christmas. We have Auntie Kim and Uncle Andy coming along with Connor and Shannon. They are flying in from Vancouver, B.C., to the island of Roatan, Honduras, to spend some time again with us.
The Miller Clan when they visited us in the US Virgin Islands last year.
We are very excited about this and will have to ‘get our butts in gear’, finish off the last of the boat jobs and get ‘a moving’ if we are going to get there in time for their arrivals.
Watching the world championships for rugby in the comfort of the Marina’s bar.
The Kiwis were over the moon that the ‘all blacks’ thrashed the Aussies
Using a tuk-tuk to transport the new batteries to the boat.
Halloween fun and mischief.
A pirate and a nurse shark
Even I dressed up for Halloween as a surfer dog.
4 thoughts on “Guatemala, Rio Dulce – The last few boat jobs at the end of the hurricane season”
The Mayan ruins at Tikal look good. The new marina looks more sociable! Sounds like you have all been keeping very busy. Greetings from sunny Sharm el Sheikh. My plane was delayed over 3 hrs yesterday with all the fog in England.
Wow! Good old Sharm el Shekh in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, on the shore line of the Red Sea. Both my humans have found memories of budget diving packages from and around that area. They hope to sail there one day and dive from the sail boat. But all in good time. Have a great time there.
Quinnster
Looks like the Rio Dulche is a good place to leave the boat to go exploring inland, we won’t be in that region until May 2016 but I imagine the marinas will be very quiet as it appears that cruisers are holed up there for the hurricane season……..is that correct.
Dear Richard,
I will do my best to answer your question about Marinas in the Rio Dulce.
It is true that most of the Marinas reach their peak capacity between the months of June-October. For this reason many cruisers that ‘prefer a certain Marina’ will book their slip well in advance. This may mean that even in May some Marinas will call themselves full even though booked in boats have not yet arrived. But there is always some where available some where around the multitude of Marinas in the area or you can just anchor up for free. If you do a search on line you will find listings for all the ‘official’ marinas, but there are lots of ‘not so official’ marinas available here too for discounted rates. Some of these ‘not so official’ marinas have all the amenities of the ‘official’ marinas including pool, gyms and work sheds. There is always competition between Marinas, so you can play them against each other to get deals and move about. Some do their best to keep boats outside the usual season by offering discounts and deals if you stay 6 months or longer. Nana Juana Marina offer a free lift out in their yard if you pay 6 months in advance.
In the end it is your fellow cruisers that ‘make a place’. So anchor up near or book into a Marina with other cruisers you have met and enjoyed the company of before you get here.
Good luck!