The rest of 2011

Needless to say, it has been awhile since we caught up on our blog. We will try to give you a synopsis of the rest of last year.

After returning to Monkey Bay Marina in the Rio Dulce, Guatemala on 04/30/11, we spent a week getting Mobetah settled in her new slip along the outer long dock. Then on May 11 we took the bus to Antigua accompanied by our good friends Rodney and Katrina on Angelina. We spent a couple of days reaquainting ourselves with this lovely little town before hopping on a shuttle van for the ride to Monterrico, Guatemala on the Pacific coast. The ride was much different going west, as there was a four lane highway most of the way, and the land became quite low and flat as we approached the Pacific. It was out of season, so we had to search to find an open hotel. We shared a "penthouse" room that left much to be desired--the screens on the windows were torn, none of the sheets or towels matched, the toilet did not flush well, and the shower was cold! It also rained all night, so everything in the room was damp. We did find some nice places to eat and explored the little town. The sand on the Pacific coast is black from all the volcanoes, so from about 10 AM to 4 PM you cannot walk on it in bare feet, because it is so hot.

Pool at motel--nicer than room!

Fish dinner in town.

Woman carrying items to sell.

We decided we had seen enough of that part of Guatemala, so caught the van back to Antigua on May 14.

We stayed in a pleasant little hotel, Casa Cristina, where friends Norm and Linda on Ariel met us. We shopped, drank, ate, and toured Antigua for the next five days. On the 19th, Rodney and Katrina headed to Guatemala City to catch a plane back to the US, and we got a van to Panajachel on Lake Atitlan with Norm and Linda. The travel agent had recommended we stay at Hotel Jardines del Lago. It was quite luxurious compared to the smaller places we usually stay. We had King sized beds, lots of pillows and real hot water showers, and it included a nice breakfast in their restaurant. The hotel is surrounded by lovely gardens with many beautiful tropical plants and flowers. The first day we took a ferry boat to a funky hotel/restaurant on the hillside, Casa del Mundo, for a great lunch. The next day we took the ferry boat to San Pedro on the other side of the lake for lunch and sightseeing. Lake Atitlan is a beautiful lake nestled high amongst several volcanoes. There are many different groups of Mayans living all around, adding much color and interest to the area.

King size bed.

View from our hotel

Another view of lake from the hotel

Bill, Linda and Norm on ferry boat.

Cathedral in Panajachel

We returned to Antigua for two days, said goodbye to Norma and Linda who were returning to the US, and we took the 6 hour bus ride back to the Rio. (Always a thrill on narrow roads where everyone passes willy-nilly and the bus driver spends much of his time on his cell phone.) We finished getting Mobetah ready to leave for hurricane season, spent time at various places on the Rio, and finally boarded the bus for the 5 hour ride back to Guatemala City on June 4. We spent the night at our old stand-by, Los Torres Hotel, and flew back to Chicago, via Houston on June 5.

Bay Islands update! 01/13/11 thru 02/27/11

We left Monkey Bay Marina January 13th and headed down to Texan Bay. After an uneventful 2 hour motor down the Golfete (little gulf in English--a widening in the river), we arrived at Texan Bay and anchored on the inside. We met up with Terry and Sandi from S/V Gambit II (who had left Monkey Bay earlier in the day) for happy hour .... We probably got a little too happy that night! The next day Bill and Terry took the Texan Bay Marina launcha into Livingston to clear out of Guatemala. Everything went smoothly, and we were then ready to cross the bar out of the river on Sunday around noon  (Gambit was concerned about the depth and their draft). We actually crossed the bar about 10am and proceeded over to Cabo Tres Puntas (about 10 miles east of Livingston) and anchored for the night. The prevailing winds are from the east in this area, however they were supposed to die down and the seas were supposed to be somewhat calm the following couple of days, so we planned an overnight to the island of Utila in the Bay Islands of Honduras. We left about 11:00 on Monday morning and expected to arrive at Utila harbor the following morning about 7:00am or just after sunup. All went well, there was little wind, small seas, and no problems. We also did not get a single bite on the fishing lines!

We arrived at Utila as planned and went into town to clear in with customs, immigration, and the port captain. Clearing in was simple and uncomplicated. We explored the little town at the east end of the island. The town is full of dive shops, dive schools, hotels for divers as well as bars and restaurants that cater to scuba divers. The town was quite interesting, however, the holding in the anchorage was not very good, so "Mobetah" and "Gambit" went to the west end of the island to the Water Cays and anchored for three days. Even though the wind was quite high, which made snorkeling difficult on the open reefs, we did find a small patch reef just a few yards from where we were anchored that offered some superb snorkeling. We also spotted a lot of small conch but none large enough to keep for fritters, etc. We walked the sidewalk in the small town on one of the islands, visiting small stores and restaurants.

After stopping back by Utila harbor and doing some shopping and filling up with fuel, water and gasoline, we left Utila for West End on the island of Roatan. We arrived at the mooring field (operated by a National Marine Park) about three in the afternoon and were immediately invited to a dingy raftup. A dingy raftup is where a lot of boaters gather together with their dingys tied together and have happy hour (bring your own drinks and an appetizer to share). There were probably 20 dingies there, and a good time was had by all. West End offered good snorkeling and a number of tourist type bars/restaurants as well as gift and dive shops. The mooring field is completely surrounded by beautiful, clear water and reefs to explore. The one highlight of our time in West End was the Superbowl, for which many boaters gathered at a newly opened sports bar.  "GO GREEN BAY". We ended up staying two weeks at West End before moving on to French Cay Harbor.

At French Cay Harbor we found not one, but two, modern US style supermarkets, hardware stores, and US fast food franchises, computer stores and marine supplies. After restocking, we were off to Jonesville Bight which is only about 4 miles away. Many of the resorts and houses located around the edge of the bight (or small bay) are not accessible by road (only by water). From here, you go by dingy to Oak Ridge and on to Calabash Bight by a system of waterways which includes small mangrove canals. Accompanied by Gambit (Terry is a master at finding all the little local establishments), we discovered  many bars/restaurants as well as a seafood processing plant (shrimping and lobstering are really big here) which sold us headed shrimp for $2.00 US per pound. We've been back twice since then and have bought nine pounds so far.  They were processing lobster but refused to sell us any saying that all their lobster were contracted to Red Lobster in the states. We also met an assortment of expats who live in the area.

From there it was back to French Cay Harbor to pickup our guests, Nancy and husband, Steve. ( Nancy was Pat's college roommate.)  After one happy hour and one shrimp dinner, we picked up the anchor and moved back  around to Jonesville Bight for a couple of days. From there we went back to French Cay Harbor for more provisions.  We spent one day enjoying the facilities at Fantasy Island Marina and Dive Resort.  They have a beautiful beach and a nice pool.  Then it was back to West End for more snorkeling, beach walking, and visits to the little resort town.  Before we knew it, our guests' week was up, and they caught a taxi from West End to the Roatan airport. We hated to see them go, and they weren't too excited about flying back into a snowstorm in Chicago. (It was 80 degrees and sunny here.)

We stayed in the mooring field at West End until our week was up.  We were waiting to see when our Texas friends, Rodney and  Katrina aboard "Angelina," would arrive in the Bay Islands before making longterm plans. Their buddy boat got into some trouble, and they had to stop at Puerto Cortes on mainland Honduras for several days waiting on weather before finishing their crossing.

Rodney and Katrina finally arrived at West End just as our generator decided to go on holiday. We spent a couple of days with them before heading out for Fantasy Island Marina to have work done on the generator. We were lucky to get a side tie slip in the marina for $200 a week + $2.00 a day for electricity. We enjoyed running both air conditioners and watching the 30+ English speaking channels on the TV cable. Oh yes, we did find a young mechanic that was able to get our generator making 120 volt AC again, however, the selonoid shut off is shot, and we will have to get one once we are back in the US. (Meanwhile, we will have to shut it down manually rather than flipping the switch). Rodney and Katrina came up from West End once they heard about the air conditioners and cable TV ..... We stayed two weeks and they stayed three.

When we left French Key, we went up to Calabash Bight and anchored just off Mark and Lori's  "Turtlegrass Resort and  Marina" along with about five other boats. We ended up staying a couple of weeks there enjoying the NCAA basketball tournament on the TV in the beautiful home which Mark and Lori have been building for four years.  The resort is a work in progress, and a restaurant is planned but not yet operational. (Check out their website at Turtlegrass.net.)  There is a shell of a building overlooking the bight that has a kitchen and a bathroom. While we were there, the cruisers used some of Mark's scrap lumber to build a large picnic table, and Bill and John (from Up Jinks) installed three ceiling fans. After that work was accomplished, we cruisers had a place for happy hours, get-togethers and dominoes.

Since seafood was soooooo cheap in the area, we had another shrimp boil. Norm (from Ariel) had his big stock pot, and Bill had his jet burner, so Pat and the girls went on a shopping trip to French Key to purchase corn on the cob, sausage, potatoes, etc.  Norm cooked the seafood boil.  Lee Ann (from Live Sealee) made a great dessert, and a good time was had by all.

While we were there, Maggie, one of the marina dogs (Portaguese Waterdogs) had seven puppies, and they were named for the boats in the anchorage. Naturally, Moby was the smartest and the cutest one of the litter!

Finally, it was time to go, and we headed off to the islands of Cayos Cochinos (a national park) just off the Honduras mainland. We were accompanied by Rodney and Katrina along with Kent and Faye (from Southern Mist). The next day,  they decided to go on to the marina at La Saba (on the Honduran mainland), while we went back to the Island of Utila to extend our visas, since our 90 days were up,  and Utila's Immigrations is the only place that will grant you a reasonably priced 30 day extension.

When we arrived at Utila, we anchored next to Norm and Linda (from Ariel). After a day or so of sightseeing and eating in the village, we decided to go back to the Water Keys at the west end of Utila for a couple of days, since we had had such a great time there earlier. Big mistake!  The winds had shifted a little more from the southeast along with the waves and current, so our great anchorage was pretty rolly. The crews of Mobetah and Ariel decided to end the cruising season, check out and head back to the Rio Dulce. We left Utila about 4:00am headed for Puerto Cortes (where we would anchor for the night). Along the way, we caught a Little Tunny and a King Mackerel. The following day we motored from Porto Cortes to Tres Puntas and anchored there. The following morning, we left early (6:00am) for Livingston to clear into Guatemala. Everything went smooth and by late morning, we were cleared in and headed up the river to Texan Bay for the night . (We could have easily made it to our marina at Monkey Bay before night, however, the wind comes up every afternoon, and it would have made it almost impossible to get into our slip).  We anchored at Texan Bay and were so tired that we didn't even get off the boat.

The following morning, we followed Ariel up the river to Fronteras. While Ariel was getting settled into their slip, we went to the Puma dock to fill up with fuel. Once we were back and settled into our slip, we spent the rest of the day catching up with old friends from Monkey Bay.

Everyone was preparing to go home, so it was decided to pool our seafood and have a Monkey Bay supper. Terry and Sandi (from Gambit II) donated about 15 lobster tails, we donated our King Mackerel that we caught on the way back to the river, and several people donated shrimp that they still had in their freezers. It was quite a feast and everyone had a great time.

Now it's time to start preparing to store the boat during hurricane season while we  go back to the States to see doctors, friends and relatives. Maybe we'll do a little land traveling before we head out.

Stay tuned for more on the travels of MOBETAH

A Busy 90 Days In Guatemala!

   As usual, when we arrived back in Guatemala, we received a 90 day tourist visa. Our 90 days is up on January 11th, so we are now preparing to sail off to the Bay Islands of Honduras. Due to weather, we will probably leave after our 90 days are up, which will make us illegal aliens. Not to worry, you just pay the fine when you leave. The fine, by the way, is 10Q ( $1.25 US) per person per day you overstay.

One of our first projects when we returned was to strip all the old varnish off the exterior teak (Mobetah has a lot of teak) and replace it with 10 coats of the latest and greatest varnish available (Epethanes ultra high UV varnish). Thank goodness we were able to find a quart of it here in Rio Dulce. We hired Marta (a local woman) to do a lot of the sanding, while Bill did the flat areas with a power sander. Marta did all the hand sanding on the hard to get to places like handrails and around cleats and such. She was a very hard worker, so we paid her 200Q a day ($25.00 US), which is considerably more than the going rate down here. She did bring her teenage son and husband a few days to help, at miumal cost.

After the teak refinishing was completed, we decided to take time off from boat projects to do a land trip. We went with two other couples to Copan in Honduras. Man, did we pack a lot of sightseeing into four days. We visited the Mayan ruins on the first day, which are very impressive. Many of the ruins have been rebuilt by archeologists from around the worlld, and there is a very impressive museum on site which houses a lot of the original artifacts from the ruins. Although Copan is smaller than other Mayan sites, it has the best preserved carvings. Our biggest break, on that first day, was finding Renaldo and his two brothers. They all own TucTucs (those funny looking little three wheel taxis from India), and all three speak good English. They became our unoffical tour guides from then on. On the second day, Norm and Linda decided they wanted to go horseback riding, and everyone else later decided to just go up into the mountains to some lesser known Mayan ruins and eat lunch at a nearby resort. After a short hike from the resort to the ruins, we arrived at the ruins to hear Renaldo on a trail leading from the opposite direction telling John and Linda that their friends were there. When we left the ruins, we went back with John, Linda and Renaldo to a small village which produces corn shuck dolls (which all the little girls try to sell to all the tourists) and has a small factory where the ladies of the village weave native fabric with hand looms. Renaldo called his brother (it may be a third world country, but everyone has a cell phone, and there seems to be excellent coverage almost everywhere), and he came up the mountain with a tuc tuc to pick us up, while Linda and Norm rode back down on the horses. It was a white knuckle trip down the mountain. We saw some tobacco barns which looked just like the tobacco barns in South Georgia looked fifty years ago. We also stopped at a small shop where artifical Mayan atrtifacts are made for tourists and for decoration of businesses around the world, (think MAYAN PRINCESS HOTEL in Las Vegas!) The next day we went up to McCaw Mountain, which is a beautiful park that nurses and houses abandoned or injured birds. We first enjoyed a fried chicken lunch at their restaurant (operated by Twisted Tanya and her husband ,who we had met previously at their restaurant in town), then toured the park and enjoyed the birds and exotic plants. Before we left we had a cup of fresh coffee which is grown, processed, roasted and packaged on site. We know it was fresh because it was just coming out of the roaster as we showed up. On our last day everyone but Bill and Sandy went ziplining. They were taken on a bumpy ride in the back of a 4-wheel pick-up way up in the hills. From there, they came down 4 kilometers of lines stretched between 14 platforms. It was exhilerating, and the views were spectacular. To compensate, Bill and Sandy went back (we had discovered it earlier) to a little comedor in the market for their pork chop, egg, bean and coffee breakfast (at a cost of about $2.50 US). Our van driver from Rio Dulce showed up right on time, and we headed back to the Rio.





Our Copan Taxi (It's called a TucTuc)

Colorful  Macaws

 

Artifacts At The Museum



Pat On The Zipline



Bill, Terry and The Big Saba Tree

  

You're  Safe In Copan Honduras If You Stick With These Guys



We also made a trip to Frutos Del Mundo (Fruits Of The World), which is a small plantation specializing in growing exotic fruits from around the world. Dwight, the owner and our guide, came down to Central America 23 years ago with the Peace Corp and just never left. We enjoyed the tour and got to taste several new fruits which we had never tried before and also enjoyed a fried fish lunch (prepared using fruits, vegetables and juices produced on site along with their own fresh Talapia taken from their irrigaion ponds.)

 



Dwight, Our Guide and Owner Of Frutus Del Mundo



Lunch at Frutus Del Mundo

  A happy hour discussion of the use of pressure cookers, turned into the cooking of dried beans and then to the plotting of the first annual Fiesta De Flatulance. The four couples who were here in the marina at the time all brought their pressure cookers and beans up to the marina's kitchen and prepared beans to be shared for supper. Everyone had a great time and the beans all turned out to be delicious.



John The Marina Manager

 

When Christmas came around, many of the Monkey Bay residents volunteered to help Casa Guatemala (a local orphanage here on the river). Since we were told that some of the most needed items were panties and bras for the older girls at the orphanage, the ladies of Monkey Bay spent one day shopping for these. John, the marina manager, volunteered as boat operator to get them to town and even assisted in the bra and panty shopping. Pat, Linda and Jan spent Christmas Eve morning helping to cook turkeys at Backpackers, a local restaurant owned by the orphanage, where many of the older children get training for jobs. Jim, a boater here at Monkey Bay Marina who has white hair and a big bushy white beard, played the part of Santa Clause on Christmas Eve night at the orphanage. Gifts were given to the childern of the orphanage, and small gifts were given to each of the over three hundred Mayan children who showed up from neighboring villages. The Monkey Bay volunteer also assisted in feeding all the visitng children tamales, which are a Central American Christmas tradition. Then the staff, volunteers and the children from the orphanage had a wonderful Christmas Turkey Dinner. The following morning we had Christmas for our marina caretaker's children, with Jim once again playing the part of Santa Clause. The four children become almost like surrogate grandchildren for all of us cruisers at the marina. Christmas of 2011 was truly a Christmas none of us will ever forget.  

 

The Turkey Cooks At Backpackers

    

Jim (Our Santa Clause) from S/V Dreamaway



Monkey Bay Crowd at Xmas Dinner - Hotel Kangroo

 During our 90 days we have had happy hour almost every night, several pot luck dinners and one shrimp boil (with shrimp, sausage, corn on the cob and potatoes boiled in seasoned water) here at the marina. It's always a good time here at Monkey Bay.

 In spite of all the good times here, it's time to sail on to new territory. We plan to sail to the Bay Islands of Honduras about the 17th of January.



Thanksgiving in Guatemala

Several marinas on the river hosted Thanksgiving potlucks, but it was decided that we should have our own Thanksgiving dinner at Monkey Bay Marina, primarily, so there would be leftovers! Jim on "Dream Away" roasted two turkeys on the barbeque grill, and the rest of us made the closest things to traditional side dishes that we could with what we could find down here. Actually, we ended up with dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, fruit salad, cranberries, home-made Parker House rolls, pumpkin pie, and spice cake, so we were successful. Even though there were four Canadians and two Guatemalans among us, everyone seemed to enjoy celebrating U.S Thanksgiving.

The tables are set for the celebration



Beautiful local flowers for a centerpiece



Buffet table set with all the usual Thanksgiving foods

Thanksgiving feast enjoyed by all

Marina manager, John, and two local Mayan girls

Back to the Rio Dulce and Mobetah

We spent two nights in Guatemala City at Los Torres Hotel. We learned our lesson about not making reservations. The night man on duty when we arrived from the airport put us in a tiny, old room with no window, a very old, soft bed, and the smell of mildew! The next morning, we asked for a room change and got one of the updated rooms with all new tile, bed, and bathroom fixtures. It also had a window. We will know to make reservations next time. We like staying at this hotel, as it is in Zone 10 (the safe zone with all the fancy U. S. hotels and big shopping centers), but only costs $32/night (on the Rio Dulce rate.)

Bill outside hotel waiting for taxi.

The day after we arrived, we came back from eating, and heard a familiar voice in the hotel lobby. It was Norm, from the boat next to ours in the marina! He and his wife, Linda, had arrived a few hours before we flew in. We all went out that night, before leaving together the next day for the Rio Dulce. We had to take two taxis to the bus station, since we all had so much luggage. We told our cab driver we wanted to go to Litegua (the bus station), but he thought we said Antigua (the town 30 miles from Guat City.) After he informed us we would owe him $32, and we realized he was heading out of town, we told him "the bus." So he took us to the chicken bus (local) to Antigua! We finally got across to him where we needed to go, and we arrived at the bus station with 10 minutes to spare. We will carry pen and paper for taxi rides from now on.

We had a good trip to the river. The air conditioning worked the whole way, and the movie was in English. We have learned not to watch the road too closely, as the bus driver is often on his cell phone, even while passing on a curve or hill in a "no-passing" zone. Our marina manager, John, picked us up in town in the launcha, and managed to get all four of us and 16 pieces of luggage in the boat for the ride to the marina. It was good to see Mobetah floating in her slip. The outside was covered with layers of dirt and spider webs, but the interior was just fine, thanks to the dehumidifier.

Bill and manager, John, catching up.

Most of the boaters in the marina were new to us, but it doesn't take long to rejoin the Monkey Bay family. We are back to happy hours most evenings (starting much earlier, since the mosquitoes are quite fierce as darkness arrives about 5:30), had a get-together potluck one night, and have been to several restaurants with the other boaters.

Potluck

Many of us went to the Halloween party across the river at Mario's Marina. Not everyone wore costumes, but there were some real creative ones there. The winners were a couple dressed in white trash bags covered with trash and paper taped on them. They called themselves, "White Trash." The emcee was a "French Maid" (Susie on Cabaret), who kept the games and music going.

But it can't be all fun and games, so boat projects can't be far off.