We arrived a little over a month ago in Fronteras on the Rio Dulce, Guatemala and found Island Girl in excellent condition on the hard. On the hard means the boat is out of the water and is supported by stands to keep the boat standing straight. When I climbed on board I got a strange feeling that we were sailing because it felt that the boat was heeling. Since early in the morning an earthquake hit Mexico and the trembles were felt all over Guatemala, we presumed that the heeling was caused by the quake. But the travel lift operator and his crew who came with the travel lift to straighten the boat told us that it was due to the heavy rain and high winds when Harvey passed by offshore.

So, although we did not have a lot of damage from the hurricanes, like our son whose condo in Port Aransas in Texas was in 4 feet of water and his 49-ft. fishing vessel was heavily damaged, we had 3 personal events related to 2 hurricanes. Island Girl heeling in Guatemala, we had to evacuate with our travel trailer Landman due to potential flooding along the Guadalupe River; at our new campground the soil underneath the RV became so saturated with water from the heavy rain and wind that the RV started to “sink” on one side. I had to lift the RV with a jack during the soaking rain to put some boards under the wheels and last but not least our condo in Miami Beach got water intrusion during hurricane Irma.

When we arrived in Guatemala it was clear that the country was preparing for its Independence Day celebration which was on September 15. Everywhere on the streets, in the malls and stores all sizes of the national flag were for sale. The territory of modern Guatemala once formed the core of the Maya civilization, which extended across Mesoamerica. Most of the country was conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century, becoming part of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Guatemala attained independence in 1821 as part of the Federal Republic of Central America, which dissolved in 1841.

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, Honduras to the east and El Salvador to the southeast. With an estimated population of around 16.6 million, it is the most populated state in Central America. Guatemala is a representative democracy; its capital and largest city is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, also known as Guatemala City.
Guatemala is mountainous with small patches of desert and sand dunes, all hilly valleys, except for the south coast and the vast northern lowlands of the Petén department. Two mountain chains enter Guatemala from west to east, dividing Guatemala into three major regions: the highlands, where the mountains are located; the Pacific coast, south of the mountains and the Petén region, north of the mountains. All major cities are located in the highlands and Pacific coast regions; by comparison, Petén is sparsely populated. These three regions vary in climate, elevation, and landscape, providing dramatic contrasts between hot, humid tropical lowlands and colder, drier highland peaks. Volcán Tajumulco, at 4,220 meters (13,850 feet), is the highest point in the Central American countries.

The road from Guatemala City to the Rio Dulce crosses a very beautiful part of the country. The road starts in a very crowded city and apart from large through-avenues has very narrow streets; however, most are one-way. The city is in the mountains and on rainy days with a lot clouds it is for us very cold (54 to 65 degrees F). Rio Dulce is hot and steamy with temperatures in the 90’s. The road is mostly very good but changes after 45 miles from a 4-lane highway to only 2 lanes. The road passes the continental divide and the road is in the process of being completely reconstructed which makes the road for about 20 miles a small dirt road with massive excavations that cause mud and rock slides in heavy rains. The roadway goes sometimes a couple of feet along deep cliffs and is rather scary, but the views are beautiful. The bus trip takes between 6 and 8 hours.

The rivers are short and shallow in the Pacific drainage basin, larger and deeper in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico drainage basins. These rivers include the Polochic and Dulce Rivers, which drain into Lake Izabal, the Motagua River, the Sarstún, which forms the boundary with Belize, and the Usumacinta River, which forms the boundary between Petén and Chiapas, Mexico.

In September and October, it is still very hot and humid in Rio Dulce. The problem for the crew on a boat on the hard is that you cannot use the on-board facilities and you have to use the marina’s public bathrooms. Since you have to climb down the ladder from the boat you cannot reach these facilities fast, which is for my condition a big problem. So, we rented a room in one of the guesthouses RAM Marina has available. The guesthouse has a large living and dining area, a kitchen and two guestrooms with two bathrooms. Except for 3 days we had the guesthouse all to ourselves, so for a month we lived in a ‘real house’. Dorothy moved most of her special kitchen gear to the guesthouse so she could cook our favorite meals. The other wonderful thing was that our boat was just next to the guesthouse, so I could just walk in for lunch, coffee break or simply to cool off.

We have 2 a/c’s on board of Island Girl, but on the hard you cannot use them since they are water cooled. We purchased in the village a small 5000 BTU window a/c that we built into our bedroom hatch onboard. This a/c keeps the entire boat pleasantly cool during the day and cold during the night and thus offers great sleeping conditions. So, we were ready to move back to the boat and adjust to living on a boat on the hard.

RAM Marina is a service yard. Most of its dock facilities are for local power boats, but it has a storage and maintenance yard for over 150 boats and most of them are owned by cruisers who use the summer months and hurricane season to go to their home country and leave the boat behind. In October a lot of cruisers start to come back to start working on their boat projects. During our absence the keel damage we incurred after running Island Girl on a reef in San Andres was repaired and the bottom painted. Just before we left for Texas a few local workers did some varnish work on our teak, but it was my intention to complete the job.

While I started on the varnishing of the teak, the mechanics came on board to install the parts we brought from the USA to repair our generator. During the testing they discovered that the teeth on the flywheel had a lot of damage and we decided to de-install the generator and bring it to the workshop. In the shop we found that the generator had a lot of other problems and needed many other parts. If we had known this before deciding to repair the generator we had purchased a new one instead.

To go shopping or visiting the local restaurants in Fronteras you can use the dinghy and cross the Rio Dulce or order a Tuk-Tuk (see our pictures) to go over the high bridge. Tuk-Tuks are very cheap, but the cost is adding up. So, we decided to lower the dinghy from the davits on the boat and put it in the water. When the boat was heeling water was collected in the dinghy and filled the fuel tank up to the rim with water. I removed the water from the tank, the hoses and the carburetor, but the outboard did not run very trustworthy. A mechanic came and cleaned the carburetor, but the next day the problem was even worse. He came back and found a little piece of silicon that interfered with the fuel flow. We can now use the dinghy again and it makes shopping in the village so much easier and it is refreshing to cross the river in the open dinghy and feel wind on your overheated body.

Hurricane Irma visited Miami Beach with as we understood with over 100 miles of wind in the period between the signing of the sales contract and the closing which was planned for October 3, 2017. On the day the hurricane hit we followed information on the internet and Twitter the entire day to get some update and predictions. Our building was the last building in Miami Beach to get the power restored only after 5 days on Friday, but the elevators and the a/c did not work. The property manager did not allow anyone to enter the building, but both our real-estate agent and the manager reported water and wind damage to the ground floor. On Saturday our real-estate agent finally had access to the building and reported that both bedrooms and the living room had water intrusion, wall damage and there were still water puddles on the floor. The building maintenance man fixed the problems and the new buyer did not request a new inspection so the closing could be done as planned.

We signed a power of attorney for our son Robert so he could take care of the closing, but on Friday before the closing the following week we were told that the title company did not accept the power of attorney and sent us all the closing documents by e-mail and we had to go to the American Embassy in Guatemala City to get the documents notarized. So, we left on Sunday for a 7 hours bus drive to the city. There was no road construction going on the road over the mountains, the sun was shining and it was a wonderful trip. Guatemala is such a beautiful country and we enjoy the views. We had an appointment at the embassy on 1:30PM, but it was not really an appointment since a lot of people had and appointment at the same time. So, we had to take a take a number and waited to be called. First, we had to pay the $300.00 fee, but the cashier had some problems, so we had to wait again. The lady who helped us notarize the documents was wonderful, friendly and efficient, but we had 6 documents to be processed. Two local staff ladies were our witnesses, very friendly, had no idea what was going on, but they signed the documents.

Then we went with a taxi to the FedEx office to get an overnight shipment. This was a trip far away from the embassy in a city where traffic is only crawling. When we arrived on the location of the FedEx office it was an empty muddy field in the middle of nowhere. It turned out that the office was moved to a new business park with a new entrance a mile further down the road. It was a huge business park, but we found the office. However, too late for an overnight shipment and the closing had to be delayed by a day. We had to sign a new document to allow a delay of the closing and our buyer did not have any objections.

The next morning after a great breakfast we got on the bus and this time it was an 8-hour bus ride back to the Rio Dulce. Work on the road in the mountains was in full swing and we were standing still for 45 minutes due a road block on both sides. It was raining heavily so we think it was a mudslide, which happens a lot this time of the year. Just after 5:00PM we arrived back in the guesthouse with no room mates, but information that we had to vacate our room the following Monday to make place for guests who made reservations many months in advance.

We moved out of the guesthouse and brought all our belongings back on Island Girl and on Monday Night October 9, 2017 a little over a month after our arrival in Rio Dulce we slept in our own beds for the first time since June 13, 2017. With our great working a/c is was really nice to be back home again.

Rio Dulce attracts during the hurricane season around 400 cruising boats. Many cruisers are coming back year after year to this location. Not only because it is the best hurricane protected area, but it offers a great amount of mooring and marina facilities. The cost of boat maintenance is extremely low and cannot be compared to any other locations. At the same time the skill levels of the available engineers and boat workers is very high and they are extremely proud of a job well done. We have experienced the people of Guatemala as extremely friendly and helpful and that shows every day here in RAM Marina and the village. We have profound respect for the investors here who had many years ago the vision to build this cruisers paradise. A lot of the people who came and never left are real characters. We have not met them since we spent most of the evenings home after a hard day of working in the heat, but heard about them during contacts with fellow cruisers and in the mornings on the radio cruisers network.

Now that most of the maintenance work is done it gets time to meet these people, start making some day trips and prepare for our 2 weeks road trip through the highlands, many historic Maya sites in the jungle. This trip starts on October 29, 2017 and we hope to be able to report to you in our next blog.