In our previous blog I wrote that all the needed parts and tools where shipped and we had packed the remaining parts we needed to make the necessary repairs to our boat. We were quite optimistic when we left on December 30, 2019 to head to the Rio Dulce where our beloved boat “Island Girl” was waiting on the hard for our arrival.

The flight to Guatemala via Houston is not too bad and with an early start at 4:30 AM we arrived at 2:00 PM in our hotel after we went first to the bus terminal to buy our tickets for the next day bus trip. It was a very fast bus trip and after departing at 9:00 AM we arrived in the Rio Dulce at 3:00 PM.

It is always a little scary to enter the boat after you leave it behind for 7 months. But thanks to the great care by Adan one of the employees of RAM Marina the boat looked splendid. The humidifier kept the boat at a great humidity level of 55% and that is compared to the outside humidity level, very good. We turned on the window A/C and we could move in. But we did not do this, we slept for 4 nights in one of the cabanas which gave us the opportunity to unpack all the gear and find proper storage.

Then the disappointments came. Because of lower shipment costs most of the parts was sent by boat and it would take a few weeks before they would arrive. But the biggest disappointment was that the shipment by our Watermaker Spectra Dealer was incomplete and we could not install the watermaker. It took to until the 9th of February,2020 before the parts arrived. This delayed our possible departure from Guatemala by close to a month.

Our boat is built in 1991 and the insurance changed the interval of inspection surveys from every 5 years to 3 years. In the Rio Dulce is a very good mechanic and marina owner who has the full certification for American and International boat inspections. He is known in the Rio as Capt. John. Capt. John found during the inspection some space on the bearing for the propeller axle. On an “Island Packet” boat that is a difficult and costly repair. But Chris Wooley and his crew got the job done in 3 days and we were ready to go into the water and complete the inspection. The inspection resulted in some minor recommandations but no issues with the seaworthiness of the boat and it received the classification of “Above Average”.

During the morning “Rio Dulce Cruisers Net” the reception of some of the other cruisers was either bad or we could not hear them at all. After we replaced the connector and a new antenna this problem was solved. The antenna is high in the mast and I was happy that Nelson, one of the best technicians here in the Rio Dulce could do the work for me.

RAM Marina is a maintenance and storage facility and besides many covered slips for large yachts it has very limited dock space for sailboats. But the manager, our adopted daughter Karen always has a place for us and our favorite place is opposite the fuel dock. However, that is also in the channel and ramp for the launching, splashing and lifting of boats out of the water with the travel lift. If a large boat is splashed or taken out of the water, the crew moves our boat to the fuel dock to be able to get that large boat out or into the boatlift. The happened this week and it took a long time to get this boat in the water since it was so wide that it got stuck due to the lift straps. To allow other boats to get to the fuel dock the crew moved our boat to the end of the fuel dock and the backside was now sticking out. When the large catamaran left the fuel dock the crew of the boat showed that they had no notion how to maneuver a large boat and came straight to the backside of “Island Girl”. Although I was screaming the boat crew did not react and I jumped on the dock to push this large boat from the dock. I succeeded only partly, because the catamaran took my flagpole off but missed the davits with the solar panels. The marina built me a new flagpole, but I was not a very happy camper.

The remainder of the week we spent on doing provisioning and checking the systems of the boat. We cleaned the boat, took off all the awnings and stored them. The Rio Dulce town called Fronteras has a new strip mall with a great new grocery store. It is a very modern store with a lot of fresh produce and a lot of fruit. We were able to find all that we needed for the first couple of weeks while we are underway.

Belize is a very expensive destination for cruisers. Not only because of the high cost for customs clearing and immigration, but also port control, health checks and agricultural department. Normally most cruisers check-in close to Placencia, the location where most cruisers start their trip in Belize. But this location went completely over the top, both in cost and procedures. So now we are trying to check-in in the first coastal town north of Livingston where we go over the sand bar. But this location has no protection from the normal trade wind and can only be used in very mild conditions. It makes the starting trip to Belize a little complicated. This is the plan:
1. Sail through the lake to Texan Bay or in Spanish “Cayo Quimado” and stay overnight
2. Sail the next morning through the “Gorge” to Livingston and check-out with the help of our agent Raul.
3. Cross the sand bar and if you get stuck or have a draft of over 5.5 feet use a towboat.
4. Sail to a protected anchorage called “Tres Puntas” and stay overnight.
5. Leave the next day early and sail to “Punta Gorda” in Belize to check-in.
6. Depending on the time of the day either sail back to “Tres Puntas” or continue the trip to a nice and protected anchorage called “New Haven”.
7. Most of the time people spend a couple of days in “New Haven” to relax before continuing to Placencia in Belize.

This is the plan and in our next blog I will report how it all worked out.