After spending a couple of nights anchored and visiting a number of marinas, we moved to El Tortugal Marina (www.tortugal.com) for a week and have rapidly found our Fronteras home.

Jim and I both liked the look of the facility and enjoyed meeting Daphne earlier in the week; since we tied up, we’ve been into that “small world” thing again. Down at the end of the dock we chatted with Kathy (from PEI) – she says Hi Estelle! There is a New Brunswick boat next to her but they’re away right now. Allan (Kristianna) is from Scotland, and flies a flag with the St Andrews cross (which makes up part of the Nova Scotia flag) so we count him as an “almost Maritimer” too!

This morning, over coffee on the El Tortugal deck, we chatted with Michael and Mam (Narak) and as we were both saying, “Your boat sounds familiar – where have we seen you?” we discovered that both Madcap and Narak were in the Tiger Point Marina in Fernandina Beach, Florida last summer. An hour later Ellen and Dave (Cordelia) walked by and we reminisced about a shared musical evening aboard Melodean in Vero Beach a few years ago.

We really feel like we are in a good place – and look forward to spending time here now and in the fall when we return to Guatemala. It is a quick dinghy ride to the free dinghy docks at Bruno’s just the other side of the bridge – and a half hour walk through the hardwood forest and along the road – and has several scheduled lancha trips each day. It’s just far enough along to be out of the noise and commotion of the town, and yet still easily accessible. Although there is no swimming pool, there is good swimming right off the boats and a small swim platform anchored just off the front dock. Kayaks are available for guest use, the restaurant is good and there are shady spots for lounging scattered all over the property. Loads of hot water and laundry service right here round out the services. So when we want to be in the thick of the action, El Tortugal is our place.

We have decided, though, to leave Madcap down river on Casey Brooks’ dock while we are home for the summer. We want to have some woodwork done – Casey’s specialty – and having met him, we know Madcap will have excellent and personal care.

I went for a great walk this morning with Daphne and Mam and their dogs. El Tortugal has its own series of raised boardwalks over the waterlogged ground and out to the highway. We turned left toward El Castillo, but a right turn would have brought us to town. While mid day brings intense heat, the mornings and evenings are lovely here so those are the times for walks and work.

We’ve booked a flight back to the US to pick up our car (April 16) and reserved a room near the airport in Guatemala City – so we are getting some of our “end of season” details taken care of. Now all that remains is to do the prep work for leaving Madcap, and fit in some good local experiences before we go.

(This pic shows an ingenious “sail” on a cayuco that went past our dock this afternoon. I guess you use what you have!)