A Dinghy is More Fun than a Car
29 January 2015 | Buenavista Bay, Rio Dulce, Guatemala
Beth/ getting drier!

I have always loved climbing into the dinghy to come home across the water after dinner or cocktails ashore or on another boat. This picture doesn’t show me actually “doing anything” but I think it shows the pleasure part!
So far this year, I’ve had three exceptionally lovely times being out and about in our “Little Loonie.” The first time I left Casey’s dock and roared around the point to Jennifer’s bay, hair flying, feet braced, on a nice plane (skimming the surface of the water) I felt so FREE! Wheee – off to play with the ladies! My friend, Tina, says that every time she gets on her bicycle, she feels like she is eleven years old. I feel like that in the dinghy; it just sets something loose in me. It is there when Jim and I are both aboard, but it’s especially wonderful when I’m on my own, flying across the waters to whatever activity or errand I am setting off on.
The second morning of Yoga was a whole new dinghying experience for me. We were anchored in Buenavista Bay, and I didn’t have far to go. The time was 8 am and we were socked in with thick fog – so thick I could barely see the outline of Odyssea, anchored a hundred metres ahead of us. I knew that beyond it was the little bay where several other boats were moored, and at the back of that bay was the dock for the shala. So I gathered up my yoga mat and water bottle, along with the hand held VHS and set off into the mist. My thoughtful husband never once suggested that he take me ashore – for which I am grateful – this was MY adventure! I kept the throttle low and crept along, put-put-putting past Odyssea, straight ahead toward where I knew the opposite shoreline must be, till I could make out the mound of bushes that marked the beginning of the inner bay. Slight turn to starboard, still creeping, and soon I could see boats tied to the moorings, some to port, some to starboard and I wove my way among them to the dock. I tied up and climbed the stone steps up the bank, past clumps of wild ginger and philodendron and green -green vines running every which way along the path to the thatched shala. What a glorious passage to a yoga practice!
Jim and I both travelled in “Little Loonie” over to Texan Bay to dinner on Wednesday. We celebrated our last night in the river with Casey, Martin and Karen, feasting on delicious fajitas, and saying our goodbyes to these good friends. When it came time to head home, we all piled into our various little boats. The moon was so bright we hardly needed a light (except to flash occasionally so we could be seen by the little fishing boats that ply these waters at night) and we motored along, following the silvery moonbeam across the surface of the river. We picked out the tiny canal that passes under a thick growth of trees and shrubs by Sarah and Tim’s house, motored through it to Casey’s bay with the lights of the Cayo Quemado community all along the shoreline, and out around the next corner to Buenavista Bay. The position of the moon and the boat on this night meant that Madcap lay straight ahead bathed in the moonlight, so we motored gently along the silver swath of light, gazing at millions of stars overhead. We didn’t even need the flashlight to tie off and lock the dinghy, and as we climbed aboard, we heard Martin’s lancha putter past, following the light to their house on the shore.
Maybe one can drive a car along a quiet road illuminated only by the light of the moon, but I think it’s better in a dinghy, and I hope I never tire of these simple joys. (No doubt I will complain before the season is out of wet and miserable trips in it, but right now, I’m a happy dinghier!)
For those of you who like facts, Little Loonie is a 10 ft. hard-bottomed inflatable AB dinghy with a 15 HP Yamaha outboard – a happy step up from the Brig we started with, that was first powered by a 9.9 and later by a 5 HP Mercury outboard. We changed outboards again in a memorable series of events in the Jumentoes. (You can find that story in the blog archives – back in 2010, I think) and the following season replaced the Brig with the AB – a higher, drier, stronger boat. This dinghy and this outboard are keepers.