Back On Rio Dulce

Daragh and Cathy Traveling On The Rio Dulce

Our travels from Providencia to Roatan with Daragh and Cathryn on Chantey V went exceedingly well.  We were very often out of sight, but never out of radio contact and we arrived at Roatan together.  They are on a tight schedule as Cathy has to return to her teaching job in the fall of 2013, so they are trying to pack as much into two years as possible.

It is out of character for us to move at a fast pace, but we reached Honduras so much sooner than we expected that we decided to push on so we could spend Christmas in Guatemala with our old friends and new friends.  I do not mean we sailed fast, but just that we would not spend much time in Honduras.  After just three days in Roatan, Chantey V and Ariel departed for Utila.  We cleared Honduras in Utila and left there after just two days.  After an overnight passage we were back in Guatemala.  When we left Guatemala the previous year we did not expect to return with Ariel, but as we have mentioned many times before our plans are always very flexible.  Besides wanting to be in Guatemala for Christmas, we also wanted to haul the boat to have the bottom painted.  We contacted friends at Catamarans Hotel and Marina to see if there would be space for us.  Catamarans is very difficult to get into as they do not accept reservations and it is usually full.  It is also helpful to have a recommendation from someone already there, in our case Iain and Jan from Jocks Lodge.  Catamarans did indeed have a side tie slot.  We were familiar with Catamarans as even when we stayed at Monkey Bay just across the river, we would go to Catamarans on Sundays to watch football.  As expected it felt like we were coming home seeing all our friends and immediately getting reengaged with some of the many activities on the Rio Dulce.  Catamarans has a nice pool so afternoons are spent hanging out by the pool with friends.

Dominos (Jan, Celine, Linda, and Suzanne)

Christmas Day a few of us decided not to go out to any of the several Christmas dinners, but instead gathered together, each bringing some (someone else's term) heavy hors d'oeuvres.  We had a wonderful time, with good food and good company.

Christmas Dinner Poolside

Iain's Birthday on Christmas Day

We are scheduled to haul out a RAM Marina on January 3, so our rapid pace (not sailing) continues.  We will be back off the river before we know it.  Daragh and Cathy only planned about a month in Guatemala so we would not be surprised to be sailing with them again.

Watercraft Of The San Blas

Excellent Sailor

Bringing Us Our Coconuts

Colorful Sail

 

Coco Bandero Images

The Coco Bandero Cays were our favorite in the San Blas.  These small uninhabited islands are very scenic with white sand beaches and wonderfully clear water.  We enjoyed walking the perimeters along the sandy beaches.

 

These pictures are associated with original posting date 11/21/2012

Nargana Images

Original Nargana posting dated 11/19/2012

Our Main Man - Federico

Playing With The Kids

Found My WiFi Spot

Molas

These are the pictures associated with the post dated 11/15/2012.

The mola forms part of the traditional costume of a Kuna woman, two mola panels being incorporated as front and back panels in a blouse. The full costume traditionally includes a patterned wrapped skirt (saburet), a red and yellow headscarf (musue), arm and leg beads (wini), a gold nose ring (olasu) and earrings in addition to the mola blouse (dulemor).


In  the Kuna's native language, "mola" means "shirt" or "clothing". The mola originated with the tradition of Kuna women painting their bodies with geometrical designs, using available natural colours; in later years these same designs were woven in cotton, and later still, sewn using cloth bought from the European settlers of Panama.

Portobello Photos

These are the pictures associated with the post dated 11/6/2012, which was posted via SSB radio and Pactor modem without attachments.

San Fernando Fort Battery (constructed in 1760)

San Fernando Fort Battery

San Fernando Fort Battery

Customs House (originally constructed 1630)

Passage To Roatan

The memories from last Christmas season came flooding back during our brief return visit to Providencia. Providencia is a very special place to us and to most cruisers that stop there. Very few people find their way to Providencia so it remains very much an unspoiled island community. We quickly got back into the Christmas spirit as they have music and organized activities going on almost every evening. It was wonderful to see people we met last year and to also see familiar faces and to see the recognition on their faces as they recognized us. We rented a mule for the day. It is a golf cart sized utility vehicle. We used it to haul our jerry cans with diesel, but also to toured the island one last time.

A really good weather window came up so we had to go on. Staying any longer for another window could have meant staying several weeks, and while that would be very agreeable with us, it was not in our plans.

Forward 911

Our first day out of Providencia, well off the coast of Nicaragua, the US Coast Guard ship Forward 911 came by to check us out. We first spotted them on the far horizon and watched as they made their way to our location, approaching from our starboard. We had previously heard them on the radio with Chantey V, a Canadian boat we were traveling with, but which was several miles ahead of us so not visible. I hailed 911 as they approached to identify ourselves, and they had a few question for us which they spread out over about half an hour. They trailed behind us during this time and then we saw them veer off to the right and guessed they were putting a launch in the water out of sight from us. Sure enough they next announced we were to be boarded and immediately their launch came around the stern of 911. The launch had eight persons aboard of which four came aboard for a safety inspection and a search. They were all very cordial and friendly and we enjoyed the company. We do not mind boardings (this is our second) and appreciate all the Coast Guard does for mariners. It also gave us reassurance that they were in the vicinity as the coast of Nicaragua which is one of least safe places.

Our three day, three night trip could not have been better. The seas were fairly calm and the sailing good. The last night the wind was directly behind us and very strong so our issue was keeping the boat speed down. We arrived at 7am at French Cay Harbor right on our planned schedule.

French Cay Harbor is the place to be again for cruisers on Roatan. A new place , Brooksy Point Yacht Club opened last Christmas as a cruisers club. It is a nice facility and for a club fee of $15 per week they have everything we could want, including WiFi, showers, Sky TV, coin laundry, a gathering place, and much more. It was set up by Mike, a cruiser that had to give it up for health reasons. We are almost tempted so stay here awhile, but we think we will keep pushing on, weather depending.

Weather Forecast ???

The problem with weather is that is doesn't always adhere to the forecast. With very good conditions forecast we made our decision to clear out of Panama. We actually cleared out on Tuesday with a planned departure on Thursday. Wednesday was the official Independence Day ( from Spain) in Panama, although they moved the actual holiday to Monday for the long weekend. We didn't want to chance the government offices being closed on Wednesday so we cleared early.

Typical House - This With Upgraded Roof - Location, Location, Location

Wonderful Sailors

On Thursday evening thinking it was our last in San Blas, some guys came by with some very large lobsters, so we had lobster dinner, thinking, what a fitting ending to our short time in the San Blas. Well, Friday night we were still there, so we had pizza, which we decided was good comfort food before our long trip.

Lucky for us that our chosen waiting spot to depart, Chichime, was a wonderful location. We could have easily stayed for a extended period, but of course when you have cleared out of a country you are suppose to leave. The great looking weather opportunity started to get pushed out and started to deteriorate a little. We decided to delay our departure til Friday morning. Friday morning the wind had not abated and the seas off San Blas were running six feet, so we decided to wait until later in the day. The winds blew steady all day until around four, at which time they suddenly dropped to almost zero. The seas were still rough so we again delayed until Saturday morning. During the night the winds were calm and waking Saturday morning the seas looked good. As soon as we pulled anchor the winds picked up again.

The wind direction the entire trip was north north east and our rhumb line was northwest, so we motor sailed as close to the wind as possible and tried to get as much easting as possible in case the wind backed more to the north. The wind ranged between 15 to 25 knots the entire trip. We managed to gain about fifteen miles to the east but in the end we didn't need it, so the last few miles was a nice ride as we gave up the ground we had made.

Originally with the good weather forecast we had intended to go to Honduras, but here we are in Providencia. We like Providencia, so we are actually very pleased to be here. It was going to be hard for us to pass it up anyway. We are here with several boats that made the same journey as we did, but we were all spread out quite far from one another.

In the anchorage we have two American boats (including us), two British boats, one Canadian, one French, and one New Zealand. 

So here we are, already studying the weather models for our next trip, also knowing the weather may not do as the models forecast.