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.