The Castillo De San Felipe De Lara, Guatemala

On the Rio Dulce looking at the entrance to Lago Izabel and the Fort

At the entrance to Lago (Lake) Izabel, on the western shore of the Rio Dulce, is an old Spanish fort, Castilla San Felipe. In the early 1500's Spain and Guatemala began trading. Warehouses were built along the shores of Lago Izabel to store the treasures.  The fort was created to protect the warehouses and ships, that were harbored there, from the English Pirates.  A heavy chain was strung across the river to deter the pirates from entering Lago Izabel.  The fort fell under attack many times, once even captured by the pirates. Each time the fort was rebuilt.  It served as a defense base until piracy subsided, eventually becoming a prison used during the colonial period. 

View from the Rio Dulce

View from Lago Izabel

View from the park that is adjacent to the fort.

Panoramic view from atop the fort.

Maybe the dining hall?

The Kitchen

The Courtyard

These doors where very old, but seem to be well built and solid.

One of many stairs.

Another stairwell and no rails!  I would hate to be running down these.

One of the canons, looking out at the Rio Dulce.

Some of the stairwells went into dark tunnels, we used the flash on our camera to see.

Some old wheels, a door and an anchor.

Mike and I are still having a great time exploring the river.  I know I have said it before but it is absolutely beautiful here and the people are exceptionally nice.  

Kayaks at Tortugal

They have kayaks that we have been using to explore the river. Someone told us about this great restaurant up the river close to the fort that was located up another little river inlet so we took the kayak to find it.  It was called Hotel Kangaroo and had really great food. The had vegetarian choices which has always been rare for me to find. Here in Guatemala it seems there are all kinds of options.  

We have heard that there is a great beach in Lago Izabel Denny's Beach, and some hot waterfalls at Finca El Paraiso we are looking forward to exploring those.

Cheers for now...Kim and Mike

Ka'imi docked at El Tortugal, Guatemala

El Tortugal Marina, Guatemala

Sign on the road to Tortugal Marina

 El Tortugal Marina on the Rio Dulce in Guatemala is very cool! We have been here for two weeks now and have enjoyed every minute.  There is so much to do here and on the Rio Dulce that we haven't even scratched the surface.  We have been busy setting up an air conditioner and building a cowling to cover it. When that is finished we need to get busy trying to fix our engine.  But in between we are planning to do a little exploring. There is a fort on the river, a beach up in Lake Izabel, hot water falls and a lot more! This last week we have had a manana attitude, resting and working very slowly on the air conditioner - we don't want to overdue it!  

Ka'imi at dock

The marina has 20 slips and is basically full.  The majority of the people go home for the summer and leave there boats here so there are only a handful of people here right now. They have a restaurant and a bar that serves food all day, a lounge area upstairs with a pool table, TV and lots of books.  There is a resident pero (dog)  named Hefe that is large and a love bug but he hates gatos (cats).  There are two gatos on the premises we have named them Tiki and Sandy so we will be able to get our animal fix on a daily basis.  We also see them run really fast when they see Hefe coming!

Restaurant at Tortugal Marina

The outdoor lounge next to the restaurant is a great place to relax, drink some coffee or booze, read a book or catch up with friends.

Lounge area at Tortugal Marina

The kayaks are for the guests to use, this is right behind our boat. We haven't had a chance to take one out yet but plan to, there is lots of exploring to do on the river.

Kayaks at Tortugal Marina

They have rooms and bungalows for rent.  The one we can see from our boat has 4 beds and is open air. They are $14 dollars a night, not bad.  Underneath is a common area that is very cool and breezy.  We hang out here a lot.

Bungalow at Tortugal Marina

Another view of the common area with a hammock and a few picnic tables.  You can see Ka'imi in the background.

Common Area at Tortugal Marina

This path leads from the common area to the showers and restrooms.

Walkway at Bungalow

This is a view going back to the common area from the showers and bathrooms.

Path coming from showers and bathrooms

A private outdoor shower.  The showers here have only cold water so we use them when it is really hot. There are other showers behind the restaurant that have hot water that we use in the evening.

Shower at Tortugal Marina

Here are the private outdoor bathrooms.

Bathrooms at Tortugal Marina

The path below goes to the dirt road that leads to town and beyond.  It is a beautiful walk just going down this path.  Lots of birds, lizards and other wildlife.

Path leading to the dirt road

It takes about 20 minutes to walk to the town of Fronteras from here.

Road to town

We met Deborah and Kris on s/v Sea Sister and had drinks at Sundog Cafe.  They are refitting their boat getting ready to cruise!  We had a great time.  Sundogs is a great place for food also, they have a lot of vegetarian choices and enough meat to make Mike happy.

Deborah and Kris s/v Sea Sister

Cheers for now Mike and Kim

Livingston, Guatemala and up the Rio Dulce to Burnt Cay (Texan Bay)

Livingston, Guatemala

We are in Guatemala having completed all the formalities for a 3 month stay.  We will apply for a 9 month extension before the 3 months are up, but the procedure to do that keeps changing.  The system is going through procedural changes so we are not sure what's up but as it stands we just have to go back to Livingston and apply.  When we checked in it is was simple we called Raul, the agent, and his nephew and all the officials came out to the boat.  They were there maybe 15 minutes then said our papers would be ready in 40 minutes and we could come into town, pay the fee and get our papers and passports.  We walked up the street to the bank to get our Quetzals, the Guatemalan money and then to Raul's for our papers.  We didn't stay in Livingston long, we checked in and headed back to the boat to head up the river to spend the evening in a safe anchorage.  Livingston is known for petty thefts and wakes from all the boats.  We anchored that night in Burnt Cay, formerly Texan Bay.

Main Street Livingston, Guatemala

Main Street Livingston, Guatemala

Right outside Raul's office is the area where the locals do laundry.  We wish they had a place like that here at our Marina.

Laundromat, Livingston, Guatemala

The pictures of the River can not do it justice it is so beautiful!  It was also a very cloudy day when we traveled through here.

Rio Dulce

Captain Mike at the Helm

Rio Dulce

Rio Dulce

  

Rio Dulce

The local people travel the river in cayucos, a canoe that is dug out of a tree.  We saw children going to school, fisherman and mothers taking their children into town.

Mother and child in a Cayuco

Fisherman in a Cayuco

A little girl taking her mom and brothers somewhere

A little girl going to school in here uniform

Burnt Cay Marina (formerly Texan Bay)

Our anchorage at Burnt Cay

Cheers for now, more about our Marina and the town later Kim and Mike

Rio Dulce, Guatemala

We are up the river Rio Dulce in Guatemala at our dock at the El Tortugal Marina. It is beautiful here! Will post some pictures when we get the internet set up.

Cheers Mike and Kim

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Placencia, Belize

Ka'imi at anchor in Placencia, Belize

We are in Placencia, Belize a little bit sooner than expected.  We have been here since Thursday, May 1st.  We noticed oil or fuel under the engine block while we were in Cay Caulker, but thought it very minor.  At Colson Cay we noticed that is was getting worse so we decided to get to Placencia were there was a town and a protected anchorage.  We left Colson Cay and anchored overnight outside the Blue Ground Range Islands.

Blue Ground Range

We left the next morning with light wind allowing us to use the Spinnakerand sail directly to Placencia.  Soon we lost all wind and started the motor but found our raw water pump was not spinning. The raw water pump draws cool salt water into the engine to cool the water that runs through the engine.  With that not working the engine will heat up and sieze.  We quickly put the Spinnaker back up but it was taking us directly to land, not a good place.  Mike worked on it a bit but wasn't having any luck. The wind picked up suddenly and it was enough to get all four of our sails up, the Genoa, Staysail, Main and Mizzen.  We would have to tack all day to get to Placencia, but at least we could sail.....uhhh...that is until the wind completely died again.

Spinnaker Up

We were 7 miles outside of Placencia and the plan had been once we get to the harbor we would drop the dinghy with a 15 horse engine, tie it to the side of Ka'imi and use it as a motor getting us to the anchorage. We decided to drop the dinghy right then and there in calm seas and no wind to power us into Placencia. We were not sure we had enough gasoline to make it all the way but at least we would be closer.  We took turns of about 2 miles each and it was HOT.  We took our water bottles and drank some then poured it on top of us.  The good news is we had enough fuel to make it all the way and anchored safely in the harbor.

We had three dolphins on our Bow when we left Blue Ground Range they are good luck for us.

Wonder what would of happened if we wouldn't of seen the dolphins.hmmm

At anchor we secured the sails and straightened things up then sit down to a well deserved beer or 12.  We went to sleep then woke up at 1:00 am to a squall.  The winds were near 25 and the rain was massive, it was more rain than I have ever seen.  As it approached us it sounded like a swarm of cicada's coming at us. We looked at each other and said what's that, then boom it poured.  It lasted 2 hours with lots of lightning and rain.   Some of the lighting strikes came very close.  After an hour our dinghy was full of water.  We usually bring it up on the davits and take the plug out so we don't have this problem, but we left it down that night in case we had a problem like dragging our someone else dragging.  So Mike went out and emptied the dinghy, it took a long time!  We then brought the dinghy up on the davits, yes in the middle of the lightning and rain, it is not always paradise with this lifestyle, sometimes its sheer panic and well...bad!  We were worried about dragging with strong winds a not having a motor, but the rest of the night went better and we finally got to sleep.  The morning makes everything better, Mike was able to fix the raw water pump and the engine is running, we do want to watch it and baby it a bit until we get to a dock at the Rio Dulce, Guatemala where we can make sure it is all fixed.

Speaking of Rio Dulce, that is where we are headed.  We will probably leave Placencia Monday and sail overnight to the mouth of the Rio arriving early Tuesday morning when there will be a high tide.  The mouth of the river is 5.5 ft a MLW and we draft 6 ft so we have to go at high tide.

Placencia is a nice little village.  We are able to tie up our dinghy at Yoli's Bar and from there you can get anywhere in town.  There is plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, ice cream and groceries.  The beer is Belikin and it is quite nice :).  I will post some pictures of the village below.

Yoli's Bar where we tie up our dinghy and occasionally have a beer.

Wallen's Grocery Store at ground level and Pharmacy at top where we shop.

One of many fruit and vegetable vendors.

Typsy Tuna fun bar and grill on the beach.

Typsy Tuna Beach View

John The Bakerman where we get our bread.

Inside  his shop.

John making bread, he is following in his father's footsteps.

The one mile sidewalk along the beach.

Shortcut to the beach between a restaurant and house.

Beautiful houses along the sidewalk.

We are doing exceptionally well, happy and healthy!  Cheers  Mike and Kim

Laundry Day

Trash Day

Colson Cays, Belize

We have left Middle Long Cay our 3 mile long mangrove island and have anchored in the Colson Cays a collection of 5 mangrove islands still giving us good protection from the predicated strong S-SE winds that should of hit Sunday - Wednesday. So far the winds have not been bad so we decided to move south in search of coral, palm trees and beaches. Our stay at Middle Long Cay was very sedate, the highlights of our day yesterday was a swim off the boat to clean the prop, of course Kim strayed :)..I have to keep a watch out for sharks I keep telling Mike..he isn't buying it. Oh well, I returned to check on him and seeing he was doing okay and no sharks around I started to swim away when I found something attached to my upper left arm. I tried to pull it off and it was like attached, finally I get it off and it starts swimming towards me. I screamed!! Zombie miniature flesh eating crabs! Mike looks up with a WTF look...what is it he says. I tell him it's a flesh eating crab and he tells me he had one on him too, guess who was the first one to the swim ladder...Mike of course. We get out of the water and since we are all alone in this anchorage our big highlight was showering naked on deck. As I was showering we notice the 5 foot resident barracuda coming to visit. The boat turned a bit and blocked the wind and Mike looked down and saw a crystal clear image of the Barracuda staring at him and baring his teeth. Mike asked me later, how come you are not afraid of sharks but you can't handle a 1/4 inch crab hanging on to your flesh. I told him I'm afraid of spiders too :)

We are not sure what is going on but for the past 3 days there has been a heavy smoke covering the area from Honduras to the top of the Yucatan Peninsula. This morning and today it has been really bad, the visibility is 1 - 1.5 miles and my throat hurts and eyes burn. If anybody knows what is going on we would love to know we don't have much news information out here. We think that it is probably coming from the Honduras coast as the winds have been E-SE which would make it originate from that area, we are on the outer reef at about the central part of Belize.

So far Colson Cays are nice but it is just ugly out, depending on the weather we will head to Tobacco Cay tomorrow which is where we will find our coral, palm trees and beaches. Tobacco Cay sits right on top of the outer reef. We will continue south to South Water Cay and then turn right and start heading to Placencia to stock up on provisions and check out of the country. We will make a stop between here and Placencia at Pelican Cays to see what is there. I heard, from my friend Juuuulie, that there is a couple from the Marathon area that bought an island there and opened a restaurant so we will see if we can find them. When we check out of Placencia we may head down to Sapodilla Cay area until we make a run to the Rio Dulce entrance at Livingston, Guatemala where we will head up the river to El Tortugal Marina for hurricane season.

There is only one other boat in the anchorage and they are about a mile away, so our journey south has been very quiet.


Cheers Mike and Kim

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Middle Long Cay, Belize

We are anchored at Middle Long Cay, N 17.16.608, W 088.05.273. We are waiting for some high winds to hit and this island offers great protection from E-SE winds. We had been alone for a day and a half, now another boat has come in and anchored at the other end of the island. So far the wind has not hit it is supposed to pick up tonight and stay until Wednesday. The cold front that is coming off the US coast right now is pulling the air from down here and that causes us to have high winds. They could get up to 30 knots, but we are hoping they are only 20-25 knots.

We sailed from Cay Caulker to Water Cay and stayed overnight then made a short sail over here to Middle Long Cay. This island and Water Cay are a lot like the Florida Keys and the mangrove islands. The water is very clear and lots of star fish and a few coral heads. We have seen lots of large turtles while sailing in Mexico and Belize and we saw a smaller one in this anchorage. They were mostly Hawksbill turtles. We are very close to a fishing camp and yesterday as we were checking out the shore line we saw a fishing boat with what I thought was ten guys slowing down and coming close. It is very normal to have these fishing boats approach you and offer to sell fish, but there are usually 2-3 not ten, so I got a little nervous and we headed back towards the boat. As they approached the boat we saw that it was a family, three adults and about 5-6 children...boy was I relieved. I waved at the kids and they were very excited, they just wanted to sell us fish of course. While in Water Cay we also had the guardian of the fish camp and self appointed Harbor Master approach us to sell some fish and lobster, but we told him no lobster it is out of season. He said okay and did we have some rum to quench his thirst.

As soon as weather permits we will start traveling south to some more tropical islands and snorkeling and diving we hope. We don't have much time left before we have to head up the Rio Dulce for Hurricane season so we are trying to make the most of it. The islands out here are deserted except for fishermen and a few resorts so not much in the way of supplies. We also have not had internet for quite awhile so we will be catching up on emails as soon as we can. We will also have lots of pictures to post!

We are happy, healthy and living well! Cheers Mike and Kim

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