Sea Star joined the long line of cruisers who will spend varied amounts of time on the beautiful Rio Dulce in Guatemala during hurricane season 2010. We have a reservation at Hacienda Tijax Marina and will spend until early November there. We arrived to the Rio Dulce without incident crossing the sand bar entry on the well publicized GPS waypoints in company with two other boats on Monday, June 21, actually a week earlier than we had expected to enter.
We traveled the last 11 miles from Tres Puntas, Bahia Gracioso to the mouth of the River Dulce. Our three boats left our anchorage at 7:00AM, planning arrival in Livingston about 9:00AM and leaving plenty of time to do the required Livingston stop and continue on farther in the Rio. We were able to sail part of the way and it was a pleasant and sunny day. Despite good wind and weather our mood was somber as once in the Rio that is the end of the movement part of cruising for the season. The boat is safe from most inclement weather and that is the reason to make the twenty-five mile away from the Caribbean Sea passage into the winding Dulce which provides mountains that divert and break the strongest winds or so we hope. That’s what Sea Star and a huge number of others cruisers hope. At some point I will get a “sorta accurate” count of boats hiding in here for the season at many different marinas, with of course, different profiles.
The first order of business was to check into the country of Guatemala at the town of Livingston inside the mouth of the River. Within a few moments of our dropping anchor five officials and a ships’ agent named Raul were on Sea Star having a coke and filling out immigration, agricultural, and boat papers allowing Dan and I to stay in Guatemala for 90 days. Hard to believe but 90 days will not be enough and so we must apply soon to have the paperwork completed when we need it to be.
Raul, the ships’ agent took our papers and passports and gave us directions; park the dinghy and left off the hill on the main street through town to his office and farther up on the main road to the bank so we could withdraw money called Quetzales. In about one hour we could pick up our completed papers and stamped passports. Q1000 took care of the fees, about US$130. Raul gave us a map of the Rio with usable anchorages, including marinas who support the Eco Rio projects and security patrol. No hassel at all. See : mapasdequatemala.com /destinos/Izabal/patrullaje (website)
We found a place in Livingston for a quick lunch, glanced around the town to compare it now- to as it had appeared to us twelve years previously on our family trip to Rio Dulce, lifted anchor and started motoring up the Rio toward Texan Bay, our goal for the day.
Dan and I entertained our individual thoughts about “changes” as we motored past new thatched roof homes with docks, a much larger diesel sales building and passed or were passed by the river traffic. Absolutely- the graceful Cayucos were still paddled by the brown skinned dark haired Indian men—but many now were paddled by women, teenage girls and children, perhaps stopping to hand- line for fish or set nets. I think we were looking at two cayuco in the garage families!
So ..there are now more boats on the river everywhere. Some were the size of the Cayucos but were motorized. There were some larger and more powerful colorfully painted lanchas and even water taxis, and small tour boats with sun biminis. I had trepidations there might be construction and encroachment on the river I would see as “spoiling or ruining” the natural beauty of it for me.
As we traveled on we remembered our first entry through the narrow curve in the river; looking up-up on both sides of the boat to magnificent vertically steep, brilliant white limestone cliffs of 300 to 400 feet, covered by lush, green foliage; so beautiful and awe inspiring they took your breath away. Wonder of natural wonders, the steepness of the cliffs and the designation of the area as National Park in 1955 according to Eco Rio literature has, limited so far, any encroachment in the nine or so miles of the canyons! Fabulous and Majestic.
Soon, however we were approaching the Golfete a wide open deep area of the Rio Dulce located about 12 miles from Livingston and another 12 miles from the upper Rio where the number of houses increased, but we enjoyed the new sights and the look of increased prosperity. Of course waterfront homes are desired by Guatemalans who can afford to develop those difficult spots and there is an increase in that population along the entire river. In the wider waters of the Golfete we saw hints of what was to come later on the upper river; a few speed boats and up to 50 foot yachts of the rich, jet skis and ski boat toys.
Here are slideshow and movies up the river- I think itthe movies are best with no sound.
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| Livingston to Golfete |
We moved into a bay off the track to the left and saw the masts of sailboats there, letting us know we had arrived at Texan Bay, a marina/ bar restaurant and anchorage run by Mike and Sherri , Texans complete with drawl, who relocated there and have been working on preparing a marina and lodging facilities for the last four years. Their place blends in with the mountain behind and is secluded with lovely scenery viewed from dinghy explores. Mike showed Dan and I the way to locate some lagoons which provide birding and nature watching opportunities for the cruisers who stay at Texan. Dan spotted Black headed Trogans, a Purple Galinulle, and a Roadside Hawk who really lost his “road side” as there are no roads into Texan Bay.
Texan Bay has excellent docking facilities and wonderful food so many cruisers choose to stay out of the hustle of the “social” whirl on the upper Rio or leave their boats with these friendly people in Texan Bay while they land travel. Dan and I spent three great days there eating well and birding, even swimming, and eating and eating (did I mention the great food?) then decided it was time to move on up the river to the town of Fronteras and work on replacing our cell phone and internet facilities that expired or died in Honduras.
By that time we had made the realization that the Rio Dulce, which means “sweet river” is indeed fresh water. It was amazing to think that Sea Star would soon be free of all vestiges of salt and its corrosion! I used our bow salt water washdown as a fresh water washdown! Using a pressure spray of river water we removed the mud from the anchor and also cleaned the hose and the pumping fitting used to wash with salt water, (which conserves your boat fresh water supply.) You could just feel happy for the engines, dinghy outboard and sailboat Yanmar, having a fresh water wash for the first time in more than two years as we ran them. Then came the rain, buckets, no barrels of it, to wash the bimini, dodger, stainless steel and the wooden cap rail.
Texan Bay first visit
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| Texan Bay |
After three days we moved up the Rio, threw our anchor down at Mario’s Marina to say “hi” and have lunch with John and Suzi from Cabaret who had contacted us on the radio. We hadn’t actually seen them since Cartagena, so we had lots of catching up to do. Other cruisers we knew were there, too; Niky Wiki from Roatan, Loreli from La Ceiba and Footloose, Tom and Doris, who were away from their boat. We still needed to get to Fronteras so we anchored by the town. Tijax is across the river from Fronteras and the dockmaster at Tijax saw and recognized our boat name and called to us, saying we could come in a week early to take our slip if we wanted. We did and here we are -at great side tie, two 30 amp plugs for electric so ..AC here we come!
Tijax is great for birding. It is an eco lodge with trails and cabanas for tourists. There is also a restaurant and we are quite close to Fronteras town. We happily set up our shore power and had air conditioning- for awhile until the power went off- many hours-three days in a row. Power is expensive US 0.50 an amp hr. and not too reliable but because of the heat (90’s) the air conditioning is really a lifesaver on the boat. We can use the Tijax pool each day but even that is warm. Eugeneo, the owner and his daughter Adrianna invited all of the cruisers at Tijax to a welcome session where, while munching on free snacks of shrimps and sauces on crackers and pitchers of Margaritas any questions we had about Tijax or the area were addressed. We discussed Eco Rio and the Marine Security Patrol paid for by the marina operators. It was explained, as well, why there could be times we lose our electric power on the dock. They have a back-up generator which can be switched on to keep the lights at the restaurant and to light the walkways (very important as they are boardwalk over mangrove roots) but sometimes not enough to run power at the dock if there is a storm and trees fall down on the power lines. We have nice neighbors on the dock so I think for now we have a good home for Sea Star.
We’re just back to our slip after a quick trip Back to Texan Bay . More next time.
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