ROATAN, HONDURAS TO FRONTERAS, GUATEMALA 5/10 - 5/14/2018

The original plan was to remain in Roatan, Honduras until near the end of May, then sail to Guatemala, where Starship would stay for hurricane season. However, after talking to one of the other boats in the anchorage at West End, who had made the trip to Guatemala more than a half dozen times and was getting ready to do it again, I changed my mind. That decision was based on a good weather window coming up; I would be able to sail with  "Double Up", whose crew has done the sail, as well as gone through the Guatemalan check-in process before; and it sounded like it may take more time than I had originally thought, to prepare Starship to be left in the tropics for four months. So, at 2:00 PM on Thursday 5/10 we began the 85 NM sail from Roatan to Rangua Pass, which goes through the reef 20 NM east of Placencia, Belize. Since I was solo, I led the way, so that Trish and Tom could keep an eye on Starship, while it was on autopilot and I caught some sleep now and then. That worked well and I was able to sleep without a worry. Also, because of the occasional run-ins with "pirates" off the Honduran mainland, we sailed without our lights on, maintained radio silence for the most part, turned off our AIS's (Automatic Identification System) and was nearest the Honduran mainland only after dark.

Other stuff:

1. After beginning my first season of cruising in Wisconsin on the St Croix River and completed it on another river, the Rio Dulce in Guatemala, I probably logged close to the same number of miles on rivers, as in salt water. It's good to be in fresh water again.

2. I have never sweated so much, drank so much water and urinated so little, in my entire life. The highs are in the low to mid 90's with the humidity is around 90%. The locals say this is unusually hot and humid.

3. The currency thing has been interesting. I have zip-lock bags of left over money from Mexico (exchange rate 17.5 Pesos/US dollar), Belize (2 Belizian dollars/US dollar), Honduras (24 Lempiras/US dollar) and now Guatemala (7.5 Quetzales/US dollar). Plus, the marina I'm at, has it's own currency (5 Quetzales/one marina dollar) and that's all you can use at its bars/restaurants. So, I  have no idea how much my rum and cokes are really costing here.

4 As you may recall I started working out with Tabitha in Isla Mujeras and did lose some weight. However, between company, and not having very good venues on shore, I really didn't do much from mid-February to about two weeks ago. Then I found a program that can be done entirely on the boat. It's called "Six Pack in 30 Days". I'm about 16 days into it and unless something miraculous happens, I think I have a pretty good false advertising law suit. Any of you attorneys interested?

5. Monday night Starship spent its first night, except for one, at a dock in about three months. Otherwise it's been at anchor and we've dinghyed to shore. However, being at a marina is really convenient, with wifi, electricity, water, people and easy access to shore. More about the marina and Fronteras next time.

This is my "buddy" boat, Double Up, with Roatan in the background. Double Up is a 2001 47' Lagoon. Trish is Captain, who I affectionately refer to as Captain Blye, behind her back anyway. And poor Tom is her First Mate.

This was that night's sunset. We arrived at the reef just before dawn, so only had to hang out a little bit before it was light enough to go through. I wish I had taken a photo, but just inside the pass is the cutest little "South Pacific" like island, only sand and palm trees.

We anchored in Placencia, Belize from late Friday morning until early Sunday morning. Belize doesn't have a deep water port, other than the one Norwegian Cruise Lines built for their ships. So as far as container ships/freighters go, they use smaller boats to ferry containers, raw materials and goods to and from shore.

The little orange boat is the life boat for this container ship. I beleive they hold 30+ people, and when launched, they free fall 50'+/- before hitting the water.

Since much of Belizean waters are pretty shallow, they use tugs towing barges to move things around.

Belize has hundreds and hundreds of little islands. A lot of them are just mangroves, but some have real land. I believe most all of them are privately owned.

Starship has AIS (Automatic Identification System), which let's us know what other AIS equipped vessels are around, let's other AIS equipped vessels know that we are around, as well as if there is danger of a collision. This photo is taken of the ChartPlotter and shows that Starship and Seaboard, the container ship, are a little too close for comfort. I had actually radioed the ship's Captain 15 minutes earlier to see if he wanted me to change speed or course. He didn't

The freighter Seaboard is close enough.

After Placencia we anchored in a bay on the west side of Cabo Tres Puntas, Guatemala, which was about 45 NM south of Placencia. We got up early the next morning and motor sailed the 15 NM to Livingston, Guatemala. This photo was taken from the anchorage in Livingston. It shows where the Rio Dulce flows through the mountains and into the Gulf of Honduras. It's those mountains that make the Rio Dulce safe from hurricanes.

This is the first country where anyone has actually boarded Starship during the checking-in or out processes. The guy on the right is Raul, the agent that most everyone uses. The others include people from Agriculture, the Port Authority, Health and Immigration. We also used an agent in Mexico. Both Belize and Honduras we did ourselves ,because we heard it wasn't difficult.

 A Rastafarian looking guy captained the skiff that took the boarding party from boat to boat. Cruisers then go into town at appointed times to finish the paperwork and pay the fees. To check-in, cost Q1300 ($175) and it will cost another Q2100 ($280) to get a 9 month extension for Starship. The fees for Mexico was more and Belize was about the same, while Honduras was free.

View of the Livingston, Guatemala's river front from the anchorage where we waited to be visited by the officials.

The water front looks like it could be the set for an "Indiana Jones" movie. It's pretty cool looking, from a distance that is.

Compared to what I had read and been told. I was really pleasantly surprised by how clean, active and large Livingston is, 

The public laundry.

Looks like a nice town, but when I asked Raul about anchoring for the night, he said "no", because by morning the dinghy, along with the outboard would be stolen, We have a Yamaha 15 hp two cycle, which is the number one motor on a thief's' wish list. Almost every outboard down here is a Yamaha.

The dinghy dock is to the far left, the center area is for the water taxis and the end of the right dock is where goods are loaded and unloaded.

The Guatemalan courtesy flag.

The river is the main highway around here, and along it s banks are all sorts of housing, from this simple place on stilts....

....to this very nice large compound, which was only a couple hundred yards away.

Following Double Up into the gorge and about 20 NM from the marina. At times, the cicadas, locusts, or what ever, were so loud I could hardly hear the engines. 

The river acts as a highway for all types of boats, including these two women paddling a dugout canoe.

The right side is mostly a rock wall. It's hundreds of feet tall.

Even though covered with jungle, the slopes are almost vertical.

We saw hundreds of these egret looking birds.

This looks like a parking garage for dugout canoes. There is a village of thatch huts just up the hill a little, but they weren't very visible.

Some more housing along the river.

These kids were paddling like hell to cross the river behind Starship and in front of the boat that was following. The big sister was all business, while her younger brother not so much.

This is a typical water taxi, though some do have canvas tops. Anyway, they're long, narrow and just fly. We took one to go zip-lining and it cruised at near 40 knots the entire way.

Saw several guys casting nets from dugouts.

We saw a dozen or so burning areas like this. Depending on the wind, you can see and smell the smoke at the marina.

These guys are pulling in a gill net. 

This is the view at the marina from Starship's cockpit. There are probably a dozen boats here with people we've met in Isla Mujeras, Cay Caulker and/or Roatan. With more coming in all the time. And through those connections, just keep meeting more people. Pretty fun.