Back at the dock at Tijax Marina after just a few days out I set to work on getting our “shakedown” cruise failures squared away, while the rest of the family took in some more time with friends.
A big group headed off for a day of ziplining.
I e-mailed Rich, the owner of CruiseRO watermakers, and also my favorite businessman/cruiser. The guy is encyclopedic about his products, and has an uncanny ability to tease out the correct details for troubleshooting my problems. When I explained the watermaker problem I was having he pretty quickly came around to, “Are you in fresh water? Because that’s what would be happening if you were.” And with that one simple question to me, my watermaker “problem” was solved. Fresh water, sort of obviously in retrospect, doesn’t need the same sort of pressure to make cleaner fresh water. There was nothing wrong.
I jumped into the engines and gave the transmissions a nice fresh oil change, and an hour later that issue was resolved.
I flipped on the engine room fan and it worked just fine. No idea what was happening there, but it was now one more thing off my list.
I took apart the dinghy motor carb and gave it a thorough cleaning. I got it to the point that it would fire up easily, but it still wouldn’t idle. Pretty well out of ideas, I asked our friend Oscar if he knew any outboard mechanics. Of course he did. His uncle was there to pick it up a couple hours later. The next day he motored over smiling from ear to ear. He cleaned out the carb four times by the time he was finished, as well as cleaned out the fuel lines and gas tank. It was running perfectly. Forty bucks well spent.
It was Saturday afternoon at this point. We hadn’t checked weather for a few days, but took a look now to see when we might be able to head over to the Bay Islands of Honduras again. I looked at weather (I use Windy and PredictWind) and found that the only good day in the next week was Monday. It’s a 100 mile trip, so we could leave early Monday morning and get there in the evening. That meant that we’d have to finish everything up to get ready that afternoon, then leave early Sunday morning to go get fuel, motor the 30 miles or so down to Livingston, get checked out of Guatemala with customs and immigration, and then motor across the river bar and across the bay to the anchorage a couple hours away before heading off the next morning for Utila. A very full couple of days.
We gathered up our friends for one last night out together. This group spent a lot of time together the past few months and it showed.
They warned us the nachos were meant to be a family-sized appetizer, but Lowe was unfazed. Just hold everything but the meat and beans, please.
One hundred and fifty gallons topped up the tanks and we were set with about a thousand miles of range ahead of us for the hundred mile passage. The Grand Banks is kind of like our old Dodge Travco in that we never pass up a chance to fill up the tanks, whether we need to or not.
And we’re off. Again. We’ve got a fun season planned with lots of new countries and things to see and do. Now, whether this plan actually comes together the way we expect, or not, is anybody’s guess. Weather has ruled our ultimate decisions the last two years, turning us in directions we hadn’t planned in the beginning. Our trip to Guatemala turned out to be a great detour, and I’m sure this year’s detours will all work out for the best too.
Cruising along the Rio Dulce.
Livingston, at the mouth of the river, is where we clear out of the country and get our zarpe, the paper that tells the next country when we left and where we are coming from.
The town laundry.
I like Livingston, but it’s not a great place to anchor and leave the boat, so the kids and I did a quick run around town to clear out and spend our remaining Quetzales. The kids thought this was fun. “We’re trying to find things to spend our money on?” Two ice creams, three empanadas, a handmade wooden boat, a case of beer, and we had whittled down our Qs to an acceptable level.
From there we motored across Bahia de Amatique to anchor behind Tres Puntas for the night. Our weather window kept moving up, so instead of leaving early in the morning we planned to leave at midnight in order to get to Utila ahead of the winds. We swam, had some dinner, and went to bed early. I woke up at ten and it was dead calm. Time to go.
We motored out around the point and into the Caribbean. Dark, calm, and with just a hint of a swell left over from days earlier. Over the next couple of hours the kids had migrated up onto the couches. Ali snatched some sleep here and there while I sat up top keeping an eye on things through the night. One brief squall was the only issue. No other boats, no logs, and unfortunately, no dolphins.
We pulled into Utila twelve hours later, gave the boat a quick wash, put the dinghies in the water, and headed to town to clear in. The start of a new season underway.
20 Comments on “Back in the Salt”
After “South of the Border,” my favorite song maybe “Forty Bucks Well Spent.” The beard suits you. Buena suerte!
Skid Row has the coldest Salva Vidas in all of Honduras.
Don’t we know it! Plus they have great crispy tacos that Lowe devours.
Miss you all! Fair winds and may our paths cross again one day. Already missing Ali’s favorite phrases! ?
Miss you guys as well. It was a good off-season to get to know each other. We have a leak that we cannot track down (been raining non-stop for 2 days now), there are many new phrases coming out! 🙂
I have been following you guys back from Chicago. Got a bit of snow on the roof there, Pat. But just wait. A couple of years that girl will have the boys sniffing around. I had gray but a full head of hair. When that started I quickly got the nickname of “baldy”. However there is a positive note. In a few more years your son will be giving other dads payback. And life goes on. On another note, my grand kids live in the PNW, about 1400 miles away. I know more about your kids than them. You guys are doing it right. Wish my kids would. They have a nice house, new cars and ski stuff. What they don’t have is any time to enjoy life. Just can’t seem to get them to notice.
Hi Ken, thanks for this and you aren’t the only ones that have said that about our family vs their own. So many would say, how sad it was that we took our kids away from their grandparents, extended families, to travel. But truly we see them more now than if we were down the road from them. Happy holidays to you.
Looking at the laundry made me wonder if you guys have ever ‘caught’ anything from any of the less than sanitary places you’ve visited. It happened to us once here in the US traveling in our RV. Lice. It was a nightmare!
Oh goodness that would not be good! And no we haven’t but now you got me thinking about it!
BON VOYAGE! Thanks for the gorgeous photos of Guatemala-I enjoy my vicarious voyages with you all! Safe journey!
Thanks, Gail. We really enjoyed our time in Guatemala – all the inland adventures and gorgeous scenery. Happy our cruising plans changed at the last minute.
Hope you don’t have to toss any of those beers overboard! While on a catamaran cruise to Guatemala, we overbought, and heading back to Belize, our captain informed us that if we were caught with any Guatemalan beer, he would be in deep doo-doo, so we had to toss quite a few beers overboard. A few of us were a little seasick from choppy waters on the return cruise, so drinking them all, quickly, was not an option. Good thing they were cheap! Safe cruising and cheers to you and the fam.
I’ve never heard of such a thing. Maybe because it was a charter. And to litter the ocean with them – ugh. I think that should have got him in deep doo-doo.
Son los ninos aprendiendo en Espanol
Enjoying your stories and pictures as always. I am trying to imagine how exciting it must be to “set sail” for points unknown! Love your attitude of taking each day as it comes on your journey.
Looking good Pat!
We’re all looking forward to the new season’s adventures. Stay safe.
Apparently it was a Belizean government ban on all foreign beers. At the time, only Belikin, manufactured in Belize, was allowed. It’s possible that they have eased the restrictions in the past seven years, bit as far as I know, Mexican beer is still banned — not sure about Guatemalan! I agree about the littering of the ocean. It made me sad and sick.
Pat, have been following you Bumfuzzles for years. You & your wife — vibrant, brave, adventurous spirits — so much to be admired through all the years. Beautiful family, of course, as it grew with your precious children. Plenty of loving (and smart) parenting. Haven’t checked in for several months and was dismayed when I saw this post. This picture of you worries me — NO spark in your eyes, which is unusual. I see the kids kinda’ far off in the background, entertaining each other w/the pool table. You look deflated and completely bored. Your commenters seem to be falling off. I notice that your pics also lack the kind of vibrancy & “crispness” that you did so well at times in the past. Hope y’all are doing okay.
Haha, thanks for that uplifting comment. Geez, who would post a comment like that? I’d slept one hour in the past thirty-six as we cleared out of one country and cruised 100 miles to another. Try not to be so dismayed. And feel free to go right back to not checking in with us.