Spent a night at Denny’s Beach and then decided to head out to an even more quiet spot on the lake, if that’s possible, in the far western corner about as far from the ocean as it’s possible to cruise here in Guatemala.

But not before the kids got a couple hours of goofing around in.

A little while in to our cruise I was thinking how idyllic the whole scene was. Of course that was the moment that I heard a squeal from the engine room. I immediately shut down, and for a minute I was sure it was a worst case scenario—another failed transmission.

And frankly, I would probably have deserved it. I’ve been a bit too lax with the transmissions. They don’t run hot, so I tend to ignore their oil beyond the quick visual check when I check or change the engine oil. I knew that checking tranny oil when it is cold isn’t good practice, but figured close enough is good enough. Turns out, not so much.

I added some oil, and everything seemed good again, so we continued on. A few days later I would buy my fifty bucks worth of oil, break out the manual, and go about giving both transmissions a good change. I then bought enough for another change, and will do that one in another 100 miles or so. It’s my penance for being neglectful.

While I was having a heart attack over the transmission in the middle of the lake, the kids went about setting up a smoothie shop to help pay the huge bill I was sure I was about to have to pay.

Cruising in to Balandra Bay.

We’ve now got three paddleboards and two paddles, so until we get back to town it’s a kayak paddle for me. The kids had a blast in this anchorage, swimming off the back of the boat, playing whatever imaginary games it is that kids play, until well after dark. Ali whispered to me, “Our kids are nuts, I would never in a million years be swimming in here after dark.” Meanwhile they were diving down twelve feet into the muck to scoop up cups full of mud off the bottom in total darkness. I had to agree with Ali, they are pretty nuts.

Sunrise on Ensenada de Balandras. Howler monkeys and birds were the only sounds.

We would have stayed longer but I had stress on the mind. Between the dinghy engine not working, and the transmissions needing attention, I couldn’t relax in the middle of nowhere for long. We pulled up the muddy anchor and moved on. Another stress? We’d usually use our freshwater for rinsing off the chain and anchor as it comes up, but because we hadn’t yet used the watermaker with the new Honda generator (remember the big boat Westerbeke generator died) we were hesitant to use up our water just yet.