We stayed in Placencia for a few more days, and had happy hour on UpJinks . Maggie has told the story of Beth's perfect first mate's t-shirt, which she would wear at the start of long cruises. Beth posed with it - "Fetch" - how often is the skipper at the helm saying, "can you get this for me..." "can you go down below and get ...." "Oh, I forgot to bring up..." Fetch!
Our plans were to buddy-boat with Angelina , so all four of us went on the Hokey Pokey Water Taxi to the town of Independence to check out of the country. We thought we'd do this before the big Easter holiday so we could leave early Monday morning (Easter Monday still a holiday here). A cab brought us to the police station to check out of Immigration, then to the port to clear Customs. Unfortunately, the port captain was in his "office" that day, so we had to pay $45US (when he is not there the fee is waived). We hope with the money they will be able to get him a real office someday - this is what it is now:
On Friday, 3/20, we left Placencia to anchor at South Long Cocoa Cay - about 10 miles east. Nice to get away from the bustling town and to the quiet of an island with only a fishing hut ... we were the only boat for a day; it was paradise. Bob thinks this should be named Pelican Island - they were all over the place! Some great coral for snorkeling. This is what you see when you find postcards of paradise.
Since we had made a commitment to be at the potluck Easter dinner, we left Sunday morning for Placencia, motoring back in flat calm seas. The weatherman on the NW Caribbean Net reported that Placencia has a different kind of sunrise service - they play music, some of his favorite Easter songs done in rap, through the night until sunrise. The holiday is Semana Santa, Holy Week, which is just an excuse to party all week (we are not sure if rap is included in the local church services, but we know it is in sunrise services).
After Easter dinner, we walked through town and to the beach - tents were set up on the beach, music blaring, dance contests going on, drinking and litter all over the place. It was so sad to see the beautiful beach mis-used in this way.
Early Monday, we weighed anchor with Angelina . We started our 42-mile passage with the prediction for 20kt N winds. After a few hours of motoring, the wind indeed picked up, along with the seas, making for a pretty rough ride; we saw 29 kts and figured the seas were 6-8 feet. (Remember, the flat-calm sea the day before!) Fortunately, we were running with the wind and doing 7+ kts with just the jib. We entered the Bahia de Graciosca, Guatemala at 3:30p, and took down our Belize flag. This is a huge bay with good protection. We were there two nights, waiting for the wind and rain to abate so we'd have a smooth and clear ride "across the bar" and into the river. We took a short dinghy ride (getting soaked from the waves in the bay) and found kids on recess sitting in front of the school. Everyone goes to school by boat or dugout canoe.
To get into the Rio Dulce ("Sweet River"), you must cross over a sand bar in Livingston of less than 6' depth. You hear boaters talking all the time about their crossing. Our draft is 5'; Angelina's is 5'8" - we led the way in, reporting our depth along the way. Angelina bumped 8 times coming in. We had provided information for our clearance papers ahead of time and called Raul as we were entering the harbor; he told us to anchor and he'd notify the port captain. Within 20 minutes, we were boarded by 4 officials, who asked a few questions (frowned when we said we had a cat, but we had all the documentation for Rosita so no problemo), and within a few minutes, asked us to please take down our yellow quarantine flag and put up the Guatemalan flag - we cheered with joy.
By 10:00a we were in Raul's office, went to the bank to convert US $ to Quetzal, Guatemalan currency, so we could pay our fees. At 10:30, we were done and sitting at BagaMama's having breakfast (and of course, beer!). This was a time to celebrate! We finally made it to Guatemala.
Our ride through the Rio Dulce, the canyon leading to the lakes, was beyond spectacular. We were in awe! It is said that the original Tarzan movies were filmed here; Bob kept a lookout for Jane.
Check out this video-clip taken by a recent visitor to the area: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI_8qe3GcKk
We anchored in Texan Bay, a marina owned by Texans who have settled on the river, having heard from many cruisers this was the place to stop, especially for their chicken-fried steak. Well, they didn't have it that night, but we experienced the typical afternoon-evening at the marina - everyone sitting around the large table drinking beer and smoking stuff you can't smoke openly at home but is ok in Guatemala.
Waking to rain on Thursday, we hung out on the boat until it began to clear - we weren't sure if we'd need foul weather gear or sunglasses. We decided on both. After checking with Angelina every hour, we left about 11:00, making the rest of the trip through the El Golfete (the eastern lake about 14 miles long) and to the marinas. Angelina's marina was before ours; we bid farewell and went on to Tortugal and were able to get right into our slip. Bob did a fantastic job of backing into the tricky spot, avoiding the piling and the boats on either side. We are here! (We are so here, that we even took the wheel off to make it easier to move about the cockpit.)
Life won't be dictated by the weather in the Rio and Bob can sleep at night since our lines are secure. Thankfully we have an air conditioner, because it gets very very hot!