2020   Rio Dulce in Guatemala

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	We arrived in Livingston, the port of entry for Guatemala early in the morning and had completed the customs and immigration formalities by about noon.  At 4 PM the border was closed due to Covid 19 rules and boats arriving were turned away. Livingston is a town of about 20,000 people at the mouth of the Rio Dulce, which has no access by road.  It has a bad reputation for petty crime, but we had no issues and everyone we met was friendly. Our final destination is Fronteras, about 30 miles up the Rio Dulce, passing through the gorge. There were hundreds of  egrets in the trees as we motored through, but we have lost our pictures, so this one is off the web.
	A dozen miles upriver we stopped in to consult with Cayo Quemado Sails & Rigging bay with no road access whatsoever.  The owner cheerfully climbed our rigging, (10mm stainless wire) barefoot, hand over hand, to inspect and  measure it.  Shortly afterwards we received a professional quote by email to replace all the rigging (as demanded by insurance companies for boats or age)   Double click for full size photos).
	Next stop was Catamaran Marina in Fronteras, a funky, friendly marina on an island near Fronteras. We spent a few weeks there, preparing Milvina  for haul out and summer storage.  A number of other sailors were at the same game, so it was a sociable spell. Final stage was to motor a mile to RAM marina to be hauled-out and blocked up on ten hard, well above the level of the frequent floods on the river.
Getting home was complicated by the Covid mess.  After reserving 4 flights only to have  them cancelled, we got a seat on a Canadian government flight direct from Guatemala City to Montreal.  Were glad t get it even although the fare for this 100% full charter flight was well above airline rates.                               Home    Sailing home page      2020 Home page