Cancun, Mexico to Rio Dulce, Guatemala
Mar 8, 2001 - Dec 27, 2001
Oct 24, 2001 - Hi folks....WHITECAP here!!!! Getting a little "antsy" sitting here on the sand, waiting....waiting....waiting. I was lucky during that last hurricane....it passed about 60 miles south of me...didn't even kick up any dust around here, to speak of. I got word the other day that the Skipper is on the move again... at least he bought his return ticket and will be here in a week or so. I'm sure looking forward to a nice rubdown and a warm bath, not to mention the patter of feet again. Not much more to say right now, but will keep you posted when the skipper and crew arrive....rumour has it there's a new face and an old friend of mine coming along with Dick...will let you know. TTYL.....WHITECAP.
Nov 1, 2001 - Yipeeeeee!!!!!! Heeeee's Heeeerrrre. The skipper arrived back in Belize on Tuesday, but he's staying in a fancy hotel up the beach that has real beds. It's been raining, so he can't do too much to get me spiffied up for the water. He brought me a whole bunch of new toys that I'll tell you about later, as he installs them on my various body parts. He brought Gerry Arsenault back with him (Gerry is a friend of mine that helped me get from Port Isabel to Vera Cruz) and also another friend named Leroy Arsenault (a SCUBA diver from Summerside....I'm pretty sure I remember him from when I lived there). I haven't seen too much of any of them yet.......they're probably up there in the hotel sampling that demon rhum. Well that's all for now,,,keep your sails trimmed for fair sailing.....WHITECAP.
Nov 4, 2001 - Hi everyone....First time I have
had access to a BTL.net computer. All is well; we are putting two coats of
epoxy and cotton fibres on the centreboard box each day, We have to let it
harden before we can add more each time, so we just sit in the bar and drink
beer....
Our room is OK, we have three beds and a full bath, yesterday we found a
fridge in an empty room so we will get some groceries at least enough to make
a sandwich for breakfast. Today, Sunday, Linda brought in a day cook, so we
had breakfast for the first time since home... and we now have our coffee
thingy from the boat so today also our first coffee!!!! since home.
Yesterday we had big rain and had to change 3 times... clothes will not dry in
an air conditioned room... so the balcony now looks like a chinese chung king
mansion...
I will try again later to hook the laptop.
The picture card does not work, so we cannot download jpegs I must have lost a
driver or something... explorer does not recognize it as a drive at all anyone
got a solution. Dick
Nov 5, 2001 - Quick note, looks like we will
be moving Whitecap off the sand onto the pave
and in line for the slip around noon Tuesday. The old
salvaged boat is launched and has been towed over to "Peter's
Buff" mangrove where they plan to burn it in the next few weeks.
They figure Midnight Marine Supply will probably pick her clean over the next
few nights.
We have the centre board box all glassed and sanded; looks good,
considering we had to build up over 1" with cotton fibres and epoxy, went
through two epoxy kits!!!. We will do some fairing when we move over to
the slip and put the graphite fibres to her. We used some underwater
epoxy for one area where it was wet and it seems to be working... Bottom
paint here is $259.BLZ per gallon and a quart is $120.BLZ, we need about 2
quarts so will buy a gallon, should have
brought it from home!!!!
Emerald Isle left today for San Pedro, and a new ketch, "Eastwind",
from NY arrived up from the Rio; they have 2 dogs and 2 cats on a 42 ft
boat... UG!! Did not get a chance to talk to them yet.
Monday evening update: All the staff over at the travel lift quit today,
we thought we were in big trouble.... The new foreman,
"Half-inch", is not liked; they were missing some tools
so he ordered everyone searched before they got on the ferry, Glenn
their best worker, told them if they searched him, he would not be back;
no one came back except the foreman... we convinced him to move us at
noon and we built a roadway out of 10/quarter x 12" mahogany planks for
the lift to walk on. Whitecap is now at the slip ready to launch, we just have
to paint the last coat; had to buy another gallon of anti fouling today,
$450.BLZ (that hurts!!!), in appreaciation,
I told the young lady "next time I am going to marry you" and she
said she would marry me anytime..... at least I got the senior discount...
Maybe on Tuesday, after we launch, we may take up Chad's offer to accompany
him to the Rio in "Animo" and take the bus from Fronteras back
here. He is leaving maybe Wednesday AM and we can go down there for a
look see at 35 kts...
A few pictures: The girls
we left behind!!! Celia
welcoming us back to Moho, the wind
generator bracket as we transported it to Belize, looks like a bazooka...,
the old salvaged boat blocking
the slip, note the coconuts plugging the exhaust ports!!! and a picture of the
"Myrtle St Gang" before
we left home... Dick
Nov 7, 2001 - Well folks, I'm back in the water and does it ever feel good. Unfortunately, the skipper can't seem to get his computer synced with the local systems, so still no email.....just a phone call back home now and then to keep everyone posted. TTYL, WHITECAP.
Nov 8, 2001 - Yesterday was a very busy day;
up at 06:00; got the last coat of fiberglass repairs done, and bottom painted
and by 10:00 we were afloat again. All is well, will send more when we finally
get e-mail going. Shad, the skipper of "Animo" was heading to the
Rio Dulce all by himself, so we quickly decided to join him for a look-see of
the river, Sheri and Cliff Wilson the owners of Aubisque also came with us, as
their catamaran was already at Mario´s. It was 120 miles from Belize City to
the bridge at Fronteres, Guatamala. 5 hours and 750 gallons of diesel later we were tied up
inside a covered boathouse on "the farm" in Fronteres. WOW, what a
place!!! a private compound with armed guards all over the place. We dingyed
to Mario´s Marina for buffet supper, then over to the Catamaran Hotel where
we got a room for US$50. Shad told us there would be a car and driver to pick
us up in the morning, as he was catching the company jet for a trip to
CostaRica for his bosses 50th birthday party. We tagged along, and the driver
dropped of Shad at the Learjet, (too excited to get a picture) then the driver
drove us another 100 miles to Antigua. Very agressive driver, 140Km in 40 km
zones!!! with his lugar automatic pistol on the seat between his legs!!! the
flack jacket was in the back of the Land Rover.
So, we are now in a beautiful hotel in this beautiful city in the mountains,
(3 active volcanoes surround the city) on the Centro and will stay here until
tomorrow. Leroy cannot believe this is happening... We will return to
Guatamala City overnight 1 night, then get a bus Rapido back to Fronteres, and
spend a day or so around the river before heading back to Moho Cay.
The trip up the river was something else. We stopped for customs and Immigration,
Shad never even shut the engines. US$20 here and another there and we were on
our way!!! Everywhere there are street vendors selling their mothers' hand
made shawls and table cloths, and they are very aggressive...
Will send again tomorrow, have to go get a rum now. Dick
November 08, 2001 at 21:46:37 (EST) Update -
Hola everyone, we are in Antigua, and it is cold here, wish we had brought
long sleeves and pants!!! instead of shorts.
This is quite a city, have been touring around; lots to see and
do; in fact, it tired me out, so I had a pre-suppertime nap... Leroy
found a bar where they sell the local beer for US$2.75 for a litre, and when I
cam along they were enjoying themselves!!! We think we will stay another
night here, lots of interesting things to see. Gerry was talking to a guy at
the bar who tells him that it is 3 days back to Belize City, but I guess this
guy does not travel the way we do (1st class)... Leroy and I went to a grocery
store for Pepsi, and the store went back and back and back... when we came out
the back door we were three blocks south of our hotel, and we found Gerry´s
Canada Dry Tonic water, only here it is called Canada Dry Quinine water.
Anyway time to get some food into us; already we all lost at least 10 pounds
from not eating reg. This AM at Catamaran Hotel we had the buffet breakfast,
and that was the first solid food in 3 days. Shad has flown off to Costa Rica
and will be coming back in ten days; by that time Whitecap will be on her way
to the Rio, so we will probably meet him again.
Anyway, all is well. I think if you all were here you would enjoy this place
too....
Nite nite - Dick
Nov 9, 2001 at 12:30:14 (EST) - We decided to
spend another night here at Antigua; we are staying at the Hotel "La Sin
Ventura" almost across from the centro park; doing the walking tour of
the city this aft.
Sorry for all the misspells, this is a Spanish keyboard, and there are differences... Leroy´s beer was US$2.75 per
litre, and it is Shad not Shar, please make the corrections for me. Thanks.
It is a 3 day shuttle bus trip back to Belize city from here, we are 1 hour from Guatamala City, 5 hours from the Rio where we want to spend another day looking up a few boats I met last year, then 4 hours bus to Flores then another day to Belize City, because the roads do not go direct, the alternative is to fly back at US$145 but we will not see anything or anyone... Wish we had that young driver Hugo (pronounced U-go), we would be back in the Rio in 5 hours, then 750 gallons diesel and Animo would be back at Moho
Caye.... ah well back to reality we will go by bus.
Most of the tourists here appear to be Dutch and German students, probably supported by their parents, there does not appear to be very many our age, who are probably back home earning money to send their student kids up here!!! Anyway, Antigua is a beautiful city, today the sky is clear, and we can see the 3 volcanoes clearly, they surround the city on 2 sides and apparently are active but we do not see smoke. There are lots of local handicrafts and markets, street vendors, natives with baskets on their heads selling their mother's handicrafts & goods, I think Mary would like this place...
No there is no ships log as yet, we have been too busy and Whitecap has only moved from the sand to the water so far, the engine would not start, but I think it is because the batteries are not fully charged yet, the fluid levels are OK but there is no good hygrometer test, we took off too suddenly to check everything out.
Anyway off for now, will come on later
Dick
Nov 9, 2001 at 21:21:25 (EST) Update
- Found another hotel here that is just out of this world and the
price with senior discount is US$60 per day for the next time we come here.
We are scheduled out of here at 07:30 Sat AM shuttle to Guato City, and then at 09:00 to the Rio Dulce, arriving around 14:00. We will overnight there
and then go to Belize City on Sunday, another 6 hour bus ride, as there are no
roads direct. We should be back to Moho for sure on Monday, so you will not
hear from us for the next few days.
All is well, and we are just heading out for dinner at Campenero´s a Kentucky
fried type place owned by our benefactor (the owner of Animo), a small price
to pay for his hospitality on the way down here...
Regards to all from Antigua, Guatamala, Central America
Dick
Nov 11, 2001 at 19:04:46 (EST) - Hola
everyone....Did a 6hr "chicken" bus trip yesterday, from Guato City
to the Rio Dulce, got here at Fronteres around 3PM and logged into a room at
Bruno's Marina for the night. Then went walking, found our friend Pat on
"Shang" and went out to dinner, this AM Pat took us on a water tour
of all the marinas on the Rio, and up to the Castillo, a fort built by the
Spanish in the year??? at the enterance to Lago Isabel. Also found "Ithica"
who was with us last spring at Puerto Aventuras, talked to Bernadette, they
have just come back from time in the US.
This is almost like the Bras d'Or lakes, except there are marinas everywhere
on both sides of the river, each place has a restaurant and bar, today we had
"chicken steak" at Rosita's about a half mile down river from Shang.
Tonight we are staying on board Shang, and are scheduled for a 09:00 rapido
bus to Flores, a 4 hour ride from here on the way to Belize City. Flores is a
small city on an Island in a lake a way inland from here, but it is on the
only road to Belize City from here. Imagine, it takes 3 days to go the
distance from PEI to Yarmouth, NS by bus, only 5 hours on Animo, and 4 days on
a sailboat!!! ah but the rum is good.... and cheap. Leroy went out today, 1
litre white and 2 litre pepsi for US$6.
Anyway all is well, and we will be back at Moho by Tuesday afternoon. Dick
Nov 12, 2001 at 15:15:55 (EST) - Hi everyone,,,,,,We
are now at Flores, a small "city" in the middle of a lake in the
mountains, the hotel??? we are staying at is basically a backpackers place,
except most backpacker places are much better!!! well, we have a view of the
lake, had to take 2 rooms because there are no triples and the cost is Q150
for the 2 rooms (Q100= US$7.60) so you see this is a classy joint!!! Had a
beer and hamberger down the street the burger was 3/16" thick....
Left Fronteres this AM at 09:00 on a tour shuttle going to Tikal, there were 3
US and 3 CDN yachters, the van driver wanted to fill up, and we told him we
did not have the Q150 each to pay him as there were no ATM machines on the
Rio. When we told him we were going to Belize City to pick up Whitecap and
come back to the Rio, he said we could pay him when we came back!!!!! so we
took the lift.
Spent last night on Pat Burdine´s "Shang" and slept until 07:00;
no noise on that side of the Rio. Did the grand tour yesterday, met up with
Bernadette Bernon on "Ithica", they are at Tortugal Marina, then we
went all the way down to Mario´s and then across to Rosita´´s for lunch.
Pat is coming up to Belize City next week to pick up his mahogany to build the
new masts, we said we would give him a hand to glue them up when we come back.
It is about a 3 day sail from Belize city to Livingstone at the mouth of the
Rio, then 25 or so miles up to El Golfeto and Lago Isabel. We are to meet Shad
in 2 weeks to look for a site for a 100 ton lift his boss wishes to bring down
here. Presently there are no facilities to lift out on the Rio, except for a
Marine RR near the Castillo.
The CDN couple on the van this AM, had met up with "Grumpy" last
June on their way back to Isla Mujeres, he said they will be coming back down
again this spring, hope all is well with them.
Our bus leaves here tomorrow for Belize City at 05:00 but the border was
closed today, apparently someone on the Guatamala side started throwing stones
at the Belize guards, so they just shut the border until they sort it out...
Sorry to hear about the new airplane thingy in NY, hope it was just an
accident.
Bill, hope there are some fish in the river, if you get one save a filet for
Christmas...
To Roger Mainville, will contact you by e-mail when I get it going again, but
we are scheduled for HFX on Dec 17, if you want a holiday Whitecap will be in
Moho, we flew down from HFX via Continental, Newark to Houston
(overnight), then Belize City for CDN$ 756 all taxes included,
which was the best deal...
Will ring home tomorrow from Moho Caye. Dick
Nov 19, 2001 - Well we have had a very busy
week!!! returned to Moho Caye, last Tuesday
from a long 7 hour bus ride from Flores, Guatamala, on a 25 passenger bus that
carried 36 people, including one hung over German who looked like he was going
to up-chuck any minute, and he was in the seat in front of Gerry and I....
We had no problems at the Belize-Guato border, except that some old lady was
yelling and swearing and throwing stones at the Belize border guards in a very
loud voice, and we had to sit in the sun for an hour while everyone cleared
customs and they disinfected the bus. The difference between the 2
countries is evidenced as soon as we crossed the border; the roads were
better (read paved), the country cleaner, and the people are just
different. In all it was a worthwhile side trip but we lost 6 days
getting the boat ready.
Since last contact, we have been cleaning; front cabin and Q berth are
finished, cushions are all aired out and sun baked, removed the mizzen
mast and installed the wind generator, which took a day and a half to get all
back together and on the boat, we miscalculated the distance required from the
mizzen mast to the upright bracket, and had to cut 4" off the blades so
she would do a 360 deg turn... Damm now we need 10 kts of wind to start her
instead of 8 Kts. My legs are all burnt from sitting in the lazzerette
and soldering the new fittings on the wire (8 Guage - red, black and green )
hot solder dropping on my legs felt like what I think a hot wax treatment
would
be like, you cannot move just have to endure the droppings!!!. We installed
the new panel, just above the 110V plug in the nav station, looks some good,
but I have a question. Does it make a difference which way the
electricity goes through the AMP meter? So far we do not see any reading
on the gauge... We are unhooked from shore power, and the batteries show 12.4V
with
the fridge on after 24 hrs, wonder what will happen with the hot water
heater on???
Today, Monday is a national holiday here, everything has been closed since
last Sat at noon, except for the small Chinese stores, but we prepared
ourselves with sufficient rum and coke in our room..... Our friend Pat Burdine
on "Shang", showed up from the Rio yesterday, to collect the
mahogany for his masts, which has been sitting in someone's shop since last
April with no work done on them!!! (Belize time!!!), Today he arranged with
Mike the capt of the landing craft to bring the lumber out to his boat now
anchored just outside the marina entrance, and we will both head back down to
the Rio via Placentia, Monkey River Town and Punta Gorda, hopefully by
end of this week. This is the area where Iris did all the damage.
Today we got Mercedes started, she balked at first and would not rev over 500
RPM. We changed the primary fuel filter, but still no go, so I laid over
the top of the hot engine, took of
the air intake and found that the "butterfly" valve was seized, so
we cleaned it up and freed it like new with WD40, now we get 2200rpm, after we
bled the injectors, she sounded like a new engine. Sounds simple, but this exercise
took 4 hours!!!. I wish there were some way Mercedes could talk to me, so I
would know what to expect next!!!
There was a big annual Belikin fishing tournment over in San Pedro on the
weekend, 3 Moho Caye boats went over. Looks like Moho was well
represented, "Camelot" (John Crump, ACE Hardware)
got 2nd and "OutReach" 3rd ( the US preacher and his wife), coming
back with about BLZ $8000. in cash, so there was an exciting time at the bar
at suppertime tonight!!!! The top prize was $50,000 which no one won because
you have to catch a sailfish, a tarpon and a whahoo in one day....
Here are some pics, Leroy
on Animo, Gerry on
Animo, to the Rio at 22kts,
Shad, the Capt of Animo and
Sherri Wilson on the bridge, the Rio
gorge at 18kts swamping a couple of cayugas, the
scene outside our room at the Catamaran Hotel in the AM, Hugo
our expert armed driver, dropping us off at Antigua, Dick
and Gerry in Antigua celebrating the independance of Guatamala in
September 1821 garb, one of
3 volcanoes that surround
Antigua, #152 a Marimba band
entertaining at hotel "Pasedo don Rodrigez" at lunch time!!!,
and an armed guard in front of
the bank next to our hotel.
Nov 28, 2001 - I think there must be something wrong with my e-mail,
the last time I got on there were 2 junk mails only, perhaps the
"switch" is on and Mary is collecting all the accounts from the home
machine??? maybe??? or then maybe no one is sending me anything, 
It is very hot here like 90F at 07:00, today I listened to the Rio Net
at 07:30 there was a guy advertising canvas repair; our bimini was chaffed;
turned out he was just 2 doors from Lube's wharf, got the repairs done for
US$10. Walked over the bridge to the
bank in the AM, had pizza lunch at a small beachfront palapa, met up with a
German lady doctor traveling by herself; invited her along with us as cook,
but she said she could only do coffee, toast and marmalade... so we sent her
on her way...
Found a small internet place run by a girl called Marleena she said I could
hook up there so I will try tomorrow AM but this time we will dinghy over, it
is a long walk.... over the bridge and back.
Dick
Nov 28, 2001 - Update - Hi
everyone, A few pictures of our trip up into Lag Isabel on Sunday, we
went to the Hot waterfalls at the Finca Paraiso, the water was so hot it was
difficult standing under. The tractor
for the trip to the falls, the falls and
pool, Shang at anchor
the lake is about 5 miles wide here and here are the news of the day from the
log since we arrived here.
Gave Lube our laundry; he says mama
would do it for us. Dinghied over to the east side walked to the bank,
got Q1000, that is all they allow per customer per day...
Tried the internet café, Marlena, with a smile to charm your socks off,
is the manager and speaks English (enough). Thought my stuff was going
through, but when we retrieved mail, everything came back "Mail
Administrator reject".... damn. Back to the drawing board.
Thursday November 29, 2001 - Dick's
birthday!!! Mama is doing our
laundry, on a piece of broken cement sidewalk in the river, every time we walk
by she gives us a smile, I guess happy to get some income, as we watched,
she would scrub a shirt on the rock, lift it to inspect it and if not
satisfied go at it again!!!. All the women do their laundry there, gives
them a chance to catch up on the gossip and news... Leroy and Dick
head back to the internet café, still no satisfactory results. Tried Captain
Nemo's cafe at Bruno's Marina, young lad there got us hooked up in minutes, at
a cost of Q50, internet time there is Q1 per minute, twice the price of
Marlena's.
Got some stuff back, apparently we have a bad e-mail address for Paul Doran
and a few others. Jerry went over to Shang, Dick not feeling well,
stomach cramps, slept 2 hours during the afternoon, at dusk Dick and Leroy
dinghy off down river to Mario's Cayuga club for supper, Sirloin Tips, mashed
potato for Q24, and then up to Hacienda Tijax for a late night (20:00hr)
rum, then back to Whitecap and bed. Got our laundry back.... Mr. Maytag
has been put to shame!!!, the whites were white, and all our sheets and grimy
tee shirt necks were white again like new, folded and ironed!!! all for
Q90, Really do not know if I want my silk shirts done this way...
Nov 29, 2001 - Update - Hi Everyone, here are some more pictures for the
records, a sheet of roofing materiel
implanted in a tree from hurricane Iris, a lady salvaging a bed from her
askew house, she told us this was the second storey and the house was 600 ft
south on the beach!!!! Wave Dancer in the mangroves at Big Creek, the "errant tugboat" that broke loose and went through the fleet
of 8 boats, the white boat is Lady Alexandra an 85 ft mahogany 60 year old
boat that got broken in two by the tug. #32 Shang and Whitecap anchored
at Wild Cane Cay, notice our fishing lure and trowling line wound around a
coke bottle, we lost it all the next day when a big fish broke the 108lb
test line!!! Gerry says the fish was so big it clouded the sky on the
way by... I had my back turned and did not see anything just heard the
noise!!! WHITECAP anchored at Punta Gorda in the rain while we were
checking out of Belize, you can
see the Voice of America radio towers in the background. The main
street in Livingstone looking down hill from the hotel entrance. The
Rio
Dulce canyon on the way up, Everyone out hand line fishing in their
cayugas. Lube at his wharf, the Morgan 34 "Chaos" in background. We are
presently at Lube's wharf; he can handle 5 boats. His wife came out with fresh
made iced watermelon juice when we arrived. Lube hooked up 110V electric
and cable TV for us when we arrived. Lube's 15 year old brother,
Guillemero did the trip on Shang to and from Moho; we had great fun teasing
him about being lonesome for his MAMA. By the way, there are no bugs here, the
birds get them as soon as they
move. Dick
Nov 30, 2001 - Hi everyone. Thanks for the wellness wishes, I do not feel any older just deeper in debt!!!
Anyway I have lots of pictures and e-mails but am having devil of a time getting them out, I think Bill Gates should get an ordinary person to explain to the stupido programmers to use the KISS method in programming.
The big excitement here in the Rio and Fronteres is that yesterday while I was at the internet Cafe trying to send out 15 messages all with attachments and stuff, right around the corner on the main drag was a bank robbery taking place!!!, and not one robbery but they got the only two banks across the street from each
other, in the town at the same time. There was an English lady getting funds and they were all ordered to hit the floor!!! then no one was allowed to leave the bank until the
policio arrived
from Guatemala city 5 hours away!!! Guess the moral of the story is, when you go into a bank in this country, always check the floor to make sure it is clean.... especially if you have to lie there for 5 hours.
Tomorrow we are going up to the hot springs and falls in Paraiso Lago Isabel, we are taking Shang and a few dinghies, there are actually 2 falls one hot and one cool. It will be a day trip. Ithica is still here, I talked to Bernadette on the radio yesterday, but the fleet is getting thinner here.
We are tied up at a private wharf Lube´s on the west side of the bridge, nice comfortable
place, and he is getting ready to expand, he likes the idea of the boats backing in like we suggested because of only two on each side he will be able to put 5 or six stern to his dock on one side. Lube has a 1 yr old son who is the light of their lives.
Anyway all is well and we will keep trying to get this mail out...Dick
Friday, November 30, 2001 02:00 - Slept all afternoon, had a beer and a piece of chicken for supper, back to bed slept the whole night through.....
Saturday, December 1, 2001 - Went to Mar Marine, looking for new fishing lure, had a problem getting by the guard at the gate, seems to think the only people allowed to do business here have to come by water not the street. Make plans to move Shang's new mast materiel tomorrow early and then head up Lago Izabel to the hot falls.
Sunday, December 2, 2001 - Early start,
but have to wait for the "lumber police" approval before we can
carry the wood across the street.... Lube had to show the receipt where
Pat had purchased the mahogany in Belize. In Guatemala no individuals
are allowed to cut wood, except on their own property, permits are only passed
out to certain people.... All the lumber trucks going over the bridge
are stopped and their papers inspected!!! We finally got permission, and
carried all the pieces across the road under the bridge to a small empty house
Pat rented to store and dry the mahogany.
10:30 We pack up lunch and head out on Shang for the 12 mile run around the
Castillo San Filipe to Finca Paraiso, or Heavenly Farm, where the hot water
falls are located. We arrive after a 3 hour run up wind, and for Q85 we
contracted a ride in a trailer towed by a farm tractor (no one laugh, the
seats were made of 2 x 8 teak!!!) for the 2 miles inland trip to the falls, a
short walk brought us to a pool with a cool river flowing through and hot
waterfall from above. The waterfall was so hot you could not stand
under, but standing in different spots in the river stream, anyone could find
a comfortable place. Arrived back to Lube's wharf after dark, Emi had a
spaghetti and meat sauce dinner all ready for us, complete with birthday cake
for Dick's and Lube's birthdays...
Monday, December 3, 2001 - Wake up to rain, On
this AM's 07:30 VHF Net Frank and Denise have returned to their Morgan 41 OI
"Cursail" at Susanna's Marina. We met them in Moho Caye last
spring and had a great discussion about Canada taking on two more provinces.
Must go over and say Hi, and explain that her "new provinces" are
only Territories, Ikaluit and.....?????? the other one....
Expect to be heading out the river on Wednesday or Thursday this week.
Plan to head up by way of inside the outer reef, at least to Placentia.
depending on the wind. Dick
Wednesday, December 5, 2001 - Seriously
thinking about leaving Whitecap here with Lube for Christmas; can save US$450
for the month back home. Lube would like us to leave her here next
summer also, he and his wife would certainly take care of everything, they
open each boat in the AM and shut them up late afternoon religiously,
Mama does the laundry on a cement rock in the river as you saw in the picture,
and she puts Mr. Maytag to shame!!!! never happy until every spot is
gone, I mean my jean shirt was dirty with engine grime from working in the
hole,,, wonder if I gave her the shirt with the rust spots????
Here is another picture of Lago Isabel,
just like the Bras d'Or lakes. The Castillo at the entrance, which was
an old Spanish fort built to protect the Spanish Galleons from pirates,
has been all restored.
Leroy and Gerry head out in the dink to the bank; they come back
frustrated; the line up is 2 hrs long and they only let 2 people inside
at a time now. Dick heads out to Backpackers to try their network
internet café, in the rain. Forgot the network cable!!! had to walk all
the way back. Met the skipper off "Fleur de Lis"; says
he is coming into Lube's, as soon as Poala
(Chaos) leaves. He is from Montreal and has been out for 8 years. Dick
PS:
Everything (email) seems to be working now, for the first
time we got mail, so I was right, the stuff was going to the house machine...
mucho gracias........
We have decided to leave the boat here for Christmas for sure, and will bus to
Belize city for our flight. In Jan it will be easy to get to Guato City
and bus down here...
Thursday, December 6, 2001 - Well finally we
got mail!!! Knew there had to be a problem on
the home machine. I find it easy to connect to the network at the
Backpacker Hotel internet cafe. Backpacker by the way is owned by the
Casa Guatamala, which is an orphanage, about 1 mile down river, they also own
a small "meat" market at the market in town, where they sell
all the produce they raise on their farm. Guess we will have to stop in
there to see the operation.
Rain ! Rain ! Rain ! Rain !!!! all day again today, and for the last three
days, and when it rains here it r - a -i - n - s.... kind of
depressing, but it lets up, and we can get to town in the dink, get under
cover, find a bar and have a beer, wait an hour and move on to the market,
bank or where ever; today I found a place where they sold shrimp from
Honduras, Q70 for 4 lbs, about mid
finger size, great for peel and eat tomorrow. Froze half. Also found the
local market, and a place where they grow hydroponic lettuce... Bought
some eggs, Gerry was hesitant at first but they were OK over lightly, I
just told him either it was eggs or we would have chicken next week...
Last night there was an attempted outboard theft across the river, from an
anchored boat, the owner awoke and surprised them and was able to
attract help and put a chase on, the culprits swamped their cayuga and
took off into the mangroves leaving behind their arsenal of tools, bolt
cutters, wire cutters with extended handles etc.... This should put them
out of business for a while...
Paola, on CHAOS, the Morgan 34 just ahead of us moved out today, much to the
relief of everyone... he had a v bad attitude and no one was comfortable
when he was around. Kind of a shame, but he has worked his way through
every marina in the Rio over the last 6 years because he has a disagreement
with the owners or something or other... Lube here needs some kind of
paper for his boats to sign to set some rules down.
A Corbin 39, "FLEUR de LIS" from Montreal moved in right away, and
he is a friendly solo sailor guy who expects to do some land travel for the
next 6 months.
Finally met up with Denise and Frank on CURSAIL, and set her straight on the
NWT thingy, Got a message from Mary Brussard in Yellowknife just today
which set me straight on the names and such, thanks Mary...
Will get back on in the next day or so. Dick
Saturday, December 8, 2001 - Well time is
going by fast down here; in just a week we will be on a bus heading for
Belize City and then home. We are busy doing something almost all the
time here. Lube has borrowed a half ton truck from a friend and;
on Monday we are all going up to drive up to do a river trip in the Bocqueron
gorge, where the monkeys are.
Check the logfile update for the last few days, starting Dec 4....
Dick
Saturday, December 8, 2001, Update - Starting
to wind down here, packing things that we no longer need (hopefully) to take
home in the big bag .
This is a schedule of what we have been up to the last few days...
Met Al Perry, a friend of Lube's from Los Angeles, Leroy and Gerry head out to
town for a bank run, forget to tell them to pick up lettuce for our BLT's this
aft. Everyone slept the night through, it seems cooler at night now that
the rain has stopped. Yachter's Swap meet at Mario's this AM,
dinghy over, then over to Monkey Bay but no
monkeys today... What to do tonight?? Lots of choices, according to this
AM VHF net, Chicken drop at Suzanna's, steak night at Mario's, everyone has
something going on Saturday. Ended up staying on board, watched Titanic
and Angela's Ashes instead.
Sunday, December 9, 2001 - Cleaned and
re-greased the port Lewmar 30 still a
little stiff but better. Lube working on his new boat, got stuck in the
slip hauling it out with Al's truck. Lazy day today, read, sleep, read
sleep.... then sleep read..... Rained v hard during night, had to close
hatches and put towel over laptop just in case.
Monday, December 9, 2001 - Sun trying to
peek through, heard Carlos from
Atilan Travel on the Net this AM sounded like Soggy Paws was going to use his
van, US$ 160 to Belize City, sounds high but we should check with him
anyway; turns out this is for the van no matter how many passengers, up to 10.
Perhaps it will save
us an overnight in Flores... checked it out, will not work out, Soggy Paws
wishes to go on Wednesday; we prefer Sat or Sunday... for our Monday
flight, but perhaps we can find someone else that may wish to go.
Tuesday, December 10, 2001 -
Rained again during the night, seems this is a regular event here, still misty
rainy in the morning, stayed in the bunk until 09:30 reading LeCarre's
"The Constant Gardener", am half way through, Tessa has been
murdered and the investigation is in full swing.... Every now and then
we think of some item to add to our bring back list, this AM it was an
"in line" switch for the 12 volt 
fan...
Carlos has 6 for his van to Belize City on Saturday, brings the cost down to
under US$30 ea, not bad... for a 7 hour ride in an air conditioned van.
Here are 4 pics of the pile driving process down here, they attach two
long poles to the pile and nail boards across,
then they start piling on bags of sand, as many as they can for weight,
when they have about a ton, 3 guys stand on top and start jumping up and
down. The pile slowly drops into the mud, and they move the whole thing
to the next one... all by hand... you have to look at the pics from #1
to #4 in sequence.
December 27, 2001 - Hi
Folks, WHITECAP here. I guess by this time you have figured out
that the Skipper and crew have abandoned me for the Christmas season. 
They are back in the land of snow & ice, although there is no ice yet and
the snow has just barely started.
Just before they left, the Skipper and crew had visited a small pub while
waiting for the ferry to get back to me....they each had a beer, some snacks
and another beer. The conscientious waitress, like all good waitresses
had to make sure she got the orders, and ultimately the bill to the right
table, so she made a note on the top of the bill to identify the motley
crew. All went well and the bill finally arrived in front of Dick.
He perused the bill and then slowly surveyed the room in which they sat....the
crew became alarmed, thinking perhaps they had been overcharged or given the
wrong bill, but Dick said, "no, look around"...... they all surveyed
the room .....not another person in the establishment...... Dick then handed
the other two the bill, at the top was written "Three Old Men"
to identify their table. Dick looked at the honest, errr, earnest
waitress and said, I guess you weren't expecting a tip, eh?"
Have a
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, from WHITECAP.
