My Peace

My Peace
Under Sail

Monday, September 26, 2011

26 September 2011

I received a comment about Mia not having her lifejacket on while on the dock at Moko Marina in Rio Dulce. 
Mia Chillin' on the dock at Moko Marina, Rio Dulce Guatemala



Mia relaxing on My Peace with some Caribbean White Rum


"Can I have some Coke and ice with my rum?"



Note: Mia has her lifejacket on.

In Belize as well as Guatemala, dogs are not required to wear lifejackets on the docks or boats unless they have been drinking; they are not required to wear lifejackets in bars even when the bar is built over the water.  Mia loves to go bar hopping to check out the local dogs, the 4 legged types. 


"Hey, I ordered water on the rocks!" "J" Byrd's Bar in Placencia, Belize

"That's better!"


"I love ice water in this heat!"

Unlike the U.S. Mia is welcome almost everywhere as long as she behaves, which she usually does unless a cat enters the establishment.  The only place Mia was denied service was in Puerto Morelos, Mexico.  There was a big sign at the door that said "NO DOGS ALLOWED", Mia's feelings were hurt so we went elsewhere for dinner.

"Watch out Dad, here comes Mom!" Bruno's Rio Dulce, Guatemala

"Wish there was a nice strong Dachshund, Chihuahua, or better yet a Chi-winnie to talk to."

"This heat gets me down."


This posting is for humor purposes only, we never give Mia alcoholic beverages, the bowl she is drinking from in Placencia, Belize is filled with water.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

24 September 2011

We have been in Rio Dulce at Tijax Marina for almost a month now, most of the little stuff we needed to do is done and now it is time to enjoy the area for a while.  Our daughter Jessi flew in
Bridge to the rubber plantation

from Maui for a month long visit which is great to have her with us for a while.  We have made many friends at several of the marinas on the Rio and it seems the “pitch-in dinners” together is never
Walks to cottages at Tijax

ending. Last week it was bar-b-que chicken at Moko Marina with Matt, Carla, Lenny, Peggy, Miguel, Brian, and Jennifer.  Tomorrow is Miguel’s birthday party and it is going to be a shrimp boil.  Tonight Peter and Karla came over for dinner and we all had an enjoyable dinner on My Peace.

View of Fronteras from Tijax Marina


Swimming pool at Tijax Marina

  
View of the front of Tijax Marina


My Peace at Tijax Marina

Bridge over the Rio Dulce


Jessi and Rose at the Tijax Resturant

 Cottage at Tijax Marina

 Geff grillin' chicken at Moko Marina


Moko Marina group 


 Mia chillin' at Moka Marina

Today Rose, Jessi, and I took the dinghy up the Rio Dulce about 4 miles to Castillo de San Felipe, check out the web site at http://www.mayaparadise.com/izabal/riodulce/castillo.htm it was awesome and the history brings it all to life.  After touring the castle we walked out to the little

 Castillo de San Felipe

village at the entrance , we came by water, there was a hotel called the Buccaneer, it looked interesting so Rose and Jessi asked if they could look around, it was being remodeled but they

 Swinging Bridges at Buccaneer Hotel

allowed them in anyway, and they had a ball. The rooms were connected by swinging bridges one of which crossed a pool with 2 crocodiles in it.  Of course they had to play with the crocs.



Jessi & rose crocodile hunters 
The history of Castillo de San Felipe was interesting, seems that in the 1600s the Spanish treasure ships would come into Lago de Izabal in route to their various ports and lay up in the lake.  Didn’t

 Castillo de San Felipe

 take the pirates long to find them so the Spanish built a fort at the mouth of the lake where the Rio Dulce entered the lake. Over the next 94 years I think the pirates either controlled or destroyed the fort as quickly as the Spanish could rebuild it.  At one point they put a chain across the river to keep


 Castillo de San Felipe


the pirates out with little success.  At one point the pirates not only took control of the fort but also stole all the munitions and canons.  In 1955 the reconstruction project started which was successful

 Castillo de San Felipe
and the Castillo de San Felipe is open from 8 to 5 daily for tours.  If you ever are down this way and want to visit the castle, be sure to bring your own flashlight, the interior rooms are not lite and it is very hard to see what is inside them.


3 foot crocodile
The only bridge over the Rio Dulce is at Fronteras, it has a 90 foot vertical clearance, the only reason for the height is to accommodate the pleasure boats that come here to escape the hurricanes during the hurricane season.  There is no large commercial  vessels on the river, due to the “bar” at the mouth of the river in Livingston where the Rio Dulce empties into the Bay of Honduras commercial traffic cannot get into the Rio Dulce.  At one time in past history Livingston was a busy sea port, but

  6 foot crocodile

with no roads connecting Livingston to the rest of the world, the port was mover further south to Puerto Barrios which had overland access to the rest of the country.  The river is plenty deep to
navigate up river to Lago de Izabal with an average depth of well over 20 feet, but the bar remains at around 6 feet at a normal high tide and maybe as much as 8 feet on a full moon high tide.

Friday, September 9, 2011

9 September 2011

9 Sep 2011 - Today was a great day, I went online to check the "SPOT TRACK" for Escondida and found that she was in Livingston, Guatemala.  Matt & Carla got beat up pretty bad in Placencia, Belize by the evening storms and decided to head to Rio Dulce.  They arrived in Fronteras around 1430 hours and we met at Bruno's for a celebration drink, than this evening Matt, Carla, Peter, Karla, Rose and I had dinner on My Peace.

Later I went out to the "Blog Site" for Second Chance to see if there was any progress made on saving Mahalo Nui and found out that they had a very successful day, let us all Pray that the temporary patch applied today holds through the night so they can get her across the reef and into the marina in the morning.  You can follow the progress of saving Mahalo Nui on John & Beth's Blog Site at http://gemini2ndchance.blogspot.com/  Let us all say a Prayer for J & Jerr that they will be successful Saturday morning in moving Mahalo Nui to the marina.

So far this evening we haven't received our nightly thunder storm, maybe we will be spared tonight, the thunderstorm isn't so bad it is that we always loose our electrical power for several hours when they come through.  I wish some of this rain would fall in south central Texas, when I spoke with my son David, that whole area is just ready to explode it is so dry, several hundred homes have already been lost in the area.  I was kind of hoping that Tropical Storm Nate would turn northward and bring them some relief but as it stands now with 3 storms working none are heading toward Texas.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

6 September 2011 Mahalo Nui.

6 September 2011 – Received pictures from Mahalo Nui, which I thought I would share with you.  Mahalo Nui was sailing with Second Chance, they were in route to Punta Allen, Mexico and Second Chance hit the reef at Punta Allen, so both boats headed back north to Puerto Aventures, about 35 miles back, as the seas were too rough to attempt repairs at Punta Allen.  They arrived at Puerto Aventures around 2000 hours and attempted entry in the dark.  Second Chance made it in through the jetties, but Mahalo Nui missed and ended up on the rocks.  I’m not going to write much here other than to title the pictures.  We are all Praying that the damage isn’t as bad as it looks and they will be able to once again sail Mahalo Nui.

Click on pictures to enlarge


 Mahalo Nui.in the south side of the jetties


  Mahalo Nui.in the south side of the jetties

  Mahalo Nui.washes to the beach on the south side of the jetties


  Mahalo Nui.washes to the beach on the south side of the jetties


 South side of the south jetty Puerto Aventures

 Inside Mahalo Nui.

 Inside Mahalo Nui.


 J captain/owner of Mahalo Nui.

 Inside Mahalo Nui.


Inside Mahalo Nui.

5 September 2011

5 Sep 2011- Just received sad news from some of our cruising friends who were on their way down to Rio Dulce, Guatemala from Isla Mujeres, Mexico.  They were at Punta Allen when the catamaran Second Chance, belonging to John and Beth Shaw hit a reef causing minor damage to their rudder.  Due to high seas they were unable to attempt repairs at Punta Allen so they returned north to Puerto Aventures arriving around 2000 hours.

South jetty Puerto Aventures

As you may remember I had difficulty entering Puerto Aventures in the daylight, I would never want to enter that port in the dark.  The catamaran Second Chance made it in but the mono hull Mahalo Nui that was traveling with them missed and ended up on the rocks on the south side of the entrance.  J & Jerr both made it off the boat safely. 

North jetty Puerto Aventures
This morning she had drifted to the south and was laying at 45 Degrees on the beach and had taken on a large amount of water.  They hooked up a high powered bilge pump and are able to reduce the amount of water in the boat.  Due to rough seas they won’t be able to attempt to move her into sheltered water until Wednesday.  Thank God J & Jerr are alright.
Power boat entering jetties Puerto Aventures
The entrance to Puerto Aventures is unprotected there is a very small jetty on each side of the entrance to the harbor which opens directly into the Caribbean in the best conditions it is very dicey to enter.  I almost lost My Peace when we were there in 1 meter seas.  I would have to say that Puerto Aventures is the most dangerous port we have entered thus far in our voyage.

 Power boat entering jetties Puerto Aventures
With a power boat you have enough power to control the boat in the “surf”, a sail boat weighing 17 tons like My Peace and you only have 62 hp it is very difficult to maintain control.  When we entered I almost ended up on the rocks on the north jetties in 1 meter seas in broad daylight.  There is a range marker and supposedly if you line up correctly on the range lights and ride in on the valley between two swells it isn’t too bad.  The mistake I made was I rode in on the top of a swell and it was like surfing a 17 ton surfboard with no control.  I pushed my throttle all the way forward and cranked the wheel as far to port as I could and almost didn’t make it.
 Power boat entering jetties Puerto Aventures
Mahalo Nui is a smaller boat than My Peace and has a much smaller engine, our hearts go out to J & Jerr and we Pray the damage isn’t too extensive.
As we hear more I will relay it.