Sunday, December 11, 2011

Back to the Rio and Out

The trip back to Canada was a little less strenuous than our trip to Chile and Peru but we figure we slept in as many different beds during our trip home, as we had so many of our friends and family opening their arms and homes to us for a fun but short visit. Cheryl figures that she slept in over 10 beds, including her trip to Edmonton. Karen fell behind by at least 1 bed! It truly was great to catch up with everyone.
We also did the Doctor ‘thing’ and found that we are aging well!
So back to the boat. We arrived back with 4 bags each around 50 pounds and our backpacks as carry on. The marina picked us up and dropped us by the boat so it was easier to put the bags on board. HOME!!
We didn’t unpack as there was work to be done in the V-birth. We had had a leaky new fibreglass water tank and had bought this new product called Brew Coat, a rubberized paint to seal it (it was like painting with candy floss). Once it was painted we had to wait the 7 days for full cure, then we could seal things up and Cheryl emptied the bags and found places to hide all our new treasures. Probably never to be found again. It is always like Christmas when you open the bags as you never remember all the treasures that you brought back. Karen is still wondering what all we brought back. It will be a surprise for us both as Cheryl probably doesn’t remember where she put it.
We had had other things shipped in, which Jonsey on Niki Wiki took care of getting and kept on their boat (thank you Jonsey!) So now we have to install all our new goodies that we bought. A new radio with MMSI and AIS, which meant running new wires, what fun. You have to be a small malleable monkey to install new things on an old boat. We opened the Xantrex battery charger and we found that we needed items we couldn’t get here to install it. Luckily another cruiser had friends coming down and could bring us some parts. Cruiser guests are wonderful, after all GUESTS really means: Get Urgent Essentials Sent To Sailors. After the paint has been applied everywhere down below include some in Cheryl’s hair and the floor with new coats of non-skid and the new baby Bruce anchor for the dinghy has been stored as have the dozen fuel filters which are a necessity for every boater! The boat almost looks liveable.
No more leaky hatches as we have replaced all the gaskets and Karen has been sewing up a storm, mostly fixing things, but also building a hanging closet and a cover for the 4 HP outboard engine. Karen and Lynn (High States) also did some repairs to the UV on the head sail.
Then we hauled out. As we approached the yard we radioed and called on the phone, but no one answered! We saw the guys on the dock and drove right into the slings. For the first time the lifts scales works and so we know our weight, 24,000 pounds! With an empty diesel and low water tanks and very little wine on board! Oops, that is a lot more than we thought. Once we were chocked and power washed we inspected the bottom. We had blisters, but only in the bottom paint. So they had to do some extra poking and sanding and they raised our boot stipe another 2 inches! The first time they painted the boot strip they used the wrong colour paint and it was runny, but they fixed all the next day and it is perfect. While the boys were working below we replaced the fresh water hose for the aft head, Cheryl sanded the prop to 1500 grit, so it was very shiny! (Cheryl got into a contest with another boat called At Last, to see who had the shiniest prop. I think that Cheryl won, but credit to Mike on At Last as he has two props! By the way, sanding the prop seems to be the only way to keep barnacles and ick off it.) We also put 6 layers of varnish on the stairs, handrails, drawer fronts and oven handle. And 4 layers of varnish on the table. So we sparkle!
We launched without paying! As the yard did not have our bill ready and was not concerned if we didn’t pay right away. Only in the Rio! The boat yard work was amazing, we would highly recommended Abel’s for their professionalism and workmanship. We stopped at the fuel dock to fill up the new now non-leaky diesel tank. A bit of a problem as the inspection port was not closed, but Cheryl caught any spills in the diapers and we are fine. Back to the dock!
Then we went off to Guatemala City with 6 other boats to go to the Kite festival on the day of the dead. We overnighted in Guatemala City at the Biltmore, we stayed in one of the newly renovated rooms, which are nice. But to have a warm shower in the morning it was necessary to phone the front desk and have the hot water turned on. The next day we were off to Sumpango just 45 minutes from Guatemala City for the Kite festival. The kites were amazing, up to 13 metres across and they were works of art. The kites were on bamboo supports, the front a collage made of tissue paper telling the stories of the village all supported by a plastic backing. Starting at 4pm they flew them, which was also amazing. Most got up for a short bit, then came crashing down. But a few were up and stayed up. (The next day in Antigua we met a tourist who was at the kite festival and broke his arm when he was hit by a falling kite.) Cheryl , Kathy and Tom from Jumbie had time to fly their own kite meanwhile Karen got to entertain kids with her bubbles she bought, to be kids again all was good. Well, all was good until the corn field ate Cheryl’s kite! Then back to the city.
We left the next morning for Antigua with Tom and Kathy on Jumbie. We walked around the city visiting various shops, saw some amazing art work and ate well! Kathy and Cheryl rearranged the furniture at the hotel so that we had a table looking out at the volcano while we had our wine and nibbles. We climbed the hill to the cross overlooking the city and boy was it a great view. We had breakfast at the monastery and toured it the next day. It really is an amazing ruin. One thing they have done at the monastery that is really impressive is that they had modern art from around the world done and set beside similar themed works of the Mayans. Very interesting.
Then we went to Lake Atitlan. In a word, beautiful! Or two works, beautiful and peaceful. We stayed in a Hotel called Casa Lola, it turned out to be 100Q a night ($13US) with a lovely view of the Lake. We sat on the veranda each night with a bottle of wine and enjoyed the amazing view. We walked to the next town, San Jaun, which was very quiet. Many of the local ladies still follow the old ways of making dyes out of plants and still make the beautiful coloured clothes that they wear and sell. We took a launcha to San Marco to see what is there, the answer is not much, unless you are into yoga or massage, we walked the town in about 3 minutes and that was at a slow pace. We did have an excellent conversation and Mojito with the owner of one resort. He was able to fill us in on what is happening to the lake. The water level has risen net 4 metres last year and another metre this year. There is no natural egress from the lake, it empties by evaporation and they have been having too much rain. So many houses and businesses are literally underwater. We went to Santiago, the largest city on the lake and we have to say that it is very touristy. We overheard a guide pointing out were the water level was in 1950, which was another 10 meters above todays level. Which means a lot more business could lose their land! Lastly we went to Chichicastanegro, a town known for its Sunday market. While there was a lot for sale we didn’t buy much. It was interesting to see all the ‘hand made’ stuff with not only Guatemala printed on it but Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador. Did we take a wrong turn somewhere….we thought we are still in Guatemala, so it appears you don’t have to leave one country to get the lastest tourist trinkets from another.
Back to the boat to see if we can get done what needs to be done before we leave the river. The SSB we ordered came in, in about 2 ½ weeks, which is amazingly fast. We took this as a sign the we should cast off and make the high tide. Cheryl wanted to clean the anchor locker, good thing, as we found that the ‘I’ beam that supports the forestay was VERY badly rusted. Karen called Abel’s and they would have a place for us the next day. They replaced the ‘I’ beam with a much heavier one and then again it was back to Mario’s. A last taco night, a last pot luck, and then good byes to some truly amazing people at Mario’s. We will see many of the cruisers again, but as we are heading south we may not see the staff again. This is the hard part of cruising.
We crossed on the high tide on the 22nd of November, Enchantment (Michelle and Vern) went first as they only draw 5 ½ feet. Michelle quietly called the depths they were seeing, her voice didn’t even go up when they saw 6 feet. (We draw 6 feet 1 inch or so and have new bottom paint!) Our path was a little further south and we didn’t see less than 9 inches under our bottom, so the paint stayed were it should be! High States (Lynn and Randy) crossed last. We anchored for the night at Tres Puntas and had a great sleep. Lynn radioed us all that it was time to leave, at 9 a.m. the 3 of us where off to Roatan. While we could have hoped for more wind, we had to settle for motoring all the way (we did put sails up for a couple of hours, but only as an assist or least to see if they really work). We are always happy to make east by motoring! We had to slow down after midnight or we would have been in too early and we really wanted the light and we had to wait until the 2 cruise ship got out of our way, we could smell the bacon and the coffee as the cruise ships made their way into Roatan. So by 7:30 a.m. we had all picked up our mooring balls and by 8 a.m. we were napping!