“15:46.191N 88:49.595W”

 

We spent our last night in Utila anchored in East Harbour in the company of Loud (pronounced Loot) and Marlene from Rafiki.  Apart from waking up the next day with sore heads we were very disappointed to learn that overnight someone had stolen all of Rafiki’s fenders off their rail......sadly petty theft is rife throughout the Caribbean and anchored yachts are easy prey!

 

The 100 NM sail to Guatemala was relatively easy as we had a following wind that reached 30 knots so wefast  sailed with only a tiny foresail.   During the night we were surrounded by lightning that not only was spectacular but also a bit worrying as yachts are often struck at sea, it normally results in a total loss of their electronics.

 

The entrance to Livingston has a shallow bar that we can only cross near high water so we anchored off Cabo Tres Puntas around 6am for a little sleep before heading in on the tide late this morning. Livingston is isolated in having no roads so there is an enormous amount of small boat traffic moving people and goods.    For the first time we employed a local agent to help us clear in and handle all documentation needed by the Port Health, Immigration, Customs, Port Captain etc.   The town is a bit ramshackle but everyone is friendly and welcoming.  We were warned about petty theft here so late this afternoon we moved to this location about 7 NM up the Rio Dulce.  We sailed the river through a spectacular series of heavily forested high canyons ......real jungle!    Unfortunately we were in the middle of a tropical thunderstorm and visibility was bad, so bad that we managed to hit a low hanging cable that had been dislodged in the squall.   It caught the top of our forestay but hopefully we haven’t done any serious damage but I will need to climb the mast tomorrow for a good look at it.