Rio Dulce, Guatemala

[belizebill]

Leaving in the morning for the Rio Dulce, should take a few days as we are going to explore some of the little cayes along the way. Should be fun. Bill

 

[Steve]

I have read lots of blogs by folks on the Rio Dulce sounds like a nice place.
Have a great trip!

 

[Moonstruck]

belizebill wrote:
Leaving in the morning for the Rio Dulce, should take a few days as we are going to explore some of the little cayes along the way. Should be fun. Bill

*BB, take plenty of pictures, and have a great trip. *We want to hear all about it. *Also, stay safe, i've heard of some crime on the river.

 

[belizebill]

Well we made it down to Placencia ,Belize and will head out for the Rio in the morning. Started out with a cold front blowing in ,but the sun is back now. The trip started out with the dinghy painter wrapped around the prop, so in the first 10 min. I had to don the mask and snorkle, boy I hate towing a dinghy. Stopped at Rondeveue Caye and Tobbaco Caye on the way . Ill post pics. when we reach. BB

 

[Capn Chuck]

Bill, Brings back many happy memories. We ca never stop in Placencia for only a day. Have a great trip up the river and enjoy it. We went in for a week and stayed for 5 months. http://sea-trek.blogspot.com/2007/12/arriving-in-river.html* . Chuck



-- Edited by Capn Chuck on Tuesday 13th of December 2011 08:40:58 AM


-- Edited by Capn Chuck on Tuesday 13th of December 2011 08:41:31 AM

 

[belizebill]

Yea, still in Placencia, its nice here. Will try to cast off???????????? BB

 

[belizebill]

Arrived in Livingston, Guatemala, a pleasure with the athorities on check in. An awe inspirinig trip up thru the gorge of 600' walls on both sides covered in jungle ,with parrotts,tucans, pelicans,snowy egrets, then entered El Golfete, the middle part of the rio where it opens up wide, and cloged a fuel filter while gunning the engine to miss a log. It was almost dark and there was no way I would be able to find the marina anyway ,so dropped the hook and had cocktails. Woke up this morning with a skiff along side asking if I needed help because this would be a terrible place to anchor for the night because its a thrufare for all the water taxis., Got lucky again. Got the fdilter changed and found my way to the marina at Frontera. My GPS showed that I was at the end of the world, wait till you see the picture, the Admiral was , like, what do we do now? I said ,hold on girl, we are about to fall off the edge and she oh OK, gotta like her. Slipped in be hinde a TRUE Passage Maker and having adult beverages. BB When I sober up Ill post pictures

 

[belizebill]

Well, got her up on the hard and started sanding yesterday, got several young men coming to help today. Cant find my camera cord to send pics. its here somewhere. Later. BB

 

[Otisguy]

We leave Boca Del Toro, Panama for Rio Dulce in the next few coming weeks. *I will be on boat Dec 27th to get her prepped for trip and capt and crew coming in to help bring our 48' Hatteras Lrc to Rio Dulce where she will spend next couple of years for engine rebuilds & makeover. *We should be there around 5th of January hopefully and I will be around until Jan 15th so hopefully I will be able to meet some others from this formum while I am there....

 

[belizebill]

Look for me at Brunos for coffee in the morning ,Abels boat yard during the day, Brunos after 5pm. Do you have people lined up for your work? I see you are from Palmetto, I am originaly from Sarasota,Fl. I have not met anyone here from the forumn yet. BB

 

[Moonstruck]

Otisguy wrote:
We leave Boca Del Toro, Panama for Rio Dulce in the next few coming weeks. *I will be on boat Dec 27th to get her prepped for trip and capt and crew coming in to help bring our 48' Hatteras Lrc to Rio Dulce where she will spend next couple of years for engine rebuilds & makeover. *We should be there around 5th of January hopefully and I will be around until Jan 15th so hopefully I will be able to meet some others from this formum while I am there....

*Otis, I am going down to Palmetto Wednesday. *A great friend and cruising buddy passed away. *He lived in Riviera Dunes. *I was a member of Bradenton Yacht Club up until this year. *I did not renew when we decided to relocate to the East Coast for awhile.

Best o luck to you on your maiden voyage.

 

[Steve]

Keep your dighy secured or out of the water when not in use, a friend had his stolen in the Rio Dulce a few months ago.

Steve W

 

[belizebill]

Thats a just a gimmie around here or any where in this part of the world. However ,my brand new Yamaha outboard was stolen in Sarasota,Fla.I had not locked.BB

 

[Anode]

Caught up with Bill and Bogey the purebred Belizean Coconut Retriever last night at Bruno's. This afternoon while out exploring with a friend I saw Irish Mist on the hard getting her new paint!

Bill is a great guy. He was ordering Bogey some porkchops at Bruno's when we were leaving.**

 

[belizebill]

Well ,I finally got a proper usb for my camera and now I can share some of the photos of the trip from Belize to the Rio Dulce for the haul out. BB

 

[dwhatty]

Very interesting. Thanks.

 

[Moonstruck]

belizebill wrote:
Well ,I finally got a proper usb for my camera and now I can share some of the photos of the trip from Belize to the Rio Dulce for the haul out. BB

*Beautiful, BB. *I have been waiting for you to post those photos. *Thanks.

 

[BaltimoreLurker]

Very nice!* So nice some look fake

*

I need to travel more.

 

[Peter B]

Ditto Bill, great pics.* Hey where is that bridge in the last photo situated.* It is of very interesting construction, and looks like it is of the same type as out Gateway Arterial bridges here in Brisbane over the Brisbane river, just recently duplicated because of traffic growth.* The original on the far side was only completed in 1986, yet outgrown already.* The nearside duplicate was opened just last year.* We were anchored at the Rivergate Marina when these was taken.* That's our Lotus in the foreground of the 3rd pic.

*

 

[belizebill]

They do look remarkably alike,dont they. The one here crosses the Rio Dulce at the town of Frontera,Guatemala . I like your boat. BB

 

[KJ]

Bill,

I'm assuming that you made the trip to Guatemala for your boat work because the cost*was substantially less than a local yard. I would think they would have a good yard in Placencia.* What kind of rates did the Guatemala yard charge you (if you don't mind me asking)?**

In 2014 I will probably be heading down your way. I will be doing some reef research with the folks from Project Aware. They are assembling an expedition to your part of the Caribbean.*I want to do some whale shark diving at Gladden Spit while I'm there.

If the Guatemala yard work rates are reasonable enough to make the trip, I would consider making*it a destination.

Your boat looks great. Are you still diving?

I like my Belikin real cold.************** KJ*

 

[belizebill]

I dont know of a yard in Placencia.The price for a good yard hand in Gautemala is about a hundred Q a day,or about US $15.00, I estimate the complete job I got would have been$15000.00 in the States, it was around $6K there. What kind of research will you be doing on our little reef ? Bring Lion fish spears, bastards are everywhere. BB

 

[KJ]

belizebill wrote:
What kind of research will you be doing on our little reef ? Bring Lion fish spears, bastards are everywhere. BB

*

BB,

Yes, we will be researching the Lionfish "problem".

The Lionfish infestation in the Caribbean and the East Coast has become significantly dangerous as they are already*threatening several native species, and could easily wipe out many more. That's why many countries now offer a bounty on these non-indigenous predators. These voracious fish did not migrate to this part of the world, they were illegally transported here.

The problem is that in the Caribbean, the Lionfish have no natural predators themselves, so they can breed unchecked. All the hunting and disposing of Lionfish by divers will not make a serious dent in their population. When I was diving in Honduras, we would bag every one that we saw, and the next day there would be another one right in the same spot. They were all over the place.

In the Bahamas we were starting to do research on getting some of the local species to regard Lionfish as prey food. We were having some success getting Sea Anemones to capture them and digest them, but it's a long and tedious process.* Most predators take one look at the impressive array of spines that a Lionfish displays and leave them alone. *

There are many organizations that are trying to find a solution to the Lionfish invasion in several different ways.

We will also be doing a census the various local shark populations.

Hope to see you when I get down there.******************** KJ *****

*

*


-- Edited by KJ on Friday 2nd of March 2012 03:14:17 PM

 

[twiisted71]

Bruno's?? What is this you speak of??? *LOL *The Admiral and I and a Dr. friend of mine and his wife (Local from just down the road from Bruno's!) were there for a week fall of 2010. *We rented rooms at Bruno's and used it as a base to go tourista. *Great trip.

*

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Here is a sunrise view from the top of the Rio Dulce bridge our last day down there. *I can't imagine how people get sucked in to the beauty!

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-- Edited by twiisted71 on Friday 2nd of March 2012 09:38:55 PM


-- Edited by twiisted71 on Friday 2nd of March 2012 09:40:12 PM

 

[belizebill]

Nice,huh,BB

 

[twiisted71]

definitely had its charms. Does the bar/nightclub next door still keep everyone awake? Being the early riser of the group and from out in the La sticks I'd go sit on the dock early in the morning and chat with the night watchman while he fished. The others thought it was a little creepy having this guy toting a gun roaming around the property at all hours of the night! LOL

Is that big a$$ed Catamaran still wasting away there?

 

[Doc]

Moonstruck wrote: Otis, I am going down to Palmetto Wednesday. A great friend and cruising buddy passed away. He lived in Riviera Dunes.

Don, I just saw this. Who was he? We spent a lot of time at Riveria Dunes about 6-7 years ago.

Doc

 

[blacksheep]

Thanks for the great photos,I have nevr been there and sure I never will get there so nice to arm chair travel!!Thanks,Bill Smith

 

[Moonstruck]

Doc wrote:
Moonstruck wrote: Otis, I am going down to Palmetto Wednesday. A great friend and cruising buddy passed away. He lived in Riviera Dunes.

Don, I just saw this. Who was he? We spent a lot of time at Riveria Dunes about 6-7 years ago.

Doc

*It was Bill Evans. *He had a Carver, Jan E XXVII, in a slip he owned on the community dock. *They had lived in Riviera Dunes for several years

That's right. *This was his 27th boat. *He had it worse than I do. *We had cruised all over, and traveled the world together. *He was just a really good guy.

 

[belizebill]

Yea that giant cat next door is still there wasting away. I like the fack that the little guy with the big roams around all night. On wweek ends you can hear that disco across across the street. Most annoying is the jake breaks on the semi trucks coming down the bridge. BB