Finally got the boat back in the water last weekend, got her over to Utila from La Ceiba for a final few days of preparation and crew recruitment for the jaunt back to Rio Dulce. I ended up having to bring Andiamo back solo, which was interestingly the first time I ever had to do that. It was cool, and I even anchored solo ok. I didn’t sail because winds were light, and I didn’t want to raise my new main with just me aboard. All I needed was something to go wrong with it at the wrong time, which has always been the case anyway.
The day after I got back, we put together a fun day of sailing around Utila with a bunch of people. Monica (from Tranquila) and Claire, the Irish dive instructor, who was spending her last day on the island that Sunday, put it together for the most part. I promised Claire I’d get her out on the boat before she left. A bunch of people from around town showed up for the trip. It ended up being a nice group of people, about 10 of us total. We headed out about noon, and got back in time for sunset. There was some light breeze, which gave us a nice easy sail along the Utila coast. There was lots of food, beer, cocktails, beer, more beer and then we ran out of anything. Probably a good thing too.
All week last week, I got some loose ends tied up, took care of some final issues on Andiamo, which was looking pretty damn good with her newly spot-painted, polished and buffed topsides, and new main! I put the word out for crew, and within a matter of hours, I had 3 crewmembers lined up. All Americans too, which was another first on Andiamo. The crew was going to consist of Mahia (yes, that’s her name, no snickers!) from Colorado, Katherine from Oregon, and Sabrina from California. None had any sailing experience except for Mahia, whose only sailing experience was her trip on Andiamo that fateful Sunday. So after giving them the lowdown, I affectionately gave them the moniker, “Sea Cadets”. Not sure if they liked it or not, but it served them well.
While getting some last minute details ready for our Thursday departure, a storm started brewing up in the Pacific off the coast of El Salvador. It ended up becoming Tropical Storm Adrian, the first official storm of the hurricane season, which hadn’t even started yet!
The storm was going to cross Central America and find its way to the Caribbean, and pass over right around the Bay Islands.
My first instinct was to wait and see what the storm did, but then I realized that I would much rather be up the Rio Dulce, then on Utila if the storm blew by. It was not going to be anything more than a tropical depression by the time it reached there anyway, having been weakened by the mountainous Honduran and Guatemalan landmass. So despite more conservative wisdom from others, I decided we would leave, albeit a bit earlier on Thursday.
The ride over was quite easy, but not much wind. We motorsailed most of the way. The winds did kick up in the middle of the night, but unfortunately it was right on our nose. I kept the motor going most of the time because we really had to keep our schedule of getting into Livingston at high tide, which was 5:30 AM Friday. We did get a few final hours of good light breeze sailing on our approach to Livingston. We made it to the mouth of the Rio Dulce right on time, went over the bar of the river with nary a single touch (a first on Andiamo!). We dropped our anchor off the main dock at Livingston, ending what was an absolutely flawless 17-hour passage.
So after another wonderful ride up the Rio Dulce (a first for all three Sea Cadets), we tied up at our usual dock, where Andiamo will be for awhile during the next few months during the inevitable hurricane season. I had too busy of a hurricane season last year to even consider being out there this year. Nope this season, I’m taking a break. I’ll be doing some overseas traveling, and possibly a visit to Florida during this time. The cats will be hanging out with the boat under close supervision of course. Which is great for them because they will be able to venture off the boat around the marina. Lots of room to roam. It’s relatively safe for them, because they can’t go very far on account of lots of dogs on the property. But they can go far enough to get a nice “break” from the boat.
Waiting to hear back from some friends in Antigua to see about doing one last junket to Lago Izabal for a couple of days before getting Andiamo nestled at the dock for the whole summer.
So it’s time for the summer and some new possibilities. Who knows where I’ll end up.
Comment from: MIchael Greaney [Visitor]
Tony,
We’ll be in FLA in August and again in November. Drop me a line and let me know when you’ll be there.
Later Dude,
Mike G