BACK TO RIO DULCE, GUATEMALA AND THEN ONTO UTILA, HONDURAS - NOVEMBER 2013 - DECEMBER 2013

Print Page

VOLCANOES, CANOPY ZIPLINING, SHARK DIVING, JUNGLE TREKS, TUK TUKS, CHICKEN BUSES, HOT SPRING WATERFALLS, JADE SEAHORSES
AND MORE~

NOVEMBER 2013 - DECEMBER 2013

Hellooooooo Everyone!  We hope all is going great with all of you!  We are currently in San Andres, Colombia.   Since we last updated our blog, we have travel adventures have included Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia. We have done lots of scuba diving, hiking the jungle, canopy ziplining, hiking to a volcano, lots of parties, but most of all since it is a boat, lots and lots of boat projects.  Fixing this and that!   Please grab your big cup of coffee or your favorite tropical beverage and enjoy these adventures!  :  )

We are still way behind on our blog, but will try to be caught up soon. The internet is painfully slow!  Extremely slow! It is okay, because that is what makes these islands we visit so special.  They are refreshingly not so connected to the outside world.  The island we visited before this San Andres, Providencia, did not even have wifi. They only had USB sticks for internet and SIM cards and to us, it was quite expensive and limited. The other issue is, every country we visit, has its' own stick/SIM card and so you have to purchase a new one every time plus internet time on it.   It gets very expensive.

This blog is full of our adventures upon our return to Guatemala and then onto Utila and then our return to Roatan, Honduras.  It is full of lots of exploring! We hope you enjoy it.  

We were very happy to have had our great adventures in England, Greece, Turkey, and the USA and visiting friends and family.  However, it is always nice to return home and be back in our own bed aboard. : ) We were very happy to return to ULTRA and find that Sailor and the boat were both doing great.  Marco's (Mario's Marina manager) daughters had taken excellent care of Sailor and the boat looked fantastic.  Before our return, they had spiffed it up inside and out.  We were concerned upon our arrival to  find the boat turning green everywhere, since it had been raining every day in the Rio Dulce while were gone.  Sailor had gained about 3 pounds in 2 months. That is alot for a cat!  Yes, the girls were wonderful and spoiled him alot with  treats and cans of tuna.   : )   We quickly put him on a diet and more of him chasing his favorite boat line and retrieving it.   We were home about a week organizing the boat and visiting with friends and then we were off to explore more of Guatemala. We booked hotel rooms and we hopped the buses with Ocean Star and headed on our adventure to Antigua and Lake Atitlan.   These are two of the must sees while you are in Guatemala!  The scenery was amazing!

We have done lots of hiking, diving, snorkeling, parties with friends and exploring.  We hope that you enjoy all of the fun photos! It is really hard to take a bad photo.  The scenery all around is stunning!

Since we have just celebrated our 5th year of cruising, we have added some fun and new links to our website, too. Since we love to travel, we have added some helpful travel links.  You can click on these, and instantly be passed to another site full of great travel info. Anything from Passport info,  flight info, hotel info, and security information on your destination.  Also we have been asked by many people how they can donate to our fun our adventures, since they are living vicariously through us.  Many of you have told us to add a Pay Pal link to our site for some time now, but we never got around to it. Yea, we have finally done it.   : )

We sincerely enjoy hearing from all of you via email and all that is going on in your lives. We hope that you enjoy this blog and love to get your feedback and comments on our site. Thank you for all of your moral support while we are chasing our sailing dreams!

We have been writing alot since we last sent you a blog.  We also had the opportunity to do a tv interview and a radio interview about our adventurous cruising life.

Please check out these links to our articles and interviews: 

A)     CLICK LINK BELOW TO LISTEN TO RADIO SHOW INTERVIEW  OF BILL AND JOANNE'S CRUISING LIFE ABOARD ULTRA:    http://www.segelradio.de/sr11

B)   CLICK  LINK TO SEE PROVIDENCIA AND SANTA CATALINA, COLOMBIA TV SHOW INTERVIEW: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2euCZvP9HvY

C)    CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO ULTRA CARIBBEAN COMPASS LIONFISH ARTICLE: THE ARTICLE STARTS ON PAGE 37  http://issuu.com/caribbean-compass/docs/compass_online_april_2014

D)  CLICK LINK TO SEE SPRING ISSUE OF CRUISING OUTPOST  MAGAZINE "ULTRA CRUISING ARTICLE":  http://cruisingoutpost.com/subscribe-cruising-outpost-magazine/

YOU WILL NEED TO COPY AND PASTE THIS LINK INTO YOUR BROWSER.

E)  CLICK TO SEE THE ULTRA SHARK DIVING EXPERIENCE IN PROVIDENCIA AND SANTA CATALINA, COLOMBIA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g43WBpRrDWw

HIGHLIGHTS OF GUATEMALA!

1. ANTIGUA, A VERY CHARMING GUATEMALAN TOWN 
2. LAKE ATITLAN
3. TIJAX MARINA HIKE WITH LUCY
4. MARIO'S MARINA 
5. THE SPECTACULAR SOUNDS OF HOWLER MONKEYS, PARROTS AND OTHER TROPICAL BIRDS, SINGING FROGS AND OTHER CREATURES IN THE EMERALD GREEN JUNGLE.
6. MARIO'S MARINA WAS A VERY SECURE PLACE FOR US TO LEAVE OUR BOAT WHILE WE HAD OUR 2 MONTH MED AND BEYOND ADVENTURE!

RESTOCKING SAILOR'S FOOD SUPPLY. YES, HIS FAVORITE PART IS TO
PLAY IN THE BAG!   : )

NANAJUANA MARINA, RIO DULCE

DELICIOUS DINNER AND FUN ABOARD PHILEAS
GREAT REUNION AFTER NOT SEEING THEM FOR SEVERAL MONTHS!
 

A WALK THROUGH THE VILLAGE BY MARIO'S MARINA
MAMA PIGGY ABOVE AND BABIES ARE BELOW

THIS IS HOW THEY HARVEST RUBBER FROM THE TREES
THEY MAKE GLOVES, ETC.
THESE PLANTATIONS ARE ALL OVER THE PLACE

LOCAL VILLAGE HOME

IN THE PAIL IS THE RUBBER

ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA

We had a great time in Antigua, Guatemala. After our coach bus trip to Guatemala City and then changing to a smaller bus to Antigua. We along with Ocean Star we the only guests at an amazing private hacienda that came from a great referral from friends Jody and Stephen.  It was a great location and walking distance to town or a $2USD tuk tuk (tricycle type motorcycle that carries 2 - 3 passengers. We took a great hike up to the Pacaya Volcano.  The weather was perfect, but the altitude was breathtaking literally.  WOWIE!  We hiked all over Peru in the crazy altitudes of Machu Picchu and Sacsayhuaman, Cusco were a breeze.  They even had horses ready for anyone that wanted to take a horse rather than go by foot. We said no way, we are very fit, but just need some air.   : ) We are breathing, but nothing seems to be filling our lungs.  One woman that provided horses, was 65 with 10 kids and she did the trip twice a day 5 times per week!  AMAZING! About 2 weeks after we hiked the volcano, it erupted!  It was glowing bright red while we were there, and could see it dripping down the side of the top and lots and lots of white puffy smoke/steam.   When we laid inside of the vents, we said to each other, TAKE THE PHOTO NOW, IT IS HOT IN HERE!  : )   
We went to a fabulous restaurant for lunch called El Tenedor del Cerro. While there, Bill saw an advertisement for a zipline.  YEA!  We love that! Unfortunately, it was late afternoon.  We asked at the ticket booth if we could do it. They were not happy and after saying NO, and then JoAnne & Bill begging, they finally said okay.  We were able all of the ziplines that are included on a normal tour including the long zipline, but the only difference was, we were able to do the SUPERMAN FLY part of the zipline, but instead of being harnessed face first for that ride, there was not enough time to have both harnesses and then be back in time before dark. We did the AMAZING SUPERMAN FLY feet first and it was still fantastic. A really long run, it is 1 kilometer long (a little over a half a mile)!     

ROASTING MARSHMALLOWS IN THE VOLCANO VENT!

INSIDE THE VENT OF A VOLCANO

ONE OF OUR WONDERFUL ESCORTS TO THE VOLCANO
WE FED HER ALL OF OUR LUNCH! :  )

HIKING IT DOWN THE VOLCANO

CHICKEN BUS

TUK TUK

THE HACIENDA GARDENS

OUR ROOM AT THE PRIVATE HACIENDA

THIS IS THE FAMOUS MARIMBA!
THE SOUND WILL HYPNOTIZE YOU!

COBBLESTONE STREETS EVERYWHERE!

HIGHLIGHTS OF LAKE ATITLAN, GUATEMALA

During our stay in Panajel, we stayed at Hotel Utz Jay. It was a great location and great price with an excellent full Latin American breakfast included.  We hiked all over town and also took a boat tour around Lake Atitlan to visit other villages. It was a beautiful day for it and an amazing photo opportunity! Amazing photos of the Agua and Fuego Volcanos.  We took the opportunity to go to the 

PUPUSAS ARE DELICIOUS AND CHEAP!
LIKE A QUESADILLA

THIS IS HOW COFFEE GROWS.
COFFEE PLANT WITH THE BEANS ON IT!  THEY WILL PICK THEM
WHEN THEY ARE RED.

WALL MADE OF RECYCLED WATER BOTTLES!  GENIUS!

RIPE COFFEE BEANS!

LOTS OF FLOODING HAS HAPPENED OVER THE YEARS.  SEEMS THE LAKE IS RISING! 

CHICKEN BUS

LAKE ATITLAN IS KNOWN FOR THIS STYLE OF PANTS.   THE MEN WEAR CAPRI STYLE PANTS WITH VERY BRIGHT EMBROIDERY ON THEM

THESE BOYS ARE FISHING THROUGH THE DOCK

THIS IS HIBISCUS TEA

OUR WONDERFUL ROOM AT HOTEL UTZ JAY

OUR ROOM AT HOTEL UTZ JAY

YES THOSE ARE BICYCLE WHEELS!

BACK TO THE RIO TO PREPARE FOR DEPARTURE TO UTILA, HONDURAS

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Mario's Marina.  We had ordered new cockpits awnings for the boat, so we picked those up and did last minute chores.  Then we took a break and went to donate to the wonderful local family that lives up the creek, that we told you about last time that we always visited when we headed to town.  We got together a bunch of things from the boat, and took it over to them.  They do not have any running water or electricity.  When we arrived, the property was completely flooded from all of the rain.  We took a great hike with from Tijax Hotel and Marina.  We then took a day and took a bus with 3 other boats to Finca Parasio Falls.  It was an interesting bus ride.  We thought our experience on New Year's Eve in St. Martin was a record of 28 people in an 18 passenger bus.  This bus we took to the falls, they even put passengers on the luggage rack on the roof.  AMAZING! A Toyota mini van with waaaaaay too many people. We arrived safely to the falls and they were great.  What makes them special is they are hot spring waterfalls.  They are like the ones we did in Dominica with Sea Cat.  The pools are fed by the hot springs and you can soak in them. We have not had a warm bath together in a long, long  time!  Further up the river, the water is much cooler, so you have the best of both worlds!

THE PAPAYAS THEY GROW IN GUATEMALA ARE UNBELIEVABLE.  THIS IS A 5 GALLON BUCKET!

ONE OF THE TWO TEXAS PECAN PIES WE MADE FOR THANKSGIVING!

THE LOCAL FAMILY HOME

THE RIO DULCE RIVER BRIDGE

LADIES DOING LAUNDRY IN THE RIVER

THE PASSENGERS DISEMBARKING 
FROM THE VAN ROOF

ON THE RIDE HOME, BILL IS ASKED TO HOLD SOMEONE'S TORTILLAS BECAUSE THE WOMAN IS ALREADY HOLDING A HUGE BOWL
OF FISH AND A BABY.
IN THE FRONT SEAT ARE: THE DRIVER, JOANNE IN THE MIDDLE AND BILL BY THE DOOR.

THIS IS LIVINGSTON AT THE MOUTH OF THE RIO DULCE, THIS IS WHERE WE CHECK OUT OF GUATEMALA WITH RAUL

COMMUNITY LAUNDRY AND BATHING CENTER

HIGHLIGHTS OF UTILA, HONDURAS

ON OUR OVERNIGHT PASSAGE TO UTILA, HONDURAS
WE WERE BLESSED WITH A FABULOUS SUNSET AND THEN ANOTHER WONDERFUL DOLPHIN SHOW THE NEXT MORNING!  WE CHECKED IN WITH THE AUTHORITIES AND BEGAN EXPLORING THIS CHARMING ISLAND. THE NEXT DAY WE TOOK OUR BIKES TO SHORE AND WHEREEVER WE COULD PASS A BIKE THOUGHT, WE DID.  WE SAW THE WHOLE ISLAND. VERY QUAINT AND NARROW STREETS, NICE SANDY STREETS WITH SHIP LINE USED AS SPEED BUMPS.  EXTREMELY FRIENDLY PEOPLE.  

THERE ARE MANY TALENTED PEOPLE HERE AND IT IS REFLECTED IN THE ARCHITECTURE AND ALL OF THE AMAZING ART!  WE VISITED THE AMAZING JADE SEAHORSE, WHICH YOU WILL SEE PHOTOS OF.  IT IS LIKE BEING IN ALICE IN WONDERLAND!  THEN WE WENT TO AN ART GALLERY AND THE MANAGER LET US GO UP ONTO HER 3 STORY ROOF AND CHECK OUT THE FEW.  AMAZING 360 VIEW!  

UNFORTUNATELY, WHILE WE WERE HERE, WE WERE STILL GETTING OVER THE RIO DULCE FLU. WE WERE SO HAPPY TO SEE S/V PHILEAS SHOW UP HERE. VIRGINIE AND ATHEENA COMPLETE IN A NURSE COSTUME DELIVERED SPECIAL HOT TEA GUARANTEED TO GET RID OF THE FLU. UNFORTUNATELY, DUE TO OUR FLU AND EAR PRESSURE, WE WERE UNABLE TO DIVE HERE.  NEXT TIME!   : )

IN THE NEXT BLOG WE WILL WRITE ABOUT OUR ADVENTURES IN ROATAN!

YUMMY BANANA SMOOTHIES AT OUR FRIEND, ROBERT'S, RESTAURANT  IT IS CALLED MERMAIDS!

OUR WONDERFUL AND BEAUTIFUL FRENCH NURSES, VIRGINIE AND ATHEENA ARE ON THEIR WAY
TO THE RESCUE.  
AMAZING UNIFORMS AND FIRST AID KIT!  : )
WE ALREADY FEEL 80% BETTER AFTER
SEEING THIS! 

We hope that you enjoyed this blog and all of the fun photos.  We love to hear your comments and love to hear from all of you and how you are doing! Thank you for all of your emails! 

Cheers and have a wonderful day,
J & B & Sailor Kitty :  )