Charting New Waters: GOODBYE Rio Dulce!

After 102 days of dockside refit projects up the river in Guatemala, the crew of Sailing Big Lost prepared to drop their lines and start their next cruising chapter. Connor squeezed the catamaran into the fuel dock to top off the tanks before heading downriver, while Kelly hung out laundry and their daughter Maddie rested on the forward trampoline. Leaving meant bidding farewell to friends they had bonded with over shared boat chores, some sailing east toward the Caribbean and others bound for the South Pacific.

Life on the fresh river water had required careful onboard management. Because river runoff made the water unsuitable for swimming, the family relied on a comprehensive domestic filtration setup. Water drawn into their tanks ran through a multi-stage system featuring 5-micron sediment filtration, standard carbon, active carbon blocks, and an onboard ultraviolet sterilizer at the galley drinking tap. The departure was delayed right up to November 1 after an MPPT solar regulator calibration issue prevented them from making a planned Halloween stop at Cayo Quemado, prompting a substitute celebration of candy, a film aboard, and dinner at Coworker restaurant in town.

Clearing Customs and Windlass Failure at Livingston

With their newly fitted Raymarine Axiom 2 chartplotter displaying infinite vector lines, Connor steered the catamaran down the winding gorge toward Livingston. Due to the refit delays, both their personal visas and the vessel’s cruising permit had lapsed. Connor prepared to meet their shoreside agent, Raul, anticipating an exit penalty of 15 Quetzales per person per day alongside a 300 Quetzales permit expiration fee, bringing the total expected fines to around 300 dollars.

Upon arriving off the river mouth at Livingston, the catamaran met gusty headwinds and shallow shoals. As they prepared to drop anchor to handle customs clearance, the windlass suddenly failed to operate due to an electrical wiring connection glitch. Kelly took the helm to hold position manually in 3 feet of water over the sandy bottom while Connor and their son Finn rushed forward to inspect the electrical connections.

“Connor and Finn are troubleshooting the situation while I try to keep the boat steady in the wind and not drift into the shallows of the sandbar.”

Kelly

Once the boat was secured, Connor went ashore to meet Raul to process clearance documents. An assistant arrived on a motorbike to run the passports to the immigration office for exit stamps. After stamps were returned and port paperwork finalized, the crew prepared for the notorious shallow bar crossing at the river entrance.

Navigating the Livingston Sandbar to Tres Puntas

Exiting the river required transiting the alluvial sediment fan extending seaward from Livingston. The sounder displayed nervous depths as the catamaran crept forward over the sand shoals.

“it’s very shallow it’s one foot right now according to our equipment here but that’s not taking into consideration our offset which we have set for 10 ft so it’s probably about somewhere between 10 and 11 ft”

Connor

With roughly 10 to 11 feet of actual water under the keels, Big Lost cleared the outer bar without touching bottom. The crew turned east toward Punta Manabique (Tres Puntas) to drop anchor for an evening of rest before heading out on the open-water passage to the Bay Islands of Honduras.

Passage to Utila and West End, Roatán

Weighing anchor at 1:00 a.m. from Tres Puntas, the catamaran motored out into the Gulf of Honduras. Conditions quickly deteriorated into choppy, rolling seas as 24 to 32 knots of wind piped up directly on the nose. The boat slammed through steep waves in what the crew described as a washing-machine motion, navigating 7 hours toward Utila before tacking on another 4 hours to reach Roatán.

“although we weren’t sailing because there was little wind and the wind that was was right on the nose it felt awesome to be out on the ocean again”

Kelly

Despite the grueling head seas, the crew enjoyed visits from pods of dolphins surfing down swell faces beside the hulls. Spotting the silhouette of Utila through driving rain showers confirmed steady progress. After 11 demanding hours underway, Big Lost rounded into the sheltered roadstead of West End, Roatán. They dropped hook adjacent to their cruising friends on SV McMs, where Finn promptly launched the kayak to row over and reconnect.

Voyage Passage and Navigation Log

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