Well Despite the world wide covid 19 pandemic, I will be flying down to Honduras this Saturday, July 31 2021 to liberate our beloved Maiatla from her internment on the island of Roatan to move her to a safe location before the Caribbean hurricane season ferments in earnest. For those of you who have been following along, in December of 2019 with the help of my sister Jackie, we departed Panama to make the 900 mile run to Columbia island of San Andreas then to the Rio Dulce In Guatemala, where a shipyard and more importantly a hurricane hole awaited, but we never made it.

Following mechanical breakdowns and and surviving being chased by pirates, see (earlier post for details) after 10 days we limped on in under sail alone to Fantasy Island Resort on Roatan. It was there we licked our wounds and made repairs to the boat. We left Maiatla secure to the dock to return home for Christmas. Janet and I returned with the intent of spending a month on the boat completing repairs then completing the 200 miles sail to the Rio Dulce. But again we never made it as the Pandemic struck and Janet and I returned home to wait it out.

We had no idea that it would be over 18 months before we could return and last hurricane season Maiatla was threaten by two category 4 hurricanes within a month and it was by shear luck that the storms narrowly missed destroying Roatan and our beloved Maiatla. So Jackie and I are returning now to prepare Maiatla for the final leg of the journey which we began a year and a half ago. We will have to swing wide of the pirate waters off the north coast of Honduras before finding a relatively safe heaven within Guatemalan waters.

We will then have to cross a shallow and dangerous sand bar at Livingston where we will most likely need a tow to drag Maiatla through the shallows. After which we will sail 18 miles up a river to an inland lake in the Guatemalan hinterlands. There we will be safe from hurricanes and we will be able to take advantage of skilled boat workers to help refit Maiatla for her next set of adventures. Wish us luck.