Dinghy Joy and Trip Prep

Jimmy Lee

Nov 1

4 min read

We get the dinghy engine fixed, and we prepare for a two-week trip away from the boat.

Friday, October 23 – Friday, October 30, 2026

Getting Packages from the USA

Due to Guatemala’s very unreliable postal system, you need to jump through some hoops to get items sent to you and on Thursday we received parts that I ordered from the States about 10 days ago using a shipping service.

Cruisers in Rio Dulce use a service called Rita’s Office. Rita’s Office helps facilitate getting the items as quickly as reasonable. If you need a package, whether it from Amazon or any other place in the US, you go through a certain process:

Order your goods and have it sent to the shipping company in Miami that works directly with Rita’s Office. The address you put on the package has an account number directly connected to Rita, so the shipper knows where to send it. It can go via air or ship depending on how fast you need the items.
The shipper sends the packages to Guatemala City where Rita’s Office will pick up and bring the packages to Rio Dulce.
They store the packages their office and then she sends a WhatsApp message to let you know the package is ready for pickup.
You pay for all tariffs and cost for shipping at her office when you pick up your order. The tariffs are based on what you buy and how much it costs (normally about 15%). The shipping is based on size and weight.
For the four packages we picked up (value of around $400), we paid about $135 to get them from the US with air freight.

Fixing the Dingy

Out of the four packages, two of the items were for the dinghy engine: a propeller and fuel pump. I was taking an educated guess that those might resolve our "going slow" issue. Friday morning, we pulled the engine off and put it in the cruiser’s lounge for me to work on. By lunch time I had changed the prop, switched out the fuel pump and changed the oil in the engine. For good measure we pulled the dinghy up on the dock and gave the bottom a good scrub to remove the layer of slime on the bottom. Since we are in freshwater we do not have to worry about barnacles, so it wasn’t too bad.

Inside of our dinghy outboard
working on the picnic table
cleaning the dinghy bottom

Fixing the engine and cleaning the dinghy botom

Now it was time to test out the dinghy by lowering it back in the water, putting the engine back on and heading out into the river. With both Sondra and I in the dinghy and I gave it full throttle. I am pleased to say that we popped up on plane just like we used to do and it appears the "going-slow" issue is fixed. The only thing I really don’t know is which item solved the problem, or was it a combination of all three. I am guessing the largest culprit was the fuel pump, but our new prop had to help somewhat.

Getting Ready for a Trip

We will be leaving the boat on Sunday for a couple of weeks. Since we must extend our visas in Guatemala by the middle of November, we have decided to fly out of Guatemala City next week and visit Mexico City for a few days. This will reset our visas and allow us three more months in Guatemala (which should be plenty). When we fly back to Guatemala City, my niece from Charlotte, NC will also be flying in, and we will travel with her for several days. The plans are to go to Lake Atitlan and then to Antigua Guatemala to hike some volcanos. Then we will head back to Rio Dulce with my niece for a couple of days and the continue to Tikal and Flores for a few days. She will then continue on to Belize, and we will come back to the boat. It should be an epic trip.

To get ready for the trip we need to dig out our winter clothes since the volcano hikes will be over 12,000 feet in elevation and we will be spending a night on the mountain. Temps could get down to approaching freezing. The entire trip should be chilly since Mexico City is at elevation 7,000' and the other areas we are visiting are at least 5,000 feet above sea level. We probably don’t need our shorts and swimsuits for this part of the trip.

Other Things This Week

Other than that, we did the normal Rio Dulce things. It is beginning to get into cruising season, and boats are starting to leave, or at least discuss leaving the Rio, to proceed on to Honduras and locations east. Several of the people in the surrounding marinas are moving on to Panama to stage for a canal crossing. We will be staying in Rio Dulce until January, so we have a bit more time to explore the area.