Welcome to the Monkey Bay Marina Wiki! We have created this Wiki to allow boaters staying at Monkey Bay to share their experiences at the Marina, and our beautiful country, Guatemala, which has so much to offer, for the benefit of others. So please, don't be shy, and start editing to your hearts content......
General information on Monkey Bay Marina
Monkey Bay Marina is a family owned marina, with 22 available slips. We pride ourselves on having the most beautiful grounds on the whole RÃo Dulce, and on the fact that we have NO restaurant and NO bar. There are plenty of both on the river, too many, if you ask me. At Monkey Bay, everybody knows everybody, as no strangers have business at our place. You don't know a face, ask them about their business. We are definitely family oriented, and prefer boats with couples. Pets are highly welcome.
Monkey Bay Marina is usually run by a liveaboard cruiser, so your boat is in the hand of another knowledgable boater. Our electricity is metered, we have a diesel back-up power unit that can sustain all the boats during a grid power failure. There is a washer and dryer on the premises, as well as a wireless internet connection. Sorry, no high speed connection available. Our water supply is such that you can drink it our of the tab. It is chlorinated, pre-filtered, cartridge filtered, and carbon filtered, and finally treated with UV rays. A clean shower with warm water and bathroom are on the premises. We stand by on channel 68.
We recommend you joint Monkey Bay Yahoo Group. This allows us to notify everybody at the same time of happenings at the Marina (we try not to bug you with unnecessary mailings), and each of our guests in particular in case we need to communicate with you about your boat.
Getting to Monkey Bay Marina by Water
Before getting to Livingston, the RÃo Dulce and our marina, you need to cross the Sandbar at Livingston. Not to worry, just follow Mecca and George's advice from SV Sailabout, and proceed!
"The buoy is located at 15'50.26" N, 88 degrees 88'43.70" W (as of August 2003. Location may vary due to channel relocation). The buoy is black and has a green light. Leave it on your left side comming in. It is kind of hard to see due to the landscape. If comming in from Cabo Tres Puntas (Punta Manabique), several miles offshore a white building will be prominent. As you get closer look for, and head towards, the red and white radio tower at the far left of town. The buoy is visible about 1.5 miles away in good light. Pass the buoy on either side, there is plenty of water, The bar starts shoaling up about 200 yards passed the buoy."
You need to check in at mouth of the RÃo Dulce at the town of Livingston. Hail for the Port Captain (CapitanÃa de Puerto de Livingston, in spanish) on channel 16, or anchor out and search for him in town. It costs more or less $30.00 to check in, and $20.00 to check out. DO NOT check in at Puerto Barrios, or Puerto Santo Tomás de Castilla. If you do, you will pay much, much more, as you will be treated like a regular cargo ship, or cruiseliner, paying dockage, portstay, you name it.
As a general strategy, anchor at Cabo Tres Puntas (Punta de Manabique), or BahÃa La Graciosa (5 miles further southeast). Leave early in the morning for Livingston. In Livingston, anchor off the Texaco Fuel dock, or off Hotel Casa Rosada. Check in with the officials. If you want to spend the night, either anchor off, or enter, La Marina. If you want to head up the RÃo, enter the canyon and head up the RÃo Dulce, anchoring in any of the great anchorages in the Golfete. However, your best option will be on your port side, just out ot the narrow, behind the largest island of reed. This is where Gringo Bay, owned by Jennifer, is located. She monitors channel 68 at 0730 hours, and will cook dinner for you if you anounce yourself early. If you are running late (your shouldn't), or have motor problems going in or out, this is a good place to stay. Try Jennifer's smoked robalo!
Still worried? Charter boats drawing 5.5 feet claim the cross the bar at any time with no problems. So do the 65'+ motor yachts! Boats drawing 6' prefer to cross at high tide. Believe it or not... boats drawing 7 or more feet havs successfully made it into the RÃo!
Our marina is located at 15 degrees 19'58.33" N, 88 degrees 59'28.44" W. As you can see from the photo below, first you have to pass a narrow gorge, before you reach El Golfete, a large body of water. On your port side, behind the largest island of reed, is Gringo Bay, owned by Jennifer. She monitors channel 68 at 0730 hours, and will cook dinner for you if you anounce yourself early. If you are running late (your shouldn't), or have motor problems going in or out, this is a good place to stay. Try Jennifer's smoked robalo! After the Golfete, you will reach another narrow straight. In it, keep left, to avoid running aground. Follow it upriver, until you see the bridge (there is only one). Monkey Bay Marina will be at your port side.
Once you have found us, anchor in the bay, and dinghy over. Once you have looked us over, checked our rates onour web-page, and hopefully decided to stay, it is best to stay at anchor until next morning, and then move into your slip in the early hours.
At the RÃo Dulce:
If you plan to stay for a season, I highly recommend you buy yourself immediately a mobile phone. They are vey inexpensive, and can be found in many stores at Fronteras. Today, with the GSM system, you can take the phone back home and use it there after your return. Otherwise, pass it on or sell it to one of the other Cruisers. It will be cheaper in many instances to call home (like the US), than for your friends and relatives to call you down here. Calls to the US run about US$0.10 per minute.
The fist question everybody has is how to get supplies down here. If you need to import anything from abroad, please ask the marina manager for help. We have a mail and cargo forwarding office in Miami, which we will galdly share with you, at cost plus a couple of bucks.
What is there to do in RÃo Dulce apart from relaxing in a hammock, bird watching, looking out for manaties, swimming, and fixing your boat? You may want to help out as a volunteer at Casa Guatemala, the local orphanage.
If you need to haul out, or dry store your boat, contact Ram Marina, which just opened opertions in April 2006. There is also Abel's, not as sofisticated, but known to do a good job at very reasonable rates.
In Guatemala:
To start off with, how do I get to Guatemala City? Once there, what is there to do in Guatemala City? Whatever you do, I encourage you NOT to stay in Zona 1 (the old downtown), but stay in Zona 9 or 10 (the new downtown). Zona 1 is great for sightseeing during the day, but for shopping and eating places are easier to reach in the other two zones. Guatemala City is a very cosmopolitan town, where you will find malls, restaurants of local and international cuisine, and modern health care. Do NOT forget to visit Cuatro Grados Norte, in Zona 4. This used to be a run down part of the City, and which has been re-newed and is now teaming with restaurants, bookstores, and party mayhem.
What is there to do in La Antigua, besides walking its ancient cobble-stone streets, and admiring the sights?
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