We haven't had a wrist watch on all week. Time is marked by the arrival of meals; 7:30 breakfast, 12:30 lunch and 7:30 dinner punctured by servings of fresh fruit at 10am and 4pm while the number of days remaing onboard are displayed by the diminishing row of cans of toxic water. We bought 6, one for each night to have with our evening gin . Sadly, tonight only one can remains. We have sailed all the way up Rio Dulce today and are anchored in Lago Izabel. ...

For two nights we are anchored beside the tiny twin islets known as Tom Owens. There are reefs surrounding each islet and it is here that we plan to swim. The smaller is little bigger than a tennis court but has a fairy tale house completely covered in concha shells. The larger islet is about half the size of a football pitch and contains a small hotel and a dive centre. The boat is anchored a couple of hundred metres off shore in a depth of two metres of c...

Las Sirenas sets sail silently before breakfast and we pop up through our hatch at 6 am onto the deck to enjoy the scenery as we sail through the jungle covered canyon towards the sea. Breakfast of fresh fruit and scrambled eggs with black beans and toast is served on the move. Where the river meets the sea, we drop in to the town of Livingston for a couple of hours whiie Raoul takes our passports to border control to sort out the Guatemalan exit formalities. T...

A big day today. While in Antigua we came across an advert for a 7 day catamaran trip, sailing out of Rio Dulce, across the lake, through the canyon and in to the Belize Barrier Reef and the Sapodilla Cayes. It was an impulsive decision and we are not quite sure what to expect. We managed to rearrange our travel plans to fit around the "cruise", allowing us extra days at Lago Atitlan and dropping into Honduras. Gary from Kangaroo Lodge ferries us into to...

We had planned to take shuttle bus across the border to Rio Hondo and from there, a three or four hour chicken bus ride to Rio Dulce. The day before we are due to depart, Brendie at our hotel tells us that the shuttle company has been in touch to say that they can take us all the way to Rio Dulce if we choose. . We had considered this but it was very costly for just two of us. However, they now have a couple of other passengers so the price has halved and we are...