How Safe Is Rio Dulce ?

[susan kennedy]

Anyone been there recently? We were there in 2006 and loved it. we are considering returning for the next hurricane season but concerned re safety.....

[defever]

go to riodulcechisme.com

[lorenzo b]

Having been here now for six weeks, I would say it is very safe. We were up in El Estore at the top of Lago De Izabel and were told by the port captain not to leave the boat unattended but at a marina in Rio Dulce we leave the boats unlocked.

[susan kennedy]

Originally Posted by defever

go to riodulcechisme.com

It is a very interesting site and I actually just read in the chisme about a robbery on a catamaran near Susanna's, which prompted this post.

[lorenzo b]

Right now there are several hundred boats stored here for the season and a few people actually living here. Everything is open, but most restaurants serve a limited menu as they may only have ten clients. The locals are protective of their revenue source.

[susan kennedy]

So I'll be safe at lunch?

[lorenzo b]

You might not be safe anywhere.

[susan kennedy]

Geez Lorenzo why so hostile ? I thought I was making a funny!

[Capt. lulz]

Originally Posted by lorenzo b

You might not be safe anywhere.

Considering that safety varies from very dangerous to very safe, and that each and every place in the world fits somewhere in between, your statement is not very useful. If you don't know the answer, then don't answer.

[Troubadour52993]

My friends on San-San are there right now, you can try to contact them through sansan.livesaildie.com/ or on Facebook to answer questions.

[susan kennedy]

Thankyou troubadour and capt Luis for your nice responses. I truly, truly loved the rio when I was there last, but am not sure if it is actually more dangerous now, or am I just unnerved due to reading about assorted incidents online. Can ignorance be bliss? Maybe I should sail more and "surf the Internet" less.

[AnchorageGuy]

susan, You will only hear about the bad stuff and it will tend to be sensationalized. For truly accurate information you will need feedback from folks that are there right now and not what happened five years ago. The businesses on the Rio have financed a Navy boat and crew to patrol the river to help with security. You can get a lot of info from folks there at the Rio Dilce Chisme Forum. Rio Dulce Chisme Vindicator :: Index . Chuck

[PamlicoTraveler]

This is on Noonsite.... But I would love to go to the place.

The area known as the Rio Dulce, starts at the mouth of the river on the Bahia de Amatique. The small village of Rio Dulce (Fronteras) is 18 miles further up the river, past a spectacular steep walled canyon and a small lake, El Golfete. At this point there are plenty of marine services, provisions, hotels, restaurants and medical services, as well as communications and transport. It is a safe spot in the hurricane season. Beyond this settlement, the river widens to form Lake Izabal, the largest lake in Guatemala.
Be aware that Fronteras is very much a frontier town, with armed guards not only at the banks but at the supermarkets and on the delivery trucks.
Be warned that a number of visiting yachts have been boarded and some robbed, when anchored at the mouth of the Rio Tatin and, also, there have been a number of incidents in the Rio Dulce itself.
Last updated February 2011.

[susan kennedy]

I've been there and I loved it, but then (2006) I never locked anything, anchored anywhere, frequently alone and SPECIFICALLY I remember anchoring at the Rio Tatin with NO problems. Was I lucky? Was it safer?

Don Dryden was murdered in the Rio, that was YEARS ago (2008), hell right now I am in Fort Lauderdale and I'm sure people are croaking right and left, but are cruisers being targeted? Not that I know of. Yet the sad story of mr. Dryden haunts me. So I go on the net hoping I'll get facts to help me make my decision. I go to the rio Dulce chisme and find out that RECENTLY a catamaran was robbed with a "guardian" tied up, in the very area I stayed in ( Suzanna's)

[lorenzo b]

Of course there was that murder a week or two ago, the details are unclear, some say it wasn't murder at all.