On leaving Corinto. the most glorious full moon.
6:45 in the morning and approaching port, it’s just getting light and, over in the distance to starboard one can see ‘puffs’ of fumes emanating from the top of ‘Vulcan Fuego’ an active volcano just a few miles away. Unfortunately the humidity resulted in poor visibility and despite my best efforts in photography, nothing ‘worthy’ resulted, I am disappointed. I am going to try again on our departure, it should have cooled somewhat by then.
Approaching the port
The port is another General cargo berth, a number of ships at anchor, waiting for either cargo or a berth; we slip past them and into the harbour basin.
Our route from Corinto the Quetzal
We are going to berth on a floating (steel) pontoon, the Cruise terminal. It is a complicated docking, having swung, we back down towards the pontoon itself, however they have no dedicated gangway ashore, so we have to use ours, which is stowed on deck 4, forward of the Bridge. This results in us having to get close enough and far back enough to land our gangway ashore, using one of our cranes. We move so that the gangway is just over the seaward end and, once on the pontoon, move forward again to our final position; we will have to do the reverse when we depart, complicated but it’s the only way to get our guests ashore.
The harbour approach, our track in green
The dock and our track, the pirouette and backing down
Guatemala City lies 50 miles to our north and that it where many of our tours go. There is no town to speak of near the berth, however there is a lovely area at the end of the pontoon which caters for those not wandering today. Sheltered from the searing heat by palm trees and shady nooks, it is filled with stalls selling Guatemalan hand-made goods, gloriously colourful and bright, our guests wander casually amongst the them, some resting in the cafes. I wander with K1, my sole purpose is photographs, hers? Shopping of course!
K1 pillaging
Hand-crafted, this will be a shawl by the end of the afternoon.
A typical stall
The “Amsterdam” is not far away
Hammocks
Bags
..and Carvings
Hammocks being put to good use
A Guatemalan beauty with a headdress of peacock feathers.
We leave here at 7 p.m., onward towards Puerto Vallarta in 2 days time. No early mornings for a day or two, however social events will occupy my evenings, the first of my Captain’s dinners to mention but one.
I’ll be with you again soon. Thank you for all your comments, I read every one I assure you and it’s nice to know that you’re enjoying reading, as much as I enjoy writing.
