Sailing SV Cordeliavideo
90 Days to Escape: We're Out or We're Trapped!
27 February 2026 · 5 min · 2K views · Rio Dulce
Steve traces escape route on tablet at wooden table.
What this video covers
Steve and Annette face a hard April 8 checkout deadline from Guatemala's Monkey Bay, giving them 11 weeks to complete a major refit on their Venus ketch before their 90-day visa expires.▶ 0:06 A border run to Mexico reset the visa clock and triggered the deadline.▶ 0:35 The planned route after departure runs from Monkey Bay to Livingston (Guatemala checkout), then Punta Gorda (Belize check-in), two months in Belize, and onward to the Bay Islands — Utila, Roatan, and Guanaja — before returning to Guatemala by mid-July ahead of hurricane season.▶ 4:15 Four priority refit jobs must finish before departure: installing a lithium battery bank currently sitting in boxes, fitting headlining from the aft cabin through to the forward cabin, completing hull sanding and at least a month of varnishing, and painting the lower galley cabinetry.▶ 1:58 Two larger jobs — the owners' cabin and the coach roof — are deferred until after the Bay Islands cruise.▶ 4:50 A helper named Oscar is assisting with the sanding.▶ 2:23 The crew acknowledges the schedule is aggressive but treat the visa expiry as a non-negotiable forcing function.▶ 3:36
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