Trips on Guatemala’s Caribbean side include boat legs: the lancha between Río Dulce town and Livingston, and the boat from Puerto Barrios, both covered in our transport guides. Wikipedia describes Amatique Bay as stretching from Santo Tomás de Castilla to Punta Gorda in Belize, receiving the Río Dulce, with Puerto Barrios, Santo Tomás de Castilla, Livingston and Punta Gorda as its ports. Livingston sits at the mouth of the Río Dulce on the Gulf of Honduras.
This page answers one question: for a boat day, is the morning or the afternoon calmer, and how windy is it? It gives the gusts at Livingston split into 6 AM to noon and noon to 6 PM, and the forecast wave height in the bay when that source is available.
Wind, storms and waves by half-day
Pulled Nov 11, 2026 at 14:16 Guatemala time from MET Norway and OpenWeather.
Weather data provided by OpenWeather
Data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0); processed by usWaves in Amatique Bay
Unavailable. Wave heights are not available on our data plan: WeatherAPI.com's free plan returns its marine forecast as daily values only, and its documentation lists wave height only among the hourly values. The wind table below is unaffected.
Wind and storms, morning against afternoon
| Day | Livingston gusts 6am–noon | Livingston gusts noon–6pm | Rain chance Livingston noon–6pm | Thunder in MET's symbols (Livingston) | Río Dulce town gusts noon–6pm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wed Nov 11 | — | 13 km/h (8 mph) | 85% | none, 6am–6pm | 17 km/h (11 mph) |
| Thu Nov 12 | 25 km/h (16 mph) | 16 km/h (10 mph) | 34% | none, 6am–6pm | 19 km/h (12 mph) |
| Fri Nov 13 | 28 km/h (17 mph) | 21 km/h (13 mph) | 33% | none, 6am–6pm | 22 km/h (14 mph) |
| Sat Nov 14 | 18 km/h (11 mph) | 29 km/h (18 mph) | 46% | none, 6am–6pm | 27 km/h (17 mph) |
| Sun Nov 15 | 14 km/h (9 mph) | 31 km/h (19 mph) | 51% | none, 6am–6pm | 24 km/h (15 mph) |
Gusts and rain chance: OpenWeather, the highest value among its 3-hour steps stamped in each half-day, for Livingston (15.83, -88.75, Wikipedia) and Río Dulce town (Fronteras, 15.664, -89.0129, OpenStreetMap). Thunder: periods between 6 AM and 6 PM whose MET Norway weather symbol names thunder, listed by start time (1-hour periods while MET is hourly, 6-hour periods after). A model, not a measurement.
How to read it. Wave height is WeatherAPI.com’s significant wave height, the highest value in each half-day. Gusts are the highest of OpenWeather’s 3-hour-step gusts in each half-day. Shaded rows are days on which MET Norway’s weather symbol for Livingston names thunder at some point between 6 AM and 6 PM. Compare the morning and afternoon columns of the same day rather than reading a single number on its own.
What this page is, and is not
- Not a navigation forecast. It is a free public forecast for one point, read once a day. A captain’s decision to sail, or not, is theirs.
- One sea point, one day. The waves are for one point in the bay, and the free marine forecast covers one day. The river itself is not covered: the wave forecast is for the sea.
- Refreshed daily. The stamp above the table shows when the forecast was read; if a day’s read fails, the previous file stays and the stamp turns red after 26 hours.
- Tropical storms: see the hurricane tracker and weather alerts today.
Monthly climate normals for planning a visit
The WMO climate normals archived by NOAA list the following values for Puerto Barrios station 78637 for 1991-2020 (read 25 October 2026). Puerto Barrios is a regional comparison point, not a Livingston or Río Dulce station. Rain days count days with precipitation ≥ 1 mm; the temperature columns are monthly means. The number of contributing years varies by month and parameter.
| Month | Rain (mm) | Days with precipitation ≥ 1 mm | Mean daily maximum (°C) | Mean daily minimum (°C) | Mean temperature (°C) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 294.6 | 14.7 | 27.4 | 20.2 | 23.7 |
| February | 185.5 | 12.5 | 28.6 | 20.6 | 24.7 |
| March | 160.8 | 10.6 | 30.0 | 21.1 | 25.8 |
| April | 139.3 | 7.9 | 31.6 | 22.3 | 27.7 |
| May | 207.6 | 11.9 | 32.1 | 23.0 | 28.4 |
| June | 248.7 | 15.9 | 32.1 | 23.3 | 28.6 |
| July | 408.7 | 22.0 | 31.4 | 22.9 | 28.0 |
| August | 384.7 | 20.5 | 31.6 | 23.0 | 28.1 |
| September | 325.2 | 16.8 | 31.8 | 23.0 | 28.1 |
| October | 371.8 | 16.7 | 30.6 | 22.6 | 27.0 |
| November | 404.9 | 17.1 | 28.6 | 21.4 | 25.0 |
| December | 269.5 | 16.5 | 27.6 | 20.6 | 24.1 |
The boat trips themselves
- The river boat, its fare and timetable: Río Dulce to Livingston boat.
- Getting to the coast: Guatemala City to Livingston, Antigua to Río Dulce and Guatemala City to Puerto Barrios.
- The town: Livingston, Izabal.
- Arriving on your own boat: clearing in, the boat’s customs and stay permits and marina rates are in sailing to Río Dulce.
- The Pacific coast’s wave warnings are on a different page: Pacific marine forecast.
- Month-by-month rain for Livingston: the best time to visit Guatemala, month by month.
See also: Rio Dulce and Livingston in 2 or 3 Days: Route and Cost.
Sources
- WMO 1991-2020 climate normals, Puerto Barrios 78637, NOAA archive, read 25 October 2026.
Waves: WeatherAPI.com’s marine forecast, significant wave height, for the Amatique Bay coordinates on Wikipedia (15.9167, -88.75). Gusts and rain chance: OpenWeather’s 5-day, 3-hour forecast; thunder: the weather symbols in MET Norway’s locationforecast; both for Livingston (15.83, -88.75, Wikipedia) and Río Dulce town (Fronteras, 15.6640, -89.0129, OpenStreetMap). All read daily. Geography: the Wikipedia articles on Amatique Bay and Livingston, Guatemala.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will the boat crossing from Livingston be rough today?
This page cannot say whether a boat will run or how it will feel. It shows the forecast wave height in Amatique Bay for the day ahead and the wind gusts at Livingston for the morning and the afternoon of each day, so you can compare the two halves of the day and ask the boat operator with those numbers in hand.
Where is the wave forecast for?
For the Amatique Bay coordinates published by Wikipedia, from WeatherAPI.com’s marine forecast, whose free plan covers one day. Until that source is connected to our data pipeline, the wave table says it is unavailable. Livingston’s wind is a separate forecast for the town’s own coordinates.
Can I use this for sailing or navigation?
No. It is a free public forecast for one point, read once a day, not a navigation product. Use official marine forecasts and your captain’s judgement.
Is there a hurricane or tropical storm near Río Dulce?
Tropical systems are not on this page. Our hurricane tracker shows active Atlantic and Pacific storms and their distance to Guatemala, and the weather alerts page carries INSIVUMEH and CONRED bulletins.
Where can I find monthly rain and temperatures for the Caribbean coast?
The monthly table uses WMO 1991-2020 normals for Puerto Barrios station 78637, archived by NOAA. It gives rainfall in mm, days with precipitation ≥ 1 mm, and mean daily maximum, minimum and mean temperatures. Puerto Barrios is a regional comparison point, not a Livingston or Río Dulce station (read 25 October 2026).
![Livingston to Punta Gorda (Belize) by Boat: Mon-Fri 11:00, USD 60, Exit Stamp [2026]](/cdn-cgi/image/width=640,format=auto,quality=80/images/articles/og-default.webp)