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 Sep 25, 2026 at 12:43 Guatemala time from MET Norway and OpenWeather.
Weather data provided by OpenWeather
Data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0); processed by us
Powered by WeatherAPI.comWaves in Amatique Bay
| Day | Wave height 6am–noon | Noon–6pm | Highest of the day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri Sep 25 | 0.2 m | 0.4 m | 0.4 m |
WeatherAPI.com marine forecast (significant wave height), one day ahead on its free plan, for the Amatique Bay coordinates on Wikipedia.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri Sep 25 | — | 17 km/h (11 mph) | 22% | none, 6am–6pm | 16 km/h (10 mph) |
| Sat Sep 26 | 11 km/h (7 mph) | 29 km/h (18 mph) | 34% | none, 6am–6pm | 21 km/h (13 mph) |
| Sun Sep 27 | 12 km/h (7 mph) | 26 km/h (16 mph) | 62% | none, 6am–6pm | 24 km/h (15 mph) |
| Mon Sep 28 | 10 km/h (6 mph) | 19 km/h (12 mph) | 63% | none, 6am–6pm | 19 km/h (12 mph) |
| Tue Sep 29 | 11 km/h (7 mph) | 20 km/h (12 mph) | 42% | 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.
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.
- 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.
Sources
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.
![Guatemala City to Livingston: Bus + Boat via Puerto Barrios or Río Dulce [2026]](/cdn-cgi/image/width=640,format=auto,quality=80/images/articles/og-default.webp)