Dinghy dock Placencia

 

 Brenda (good food)

 16 August 2011 – woke up took care of our regular chores then went to shore.  Saw Brenda, Brenda’s Caribbean Cooking, and found out she was having jerk chicken and lobster for lunch, $10.00 BZD.  We ordered jerk chicken to get a break from lobster and headed over to Above Ground Coffee House to use the WIFI.  Updated the blog and saw it was lunch time.  Walked back to the dinghy dock where Brenda had our lunch ready.  Sat down to eat and met Clifford who works for the Social Security Office for Belize.  A very nice man, we discussed the politics of the world, laws in Belize and the problems he thinks his country has.  Funny how no matter where we are the nation’s problems are the same Mexico, Belize, and the U.S., governments that really aren’t doing what the people think is in their best interest.  He was surprised to hear about the welfare system in the U.S, food stamps, WIC, EIC .  He found it hard to believe all the government handouts in the U.S.  Went back to the boat and still full from lunch just had a few snacks and watched Indiana Jones “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.   Settled down for the night which was short lived, had to clean the seawater strainer 4 times during the night to keep the generator running, kept plugging up with “Turtle Grass”.

Spurs fans everywhere

We noh wna no cruise ship

17 August 2011 – Woke late after a basically sleepless night had coffee and Matt came over to see what the day’s plans were.  We went to the Above Ground Coffee House for WIFI, walked around town, stopped at “J” Byrd’s to say Hi to Tracy, picked up veggies for dinner and headed back to the boat.  I fixed lobster stir fried rice for dinner, good way to get rid of 4 tails.  Turned out great, I’m learning a whole new way to cook since I’ve been in the Caribbean.  Rose has expanded her world so much, she is so compassionate toward the people we meet, and always has a smile on her face saying good morning to everyone she meets on the street.   The beauty of it all the people here are the same way.  You walk down the street and you meet someone and they always say, my name is (whatever their names is) welcome to my island or sometimes they say Belize, they always want to know how you like their country and the people.  They are always helpful when you are looking for advice or information.

Carla & Rose

Palapa bar 

18 August 2011 – Woke up and headed to the fuel dock on the other side of the peninsula, which was a dicey trip.  There was a channel marker but no one could tell me which side to pass it on.  Saw a “landing craft” and asked the captain how much water his craft drew, he said 6 feet, so I followed him.  MY BAD!  I either misunderstood or he lied about his draft.  Hard aground the depth sounder said 2 feet and we need 4 1/2.  After about 20 minutes of wriggling around I got My Peace backed out of the mud.  Saw the channel to the fuel dock and was able to get through it with no problem.  Filled up on diesel and topped off the 2 water tanks not connected to the water maker.   The young man who took care of us was embarrassed when he had to charge me $0.10 BZD for the water after paying over $800.00 BZD for fuel.  No big thing he only charged me for 100 gallons.  Made it back into the anchorage area and dropped the anchor and took Rose and Mia to shore, saw Brenda and she said our Key Lime pie would be ready tomorrow morning; the lady that supplied here limes didn’t bring any yesterday.  Rose told her about my back, she looked at it and made me an herbal poultice to cure the sun allergy or heal the sunburn I got form snorkeling at Carrie Bow Caye.  Checked on the storm, nobody can agree on what it is going to do or how powerful it will be, guess we’ll find out Saturday.   Stopped by and saw Tracy and watched the “Tropical Update” on the weather channel, didn’t learn anything.  If you ever come to Placencia you have stop in the “J” Byrd and meet Tracy, this is the lady in the know.  She sponsors the annual Easter Egg Hunt, 1,000 eggs on the beach for the kids.  She founded the toy drive for the children at Christmas, she helps the parents obtain scholarships for the kids schooling, I think she has her fingers in almost everything here.  If she doesn’t have the answer she knows who does.   On schooling, after what we call elementary school here to go to Jr. High or higher the student must pay tuition of around $1,000.00 a year, plus books and school uniforms.  Apparently free public education stops around 5^th grade.  

Bus to Dangriga

Robert's Grove Marina - NOT!

19 August 2011 – The tropical depression to the southeast of us has been upgraded to tropical storm Harvey with winds up to 60 knots and it looks like we’ll take a direct hit.  We are checking with the locals to find the best place to hide from the storm.   The general agreement is that we should go to Placencia Lagoon which is between the Caribbean and the peninsula which Placencia is located.  We will up anchor at 0630 hours tomorrow morning and head that direction.   The storm shouldn’t arrive until late afternoon tomorrow.  Took the bus to Robert’s Grove to check on a transit slip for Escondida while Matt and Carla head into the mountains for a week, these folks are crazy, $3.75 BZD per foot plus $7.00 BZD per day for electricity.  We were told that the return bus would pass at 1600 hours; we got to the road at 1555 hrs and waited until 1630 hours no bus.  We started walking, we got to the airport, my knees were about to give out so we caught a taxi the rest of the way back to town.  When we got to town we found out the bus got there at 1630 hours which meant that it must have pass Robert’s Grove around 1550 hours, moral of this story. Belizean buses don’t have a real schedule.

My Peace storm wraped

Rose on storm watch

20 August 2011 – Up anchor 0630 hours heading to hide in Placencia Lagoon about 5 miles away on the way a panga came along side and said to go to Mango Creek which would provide better protection.  We made two attempts but the water was too shallow.  Escondida went hard aground in the attempt but was able to wiggle loose.  Headed back to the deeper water of Placencia Lagoon and then heading north to the most sheltered part of the lagoon we can get into without going aground.  Set the first anchor about 1030 hours, placed a second anchor by dinghy at 90 degrees to the south of the main anchor.  We will be on the southern side of the storm so most of the wind we will take will be from the west.  Listening to the local radio and they are saying the storm will make landfall about 10 miles north of Dangriea or about 30 miles north of our location.  We have removed everything from the deck, storm wrapped the sails, removed the curtains around the cockpit to reduce wind resistance.  I have decided to leave the dinghy in the water drawn up close to the boat, it is too late to remove the outboard from the dinghy and place it on deck so it had to ride out the storm on the dinghy.  The storm hit 2 hours earlier than projected, but the good thing it is not as powerful as advertised.  We heard on the radio a village to the north of us got hit by a tornado which took out 2 houses, fruit trees and cashew trees.  The local concern now is flooding from all the rain that is falling in the mountains, people along the many rivers and creeks are being warned to seek higher ground.  It is now 1502 hours, for the most part we are in the clear.  The winds have dropped down to around 10 knots and the heavy rain has stopped just a little drizzle.  During the storm Rose read a book and I fell asleep watching Indiana Jones "The temple of Doom".  We will stay in Placencia Lagoon until morning then move back to between Placencia Village and Placencia Caye in the morning.

I ordered a water on the rocks!

That's better!

Bleziean fishermen

Mountains of Belize

21 August 2011 – Up early to start putting My Peace back into sailing condition, taking the storm wrap off the sails, pulling up the secondary anchor, replacing the curtains around the bimini, drying out the cockpit cushions, and making coffee.  The storm had cleared the haze from the mountains to the west and we got a real good look at them for the first time since we have been in Belize, they were absolutely majestic.   I was surprised how easy the secondary anchor came up; we were Blessed by a wind shift during the night making the wind out of the north.  When we anchored prior to the storm, the wind was from the west as it was expected being on the southern side of the storm, so I took the anchor in the dinghy 200 feet out and placed the secondary anchor 90 degrees to the south.  With the overnight wind shift to where the wind was now coming from the north it placed My Peace almost over the secondary anchor which made it a straight lift.  This was nice because there is no windless for the secondary anchor and I was afraid that I would have to take the dinghy and follow the anchor line to where it was placed and pull it up from the dinghy which would have been a real pain.  Rose spent most of the day drying things out, the boat didn’t leak but with the curtains taken down going up and down to and from the cockpit I got things real wet down below.  We upped the primary anchor around 1130 hours and headed back to our old anchorage off the tip of Placencia Village.  Dropped anchor at almost the exact spot we had left yesterday.  Rose chased Mia and me off the boat when I got my work done so we wouldn’t be underfoot while she was finishing up.  Mia and I walked the beach for about an hour before Rose called us on the portable radio to come pick her up for some time on shore.  We stopped by “J” Byrd to say hi to Tracy and have a coke; Mia even had a drink at the bar.  Back to My Peace to get our paperwork together to check out of Belize tomorrow, we will take the “Hokey Pokey” (the local panga ferryboat) that runs from Placencia Village to Independence and Big Creek where the Customs, Immigration, and Harbor Master are located.  Once we checkout we have 48 hours to leave Belize, our plan is to get up around 0400 hours Tuesday morning and sail southwest  into the Gulf of Honduras then turn more westerly down to Livingston, Guatemala.  This leg of our journey should take about 9 to 10 hours.   We will anchor in Livingston harbor overnight under the “Q” flag go ashore in the morning process in and head up Rio Dulce to Mario’s marine where we will stay until mid November, the end of hurricane season.

22 August 2011 - Took the Hooky Poky to Mango Creek and processed out of Belize, will leave in the morning for New haven, Belize, spent the night at anchor then on to Livingston, Guatemala and up the Rio Dulce to Masrio's Marina.  Should arrive at Mario's no later than Friday.  This will be the last posting until we get setteled in at Mario's.  did get an e-mail from our daughter jessi, the one that lives in Maui, Hawaii, she is planning on coming to visit us at Mario's for a week or so once we are setteled in.  We are really looking forward to her visit.