22 August 2011 – Took the Hooky Poky water taxi to Mango Creek and checked out of Belize leaving in the morning for New Haven, Belize where we will spend the night at anchor before heading to Livingston, Guatemala on Wednesday morning to check into Guatemala, then up the Rio Dulce to Mario’s Marina until late November.
Hokey Pokey Water Taxi
Hokey Pokey Water Taxi Mango Creek
Got an e-mail from our daughter Jessi today and she is thinking about joining us in Rio Dulce for a week or so, she is the daughter that has the hard life and lives on Maui. Won’t publish again until we are settled in at Mario’s. Thanx to all of you for your Prayers concerning the storm, the Lord Blessed us and the country of Belize well as there was no loss of life and the storm was minimal.
My Peace at anchor in New Haven, Belize
23 August 2011 – Had dinner with matt & Carla last night at the “Secret Garden Restaurant” last night the dinner and presentation was “4 Star”. It was a very enjoyable evening; we are going to miss Matt and Carla as we have traveled together for the past 2 months. If it hadn’t been for Matt & Carla we would have missed Belize due to the negative things we had heard about it from other cruisers. I must admit it was a little more expensive checking in and out than Mexico, but it was worth every penny, nowhere else in the world will a person find such a verity in culture, language, food, and beauty.
Last dinner with Matt & Carla
We upped anchor at 0935 and headed south to New Haven lagoon about 25 miles south of Placencia to spend the night before heading across the Bay of Honduras to Livingston, Guatemala. New Haven is a small lagoon about 1 mile long and wide; for the most part it is totally uninhabited. Years ago there was a man known as “Hard Luck Charlie” who cleared most of his 100 acres and planted it with citrus, cassava, Cuban sugar apple, cashew, pineapple, mango and rice. Before he could realize his dream he was killed in a tragic boating accident.
Very little is visible from shore and the bugs are so fierce we were advised not to go ashore. This is a very well protected lagoon from all directions except southwest winds. Tonight it appears the wind will be out of the north. We are anchored in the middle in 11 feet of water with a very slight 3 knot wind from the north. We plan on upping anchor around 0700 hours in the morning and heading 25 miles southwest across the Bay of Honduras (open water) to Livingston and checking in to Guatemala. This is really unique as from where we are anchored you are able to see three countries without turning your head, Honduras to the southwest, Guatemala to the south, and Belize to the west.
About all that's left of Hard Luck Charlie's New Haven
Palapas on the Rio Dulce
I haven’t written much about the food we eat on the boat and what we miss, ran out of Fritos about two months ago (miss them), ran out of Land-o-Lakes butter about the same time, tried Mexican butter, no comparison so I found New Zealand butter, better than Land-o-Lakes, beef in this part of the world is much different than the U.S. still have two rib eyes in the freezer saving for a special occasion. Pork is about the same, but the cuts are different. Then there is chicken the most popular meat in this part of the world, I have eaten so much chicken I’m starting to grow feathers and cluck. Tonight we cooked the last of our American hamburger that was given to us by our friend Mike Kelm of Rockport, Texas. He raised some dairy steers and took them to slaughter and was kind enough to give us a few packages.
Mia likes Ritz Crackers & Kippers now
The hamburger is so lean that it doesn’t shrink when you cook it. Ate the last package for dinner tonight and thought about Mike the whole time. By the way Mike is also one of the best metal fabricators I have ever had the pleasure of doing business with. Coca-Cola is much better here than in the U.S., they use real cane sugar instead of corn syrup which makes a world of difference, (the way they used to make it in the states). Most everything you want can be found if you are willing to pay the price, Rose and I prefer to save money and us the products the locals use. Like when we eat out we go to the locals’ restaurants not the tourist restaurants. The local restaurants & street vendors have similar food to their tourist counterparts, but at half the price. Cruisers refer street vendors as “street meat”, as far as the sanitation difference, there isn’t much difference between the 3 behind the kitchen doors. When it comes to fish, kind of like chicken, think I’m growing scales on my skin I have eaten so much. We have even gotten tired of lobster, still have 6 tails in the freezer, I think that will change when we get to Mario’s, there won’t be much fish or lobster. The water in the Rio Dulce is very polluted and you don’t want to eat the fish from it.
Livingston Harbor
24 August 2011 – Anchor up 0730 new haven, Belize heading to Livingston, Guatemala. Motor sailed most of the way trying to maintain 5.5 knots to get to Livingston by 1330 hrs. Arrived Livingston at 1335 hrs contacted Raul to let him know we were in port. I had sent him an e-mail a few days ago to let him know when we would be in port. Raul is the agent in Livingston, speaks English perfectly and handles everything to do with documentation.
Livingston, Belize
Immigration, customs, port captain, and health inspector arrived at 1405 hrs by launch, rose fixed them all a coke, all my papers we ready laying on the table, and the air conditioner was cranked down to 74. The finished the paperwork in about 10 minutes and sat around and visited for another 10 minutes enjoying their cokes and air conditioning. Raul gave us a map to his office and to the bank he told use to pick up our papers in a half hour.
Main Street Livingston, Belize
I walked to the bank to get some “Q”s but the ATM was out of order. I went inside and the young lady tried to get the money out of my account directly with no success, said my card was no good. I gave her Rose’s card, same result. I gave her a card to another account still no luck. I went back to Raul’s office and asked if he would take a personal check for the $1,200.00 “Q” for the paperwork, instead I tried using his computer to access my account, no luck, wouldn’t accept my login/password. So we called Broadway Bank in San Antonio and got hold of one of the ladies at the Randolph Branch, Jeanette and Vicki weren’t in so the lady who answered to control. As it turns out Guatemala is blocked by most American banks and only access is open by special request. In the few short minutes I was on the phone she transferred funds from one account to another, contacted “Bank Card” unblocked our cards and told me by the time I got to the bank in Livingston (a 5 minute walk) everything would be OK. By the time I got to the bank and gave the card to the teller, I was able to withdraw the $1,500.00 “Q” I needed. THAT’S WHY I LOVE BROADWAY BANK!
Papers in hand we walked back to the dinghy dock, set a record loading the dinghy and pulling anchor, and headed up the Rio Dulce to get to Texan Bay before dark. (We had 2 hours to make 8 miles) The current against us the first part of the way up river was about 3 knots, the best I could get out of My Peace against the current was 5.6 knots, after about 5 miles the current weakened and I was able to get 6.2 at 2,500 RPM.
Rio Dulce
Cliffs lining the Rio Dulce
I think Rose set a new record taking pictures today going up the river, Mayans in canoes paddling up the river fishing, throwing cast nets, the shear walls of the canyon, a flock of parrots squawking and flying overhead, the palapas lining the river banks, just the beauty of it all boggled the mind.
Rio Dulce
Rio Dulce
Cliffs on the Rio Dulce
Palapas on the Rio Dulce
Looking across El Golfete
The sun was in my eyes and trying to follow the charts and watch the depth kept me busy. I’m glad to she took the pictures so I can enjoy them latter this evening. (Thank God for digital) We arrived at Texan Bay 1800 hrs just as the sun set. In this canyon when the sun goes behind the mountains to the west it is pitch black in an instant. I called Mario’s Marina on the radio and told them I would be in around noon tomorrow.
Rio Dulce
25 August 2011 – Up anchor 0900 and headed across Golfete, a lake just a little larger than Canyon Lake back home 10 miles long and about 4 miles wide, we have to travel the full length and then back into the Rio Dulce for another 2 miles. Arrived at Mario’s Marina at 1130 hrs, Marco the marina manager greeted us on the radio and directed us to our slip where 3 dock hands helped us tie up My Peace. Mario’s is located just a few east of Fronteras. We got settled in and rested a few minutes before taking the dinghy to Fronteras to pick up a few things.
Palapas
An interesting little town, unlike any I have ever seen in Mexico. The main street has vendors on each side of the street where you can buy anything you need, produce, meat, prepared food, and yes fried chicken. We went to the local “Wal-Mart” actually a Wal-Mart owned business that has good prices and lots of the basic necessities. Went to Sun Dog Grill for a hamburger and back to Bruno’s, where we had left the dinghy met some cruisers had a drink then headed back to the marina. The wind had picked up and it was a rough ride in the dinghy. We have latter learned that you go to town in the morning and return before 1500 because the afternoon thunderstorms come in from the Caribbean around 1530 to 1630 hrs. Had dinner and called it a day.
Texan Bay El Golfete
26 August 2011 – Slept in until around 0700 and got up to start changing the boat from sailing mode to dock mode as we will be here for 3 months. Filled the water tanks after checking the water quality, 043 ppm, about the same quality you get from bottled water, packed away the on deck safety equipment, adjusted the dock lines and basically started making it home. Rose sent the bedding to the marina laundry to get cleaned, and went off visiting our new neighbors.
Fishermen on the Rio Dulce
There are many nice cruisers here; some have been coming here for over 10 years to spend the hurricane season. Our friends Floyd & Lauren‘s boat, who we met in Isla Mujeres on our trip last year, is just 4 slips down from ours. At dinner this evening talking with Tony, he related a horror story about a mistake he made checking out of Belize.
Waved to by everyone we passed
Seems when he went to check out in Big Creek, Belize he went to customs to get his exit documents. He presented his passport to the official and he said he didn’t need it. What he failed to say was that Tony needed to take the passports to immigration about 4 miles up the road in Mango Creek to get them stamped. So Tony went back to his boat and sailed off to Guatemala. A friend traveling with them went back to Belize to return to the states and was arrested for leaving Belize illegally and put in jail. He got a call off to Tony and it took Tony over a week to get it straightened out with the officials in Belize. Finally the officials in Belize agreed that Tony could bring the passports back to Belize and get the exit stamp without going to jail and paying $1,500.00 USD each fine for illegally leaving the country. Tomorrow going to Fronteras and looking around. Mia isn’t going to like it but she is going to spend the morning on the boat by herself, I don’t like taking her to Fronteras as there no sidewalks and no place for her to run.
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