3 Aug through 14 Aug 2011

Excondida & My Peace in sunset Caye Caluker

3 August 2011 – At Caye Caulker, Belize for the last day, finished getting provisions as we will be “island hopping” for the next few weeks.  Updated the blog and was able to talk to our son David this evening.  While we had a WIFI connection I checked the NOAA weather site and saw tropical storm Emily was building up in the eastern Caribbean over the Dominican Republic heading due west at 14 knots.  We are hoping that it will take a turn to the north and spare us the bad weather.

Will be leaving Caye Caulker in the morning for either Long Caye or St. Georges Caye, Matt hasn’t made up his mind yet, but will by 0900 hours in the morning when we are to up anchor, doesn’t much matter as we will finally be heading south.

Sunset at Long Caye

4 August 2011 – Departed Caye Caulker 0900 hrs without incident wind 2 – 5 knots from the east northeast.  Sailed without engine to Long Caye.  Arrived Long Caye 1215 hours and dropped anchor on the west side of the caye just south of the lagoon at the north end of the caye.  Took the dinghy to shore than went through the lagoon to the west side of the caye and walked the beach for a while.  On the return to the boat we went around the north end of the caye back to the boat.  Matt came over and we tried to figure out why the solar panels aren’t putting out like the should.  We changed the dip switches and it made no difference.  The problem is that the panels are only putting out around 13.5 volts and 3 to 8 amps, not enough to keep the batteries up.  We checked each individual panel and they were putting out 20 volts as they should, but when wired in a series the loss occurs.   Leaving Long Caye at 0900 hrs heading to St. Georges Caye to the south about 10 miles.

Carl our tour guide

5 August 2011 – Up anchor 09920 hrs heading for ST Georges Caye, totally uneventful ride.  Arrived St George’s Caye at 1100 hours dropped anchor.  Went ashore and walked around the island, very nice no form of motorized transportation, isn’t needed anyway.  Found the local aquarium and was guided through it by the 10 year old son of the owner, very knowledgeable young man.   When going ashore we went through a cut through the middle of the caye made by hurricane Hattie, leaving we went around the north end of the caye and across to the caye next to it which is a very nice resort.  There was no place to purchase a coke or water on St George Caye, the caye next to it which doesn’t have a name has a resort which did have Coke and water.  We then returned to the boat and read a little and took a nap before joining Matt and Carla for dinner on Escondida.  Carla fixed the tastiest beef stew I have ever eaten, Mia actually behaved herself at dinner and just laid around with Beef.  Early day tomorrow, heading to English Caye about 20 miles south.  Nothing there but a lighthouse and a lighthouse keeper who has been there forever and loves to tell stories to the cruisers that stop in.

Engilsh Caye

6 August 2011 - Departed St George’s Caye 0800 hrs heading to English Caye pretty much uneventful trip, trolled most of the way, something kept stealing my baits. Had to motor most of the way as the wind was dead on the nose.   Arrived English Caye 1215 hrs, Escondida was unable to get their anchor to hold, so we moved back north to Water Caye.  Water Caye is mostly a mangrove swamp with a privately owned beach on the eastern shore.  Rose and I took the dinghy out to Goff’s Caye located on the reef and walked around and swam.  There was a Christian group from Lajay Georgia there that we visited with.  Then back to the boat for a nap and to fix dinner.  Heading to Colson Caye in the morning about 0800 hrs.

Fransico's house

Mountains of Belize from Colson Caye

7 August 2011 – Wind out of the northeast this morning, should make good time down to Colson Caye.  Upped anchor 0745 hrs, arrived Colson Caye 1145 hrs.  Topped off the diesel tank for the generator, fixed the cowling on the outboard and took a nap.  Went to shore with Matt, visited the north end of the island there are two stilt houses, upon close investigation the stilt houses have water under them at high tide.  Talking to Francisco, who has lived there for 30 years, Hurricane Ricardo, washed out all the sand in 2002, he is slowly building up a new beach under his house with conch shells and sand.  If the wind doesn’t lie down it will be off to Tobacco Caye in the morning’.

Stowaway

Carman, Geff, & Suzi Q

8 August 2011 – Awake 0700 hrs, no movement on Escondida, don’t know if we’re heading to Tobacco Caye this morning or not.  SIRIS weather reporting that it will continue to blow until late afternoon, skies are hazy with the wind out of the east is at 14 -15 knots.  Last night there was a Belizean fishing boat anchored 150 yards to the north of us.  Amazing life, there are 9 men living on this boat, 8 fishermen and the Captain, there are 8 dugout canoes about 10 feet long, in the morning each man gets in his canoe and paddles to where he is going to fish and dive for lobster.  In the evening they all come back to the “Mother ship” to clean and ice down their catch.  The “Mother ship” is only 20 to 25 feet long, it kind of looks like a “Skipjack” like they use in the northeast around the Chesapeake Bay area.  My understanding is that the Captain charges the fishermen to come on his boat and provide them with a place to spend the night while they are out fishing.  The Captain also provides the ice to keep the catch cold until it is taken to market.  Departed Colson Caye for Tobacco Caye 0920, received a strange call from Escondida at 1030 hrs.  Seems a 2 foot Boa Constrictor had stowed away on their boat.  When we arrived at Tobacco Caye I took the dinghy over to Escondida and caught the snake which had made their bar-b-que pit it’s temporary home, and placed it in a pillow case to take it to shore.  When we got to shore on Tobacco Caye, they said there were no snakes on this Caye take it to the mangrove caye to the west about a mile and a half by dinghy, which we did.  Tobacco Caye is fantastic, a small Caye about the size of maybe 3 football fields, several cottages, two bars, a gift shop/convenience store and three restaurants.   The people are very friendly and helpful as we have discovered are most of the people we have met in Belize.  We started out just enjoying swimming at the dock, then had a few drinks found the restaurant we wanted to have dinner at.  Here it isn’t a case of walk in sit down, ask for a menu and pick out what you want.  It is a case of walk in and ask, what dinner is going to be?   If you don’t like the meal served go elsewhere.  Tonight it was bar-b-qued chicken, beans, coleslaw and Kool-Aid, all for $15.00 BZD, not bad.  After dinner we went to the bar at the south end of the island and listened to local music and watched them dance.  This is without a doubt the best evening of the trip so far.  We will spend the day here tomorrow and leave for South Water Caye Wednesday morning.

Eric, Suzi Q, Geff, Alex, & Riyya

Tobacco Caye

9 August 2011 – Still at Tobacco Caye, woke up around 0700 had some coffee and headed to shore, one of the local captains is taking mu empty 5 gallon water bottle and the gas tank for the dinghy to the mainland to get them both filled, none of that out here, it’s about 20 miles to the mainland.  Being we are without dinghy today we spent the day snorkeling and visiting with the locals.  Eric a local dive master was a lot of fun, learned a great deal about Belize and Tobacco Caye from him.  We met Suzi Q, Alex and Royya.  We all snorkeled together around the island, the visibility was about 35 feet.  Saw a few rays, barracuda, and lots of colorful reef fish.  In the evening we had them all out to the boat so they could get a glimpse of our life.  It was Alex’s 40^th birthday, didn’t have any cake so we put candles is a slice of bread and sang happy birthday to him.  Suzi Q is from Hawaii, Alex ad Royya are from Los Angeles.  Uncertain if we are heading south tomorrow or not, ask Matt this evening, “are we leaving tomorrow or are we staying another day?”  His reply was yes.  Oh well guess we’ll find out in the morning.

Belizian fisherman

Rose snorkeling

10 August 2011 – Went to shore to say goodbye had lunch at Gavitos with Suzi Q, my favorite fried chicken & French fries.  Saw Melissa and George and told them we were going to South Water Caye, they both said we wouldn’t like it there, the people were stuffy and everything was very expensive..  Eric and Doggy had said the same thing the evening before.  Back on the boat 1300 hrs Matt and Carla were already onboard Escondida, up anchor at 1330 hrs on the way south to South Water Caye.  Sailed all the way, nice 8 to 12 knot breeze from the north east drove us at about 5 knots.   Arrived South Water Caye 1510 hrs and dropped anchor.  The folks back at Tobacco Caye were correct, we went ashore to the dock at IZA , they didn’t have a cold soft drinks, and the beer was warm and $6.00 BZD.  We took the dinghy out to the reef and looked at all the trash from around the Caribbean that had washed up on the reef.  Went over to Escondida to visit with Matt & Carla, a few after our friend  JJ from the Belize fisheries Department came over in his boat just to say hello.  There are 6 boats anchored here, it is a good anchorage and great snorkeling.  Our plans for tomorrow are to go Carrie Bow Caye about a mile south to do some snorkeling.  Carrie Bow Caye was donated to the Smithsonian Institute in 1972 by the Bowman family (the folks that control the beer, soft drink industries, and many other aspects of the Belizean consumer products) to conduct extensive research within the barriers of the barrier reef systems and the offshore atolls.

Yellow Ray Carrie Bow Caye

11 August 2011 – took the dinghy a mile south and went snorkeling at Carrie Bow Caye today it was fantastic, visibility was about 40 feet, coral heads and the fish were magnificent.  Went back to the boat at  took a nap and fixed dinner.  Just went up on deck ant the moon is so bright that you can see the sand patches on the bottom 8 feet below surrounded by the turtle grass.  We are going back to Tobacco Caye in the morning, a much more relaxed atmosphere and Mia can run around.  All the land on South Water Caye is privately owned and the resorts are real snobbish about you walking around.  It has been a nice visit and I’m glad we came for the snorkeling, but rose and I like Tobacco Caye much better, and the locals on Tobacco Caye told us that we would.  So back to Tobacco Caye tomorrow and eat some crow and stay a few more days there.  Do need to get to an ATM and purchase some diesel as we are running low on both. 

Reef at Tobacco Caye

12 August 2011 – Departed South Water Caye 1115 hours heading back to Tobacco Caye.  Arrived Tobacco Caye 1220 hours, we were greeted by the young boys we met on our prior visit.  After the anchor was set they came up calling Mia, Mia wanting to play with her.  I did a real dumb dumb, I was trolling for a fish while we were going to Tobacco Caye and forgot to pull in the fishing line, so when I went into reverse to check the anchor, the line wrapped around the propeller shaft.  I got a knife, mask, and snorkel and spent the next 15 minutes cutting it off.   We went ashore for a swim and saw George, Eric, Doggy and Curt.  They welcomed us back to the island.  I walked over to Margret’s to see if she would have fresh bread in the morning and reserved 4 loaves.  George had 3 lobster he wanted to sell for $20.00 BZD and Rose and I wanted lobster for dinner so I brought them to grill later that evening.  Four charter cats showed up with some kind of Italian tour group on board, 42 people, all of a sudden the island paradise was crowded, so we went back to the boat for the evening. 

Michael & Donavan

Oh no, lobster again!

13 August 2011 – During the night the anchor alarm went off, I got up and checked and everything was OK, so I went back to sleep.   An hour later the generator shut down, the seawater strainer had filled up in record time.  Cleaned out the seawater strainer re-started the generator it was 0500 hrs.  I went back to sleep with Mia and Rose stayed up and watched the sunrise.  Got up at 0900 hrs went up on deck and the boys were next to the boat telling me the bread was ready.  I launched the dinghy and went to shore to get our bread.  I got to Margret’s to get the bread, when I got there she said the charter boats came by and purchased all she had except the 4 loaves she saved for me.  They offered her double the price but she told them it was for her regular customer and saved them for me.  We will spend the day here at Tobacco Caye then head south tomorrow.  I believe we are going to Blue Ground Range  and from there to Placencia where we will spend a few days before checking out with customs to head south down to Livingston, Guatemala. 

Had Eric, Suzi Q, Royya, and Alex over to the boat for a look.  It was Alex's birrthdaySuzi Q suggested we have a birthday cake for Alex, the only thing we had was a slice of stale bread and some candles.  He was totally surprised and couldn't have been happier.

Alex's birthday cake

Went to shore and Melisa told me her boyfriend, Nigel, was going to Dangriea about 25 miles across the inner channel to the west and he would take me with him so I could go to the bank, get some Diet Coke for Rose and some purified water.  We left tobacco Caye at 1430 hours heading west to Dangriea.  The water was 2 foot chop we were in a 23 foot panga with twin 40 hp Yamaha outboards, talk about a dumpy ride.  The trip took about an hour, we let off the passengers that went ashore to catch a bus to wherever ,  then to the gas station to get fuel for the return trip, the bank, the water place and the store where I purchased the Diet coke for Rose.  We picked up a lady Isabel and her two sons, Mike and Donavan who were going out to Tobacco for the day.  The younger Mike age 4 was sitting between his mom and I, Donavan was sitting on a seat by himself.  Within minutes Mike fell asleep in his Mom’s lap and Donavan was dosing off.  I put Donavan next to me, he laid his head in my lap and he was gone.

When we arrived back at tobacco Caye, George had more lobster and made me a deal on them I couldn’t pass up, about 4 pounds of tails for $20.00 USD.  I made a deal with Melisa to cook them and Rose and I suffered through another lobster dinner.

 The thought of leaving the islands of Belize is almost depressing, the water and people are so wonderful, but it was a similar feeling when we left Mexican waters.  I know we will enjoy Guatemala, it is a different type of beauty, it won’t have the pristine waters of the Belize reef system, but it will offer hot steamy tropical rain forest.   We will just have to wait and see.  It will be nice to have unlimited fresh water, a real shower at the marina, not bouncing around all night at anchor, sleep without the noise of the generator, walk on land without having to launch the dinghy, but is all that worth the loss of the crystal clear waters of the barrier reefs of Belize.

Herman and Aloma

Geff & Herman

14 August 2011- We woke up and went to shore on Tobacco Caye this morning to say goodbye again to our friend on Tobacco Caye.  Herman found a 5 gallon bottle of purified water to replace the one I lost on the Panga yesterday.   Went back to the boat, up anchor at 1000 hours and headed west to the inner channel, then south to Blue Ground Range about 10 miles to the south.  Arrived in the middle of Blue Ground Range at 1230 hours and set the anchor.  We got into the dinghy and headed into the mangrove cayes for a look around.  Found a caye that had been developed and looked like a nice place to let Mia run around for a while.  Pulled up on the beach and was greeted by Herman the caretaker of this little 3 acre island.  Herman invited us to the island to walk around and showed us what a wonderful little island it was.  Matt, Carla, and Beef were there as well and we all walked around this private island owned by an attorney from Los Angeles.  How much is a 3 acre island selling for these days, 1.8 million USD.   During the conversation, Herman said that his Panga wasn’t working and asked if we had some extra food.  I went back to our boat and got a pack of frozen chicken thighs, peanut cheese crackers, and a few bottles of ginger ale and brought it back to them.  Aloma gave us some bread she had just taken out of the oven and some onion chili relish she had made the day before.  They invited us to stay for dinner, we politely declined as we had already defrosted meat for this evening’s meal. We visited for a while, Rose, Carla, Herman, and his wife Aloma played dominos until it was time to go back to the boats and fix dinner.   Anchors up 0800 hours in the morning heading to Placencia.

Rose at the helm

The pass between Placecnia Settlement and Placecnia Caye

15 August 2011 – Departed Blue Ground Range 0800 hrs heading to Placencia, kind of sad as Matt & Carla are renting a car and exploring the back country and mountains of Belize and Rose and I are heading to Rio Dulce.  Rose took the helm most of the way on this leg, about 4 hours south.  I went to sleep when we had our course set and she woke me up as we were entering the cut between Placencia and Placencia Caye.  We dropped anchor and took the dinghy to shore.  Walked down the “1 mile sidewalk” which took nearly 30 years to complete according to the locals.  We stopped at a little restaurant for lunch on the beach I ordered the Creole lobster and pasta the special of the day, Rose ordered the same, the waitress failed to hear Rose’s order and when our meal came, I got mine, Matt got his BLT, ad Carla got her fish sandwich, and Rose got nothing.  We asked about Rose’s meal, the  waitress said she didn’t order anything.  Once again Rose ordered the Creole lobster and pasta, the waitress came back and said they were out of the special.  Being the nice guy I am I gave her mine, cried a little and ordered a fish sandwich.

Walking back to the dinghy stopped by Placencia Sailboat Charters and saw Rob, whom we had met at south Water Caye a few days ago, picked up some bananas, apples, Belizean Rum, had an ice cream cone, and back to the boat.  Finished our daily chores, like cleaning the sea water filters and putting away the dinghy, then just sat on the deck and watched the sun set over the mountains to the west.

In the morning we plan on going to shore and having coffee with Rob and using the WIFI at the Above Ground Coffee Shop to publish this part of the blog.  We will stay here a few days and then continue our journey south.  We are only about 40 miles north of Livingston, Guatemala the entrance to the Rio Dulce.  It is only 18 miles up the Rio Dulce to Mario’s Marina where we will spend the next 2 ½ months until the official end of hurricane season.

Rose and I talked on deck this evening and discussed what we were planning to do after 15 November and it looks like we will continue south down as far as Panama.  We want to visit our friend Kirk in Rotan, Honduras as well as Jules and John in Panama if they haven’t moved through the ditch by then.  Returning to south Texas isn’t high on the priority list at this time.  We discussed where we would go upon our return home, Island Moorings Marina in Port Aransas, Bahia Marina in Ingleside, Port Isabel, or Rockport.  We have become very used to being on the hook (riding the anchor) and staying at a marina in the states isn’t very attractive.  We also discussed going back to Isla Mujeres on the tip of the Yucatan or Yucalpeten in Progreso both of which rate higher than any of the other ideas.

Belize

29 July 2011 – Departed Caye Caulker, Belize heading north to San Pedro, Belize.  This was pretty much an uneventful ride 20 mile sail except the last half hour when we got hit by a squall which is pretty much a daily occurrence this time of year.  The problem really isn’t the squall it is the 15 to 20 knot winds that precede the squall.  The squall is a welcome event as you can stand on deck and get an extra shower without worrying about using precious water from the boat’s tanks.  Water at the dock at Cucumber Marina in Belize city was $0.05 per gallon USD, in San Pedro it is $0.30 USD per gallon, so we make our own with our water maker now.  Our water maker can produce 8 gallons per hour, the down side is it uses 18 amps of electricity to run the pump, so we usually make water when the engine is running as to not run down the batteries.

Anthony working

Walking around San Pedro today we met Anthony, a wood carver, very nice man as well as being very intelligent.  In talking with him, most of the souvenirs sold on the street in San Pedro come from Guatemala, there are very few like himself that actually make the souvenirs in Belize.  We discussed Belize politics, economy, foreigners in Belize and how they are taking control of his country.  The local people welcome the tourist as they are a very large part of the Belize economy, the problem is the wealthy foreigners that come to Belize and buy the country and doing nothing to improve it.  There is no form of welfare in Belize and poverty is high.  Only the wealthy have medical insurance and there is no form socialized medical care.

One thing that has really stood out is the friendliness of the people; you make a purchase, or just greet someone on the street and they all say “Welcome to Belize” and mean it.  Like most of the beaches in the U.S. there is a public easement from the high water line, but when we bring the dinghy to shore and beach it in front of an establishment we always ask the business if it is alright to beach our dinghy there.  No one has ever told us “no”, and most say “Yea man, your dink is OK there, and I’ll be here all day and watch it for you.”  So you eat lunch or dinner in their establishment and you have great dinghy parking anytime you want.

Jeff & Geff

We enjoy eating from the locals rather than the tourist restaurants owned by the foreigners, the prices are considerably less and the food is the local flavor.  One must change their thoughts concerning health standards that we follow in the U.S., if you can’t handle a few flies buzzing around better not come down here for dinner.  Last night Rose and I ate in the park in the center of the beach, there were several vendors set up, we chose one that had pork chops and stewed chicken.  I had the pork chop Rose had the chicken, the meal came with rice and beans, plenty of meat and both meals only cost $17.00 BZD (Belize Dollars) or $8.50 USD.

Escondida dropping anchor

Geff Fishing

We are anchored between the reef and the shore in about 5 ½ feet of water, it is about a mile from the shore to the reef and the water inside the reef is very shallow, we are so glad we have a shallow draft boat, My Peace only draws 4 ½ feet, if she needed any more we would miss so much.  Right after we dropped anchor yesterday, I waited about 10 minutes then put on a mask and snorkel to check how well the anchor set.  I looked under the boat and the biggest barracuda I have ever seen just stared right back at me, he must have been 5 feet long.  He was curious and swam straight at me, he got about 3 feet away and figured I was too big to eat and went back under the boat.  I followed the anchor line 175 feet away from the boat, the anchor was in 6 feet of water and a 4 foot barracuda had already claimed the area behind the anchor as his home.

Boys on the dink

BC’s

We went to shore and pulled the dink onto the beach at BC’s, a local watering hole, great place, had a beer, ate dinner; whole evening cost $25.00 BZD.  Two little boys walked up to the dink and used to front as a bouncing platform to jump into the water.  I really didn’t see anything wrong with it until I walked over and looked inside.  They would jump into the water then run to the back of the dink, climb in walk to the front and bounce back into the water.  The end result was about 30 pounds of sand tracked into the dink.  Yes David the sign over the TV says Luckenbach, Texas and the lower one center bottom of the beer box says "I love Texas".

Fishing boat

Many of the local fishermen here use a boat that kind of resembles the “Skipjack” used by the fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area in Maryland.  In the reef cayes other than tourism fishing is the industry, most of the larger cayes have a local “Fishermen’s Co-Op”  where they bring their fish and lobster to sell to the co-op.  In turn the local restaurants go to the co-op to purchase fresh fish for their menus.  The way to come out ahead is to catch the fisherman between his boat and the co-op.  That’s when you get a real good buy on dinner, you purchase at a little above what the co-op pays but a whole lot less than what the retail stores sell it for.  (about half)  

Police Station Sign

As we were walking down the street the other day in Caye Caulker, Rose saw this sign on the wall of the police station and I just had to post it.

Billie, Don, and Mia at BC’s

31 July 2011 – Went ashore for a while, had to make 2 trips to the fuel dock, can’t get the boat to the dock so had to take the Gerry cans and fill them bring them back to the boat fill the tanks, then back to the dock and refill.  After the work was done Rose, Mia and I went to shore had bar-b-que at BC’s, it was great.  Ran into our new friends Don and Billie, while we ate Billie held Mia so we could eat in peace.  Billie has claimed “grandparent rights” on Mia.  Don and Billie retired to San Pedro, the Belize government has a program for foreigners to retire here, they can bring in an airplane, boat and a car duty free, the catch is you can’t work.

1 August 2011 – Time to head back to Caye Caulker, did our last minute provisioning and headed back to the boat.  Pulled the anchor up and just as I was about to lock the chain, the swivel that connects the chain to the anchor broke and down it went.  The wind was blowing about 15 knots and by the time we were able to drop the backup anchor we had moved quit a distance.  I put on mask and snorkel and went to where I thought it was, the water was only 6 ½ feet deep and crystal clear, about 40 foot visibility, but was unable to locate it.  A storm was coming in from the east and we needed to get underway.  With no windless on the backup anchor I had to pull it up by hand all the time thinking I had just lost my main anchor and a replacement down here if I could find one would be around $500.00 USD.

Finally underway at 1430 hours and arrived at Key Caulker at 1630 just before the squall.  On the way from San Pedro to Caye Caulker I got the spare anchor out of the back storage of the boat and hooked it up to the chain.  The replacement is a 35 pound 20 pounds lighter that the one I lost.  All we could think was, thank God it broke while we were pulling it up and not overnight during the 25 to 30 knot winds we had the prior night.

Matt and Carla gave me hope when we stopped to think that when I set my anchor I always record the lat & lon of the boat.  Later in the evening Rose and I went over to Corina IV, a 52 foot sloop belonging to Al who we me at Cucumber Marina in Belize City and told him what happened the earlier.  Al told me he was going to San Pedro Tuesday morning and he would tow my dink behind his boat and his captain, Max, would help me find my anchor.

Corina IV

2 August 2011 – 0830 hours I took my dink over to Corina IV we had a cup of coffee and up anchor for San Pedro 11 miles to the north.  We arrived at the approximate location where we had anchored last Friday afternoon and dropped anchor.  We checked the GPS coordinates and we were about 300 feet south of where I had previously anchored.  Al and I got in the dink and Max put on fins and mask  and the search began.  Due to the wave action Al and I could see very little even though the water was crystal clear and only 5 ½ to 6 ½ feet deep.  We tried this for about an hour and no success, so we went back to Corina IV so Max could rest for a moment and we could plan a new strategy. 

We took my hand held GPS and went to the exact coordinates that I had recorded when we were anchored in San Pedro.  We dropped the dink anchor and swam 150 feet north east, and yes right where it was supposed was my anchor.  We put it in the dink and went back to Al’s boat to pick up Al and Kat.

We then went to BC’s on shore to celebrate with a few Bilkins, the national beer as well as the only beer in Belize.  From BC’s we went to the fuel dock, filled up my 3 gallon gas tank, took Al, Max, and Kat back to Corina IV.  Al gave me an old towel to put under the anchor to protect the bottom of the dink, tied the anchor down and off I went across 11 miles of the Caribbean in the 11 ½ foot dinghy powered by a 9.9 hp Mercury outboard.   It only took me 40 minutes to get back to Caye Caulker, but it was kind of rough bouncing along for 40 minutes.

Geff returning from San Pedro

Got the anchor onboard My Peace attached it with a new shackle and re-anchored My Peace for a more restful night having the heaver anchor holding us.  I still shiver to think that if the old shackle had snapped during the high winds last Sunday night our adventure would have come to a very abrupt end on the sandy beaches of San Pedro.

My thoughts, hope I don't offend anyone.

Just came down below into the cabin after being on deck looking at the stars, you can see the Milk Way looking up and the stars are like nowhere else I have ever been.  The new moon is just above the horizon to the west, the lights of Belize City can be seen reflecting off the clouds to the south, and the lights of San Pedro can be seen to the north.  Just think less than 2 years ago I was content with sailing Canyon Lake, 8 miles long and 4 miles wide.  I looked at the GPS and since 16 October 2009, we have traveled 5,797 nautical miles on My Peace.  Down the Chesapeake Bay from Chester MD to Norfolk, Virginia, to Morehead, North Carolina, off shore in the Atlantic to Charleston, NC, back in the Intercostal waterway to Savanna, GA, across the Atlantic to Cape Canaveral, FL, down the east coast of Florida to Key West, across the Gulf of Mexico  to Port Aransas, TX, down to Port Isabel, TX, across the Gulf of Mexico to Progreso, Mexico, around the tip of the Yucatan to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, back across the Gulf of Mexico to Port Aransas, TX, then back down to Port Isabel, across the Gulf of Mexico to Progreso, Mexico, back around the tip of the Yucatan to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, down the east coast of the Yucatan in the Caribbean to Belize and we’re just getting started.

The sights we have seen, the Mayans celebrating the Summer Solstice, the Mayan ruins near Progreso, Mexico, the Mayan ruins in Tulum, Mexico, the second longest barrier reef in the world, the sunset from the north western tip of Isla Mujeres, a ship wreck on the reef outside Xcalak, Mexico, life on the various Cayes of Belize, the various cultures of the various peoples in the different countries we visit.  I can truthfully say that the people we have met along the way for the most part have been wonderful, Americans, Canadians, French, Dutch, Mayan, Mexican, and the people of Belize. The nationals of the countries we have visited have been sincere and welcomed us into their countries with open arms and are more than willing to share their country and culture with us.  They separate the cruisers (yachties) from regular tourists and treat us differently, what I have seen of many tourists we have met they come to these countries flashing money, wanting to be waited on hand and foot, show little or no respect for the culture, people or the countries.  It is of little wonder that Americans are not respected around the world any more as a great many of them don’t deserve any respect by the way they act when they are away from their own country.  As I think about it they act the same way in America, maybe we the “Greatest Nation In the World” should learn from the so called third world countries on how to behave at home and aboard.  Think about it.

By no stretch of the imagination has it been easy, there have been storms encountered, anchor lost and recovered, continual maintenance to be performed, entering ports and breaks in the reefs that have scared us to death, and we have worked harder than either one of us have in our entire lives, but it is the greatest experience one could experience.  Many of our friends have said we are living the life and I guess we are.  The thing we both miss the most is being able to take a “recreational shower” just to stand there and let the water pour over your body without having to worry about how long it is going to take the water maker to make the 80 gallons you can waste in a 15 minute shower.  (For those keeping track our water maker makes an average of 6 gallons of water per hour so that kind of shower would take the water maker 13.20 minutes to recover and it would process 8,000 gallons of sea water to make that 80 gallons of fresh water.



Isla Mujeres, Mexico to Caye Calker, Belize

Before I get started a quick Mia note, anyone who knows us and Mia knows that Mia is a south Texas dog, likes beef, chicken and pork.  Fish or any sea food product was never to her liking.  After spending the past several months in the Yucatan and Caribbean she has come to realize that Rose and I are eating mostly sea food products, fish, shrimp, lobster, conch, octopus, squid, and the like and if she is to get table scraps she had better learn to like the same and she has.  The reasonable priced meats are sea food and chicken, beef and pork are premium priced.  In Belize, the Coke for a rum and coke is more expensive than the rum.

Well this one is going to cover a lot of water, literally, from the northern tip of the Yucatan down to Belize.  We departed Isla Mujeres, Mexico at 0715 hours Tuesday, 12 July.  It was hard getting up in time to make the 0630 (as you see we didn’t) departure as the marina employees threw us a going away party.  They cooked a 20 kilo red fish, rice, potatoes, salad, and tortillas, and yes unlimited quantities of cervesa Sol.  Matt and Carla called it a night early around 2000 hrs and returned to their boat.  Just as Rose and I were getting ready to go to the boat some new cruisers we had met earlier showed up and we visited for a few hours more. John and Beth are from Georgia and J & J are from Louisiana.  We kind of let them know a little about Isla Mujeres and what was in store for them further down the coast, their destination  is also Rio Dulce, Guatemala.

Surfer Beef

That Beef dog is one crazy surfer

 

Our first stop was just a short run south to Puerto Morelos, Mexico.  We are making it easy as no one is in a real hurry.  We figured we would be there around 1300 hours and arrived at 1330 hours, a nice easy day sail.  We entered the reef and proceeded to the area on the charts in the cruising guide to drop anchor.  Just as we were ready to drop anchor a boat from the Mexican National Park Service pulled up and informed us that we could not anchor, we must use the mooring buoys furnished by the  National Park Service.  Matt wasn’t too sure about this as we didn’t know how well the buoys were maintained.  We tied off onto the buoy and said a Prayer.  Carla’s speaks beautiful Spanish so she checked us in with the port captain on the radio, he spoke a little English and it was a simple process, just told him we would be there over night.  They held all night, but there again we didn’t have any high wind.

Potty run for Mia & Beef

We launched my dinghy and rowed over to Matt & Carla’s boat and mounted his outboard on my dink, his is easier and lighter than mine, loaded both dogs and headed to shore.  We walked around town let the dogs do their business, found a little store, purchased a few Sols, Rose found ice cream, and then headed back to the boats.

Escondida at anchor

 

13 July – Raised the sails while tied to the mooring buoy and headed out through the reef, planned arrival at Puerto Aventuras 1300 hours, another easy day sail.  Due to there being no form of breakwater at the marina entry we wanted to get there with plenty of daylight and hopefully light seas.  Our route took us between Cozumel and the Yucatan Peninsula with a 2 to 3 knot northerly current, not as good thing when you are trying to go south.

Entrance to Puerto Aventuraa

Arrived  Puerto Aventuras 1340 hours, Carla called the harbor master who by the way spoke perfect English thank God as he walked out to the entry point to the marina and explained to us how to line up on the range finder and time our entry based on the swells as they came in.  I screwed up and instead of coming in on the valley of the swell I surfed this 17 ton 41 foot sailboat in on top of a 4 foot swell almost ending up on the rocks on the south side of the entry.  Later when we went to the office to check in we were showed pictures of various boats that didn’t make it and ended up on the rocks.

Mayan ruins Tulum

The purpose of our stop in Puerto Aventures was for Matt and Carla to visit an old friend who lived not far away.  Rose and I took advantage of the stop to visit the Mayan ruins in Tulum.  The Tulum ruins were more restored then the ones we had seen last year north of Progreso, but they were more commercialized.  Puerto Aventures is an exclusive resort area, with guards at the main entrance on the highway.  In the resort there was a golf course, many shops, restaurants, a museum about ship wrecks in the area, and several 4 star hotels.  There is a fuel dock, but due to its location it was easier to load the Gerry cans on a golf cart and go to the Pemex station outside the gate.   Spent 5 days in Puerto Aventures relaxing, sightseeing, performing minor repair, and catching up on the laundry. 

Baracuda for dinner tonight 

17 July – Departed Puerto Aventures 0600 hours for Punta Allen, encountered 4 squalls on this run, not bad the highest winds were around 25 knots, the boats did well.  Encountered the last squall as we were about to enter the reef at Punta Allen, so we waited for the squall to pass before going through the reef.  Arrived Punta Allen 1530 hours, dropped anchor, launched the dink and took Mia to shore to do her thing.  We walked around the town found the only bar/grill there and had a Sol and went back to the boat.  We grilled the barracuda that I had caught that day for dinner, we had a pitch in dinner with Matt & Carla, Carla is a fantastic chef.  I grilled the fish and she did the rest.

Xcalak pier

18 July - Late start out of Punta Allen as this leg is an over-nighter to Xcalak where we were told we could checkout of Mexico, WRONG!  Arrived Xcalak 0830 19 July, when we checked in with the port captain we were informed that one could no longer checkout of Xcalak, that we had to go to Chetumal, by boat about a 2 day sail, south into Belize waters then into Chetumal Bay, then back north to Chetumal.  The other option was a 1,500 peso taxi ride to Chetumal, 2 hours each way.  We chose the taxi and went to Chetumal to out process.  Xcalak is a nice little village, spent a great deal of time at Toby’s as they had good food, cold Sol, and WIFI.  Spent 5 days snorkeling and exploring Xcalak, when we weren’t in a taxi going to Chetumal.  Matt & Carla had received a response from Belize that they had received the entry form for their dog Beef, bet we hadn’t received any word, so we sent it again with no response. 

Escondida Under sail

I’ll never forget the sight as we entered the reef at Xcalak, there was a 50 foot trawler on the south point of the reef as we entered, talking to the locals, it had been there for about 3 weeks and they were just starting to tear it apart with chainsaws when we arrived.  By the time we left they had cut their way down into the engine room and removed both diesel engines, all by hand except for the chainsaw.

Oops missed the cut

 Chillin'

Mexican Navy Xcalak 

No wonder he missed

The local bakery in Xcalak had fantastic bread and sweetbread, you could make a meal out of it.  Unlike Punta Allen where the lights all went out at 2200 hours when they shut down the generator which produced the town’s electricity, Xcalak had power all night.  Xcalak also has a Mexican navy station, and once had a ferry service which has been closed for a while now.

Xcalak Fishernam

We encountered a storm the 2^nd night we were in Xcalak and the boats moved closer to shore, 5 ½ under us so we re-anchored in deeper water and apparently they held better.  The snorkeling was great, Conch were everywhere along with many colorful fish and giant Caribbean starfish.   Even though it wasn’t Conch season there was plenty  of Conch to be eaten prepared any way you wanted.  Our favorite was shrimp and conch ceviche  with chips.

We have been e-mailing the 2 new boats we met in Isla just before we left providing them with information we have learned along the way.  The strongest piece of advice I would give anyone is “DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS RUN WITHOUT CAPT FREYA RAUSCHER’S CRUISING GUIDE”.  

24 July – Left Xcalak heading to Long Caye, Belize, 0545 hours, my son tells me we are on an extended vacation, my reply is if this was a vacation, I wouldn’t be getting up at 0400 hours to get ready to set sail for before 0600!  It would be hard to make it to Belize City in a single day and by stopping at Long Caye, we will be able to make it in to Belize city before 1100 hours and avoid paying overtime rate to the officials.  It was a great sail, making 5 ½  to 6 knots all the way.   We covered 43 miles in 9 hours, not too bad!  We arrived on the west side of Long Caye around 1515 hours,. Dropped anchor, fired up the generator, made ice, fixed dinner, kicked back made Rose a limeade and a margarita for myself.  Ran out of  margarita mix a long time ago, new secret recipe squeeze 15 limes, dissolve ½ pound sugar in 1 liter water, best margarita mix every consumed, just add Tequila.

25 July – Set sail early so as to get to Belize City on time, around 0600 as I remember it.  Shallow water all the way, especially in the cut between Hicks Caye and Montejo Caye, right at 4 ½ feet, the channel is marked with wooden sticks and the GPS reads about 30 feet to the east, DUH?  Arrived at Cucumber Marina at 1130 hours, the officials were there to greet us and the people are very friendly.  As it turns out there was no problem bringing Mia into Belize as we had all our paperwork in order.  The lady from Agriculture looked at her for a minute, looked at her paperwork from our vet in the U.S. looked at the paperwork from the vet in Isla Mujeres, then made a joke that she had finished Mia’s paperwork and Mia ate it.   All the officials were extremely friendly and very helpful.  The total cost of checking into Belize was $340.00 USD, there was no charges for Mia as we had suspected that there would be.  The cost involved was the transportation cost of the officials to drive out to the marina, 5 of them at $30.00 USD each.  Then we had to go to the Port Authority and pay another fee of $190.00 USD for port fees and City of Belize fees.  I guess it would have cost less if we had checked in at San Pedro, but couldn’t as Belize City is the only port of entry to check in with a dog. 

Entrance to Cucumber Marina

Store Cucumber Marina

 

Unfortunately even though we had reservations for 2 boats, there was only 1 slip, so My Peace took the dockside tie up  and Matt & Carla on Escondida tied off on My Peace, yes they got a 50% discount.  Water was $0.05 per gallon USD and electricity was $0.30 per KW, slip rent was $30.00 USD.  The up side was they did have armed guards on duty all night, 2 of them walking around with riot guns, yes in Belize City it is needed.  YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE ON THE STREETS IN BELIZE CITY AFTER DARK!  You do not want to stay in the marina that is in the heart of Belize City!  Cucumber Marina had a coin op laundry, but save your time and money do your laundry at Caye Caulker, Ruby’s Laundry at Caye Caulker will do 3 loads wash, dry, and fold for $30.00 BZD ($15.00 USD).  Rose spent over 4 hours trying to get 2 loads done until 2100 hours being bitten to death by sand fleas and mosquitoes.  (Still suffering from the bites 2 days later)  Be sure to check the electricity and water meter they assign to you and record the numbers, it can be costly if you don’t.

Belize City Belize

 

26 July – Weren’t able to get underway until around 1030 hours because of problems with the meter readings, they had calculated that I had used 134 KW electricity and over 600 gallons of water in less than 24 hours.  Got it straightened out and was underway.  Followed my track on the chart plotter back north as far as Long Caye, then made way to Caye Caulker.  Arrived Caye Caulker 1530 hours and dropped anchor.

South end of caye Caulker

Launched the dink and headed to shore, Mia has been great on waiting to go to shore and if it is a long day she uses the foredeck.  Walked around town, nice little island, you can walk from one end to the other in about 15 minutes, all the way across the middle in 5.  The people are friendly and very helpful, we tied up the dink at the “Fishermen’s Co-Op” and they watched over them while we were away.  Had dinner at the Sand Box Restaurant, I had Jerk Chicken and Rose had Stewed Chicken and we shared an order of Lobster Fritters, a meal to die for and under $20.00 USD.  Seems the further south you go the less expensive the food as long as it is local food.  Other items like Coke, canned goods, and stuff imported, which almost everything in Belize is imported, are expensive.  So eat native food, it is healthier for you anyway and you will save money.

We are Here

Anchor Holding

27 July – Went to shore and had the laundry done, found an internet café, purchased some lobster tails for dinner, around 4 lbs for $20.00 BZD from the Fisherman’s Co-Op, had some fried chicken, took the dink around the island to the only fuel source, came back to the boat and caught up on this e-mail.  Still have to go through 2 weeks of pictures and pick out the ones we want to share with all of you, this will be accomplished in the morning.

My kind of palce

Sand Crab Caye Culker

Lazy Lizard Swiming Hole Caye Culker