We attempted to leave Rio Dulce, Guatemala but had injector problems so turned back to Catamaran’s to fix this as there is much more expertise from other cruisers there. It took us a week before we had good weather to leave again. It felt good to leave Guatemala as we had been there since October, 2012 due to Tom’s rotator cuff surgery on his right shoulder.
Belize’s check in policies changed again, so we had to take the “Hokey Pokey” water taxi from Placencia into Independencia and then taxi into Big Creek. I still don’t know why they called it that?
We traveled around Belize for a month and visited Lighthouse Atoll between northers which have been alot this year along with lots of rain. Belize is nice but no clear water making it difficult to navigate unless you are by the reef. There are not very many places to hide in a norther. But when you do get clear water it is BEAUTIFUL. Last year we explored Southern Belize which has more tiny mangrove cays. We really enjoyed diving at Lighthouse Reef Atoll with Appleseed (they arrived a few days after us) and were able to get our tanks filled by the Agressor III live aboard dive ship that was on various moorings at night. We were going to stop at Turneffe Atoll in route to Lighthouse but the wind wrong direction for anchorage and we had a great sail with calm seas so we continued onto Lighthouse. A huge pod of full size dolphins came to play with Sojourn while in route for about ½ hour. We never get tired of them! We stayed at Lighthouse for about 1 week. We again saw the Belizian fisherman in their small sailboats 20-25′ with outboard motor. There can be from 7-11 fisherman living for a week along with their small wood canoe’s that they use to go diving for mostly lobster as capture the best price. They also spear fish and crab that occasionally they will sell to us for a reasonable price. The main part of the boat is full of ice to keep the lobster fresh.
On the way back to mainland Belize we had alot of wind so didn’t stop at Turneffe as well as another norther coming. Once the norther was finished, we decided to sail/motor the inside passage of Belize across SKINNY water thru “Porto Stuck” with Appleseed to Cay Caulker. It was probably the shallowest water we have been through as we draw around 6′ and saw 5.7” on depth meter…. We had to have cleaned the bottom of the keel quite nicely and fortunately it was sea grass and sand. Maybe fortunate that the wind was on the nose and waves built to keep us rocking off the bottom but not good as we couldn’t sail which would heal us over. Actually we did take off sailing as the waves were building but got abit scared as we had no depth on any of our electronic charts and not sure what these sticks in the water were marking. Was it reef, poll for fisherman to tie to, marking favorite fish spot or crab/lobster pot, etc. as we never did figure this out. So we sailed back/forth across our coarse line till we got closer to the anchorage at Cay Caulker. Once anchored we went into town to find a real delightful restaurant to celebrate Tom’s 61st B-Day along with Super Bowl parties. That night we had a HUGE squall that lasted over an hour and we were on shore so headed back before it really started to blow and rain. This anchorage is known for dragging. We were drenched with salt water upon return but fortunately we held and no one dragged onto us. Now isn’t our life romantic! We really enjoyed Cay Caulker but had to move on to Mexico as there was a good 3-5 day weather window before another norther and family/friends coming to visit.
Well we passed up Chinchorro Banks, MX as we would only be able to stay 1 night and the 2 knot current was pushing us past there so fast and got us there at night so decided to keep going. One never knows what’s going to happen with weather….. So then we were going to stop at Cozumel to check in (as alot cheaper than using the agent at Pt. Morelas) and dive for a couple days but its TOO rolly an anchorage out of the NE and when we went by there it was NE SO we continued for El Cid Marina/Resort, Pt. Morelas. Maybe a good thing as we were both SO tired. I was on watch most of the evening as trying to get Tom to sleep but only after drugging him with Benadryl did he sleep. Next time we will drug him right away! 🙂 I can take quick naps and am fine – Tom is another story. It was a BEAUTIFUL starry night with a sliver of a moon. We continued to be in the 2-3 knot current most of the way so our boat speed was 8-9 knots which typically is 6knots. But because of this it changed the sea state with the unexpected NE wind we were sailing close reach and waves were constant and building with the opposing current vs wind. So it was a rougher ride. Thank goodness we got our self steering wind vane fixed in Guatemala — it was a handy 3rd crew! There aren’t very many safe places to anchor/stop along the Mexico coast due to the N/NE cold fronts and the prevailing E/SE winds thus the marina/resort called El Cid that we are staying at.
Got checked in yesterday so now only thing need to do is import the boat. So need to go to Cancun via bus on Monday and pay $50. That is the first time we have had to do that. Another first was when customs came on boat yesterday they asked to see our tobacco and boose. We showed and didn’t realize that their rules are the same as if you enter country via airplane — 3 liters total. Well you can imagine that we were WAY over as its cheaper in Guatemala to purchase so we stocked up not knowing how long we would be in Belize. So a big excess tax. We were shocked and told them this has never happened to us in any other country. They took pity on us and sort of turned their eye after further discussion. I was surprised they didn’t want a tip but then this check in is more expensive as we have to use an agent that comes down from Cancun with immigration, customs, agriculture and health officials…. The marina will rebate us some based on how long we are here.
We will meet up with Tom’s daughter Teresa/husband Wayne here March 3rd and visit Joe/Jim/Lenny at Akumal various times. They have nightly events and yoga each day along with other activities. We use the bikes to get to Pt. Morelos and main road to catch collectivos into Cancun or elsewhere. We may take the boat the 18 nm to Cozumel to dive for a few days when settled weather OR ferry from Playa Del Carmen. We will sail to Isla Mujeras for other friends to come visit and leave boat there while fly from Cancun to Cuba in April. Then probably sail to FL sometime in May.
Keep in touch!
Live Your Dreams
Rose & Tom