From Guatemala to Belize

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Preparations:

Straight from dropping Chrissie and Quest at the airport we headed to the Litegua bus depot. The bus ride back to the Rio was as usual, 6 hours of almost complete boredom.

Once back at Catamaran Marina we made haste getting Aeeshah ready for her trip down river and onto Belize.

A very good detailer – Carlos, with a few friends saw to the outside cleaning and polishing. John and I scrubbed covers, reorganized, stocked up with necessities and made ready to leave.

Off we go:

February 4th, We set off to Texas Bay from the afternoon and night. When leaving Gillian noted that more marina folks were there to say goodbye to Chico, yes, he had once again made many good human friends. He is loved!

Cayo Caymado aka Texas Bay

At Texas Bay we anchored on the outside to try and get some breeze, wifi and to avoid the bugs. Looking at the small islands nearby I could see and hear dozens of birds squawking and roosting in the tops of the mangroves.

We set out to explore. Finding that one island had a small wooden “dock,” we tied up and saw a sign proclaiming it as a small sanctuary.

The pathways looked newly cleared and led right around the island. In the tree tops there were dozens and dozens of cormorants and herons nesting, squawking, flapping their wings and feeding.

Sadly there were also those chicks that had fallen from the nests, the vultures were enjoying them. Across the path ran a huge iguana while in the reeds herons were fishing for dinner. The isle was full of life!

We cruised in the dinghy around a few other isles which seemed to have diseased mangroves still clinging to life with birds gallantly roosting and nesting in their bare tree tops.

We followed up by a meander around Texas Bay and the surrounding canals, it is always very scenic, just lovely!

Texas’s Mike’s

That evening there was such a beautiful sunset after which we met our friends off Puddle-jumper ashore for dinner at Texas Mike’s. It was a fun evening catching up with old friends. My burger was great and Mike had his usual offerings of smokes for those that chose to indulge.

Down the river:

Bright and early we set off down river.

Oh how beautiful the early morning light in the misty mountains. Then the fantastic scenery of our down river cruise was such a treat,

watching all the birds, the locals in their canoes, and gazing up at the magnificent tree covered canyon walls. Just a wonderful journey! Chico just loves bird watching….

Over the bar

In Livingstone our agent was awaiting our arrival. Along with Bill and Mara, off of Puddle-jumper we handed our passports over to our agent and then set off to wander the lanes of Livingstone. After having a poke around and buying a few pastries and tangerines, we were back picking up our exit documents.

Then, it was the bar to face at 16:00hrs. Questions of – Was the tide going to be high enough? Had the bar shifted? Were our waypoints correct? Only one way to know and that was to set off across the bar. Well, the wind was blowing into the river causing waves of about 2 foot or so, but this was helpful as it would give Aeeshah a lift. The sea grew thinner and thinner under our keel, it reached 0.5, 0.2, and bump, bump, 0.0 no water the keel bumps along. The waves would come, and we would move/shift ahead, then bump, bump on the soft bottom, and up ahead, bump, bump, until finally we were beginning to move off the bar and gain a few inches under the keel. We were over, and off to Tres Puntas.

We crossed the Gulf of Honduras to Tres Puntas where there would be a safe anchorage for the night, unfortunately the course was into the wind. Soooo, it took longer and was uncomfortable, with sea and wind on the bow but we sloughed through and arrived just as it was getting dark. Down went the anchor and we were set for our first night out of the Rio Dulce.

Punta Gorda, Belize

Bright and early we left for Punta Gorda in Belize to check in. We had never check into Belize at this port and hoped it would be easier than the normal Big Creek entrance port. Of the boats heading to check in we were the last to arrive, and low and behold just as they all finished up so did we, and yes, it was easier at Punta Gorda.

Our No Name stop

We headed out and found an anchorage at a small Caye called No Name which was in the Moho Cayos group. This was good shelter for the night, but to no-see- ums were dreadful. Despite being well off shore the little nasties managed to fly out and plague us.

Placencia

Our next stop was Placencia. We are very familiar with Placencia having visited many times. Yolli’s Bar allows cruisers to use their dock to access the shore.

This is where we usually go ashore and walk to the village. At Yolli’s we were greeted by one and all and welcomed back.

While in Placencia we met up with many friends we had known for sometime. Don and Pam whom we met in Brunswick, told us about the Arts Festival that was taking place the next day, so we arranged to meet up. In the afternoon a tall ship arrived and anchored in the anchorage.

We found out it was the Fredrick Chopin, a Polish training ship and it was in to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Poland re-attaining its sea port.

The Arts Market

The Arts Market was interesting and enjoyable to walk through. Set up along the “longest sidewalk” in the world, which runs between the beach and the village’s shops and homes, were the many venders.

Most of the venders had come from different parts of Belize with their different goods. There was the usual hand crafted jewelry, wood carving, textiles and such, but there was also some different wares for example turmeric paste that came from a local farm. Along with our friends we wandered through, enjoyed a light lunch at a French Patisserie and bought very little, just the turmeric paste.

Fredrick Chopin

The following day some other friends, Sabrina and Tom, invited us to go with them on board the Polish tall ship, we went along and again had an interesting time. It was quite tricky climbing over all the dinghies and then up the side of the ship, but I did it.

There were tours in which the young “trainees” showed us around. It turned out that the ship takes teens between 15 – 18, but they did have a 14 and 19 year old too.

The students have school on board, run the ships watches, help with all the cleaning, cooking navigation etc, in other words they work to learn.

Each group are on board for 3 months, this group had started out in Martinique, sailed to Belize, we’re going to Jamaica and back to Martinique. We enjoyed our tour.

Ranguana Cayo

Pam and Don on Rainbows End sailed along with us to the outer Caye of Ranguana. There we spent a few days enjoying the isle.

It has a small restaurant and caterers to its day visitors, but also to the boats that stop. For 2 days we would snorkel, go ashore for a nice lunch under the palm trees,

relax under the palms, snorkel and return weary but satisfied to our boats. It made for a very pleasant change.

Back to Placencia

We headed as another front was expected to blow through the region. In Placencia there were quite a number of friends to catch up with, most we had known for years. We arranged to all go ashore to Yolli’s for a few drinks and then to Paradise Hotel’s restaurant for a meal together. We all had a wonderful evening, stories were shared and much laughing was enjoyed by all. The dinner was excellent too.

Mayflower Bocawina national Park

A day trip to the nearby wildlife reserve was suggested by Bill and Mara off Puddle-jumper. They are friends we have had since 2012 when we met in the Bahamas. Bill hired a car, which we shared, and we drove to to Mayflower Bocawina national Park.

Once reaching the entrance you drive a further 18k to the “actual” entrance, passing fields and fields of citrus. This reserve offered numerous hikes to waterfalls, viewpoints and sites. We first followed a birdwatching pathway, seeing a few birds but hearing many.

Then we set off on one of the waterfall hikes. The pathway itself was through thick jungle so shaded, but hot with little breeze. It was an enjoyable hike, we did see birds and many lovely flowers. What I really liked was where it was really very, steep there were guide ropes to hang onto. Usually one has to risk life and limb to get up and down steep, slippery slopes.

The waterfall itself was wonderful! We had planned to all swim, but I could not stay, standing on the rocks mid stream I was bitten numerous times by a small black fly type bug. The stings felt like tableau stings and my lower legs and ankles were on fire.

I set off back down the track to wait for the others. When they finally emerged from the trail we set off for lunch. Yes, I was still complaining, my legs were very uncomfortable, the other also had bites, but they seemed not to affect them as badly.

Lunch was at the reserves restaurant and was excellent. To drink they had water that was infused with cilantro and lime, a very subtle taste but amazingly refreshing.

We had intended to hike after lunch, but settled for exploring the surrounding gardens, which are very lovely. We also drove down the rest of the parks roads, well tracks, just to see what was there.

Hopkins village

On our return journey we stopped at Hopkins, a small village. The sea front was a beach that was attractive, next to where we parked was a bar, which was very Caribbean looking, parked outside an old Enfield bike.

It looked to me like a relic from a WWII movie, and it was obviously still being used. The guys, Bill and John struck up a conversation with a rasta from the bar, he told them that the guy sleeping in a tent on the beach had arrived on it, he had originally left from Alaska! Meanwhile I was nursing my legs, yes, they were still itching and on fire.

Off to pelican Cays

Our next excursion aboard Aeeshah was off to Pelican Cays for a few days of exploring and snorkeling. When we arrived we found that the area is very deep, 30 – 60 feet except where the reef is found. What we opted to do was, instead of anchoring we picked up one of the few moorings on offer.

There is a family that live on one of the cays, Hideaway Cay. They have a small dwelling a restaurant and bar. The moorings belong to them and for a fee you can use them. We never usually have a mooring so it was quite a luxury for us.

On our first day at Pelican Cays we snorkeled, had a lunch break and then snorkeled again. We actually covered the entire reef along the bay and along the adjoining island. The reef was quite lovely, lots of corals, sea fans, and juvenile fish. On our first snorkel I saw a huge Porcupine fish, I only managed to set a quick shot of “her” before she streaked off. Of course there were the usual barracuda lurking in the background.

During our lunch break friends, Gail and Pete on Pega came into our anchorage.

During the second snorkel the depth was deeper and the reef more spread out. The corals were larger and this time I saw 2 sharks. The first one, about 4 foot in length, came around a reef, saw me and left. Then five or so minutes later there was a smaller one, I figured it was later in the afternoon and they were coming out to feed. I also noted these were not Nurse sharks, they were darker and had a thrasher type tail. I’ve since been told they were reef sharks, but I think they were Lemon sharks or Sand bar sharks.

That evening we went ashore to the Hideaway for dinner. The buildings and wooden structures that are on stilts over the mangrove mud. The walkways too are wooden and on stilts. The place is very nicely set up and the owners very friendly. We were joined by Gail and Pete for dinner. The evening was wonderful and the food delicious. They offer fish, conch, shrimp and lobster when in season. I had the fish. The couple who set up home at Hideaway are Americans and they have a 7 year old daughter. A very peaceful life, but for me perhaps too quiet.

Placencia

Back to Placencia we went as another norther aka cold front was coming. This one lasted several days, brought strong winds and rain, but we were fine, the anchor held, just a few restless hours of “sleep”. Most folks had gone to Sapodilla Lagoon to shelter, so it was nice and empty in the mooring field.

Gail and Pete had gone to the lagoon. It was her birthday and she wanted to horse ride there at the equestrian center. Unfortunately, I received the news from her that she was thrown at a gallop from the back of her horse and got a broken neck, c5,6 were fractured. She was in Belize hospital, in traction, immobilized, just terrible news.