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And we are off, Cayo Quemado, Livingstone, Tres Puntas, Punta Gorda, New Haven and Placencia
We set off for Cayo Quemado on sunny, March 26th Chico was quite put out, at one stage I wondered if he was going to jump off and swim back to Catamaran, but he soon settled down and assumed the relaxed cat position.
Cayo Quemado
The motor across the lake was lovely being as it was such a sunny day. At Cayo Quemado we anchored on the outside, we prefer the breeze and find we have reasonably good wifi out there.
That afternoon we had a dinghy ride around and spoke to friends anchored inside the bay. In the evening we ventured to Texas Mikes for dinner. His place was very busy with fellow cruisers all leaving within the next few days. It was a full moon evening, a lovely full moon shone down.
After much debate our destination was Belize, the weather had not been what we wanted to sail to the Bay Islands, the forecast told of a converging couple of fronts, winds and possible squalls. So Belize it would be.
The following day was another slack day, doing a few chores and going for a dinghy ride into some of the neighbouring bays. The bird life is incredible, cormorants and egrets by the dozens nesting and roosting on the little mangrove cays. They make quite a sight soaring in during the evening hours.
On our second full day we went with 3 other couples in Texas Mike’s launcha full speed down river to see our agent Raul and do the check out process.
Livingstone to check out
The river was quite windy and so Livingstone was on the rough side. Mike took us in to a fisherman’s’ dock, right beside a bar. Well, that was quite an experience.
The landing was tough with all the swell and included climbing over lines and a fishing boat. The dock had salted fish laid out to dry in the sun while all around the birds flew or gathered. The Pelicans are real opportunists just waiting for a chance to get any fish available.
All of us had messaged Raul so our paperwork was ready, but it was lunch time till 2:30 and it was just 1:00pm. So off to lunch we went. After lunch we met again at Raul’s and were taken by tuk-tuk to the local clinic for our covid tests. Again the clinic was quite rudimentary, but, hey it suited our needs. We were tested, found negative and had our tests printed for leaving.
Meanwhile Texas Mike had been awaiting our return by keeping company with the fishermen in the bar. He was well oiled, quite tanked, I think we all wondered about his ability to get us back.
Clambering over the docks and fishing boat back to Mike’s launcha my new hat blew off. I was so upset as I could see it floating away under the docks, but nobody could reach it. Mike was at first not able/willing to go for it with the launcha, he was sounding off a local for some reason, but agreed to let John off at an adjoining dock where a local gave him a broom handle to scoop it out with. I was very grateful and praised Mike for his “skill” at retrieving my hat. He was well pleased! Full speed up river we zoomed.
Next morning we set off at 6:30 to motor
down river through the gorge to the mouth of the Rio Dulce.
Traveling down the Rio Dulce, which means Sweet River, really is an amazing journey. We left Cayo Quemado at 6:30am. It was still misty and the day had nearly been awake for an hour.
The river winds back and forth with steep forested canyon walls on either side. The bird life is phenomenal, there are cormorants, laughing gulls, egrets, pelicans and forest birds swooping, feeding, squeaking all around. For the first time even I saw white egrets land and sit on the water.
This is something I really didn’t think they did as they are wading birds.
We could hear the cicadas and other insects making a ruckus in the jungle growth. I also saw vultures feasting on a large corpse of something amongst the boulders and growth at the river side. Soon enough we were at the mouth of the river and faced the dreaded bar.
Tres Puntas
Ahead of us were Rainbow’s End and Tomorrow’s Dawn, neither of these boats usually have a problem with depth. And as it was the spring high of a full moon we knew we had a good chance of crossing. To be honest it was our easiest ever crossing, we had a clear 6 inches underneath us. Off to Tres Puntas we headed for the rest of the day and night.
Along the way John had our rod out just in case there was a fish looking to be caught. Sure enough ziiinnnng! The rod rang out and in John brought a very large fish which we found out was an African Pompano of about 20lbs! It was so huge it fed 4 couples on the 4 boats plus we had 2 meals and Chico several days worth of fish dinners.
After anchoring we made water, (our tanks were empty for crossing the bar). Plus we did a dinghy trip along the shoreline. There are a few folks living along this lonely shoreline. It must be a very quiet, solitary life as they are so cut off from everywhere.
Up at 5:00am we set off for either Punta Gorda or Placencia to check in. At that stage we all had decided to see what the seas and winds gave us once we left the protection of Tres Puntas.
Punta Gorda
The seas were between 4 – 6 feet and the wind was gusting up to 15 knots, whereas it had been predicted to be seas of 2 – 3ft and winds of 5 – 10 knots. Our inclination was to beat it up to Placencia, but Tomorrow’s Dawn who had more experience with Punta Gorda said Punta Gorda would be semi protected and doable. So Punta Gorda it was……arriving there we found quite a good roll going on, but we anchored and managed to drop the dinghy, get in it and head ashore.
The dinghy dock was/is very rustic, basically not ideal, made of wood and quite damaged, but again we managed to tie off Latitude’s dinghy which was secured to the dock. Now there were 4 boats for the officials to process, but we were essentially some of the first boats they had dealt with since the beginning of covid.
They were ” ready” for us as they had received our arrival notice and plans, but nobody seemed very sure of what they were doing…. We had to wait at the dock while they processed 1 boat at a time. The first officials were the health folks, they essentially asked health questions, plus we filled in their forms with all our info and the boats info. The second station was inside where we dealt with customs and agriculture.
Here we had many more forms, basically asking the same or other non applicable questions, plus needing $20 Belize. Much of the info they required referred to ships perhaps? Thirdly we went to the immigration booth, again many forms, repetitious questions many of which do not apply to sailboats, asking for another $20Belize. Forth and final stop was Port Authority, yes, more forms, silly questions and this time big money. The fee was $442 Belize for a month’s stay. Overall a total of $482 Belize….
We were off, heading to New Haven for the night. The ride to New Haven was mainly into the wind which was increasing up to 20 plus knots and seas that were getting nasty. However we made it into the Belizean Cays where there was some shelter from the winds and seas along the way.
New Haven
New Haven is a huge bay that is very sheltered however with the winds that were blowing there was a chop running through the bay. We anchored up and enjoyed an evening at anchor.
We stayed through the next day as the wind was still up and there were showers about. Again just enjoying being at anchor. New Haven used to have a small settlement many years previous, a man called Hard Luck Charles had a small enterprise which he set up out of the bay, but today there’s very little evidence of him ever being there, just the remains of his house and such.
John and I dinghied around the bay and into the next bay just enjoying the ride. The parks men stopped by to collect money. Normally folks over 65 do not pay, but these men said it did not apply to their park. I was very skeptical of their demands, but we handed over the 10Belize per person per day payment.
Off to Placencia
Off to Placencia we headed at 6:30 the following day. The winds had settled down some and we hoped to take advantage of the lee shore. The trip was about 4 hours and just towards the end the wind started to rise again. By the time we reached Placencia Harbour it was again gusting to 25knots.
The Harbour was our first choice of anchorage, but it was just too rough and windy so into Placencia Lagoon we went where it was much more settled.
The following days in Placencia were basically back to our old regime of the previous year, walk and enjoy the scenery. Looking through the various little shops for odds and ends.
Enjoying ice creams at Tooty Fruity, buying excellent take out meals from our favourite eateries, visiting the veggie stand and just enjoying the peaceful little village.
Meanwhile the winds slowly wound down, the showers abated and finally we went out to the outer anchorage where we could enjoy swimming.
Our friends had a fun potluck which was a catch up time for everyone.
Yollis was having her regular Sunday barbecue, which was combined with a Birthday celebration for Michael. Yes, just like back to last years normal for us.
