PHOTO LINKS –>> Placencia to Cay Caulker

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GiFUn1EomUN1yKfb9

Tobacco Cay reef  https://photos.app.goo.gl/GiFUn1EomUN1yKfb9

 

Placencia

Once again our time in Placencia was punctuated with, fish and chips at Pickled Parrot on Friday, getting together at Rene and Michael’s housesit at Sailfish for a pot-luck and Sunday barbecues at Yolli’s.

It was very enjoyable to spend time with friends, have a delicious lunch and not have to cook that day, but we needed to move on……but first…

The weather had again become exceedingly hot and calm, a sure predictor of squalls and thunderstorms. Sure enough it came with its usual magnificent entry, it stormed for a night and day and then we were left with cooler, calm, breezes.

A friend of ours had some medical issues so we stayed in Placencia to help him. Then the morning he was leaving at 5:30 he ran aground, being a brown bar he was well and truly grounded.

Two local boats, plus Don and John in their dinghies went to the rescue.                                              After many hours he was finally freed.

Meanwhile we’d had our first boat issues for this season:

1st the head aka toilet stopped working. The problem was the usual, the pipes were clogged with hardened residue. Poor John took everything apart 3 times, used a snake several times, poured an acid down the tubes, and finally draino…..still the pipe was stopped up. We believe it is where the u-turn to the final stretch of pipe is located. Not wanting to have a possible major problem he closed off that head/toilet and I moved Chico out of his head which we have now taken over. 

2nd issue was the dinghy engines, both having problems at once. John managed to fix one and the other will be serviced back in the Rio.

3rd was our new mast light is not working. We need a calm day to get up the mast and check, till then we use the spreader lights at night.

Over all nothing too serious, but was 2 days of hard frustrating work for John. We counteracted all this by taking off, heading north, our first stop:

Blue Ground Range

During this passage John caught an Amber Jack, a nice dinner for Chico and us. It was also a lovely sail, smooth and fast all the way.

Our first morning was one of those dead calm, hazy, still, hot ones. We had spent much of our covid isolation time in Blue Ground last year and I wanted to ride the dinghy around all the familiar mangrove cays to see what had changed. 

Off we went taking the old route through the mangrove lanes. The reflections and blends of colour are always stunning as the water was calm and the skies were blue all over. We saw the old osprey nest, the osprey and the same fishing camps, the only change being virtually nobody about. 

When we came to the cay where a Dutch fellow had camped out last year we stopped to have a look around. Nobody was about, the place looked to have been deserted for many months.

We wandered about looking around the few huts that were built and along the pathways between them. The Dutchman had said there was a wild pig roaming about, but the pig must have left with the Dutchman. No doubt this place will deteriorate just like so many we see….fallen dreams.

Tobacco Range

The following day both us and Rainbow’s End with Pam and Don headed to Tobacco Range as we knew the weather was closing in again.

The few days had been still and the heat had climbed, the forecast predicted squalls and rain. In Tobacco Range you get near perfect shelter from every direction. Sure enough the weather closed in and we had a squally, rainy night.

Unexpectantly, the winds came from the south and banked around, it would have been very uncomfortable in most places, but other than being a bit too close to the mangroves we were fine. Of course there was the calm weather after squalls passed. We took the time to getting caught up on chores that needed doing, the never ending boat maintenance, the mast light was finally fixed. 

Man O War Cay

Plus we went in the dinghy to where the cormorants, frigate birds – aka man of war birds, and Boobies nest and roost, a small mangrove cay called Man O War Cay. It was quite shocking and very sad to see how little was left after the hurricane from the previous season.

Most of the mangroves were lying dead in the water, the ones that stood also looked more dead than alive, but many birds were still trying to call this cay home. Even being late in the season there were frigate chicks and the males were still puffing out their red throats to attract the females.

There were birds all over chattering, squeaking, soaring, nudging others for space, trying to make a home. We watched them for quite a while and both wondered why they didn’t move to the other cays that are covered in complete mangroves tree??

Tobacco Reef

We all, both boats, decided to stop at Tobacco Reef for a snorkel before heading out. So we up anchored and headed out to re-anchor on the inside of Tobacco Reef opposite Tobacco Cay. This is one of my favourite places to snorkel, it is always a stunning snorkel.

We left the big boats and took our dinghy and anchored in the sand off the reef line. Again it was an excellent snorkel. The reef here is so alive with all the differing corals and fish. I saw, rays, a nurse shark asleep by a reef, hogfish, red hind, huge schools of snappers and many more fish. The corals were magnificent! All the differing types of corals and with the crystal clear water it was a simply beautiful snorkel.

Garbutt Cay

We headed off to Garbutt Cay to anchor for the night. We had never anchored in this anchorage before and found it to be very rocky and deep. We went for a look around in the afternoon and could see that what was, or used to be, a tern rookery was now habited by a fishing shack.

There was another fishing shack on the adjacent cay, this one having people there. They were literally some of the first folks we had see since leaving days before. It must be a very rough life living out in the fishing shacks, no electricity, little water, no plumbing, little land mainly mangroves which are full of no-see-ums, horse flies and mosquitos. But saying that, the people looked and sounded happy with their lives.

Colson Cays

Was our next stop. The weather was still a bit unsettled, Pam on Rainbows End was unwell and we were not in a hurry to get anywhere. 

Again John and I set out in the dinghy to have a look around. We ventured into the lagoon of the cay we were anchored off, checked out the mangrove byways through it to the other side. 

Next, we set off to the neighbouring cay. We had previously visited there before and enjoyed snorkelling the blue holes and along the mangrove shoreline. To our surprise none of the shoreline we had previously see existed any more. The cay had been flattened, the mangroves destroyed, sand dredged, a retaining wall built, and a building was sitting towards one end.

Now the developers had destroyed a pristine cay but what they had built was shoddy, the wall was already subsiding in places so it looked like a wavy line and the building was crooked. What a mess!

There in the middle stood a lone tree with a large osprey nest atop it, and there not far away was one of the ospreys. Just a big, sad, destructive mess!

On our way back we saw the only fishing camp in the area, it was habited by a lone fisherman, but he had about six dogs who tried to swim out to us and then followed us along the shoreline.

Drowned Cays

Off we sailed the next day, opting for the inside channel as the winds were still up and showers around. At the Drowned Cays John and I once again went off in the dinghy to explore. The mangrove waterways were very, long and had quite strong currents running through them. Each waterway looks more or less identical, getting lost would be very easy. 

Cay Caulker

Was our next destination and marked the furthest north we would go. We needed to travel through the notorious Porto Stuck, so named for its shallows. Our timing was calculated so that we had the morning high at 7:00am to cross. The water was thin, but we made it with no worries.

We hadn’t visited Cay Cauker in three years and we’re looking forward to revisiting our favourite places. After lunch we all went ashore.

Cay Caulker is a colourful place. The streets are all sandy paths, there are no cars or motor bikes only a few golf carts and the old push bike to get around on.

We walked around enjoying the ambience, looking at all the sights, enjoying the exercise. We settled at the Lazy Lizard for a cool drink again just people watching.

Most of the folks were young enjoying the day in the sun. 

On our walk back we stopped at my favourite Chinese restaurant of all times, “Yummy’s” to get a take out.

At first the lady who had been there did not recognise me, but then I caught her doing a double take, staring, and exclaiming, “You’re back! Welcome back Mummy!” That evening I enjoyed the best sweet and sour chicken ever and as before it was enough food for 2 nights!