The photo album for the post is here–>>.   https://photos.app.goo.gl/u3nG8MPEeNSuNAbz6

The underwater photos are here–>>   https://photos.app.goo.gl/bh98gPcjxmXuqGrE9

Aeeshah has finally left Guatemala, but I am sure we will return one day. It was with mixed feelings saying goodbye on the dock and leaving our berth, sad, but exciting too.

The Leaving

We headed straight downriver, across the lake and down the canyon/gorge towards Linvingston.

As always it was a magical journey, just incredibly beautiful. 

In Livingston our agent Raul was ready for us. Once he had taken our passports, and had a tuk-tuk drop us off at the Clinic for our covid tests he said to meet at 2:30 to receive our zarpe. As expected our tests were negative and we headed to lunch. It was a very mediocre hamburger lunch. Reminder to self: don’t eat there again. Livingston was very busy with New Year visitors, businesses were doing well.

As soon as we had our documents we headed back out to Aeeshah, pulled the anchor and headed for the bar – mouth of the river. When ever leaving the Rio Dulce most sailboats need to take into account the high tide. Normally folks aim for the full or the new moons when the tide is at its highest; otherwise you have to be hauled across by a launcha with a line attached to your mast – not fun! The normal tide does not offer enough depth to get over the bar at the mouth of the river. It was December 29th and we were headed for the high of the new moon. On this day we never saw less than 5″ under the keel. It was a smooth exit for us!

Over to Tres Puntas we headed where we spent a calm peaceful night. Just after dawn we headed to Punta Gorda. 

Punta Gorda, Belize

Again the conditions were benign. Anchoring off the village we dinghied ashore, tied up at the Port Authority dock and were met by an official. He directed us to a picnic table to await the health personal. Overall the check procedure took just 2 hours.

Never had we had such a calm, easy check out, overnight, crossing and check in to Belize.

Our first evening was spent at an anchorage just outside New Haven. It was lovely to be back out at anchor.

Placencia

Placencia was our port of call the next day. There we went ashore and reacquainted ourselves with the village. Our walk of choice was to head from Yolli’s towards the village dock, down the World’s Longest Sidewalk, then circle back to the village via the roadway. Nothing had changed, Placencia was just as lovely as always. 

Our son Gavin contacted us and proposed that Ethan come and join us for a month before he starts the Police Academy. We jumped at the opportunity to have Ethan visit. 

Ethan visits

Ethan arrived on the 8th January. He flew to Placencia from Belize city on a Maya plane. It is always a thrilling experience flying on those little planes. We met him at the airstrip and headed back to Aeeshah. 

The next 2 days were spent getting Ethan settled and making sure we were stocked up for a few weeks out in the cays. He had been to Placencia twice before with us.

We stocked up on all the foods we would need, plus more. Walked around the village, revisited all the familiar sites, enjoyed special foods like Flat Jacks and Italian ice-creams and were soon ready to leave.

Pelican Cays

First stop was the Pelican Cays. We were actually on our way to Blue Ground Range, but the wind turned to right on the nose and meant we were ploughing upwind so Pelican Cays it was, and just as well as the wind really increased. This is a deep anchorage of 60 feet or so.. There is an option to use a mooring that belongs to Hideaway Cay, but these were taken so anchoring behind the cays for protection was our only choice. There ended up being several other boats at anchor, all charter cats, one of which ended up next to us…….

Well during the night around 1:00am the wind rose, it must have been blowing over 25ks at least. John was in the cockpit checking our position when he watched the neighbouring cat drag by. Nobody aboard was aroused, they must have been deep asleep. The cat stopped behind us and nowhere near the reef, lucky for them and us. Fortunately by the morning it was good enough for us to head to Blue Ground Range. 

Blue Ground Range

There we anchored, had lunch and went for a dinghy ride around. It was quite breezy, but the anchorage offers wonderful protection from the winds. 

The previous few years while locked down in Belize, Blue Ground had been our safe place. We are very familiar the surrounding mangrove cays. In other words we know our way around. The area is large and consist of numerous cays and canals between them. I was happy to see the ospreys were again nesting.

Right down to the furthest cay we travelled, not seeing anyone else. At the furthest end of the Range there is an old, camp where a Dutch fellow used to hang out. It’s the site of where someone at some time tried to start a resort.

The place has been vandalised even more since we last visited.

Again, looking across towards the fishing camp there wasn’t a soul about, not even a dog. From there we went past the fishing camps and saw they too were deserted.

The old guy that was always outside his hut fixing nets wasn’t around either. Back at the boat we swam in the chilly water, getting out into the freezing northerly wind brrrrr it was cold!

The following morning we headed ashore to explore another cay, really to show Ethan what the cay had to offer. Really we were passing time, waiting for the winds to lay down.

This cay has a small salt pond, a few palm trees, lots of old reef and plenty of plastic trash that has washed in. A very sad, sad, pile of man made rubbish.

SouthWater Cay

Arriving at SouthWater cay we dropped anchor in a sandy area off the northern end of the cay. The cay looked as lovely as always, gaily painted wooden buildings, palm tree lined beach and turquoise seas.

The weather continued to look threatening. However it was calm enough behind the cay. And we know from past experience that in the sand holes the holding is excellent. Plus it cleared as quickly as it came, just fickle weather.

We snorkelled the reef along the side of the cut in the reefs to the deep.

The corals and fish were as lovely as ever. The stag horn coral on the outside is abundant. I enjoyed using my new underwater camera, experimenting with it to see what I could capture.

Honestly, 45 minutes was as long as any of us could handle as the water is  quite cool in January.

The next morning we went ashore to walk around Southwater.

There are several small resorts, some catering to diving holidays, some to fly-fishing and some to just relaxing. It really is a very pretty cay. This year it was much busier, tourism looks to be doing much better.

We then went off to snorkel the far side of the cut leading to the deep water.

The barrier reef surrounds Belize with several cuts that lead from the shallower water to the depths outside of many hundreds of feet. The cuts make for the best snorkelling as the water is crystal clear. I totally enjoyed my snorkel! The guys went off to the deep water,

I was snorkelling between the deep reef and the shallower reef as the light for my camera was better. Plus I find the corals just lovely. That day I was especially happy as I found a shark sleeping under a ledge of the reef. 

Sapordilla Lagoon – The Range/Reserve

We decided to head into the lagoon at Saporilla as there was another northerly heading our way, bringing cold winds and rain.

The land area at Sapordilla is called the range or reserve has been in the Belizean courts for some years. It was a grand scheme that fell flat when the money disappeared; another ponzie scheme. However there are a few large homes and there is the marina.

We can walk on the property, buy a few supplies in the marina store, buy fuel and use the showers and laundry. All of this makes it a very handy destination when the weather is unfavourable, but we anchor out in the lagoon as Chico could get up to so much mischief there. 

I enjoy walking around the reserve as there are loads of differing birds to see and animals. This time we saw a hawk, many song birds of differing colours and a coatimundis aka a coati. It was foraging in the long grasses and was quite shy of us. 

Hopkins and Sette River area

Our friends Michael and Rene off Sea Mist were in the marina and had the use of a friend’s car. They volunteered to take us grocery shopping and for a tour around the Hopkins and Sette River area.

 

We set off at 10:00ish heading 1st out of the Reserve. The driveway is 7 miles long and as is usual for Belize unpaved. The Reserve really is a massive area, 14,000 acres.

The roads to Hopkins are really quite plain, flat, lined with marshlands but it was pleasant to be driving out and about. In Hopkins we scouted for grocery stores, found one and shopped. Found another for further groceries and finally found a veg and fruit shack.

We enjoyed a very nice lunch of fish and chips at …….  Then it was off for a leisurely drive along the Sette River track and back to the Reserve.