Aeeshah

 

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George Town, Bahamas

George Town is the hub for many cruising boats in the Bahamas. We arrived late in the cruising season and so not many boats still remained in Georgetown. At the height of the season there can be up to 700 boats, …… I’d guess maybe 50 were there with a few like us arriving and then others leaving most days. Our plan was to get the laundry done, pick up some much needed diesel, gas, fresh produce and move on. 

Anchoring under the monument in the bay known as Monument beach. The weather was closing in, gone were the clear sunny skies. There was 2 areas of tropical disturbance, both of which were sending cloud over our way. 

Most days we made a very rough 1.2 mile crossing in the dinghy to Georgetown from our anchorage. There you enter Lake Victoria via the dinghy cut and tie up at the dinghy dock. We would usually walk around Lake Victoria just for the exercise, looking at what ever there was to see.

Next, would be a stop at the grocery for a few supplies, fill some jugs with diesel, load up and return to Aeeshah. (For first few days there wasn’t any diesel to buy as believe it or not, there was none on the island.)

Everything arrives by small freighters of which arrive daily, unload and dispense to the few stores and fuel stations. While being a hub for cruisers Georgetown is still very small compared to most towns outside the Bahamas. 

The first real bit of excitement was when we heard from friends, Hattie and Phil that they were a few days behind us and we’re going to make an effort to catch up. They had set out from Florida, were about a 100 miles from us on their new catamaran Drishti. Sure enough 2 days later they arrived and anchored up nearby. 

We had a lovely evening catching up with each other. The next day we went firstly, to hike up to the monument. Tying off a small dinghy dock on the beach we set off towards a pathway through the trees. Well, that was a very short lived hike, the mosquitoes bombed us out.

They were dreadful, they literally chased us off the beach as we zoomed away in dinghies. (And that was with repellant on) The alternative plan was to go Georgetown together. Both for supplies and a walk about plus for them to check out, they are headed to Grenada. Georgetown was mainly all closed, it was a Labour Day Holiday. 

The following day Hattie and Phil set sail for Grenada and the day after, June 5th, we set off for an over night to

Crooked Island.

The passage to Crooked Island was a mixed bag. We started off with a good wind direction and speed, evening came and the wind died down to 5 – 10kts.

Next I could see encroaching lightening around us with the rumble of thunder. By the time we reefed the jib, blam! The wind hit us at over 30kts. The thunder increased, lightening flashed all around. We watched it morphing on the radar, however, it was mainly situated behind us and within an hour the weather was all behind us. Until, finally, we were back to virtually no wind, typically not at all what the forecast had predicted. We later saw that what had hit us was the tail end of Tropical Storm Alex. We both wondered how Hattie and Phil were out there on Brishti.

Arriving at Crooked Island in the early morning the Bird Rock lighthouse stood out in the distance.

The main island looked intriguing, very few buildings, long stretches of beach and crystal clear waters. We both looked forward to exploring, once John got some sleep. 

The book told us: “Crooked Island and Acklins are enclosed in a shallow lagoon known as the Bight of Acklins. They were permanently settled by the Loyalists in the late 1780’s who set up over 40 cotton plantations.” Some of these cotton plants still grow wild along the roadside.

The overcast skies continued to linger and there was a swell starting to roll into the bay where we were anchored. When John arose we decided to go for a short exploration of the area. Our first stop was the settlement, Pitt’s Town which was a mile or so south of us. We pounded down the bay on the dinghy and to where we thought there was a dinghy dock.

Well it was the most unusual entrance cut in the rock that we entered, along with the surge, surfing the dinghy through around a bend and into a little “anchorage” well more like a place to leave a boat.

We didn’t see a soul, there were a few cars, and a dog resting under one…. Down the lane we strolled, nobody about. Passing a few homes and what used to be a gas station until we came to an area where it looked like a dock was being built. Crooked Island has among its ruins the building said to be the first Post Office in The Bahamas which is located at Pitt’s Town.

I believe we did find it. After a short stroll we headed back to the dinghy. Back out the small boat canal into the bay we headed to the lighthouse which was a few miles away. 

Meanwhile we had seen big sports fishing boats out about a mike in the deep water and we had watched a trawler type of vessel called Sea Hunter towing a center console, which in turn was towing 2 smaller boats into the bay. It was quite a strange set up…..the men were then diving under the trawler doing goodness knows what, all very odd. Then another boat zoomed up stopping near the trawler and one of the men on the speed boat took photos of the trawler and its accompanying boats, really unusual behavior. 

Out at the Bird Rock Lighthouse, unfortunately it was not possible with the wind direction to land the dinghy. Plus the skies were still hazy from Sahara dust, I imagine in good weather this lighthouse is quite a wonder to behold. Construction of the lighthouse started in 1866, and it became operational in 1876.

 We enjoyed viewing it from the dinghy and hope to be back one day to climb it.

On the way back to the boat we could see what appeared to be a marina where there wasn’t supposed to be one, must newly built. We could see the fishing towers of sports fishing boats. Making a short detour, off we headed to check out what we could see.

Entering another man-made canal we found, sure enough a brand new marina with 9 huge sports fishing boats! Within a few minutes a fellow in a little van appeared at what looked to be a fuel dock. John asked him if he had diesel for sale, which he did. 

Back at Aeeshah the seas were now rolling in, the swell was getting a bit much, Aeeshah was facing the seas, but if we turned it would be a very unpleasant sideways roll. Time to leave…. We had a quick a lunch, John hurried off to get the diesel and gas. As soon as he was back out we headed aiming for an anchorage further south that was supposed to be sheltered. 

We had been out about an hour, maybe 5 miles away, when I spotted what looked to me to be a drifting dinghy. As we were motoring John swung the wheel and we headed over. It was quite a surprise to find a bale, a white plastic covered bale with a red target sign on both sides and blue line around it. Just by chance we were towing the dinghy; (we never tow the dinghy, but this day there had been too much of a roll to pull it up). John insisted he had to hook the bale and haul it into the dinghy cause, as he said he can’t not a least have a look, can he? Of course he then has to cut the edge to see what it might contain…. Sure enough dope/weed! He estimated the bale weighed about 80lbs, maybe more, the contents were exceedingly compacted so that the weed was a solid mass.

It appeared that the bundle was made up of many blocks. Anyway, I was a nervous wreck, bad juju, bad Kama messing with someones dope …. I was worried about the odd trawler we had watched with all its attending smaller power boats. I turned off the AIS, we left everything in the sea, and haul assed towards our anchorage. 

The bay we entered was off the very tip of Crooked Island, behind Long cay. The entire shoreline was void of any buildings or trace of mankind, it was wild, beaches and a rough bolder strewn coastline with a few caves. Perfect for a few days exploring. 

Acklins Island

By the morning we had a wind blowing right into the anchorage and a current running out so, it was rolly, not comfortable. We headed to yet another anchorage, this one on Acklins, called, Jamacia Bay.

Acklins, like Crooked Island, once had cotton plantations, now there is just shrub, its back to how it was before man arrived. 

Again we were in a massive bay lined by beaches backed by wild expanses with no humans around.

We spent 2 nights there, spending the days exploring the shoreline by dinghy or by foot and snorkeling the reef. Another place we would love to return to one day. 

On June 9th off we sailed to Great Inagua, another overnight passage, this one was quite mellow.

We passed Castle Island, which has an old lighthouse which would be fun to explore and then we were away to Great Inagua.

Great Inagua

 We anchored just north of the little settlement of Matthew Town.

This island is 40 miles long by 28 wide, has a population of 1,000 and is famous for its, salt industry. (Which according to local history was started by Bermudians) The Morton salt company now has its production here, all of its salt comes from Great Inagua.  There’s also a flock of over 50,000 flamingoes that live in the salt ponds of the large national park area. We hoped to be able to see both the salt and flamingoes.

On going ashore we found the only landing area to be in the little enclosed harbour. It was more of a ship’s dock even though the locals referred to it as a marina. After asking some fellows at the dock where customs an immigration were located we set off down a hot, shrub lined lane. We had only gone about a 100 yards when a jeep stopped and the driver asked if he could give us a lift. He said he could tell we were tourists heading to check out as nobody but tourists walked. Checking out was completed in 5 minutes and we were off walking back….this time no vehicles passed. 

Finding a grocery store was our next challenge. The buildings were few and well spread out with several ruins between them. John had it in his mind to have lunch somewhere.

Well, we walked in the midday heat around to where there was supposed to be a restaurant only to find it was shut down. Back at the little grocery we bought what we could find in way of our needs, which was very little and then headed back to the port.

In the port was an unusual looking sailboat. It looked to be homemade out of tree trunks and branches, with all sorts of bits and pieces for sails etc. We asked a fellow on the dock about it and sure enough it was a Haitian trader. He crosses over to trade fruit and vegetables for supplies.

The weather was much clearer and the sea and skies wonderful blues and green the following morning. There had been a few other cruisers at anchor the previous day but they had all left for Jamacia. They had mentioned taking their dinghies along the shore to the lighthouse restaurant.

We planned to do chores then head along the shoreline to this restaurant for a nice lunch. I did have my suspicions about where we would land the dinghy as it was windy and rough, but off we set. Yes, it was rough, the shoreline very rocky with waves rolling ashore, plus it was quite a ways away.

We could see the lighthouse restaurant and we passed right under the lighthouse but could not see anywhere to land a dinghy. There was a cut through the shore which John just had to try but it was just a sluice for the salt ponds.

Back to the settlement we rode. At the Harbour we found the supply boat was in and being unloaded. Well, everybody seemed to be there or coming and/or going all 1000 of the inhabitants.

Apparently Saturday is supply boat day and a day everyone looks forward to. We were in a quandary, we wanted to go to the Lighthouse restaurant, but had no transport.

There we were discussing what to do when up rolls a man in a jeep. He asks us if he can be of assistance, so we explain and he offers to drive us down there. Off we rode with Dennis. He dropped us off, in we went and were told they were shut as it was supply day!

Ok plan B was to visit the lighthouse. 

This was an intriguing property with several outhouses that were occupied. Asking a fellow cleaning fish on the porch of one building about the lighthouse.

We were told to go ahead climb it, just be mindful of the missing steps. Wow! The view was stunning! Plus with the sun out the colors of the sea was nearly unbelievable. 

Dennis had left his number with us, we gave him a call and he came again to transport us back. Along the way he asked if we wanted to try somewhere else for lunch, which of course we did and so he headed to an outer area of the settlement.

There we went inside a bar. It was wonderfully air conditioned, TVs were soundlessly playing UFC fighting, no one else was there.

We sat at the bar and all enjoyed a fish and chip lunch. Dennis told us about himself and we told him about us. He’s a lobster fisherman when the season is open and a handyman when it’s closed. He also told us of a big drug bust that had just happened at Crooked Island the previous day.

How it involved 2 cops and suspected cartel. (we looked at each other, knowing that what we stumbled on was part of that). What a lovely guy, Dennis was.

Back at the supply dock everyone was still hussleing. We said our goodbyes and headed back to Aeeshah. 

Passage to Port Antonio Jamacia.

We had 2 overnights ahead of us, approximately 250 miles to reach Jamacia. The start of the passage, the first few hours were the roughest we had with over 2 meter seas and winds of up to 25 knots. We took several large waves over the side as they broke on us and I just hunkered down in the cockpit doing my puzzles and reading. The wind dropped and with it the sea laid down somewhat, from then on it was a very calm, easy passage to Jamacia.

There was huge swaths of Sargasso Sea weed, fields and fields of it. Plus we had a unique visitor, a beautifully colored hawk! We arrived offshore about 05:00 on June 14th, we could both smell the perfumed scent of flowers on the early morning breeze. Our port of entry was Port Antonio on the north eastern side of the island. This port has large clearly marked entrance to East  harbour.

Port Antonio

One must do all the formalities of entrance at the Errol Flynn marina. We had chosen to anchor in the marina’s anchorage, but we were told to take Aeeshah along side. So along side we went where we were visited by all the authorities. 1st we had the 3 health and veterinarian ladies, (2 were trainees). I filled out paperwork and answered questions while we all sat in the cockpit, along with Chico in his cat box. The ladies were lovely, quite curious about our lifestyle and Chico.

John took them on their inspection through Aeeshah showing them all they needed to see from the meat in the freezer to the valves in the head. Next we had customs and immigration, a man and a lady. Again, we sat in the cockpit, me filling out forms, chatting answering questions, again very nice folks. She was most interested in Chico as her Auntie has 8 cats. They too did an inspection through Aeeshah. All paperwork completed, we were given ours and our instructions for while we were in the country.

For the next several days we enjoyed Port Antonio, plus did our laundry etc

John and I were very impressed with the marina, the town, the scenery and the people. We spent time each day roaming about the streets, looking at all the sites. Obviously the town it typically Caribbean, rich in colour and very lively.

During our 1st outing we were approached by a number of folks, but one fellow stuck by John. He was called Jeff and insisted he show us the market and where to buy this and that. He practically begged John to meet him for a drink of rum at Roots 21 at 5:00pm. And said he would have a big bag of mangoes for us. (He didn’t think we had been given a fair deal for mangoes in the market).

Anyway, off John goes at 5:00pm, meets Jeff who has a load of mangoes and they walk to the bar.

However this bar ends up being way down the end of the bay. John has his few rums, gets us a take out dinner plus buys Jeff dinner and then returns in a taxi. Well, from then on every day Jeff would be outside the marina 1st thing in the morning to attach himself to us. Where ever we went Jeff went, even in the grocery store. We would try to sneak out at different times, but, oops, there’s Jeff, ….. He was harmless, just wants $1,500US sent to him from his buddy John. I have now told John, no more friends with street folks!!

Another fellow, Bobby, a rasta fisherman who was probably in his 50s but looked like being in his 90s met up with us at the marina gates. Says he can get us any fish, tuna, dolphin (Mai Mai), lobster, crab etc any type. So I, just asked about the crabs, like what type and how would you cook them? Bobby says, “just boil me up mam, just boil en up” Now I never asked for any, but the next morning while I’m doing laundry John is hailed by Bobby shouting to him from outside the marina gates. Believe it or not Bobby has a huge bag of live crabs. John paid $30 for them Bobby was well happy.

John then spent all morning boiling up these crabs, and then de-shelling them. Sure enough, just like I thought crabs only have meat in their legs, so he could have just boiled the legs, but as they were live….

Each day we would visit the Coronation bakery and/or the Tastee Patty Express to buy Jamaican pattys for lunch and spice cakes for breakfast. The beef pattys are amazing! Then each evening John visited the Portland Jerk Center where he ordered dinner. For him it was either the jerk chicken or the goat curry with peas n rice and for me, the sweet and spicy chicken…..the food was excellent. 

The characters we saw around the town were extraordinary too, basically you have to see them to believe they exist. I would have loved to take some photos, but felt it would be kind of rude. Maybe once I get more familiar with Jamaican culture. 

Unfortunately the weather was quite overcast and we had periods of showers so the countryside was more hidden behind cloud and rain than not. We did some exploring in the dinghy and did get some glimpses of the mountains. Jamaica looks to be a wonderful country to explore. 

Ocho Rios

 Off to Ocho Rios we headed on the 18th, June. The whole day was a wonderful downwind sail. The winds did gust as high as 26 knots, but with downwind it was smooth sailing. Entering the harbour was easy, but once inside it was chaotic and crowded.

The bay has a long beach with hotels behind. There were at least 3 power boats that were towing floats with up to 4 persons on each, all were racing wherever. A large barge type ship was anchored in the middle, several tourist cats were anchored off the beach while a few other were cruising with tourists aboard, while music was blaring from different establishment on shore and cats cruising the harbour.

Thank goodness this was just going to be an overnight stop. There were even weddings taking place on the beach. Well most boat operators packed up by 6:00pm except the cats which cruised around and around the harbor for several hours blaring their music. On the plus side the music wasn’t nasty, but enjoyable.

Next day it was goodbye Ocha Rias and off to Montego Bay, Mobay as it is affectionally called. The passage there was horrible, we had huge seas and strong winds admittedly from behind but still a nasty ride. The highest gust reaching just over 30 knots. I was very happy to finally reach Mobay. We anchored outside the main harbour just off the city at the other end from the airport runway. In the morning we had to go into the Yacht Club to register with customs and immigration officials.

Again they were wonderful, the nicest officials ever. Heather at the Yacht club called us a taxi and off we went to stock up, (as we expected to leave the following day).

The store we were taken to stock up was a massive shopping center, Mega Mart. Of course we were able to buy ample supplies. Our driver also took us to get pattys and more goat curry for John.

 

As said the plan was to leave the following day, but John didn’t like the look of the weather we would be facing further south, so we decided to stay a few more days. 

The Yacht Club is a very comfortable facility. We were able to use their dinghy dock and all other amenities for just a small sum per day. We dinghied around the Mobay harbour and walked around the area near the marina.

On our last day we had a few hour tour of Montego Bay city. Willy was our driver, a very nice, knowledgeable fellow. 

We drove through the produce market, which was huge with an outdoor area and indoor area too. All types of fresh produce for sale.

Next, to the craft market for a look at a few vendors’ mechandise. There were plenty of colourful items for sale. 

Along Barnet Street, through all the traffic winding down one way streets to the cobblestoned Sam Sharp Square. Sam Sharp was a freedom fighter, a slave who rebelled for his freedom. He was jailed in what is called the cage and finally hung in the center of the square in the gallows. He is a National hero in Jamacia.

Off and along the Hip Hop stretch to the end of Dead End Beach, stopping on the way to look out across the bay from a popular restaurant and bar, which was also a facility that sells Herb aka marijuana.

Up a hillside to look across the bay from another facility. It was a wonderful view of the whole of Montego Bay Area.

We stopped for a tour of the St. James Parish church. This church is an eighteenth century church in Montego Bay. It was started in 1774 at a time when the town was increasing in importance as a centre for trade and the number of merchants was growing. I has been here that the visiting Queen of England has worshiped during her visits to Jamacia. All of the mahogany furnishings, plus the organ and the many marble carvings are the originals. 

Lastly a drive through a few neighborhoods and stopping for bananas and mangos.

Finally taking us to buy more curry goat for John’s dinner. I chose barbecued chicken, this time with pumpkin rice which was delicious. 

The next day was the beginning of our travels. 

 

Negril

Off to Negril,  June 23rd 686 miles to go. Negril is on the western end of Jamacia. It is a large, beautiful bay. We anchored here to prep Aeeshah for the upcoming passage.

The following morning, 24th June we left Jamacia  and headed to Panama. At the start of this journey we had left Florida in May, on Friday 13th. That was a total of 1018 miles done between Florida and Negril, Jamacia in the previous 6 weeks. We just had 584 to go…..5 to 6 days?

 

 

 

 

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Five weeks after arriving we checked out of Marathon Florida. It had been a much needed stop to get many replacement items for Aeeshah. 

Off to the Bahamas, on on

After a final stocking up at Publix we let go of the mooring buoy and motored out of Boot Key mooring field heading due east-northeast towards Bimini, Bahamas.

The crossing was a dead calm, afternoon and night crossing. It was amazingly calm out there. 

Bimini

Arriving at Bimini we first checked out anchoring on the outside, but soon gave up that idea. It was the weekend and it was quite busy with large power boats racing around, mega yachts swinging on moorings, jet skis and super large fishing boats coming and going. Up the channel we went, towards the basin at the end. Well the channel was a real experience, the gun-boats, (bullet shaped power boats, usually painted a metallic gray or black), with their 4 or 5  450hp engines were not observing any slow down signs, or no wake signs, they were charging up and down the channel.

The fancy fishing boats too were plough along pushing water, causing large wakes, the channel was a chaos of boats. We just carried on down the channel and found at the end an area to anchor amongst 3 other sailboats. We had what looked like small townhouses with dock space and a marina on one side of us and old tugs in a dredging yard on the other side. Good enough for us to anchor for the night.

After a cup of tea off we went to check in. We knew we had to find Big Game Marina, Alice Town for our check in. We dinghyed along the shore, found what looked like the town docks, pulled the dinghy up a rocky beach and proceeded to walk along the road.

Sure enough we found Big Game and the customs check in. Being as we were both quite tired and dealing with brain fog due to lack of sleep, checking in on their computer was quite challenging. In all fairness it probably is quite easy for the average person and the officials were very patient and helpful. Next was immigration, (we were supposed to visit 1st, but we got it backwards), anyway again the folks there were very helpful and friendly.

Off to find a SIM card, we found the Digicel place shut. So, we asked a sweet old lady in a store. She sold us 2 SIM cards, but didn’t have any data or phone on them. So John went to the gas station, got a few dollars put on the cards and we were set. Back at the boat we set them up and we’re back online. 

The night was a very peaceful one. The morning started off slowly, until we spotted a huge barge being dragged by a tug into where we were anchored.

In less than a few minutes I had the anchor up, John had the engine going, and out we went, back down the channel. 

Straight out we headed. Neither of us were properly dressed, but out we went heading to our next anchorage at Gun Cay.

Gun Cay

We anchored in the anchorage on the inside of the cay in gorgeous turquoise waters. It was absolutely stunning!

We enjoyed a quiet afternoon and then a lovely swim. John made water, filling the tanks right up. Then while swimming he cleaned a good part of our filthy bottom. (Being in Marathon our bottom was quite dirty with growth); we shared the water with a massive, friendly, barracuda and a huge remora that just ignored us. 

In the morning we went exploring Gun Cay first by dinghy along the shoreline and then on foot. There was much evidence of previous hurricane/storm damage.

Parts of the shoreline where there was supposed to be a Honeymoon beach was now baron and rocky with large piles of debris pushed well into the brush-line. The rugged shoreline was obviously very weathered, but somehow attractive.

We walked the spine of the island until the brush grew too thick to comfortably continue then back to the dinghy to head to the lighthouse. Trying to beach the dinghy was impossible as the shore was just rock.

So we dropped the anchor and tied off the shore before making our way towards the lighthouse. I’m not sure of the history of this lighthouse, but it certainly was old and not really maintained.

Climbing up the stairs was dicey, everything appeared to be rusted and rotted out, but up we went for the view. 

Back at the boat it was time to head off across the Bahamas Banks.

Crossing the Bahamas Banks

We had decided to take 2 days to cross and spend the night anchored in the middle of the banks. Sailing across is surreal, the waters glassy clear turquoise at just 12 – 15 feet it can feel as if one is just hovering above the sandy bottom. The clouds, sky, and sea, are all shades of turquoise blue for as far as one can see.

We did see a few other boats crossing, the motor boats we could hear miles before we saw then. That night we left the magenta line where most travel and anchored off half a mile in slightly shallower 10ft water.

Out in the middle of nowhere with turquoise waters surrounding us. It was a very calm night, there was a slight slop and a good breeze which made for a restful sleep. As soon as we awoke at dawn we were off, heading the rest of the way across the Bahamas Banks.

Chub Cay in the Berries 

was where we had decided to head to for our next anchorage. This cay has a large private marina which is described as being exclusive. Apparently one can go ashore at a fee of $100. As we approached the shores of Chub Cay there were once again quite a few large fishing boats, probably returning from a days charter. Turning into the channel to the marina, off to the side was a recommended anchorage. However there were a few Catamarans sitting right in the middle, plus the channel was somewhat busy with large fishing boats, smaller motor boats and a barge exiting…..we decided this was not the place for us. 

Frazer Hog Cay

We turned and headed down the shoreline towards another anchorage at Frazer Hog Bay.

There we found a lovely, quiet scenic anchorage where we anchored up for the night. The night was blissfully quiet with a lovely breeze and still, still waters.

In the morning we decided to head to Nassau.

Nassau

The crossing to Nassau was over dead calm waters that were wonderfully calm reflecting the large white cumulus clouds in the distance…..not at all suitable for sailing it was a motoring day.

The entrance to Nassau for us was the western entrance at Hog Bank, past the lighthouse and towards the hotels and cruise ships. On this day there was just 1 cruise ship in port.

Towards the bridges we headed passing the busy fishing, coastal supply ships and the other commercial docks. On our other side was the huge Atlantis complex sort of an oxymoron of a contrast.

We anchored up in one of the anchorages prepared to tolerate the traffic of tourist boats, go fast boats, fishing and supply boats so that John could go ashore for fuel…..to replace what we had used.

The night was actually very calm and quiet. So with our new fuel supply, which we hoped not to have to use we set off for one of the Exhuma Islands.

 Exhumas – Norman’s cay

Our first stop was at Norman cay. We had been there 11 years before. The cay was where the drug cartel had in days gone by been centered, their crashed airplane can still be seen in the waters. 

The Norman cay we found has now a marina for mega yachts, big mega yachts.

The pond that had been at the eastern end has been dredged, and has a channel leading in for these huge boats and a smaller channel leading out for the currents and tide.

Believe it or not but there are literally hundreds of mega yachts, we have been so surprised by the number. (a local lady told us they came during covid and never left)

We anchored off the beach on the outside of the marina. The area is very beautiful, but the weather was overcast and so the sea wasn’t its brightest turquoise.

We spent a day exploring the area around Norman cay. The offshore little cays were gorgeous.

We enjoyed walking on many and wading in the shallows. However private signs were posted all over. Again, it had never been like that is the past.

Waderwick wells

The wind was back to its regular pattern of ESE at 15 – 20kts and we decided to head to Waderick Wells where we could await lighter winds as the direction was not favorable. So we had a slow motor day with much of is being in pounding seas. However we did arrive at Waderwick wells where we were assigned mooring ball number 16, a wonderful spot at the end of the field. 

Waderwick Wells is part of the Exumas National Park. It is an area of extreme beauty. A jewel! The colors of the water, mixes of turquoise and blues, with white sandy beaches and rugged shoreline make it very popular too. 

We spent 3 nights there totally enjoying our days. Our sail track had been having issues and John was concerned about future possible problems.

So we took advantage of being in a relatively sheltered mooring field and took it down and replaced it with the new one we had purchased in the US. It proved to be an easier job than we thought.

On our 1st afternoon we set off to do the hike to Boo Boo Hill.

We took the track called the “Causeway” that runs across the rocks at the edge of the mangroves and ends a the causeway bridge.

Sounds quite simple but it’s actually quite tricky and requires attention to to your footwork. The scenery was wonderful, the Mocking birds were singing, and it was a lovely day.

Once at the bridge, we traversed the rocks to the other side and climbed the rocky trail to the top.

The view was stunning. We could see far and wide across the island.

Going downhill one really needed to be mindful of where you stepped. There were many, many sink holes and rocks to climb around, across or over.

And then we were again up a steep slope and onto the Hutia Highway, turning to the left for Boo Boo Hill in the distance. The view once we reached the top was absolutely, wonderful, just stunning!

The outside of the island the seas were up due to the winds and they were pounding ashore.

We admired the view and headed off along the cliff tops towards Boo Boo Hill.

Before Boo Boo Hill is a monument that faces out to sea dedicated to a couple that were well known locally.

There is also a large bench which is a comfortable place to sit and look out to sea. The view amazing!

At Boo Boo Hill you find a mass of memorials in the form of boat signs, homemade tokens, reformed objects all a remembrance of those that passed through….ours is there somewhere in the pile from 10 years ago.

The view was stunning looking out over the whole cay. Down the hillside we trekked looking over the cliffs at the blowholes and then down the other side towards the mangrove flats.

This way takes one through the shallow waters of Banshee Creek

and back to the beach where the dinghy awaited us.

Our next adventure the following day took us

along the same trail initially and then we took the right branch towards the other end of the cay.

It was another hot, dry, day with wonderful blue skies with puffy white clouds.

Again the views from the cliff tops were spectacular.

The beaches wild, the pathways were marked with cairns and a paint mark but were not well trodden. We made it as far as the old wall and then headed back.

This time taking what was called the Shady Tree Trail

through the trees and palms in the lowland. Finally back along the Causeway to our dinghy at the beach. 

Waderwick Wells is a gem, a wonderful area to visit.

Staniel Cay

Was our next stopping point. We were only able to move in small jumps as the winds were blowing in the constant direction of where we wanted to go, as usual. As per usual it was a motor sail to Staniel cay.

 At Staniel cay we opted for a nearby anchorage, at Big Majors Spot which is where the swimming pigs are to be found. 

Once again there were dozens of mega yachts, go fast boats and large powerboats anchored and moving about. Such a change from 10 years ago. 

We headed into Staniel cay to get a few supplies and have a walk about. Once there we tied off the dinghy area and enjoyed a walk about.

When away from the marina area one finds a quiet narrow, windy lane, with very few vehicles.

We wandered along the narrow lanes visited a shop, The Pink Grocery store, bought a few bits and the walked back to the marina where the tourists were petting huge nurse sharks.

Next day we started off by doing a repair to the mainsail. A baton fitting had been shaken loose from when we had the old sail track. We were again pleased with our repair and headed ashore to the Yacht Club for lunch. 

Lunch was excellent, fish with Asian slaw, plus not expensive. We wandered for a walk about and picked up a few other supplies from the little grocery before we headed back. 

Back at the boat we got into our bathing suits and headed first into the pig beach to see the swimming pigs. There was just one other boat feeding the pigs, we stayed back, watched and took photos. These pigs are adorable, obviously well fed and cared for as they are the “stars” of the area.

The locals have someone watching over them due to problems in the past. From there we  dinghied about checking out the lovely beaches, turquoise waters, rugged shoreline and rushing water through the cuts.

We ended with a refreshing swim at one of the little bays. (Neither of us wanted to swim off the boat as there was a huge shark hanging about. It was a nurse shark but still…..)

Black Point 

was our next destination. As said, little hops was all we could do, until we had favorable winds, but time we have. Black Point is another small settlement, although it is referred to as the second largest.

The bay is very large and shallows out to the beach. Ashore we found the settlement delightful. There was a lane along the shore that we followed to and past the beach

and then we followed a trail over the headland to look out over the sound – Beautiful waters as usual.

We strolled the same lane through the settlement, past the school, the church, the police station

and to a restaurant, Emerald Sunset View where we had another great fish lunch with gulls looking on. 

The locals have a basket weaving center and store, unfortunately it was closed. But we could see many local women and men weaving outside their homes.

I spoke to one lady, who told me she learned from her parents and was using a marsh palm. She was incredibly quick with her hands, as fast and nimble as knitting needles.

Little Farmer’s cay

Still awaiting favorable winds we headed off to an anchorage near Little Farmer’s cay. Arriving by noon meant we had time in the afternoon to explore the area.

The cruising guide/navionics mentioned a cave to explore. We set out in the dinghy to check it out and the cut that passes out to the Exhuma Sound. We need to head through a cut in order to be on the outside of the Exumas to enter Georgetown.

The cut looked very straight forward, basically following the channel made by the current around and about and then out. The seas through the cut were just crystal clear, incredibly beautiful, with a very strong current running.

Off we went to find the trail to the cave.

Anchoring off one of the beaches we waded ashore and basically followed the beach and the old foot prints to where there was a cairn marking a pathway inland.

The trail was the usual mix of rocks to climb, sandy path, and then a mangrove swampy area.

John as normal disappeared ahead while I stopped every so often to take pictures. I arrived at a lovely horseshoe shaped beach on the other of the island…..but no John?

So I figured he had ended up at the cave…. After wandering the beach a bit I could see him way up a hillside in the shrubbery. I whistled to him, We waved and he found his way to the beach. Sure enough he had found the cave.

We roamed the beach and rocks for a bit and then headed to the cave. The cave was interesting, the regular limestone cave, of which there must be dozens hidden away.

Back to the beach and dinghy we slogged, it was so incredibly hot, no breeze, everything dry and toasty hot, like traipsing across a semi dessert.

I could definitely do with a swim to cool off.

We needed to access the Exhuma Sound in order to enter Georgetown. In order to do this one must power the boat through a cut to the sound. This can be quite intimidating as the tide, ocean flow/current’s huge volume of sea water through the cuts is pretty awesome.

We headed off to Farmer’s Cut early in the morning anticipating a slack tide. However upon arriving we could see the tide was already flowing inwards.

Wow, what an exit, Aeeshah powered against the massive current for over half and hour. We took a wave over the bow, it washed right down the whole boat and unfortunately a hatch wasn’t properly secured so we had water below too. Out of the current we navigated towards Georgetown on Great Exhuma.   

 

PHOTO LINK —>>. https://photos.app.goo.gl/F6GNBCazKniKArnP6

Isla Mujares to Marathon Florida

Both John and I were keen to leave Isla Mujares. We had enjoyed our time there, and touched base with other friends who were also there. It was time to head out. A weather window was opening, giving us 3 – 4 days of favorable winds followed by yet another norther/front. Neither one of us wanted to go through another front/norther in Isla Mujares anchorage.

During the previous front we had dragged at night, been awoken by Jim our neighbour, had to reanchor. Then John had to stay in the cockpit all night while the wind raged looking out for other dragging boats while worrying about ours. Followed by one and a half days of staying aboard due to bad winds, dragging again and reanchoring. (Dragging with 200ft of chain out in 15 ft of water tells how bad the holding was) We were well ready to leave. 

The passage:

Heading out were a number of other folks that we knew. 2 boats headed to Cuba, 1 boat to Bimini, Bahamas, another headed to Tampa Florida and us to Marathon. 

The first day out was a Sunday it was the regular getting used to the sailing routine again. The Sunday night was very challenging. We had headed towards the Cuban coast as it was supposed to be more sheltered. However this was not the case and the winds were way stronger than predicted, the seas much larger and very testy. It was not a good nights sail. The following day Monday, made up for it by being everything we could have asked for. Followed by a wonderful Monday night in which to cross the Gulf Stream again. The next day Tuesday was again a lovely day sail for half the day and then a bit of a plough up wind to our anchorage in the Marquesas Keys.

After a wonderfully calm night’s sleep we set off for another anchorage 30 odd miles away and again enjoyed a calm evening and restful sleep. 

The following morning we headed to Marathon where Boot Key harbour marina is located. There wasn’t a lot of wind so we were motor sailing. Then an alarm went off! It was one of the smoke detectors from the engine compartment. Umm, John decided we could continue as it seemed not to be too bad….Chico became anxious, meowing, not happy at all. The smoke became worse and we had to stop and drop the anchor. There we were just off 7 Mile Bridge about an hour away from Marathon, stuck.

We tried Sea Tow, but to no avail. John decided to see what he could do. The smoke was coming from a newly blown hole in the exhaust. He got some special epoxy he had, had me undress it and squeeze it into shape while he dressed the hole. Then he put a piece of rubber held in place with a hose clamp over the top as well. We fired up the engine and limped towards the bridge, under and out the other side then down the channel towards Boot Key Harbour.

The marina appointed mooring # O4 as ours. We lucked out in being able to land on it fairly quickly. This is the biggest mooring field in the whole USA, with 400 moorings and a good scattering of anchored boats around the edges. 

Ashore we went and registered, got all our handy info plus goody bag. It was definitely a very different temporary home for us, compared with what we have had for the past many years.

We had to get a taxi up to the airport and get ourselves checked in, which proved to be easy. These days one has to register online well before entering the United States and then finish off at an airport. Surprisingly, no mention was made of covid or vaccinations….

What do we do in Boot Key, Marathon?

The tasks started, the chores, the ordering, the maintenance all the reasons why we were in the middle of the Florida Keys.

Off to a grocery store, for us Publix. After not being in an American grocery for many years it was quite overwhelming, just miles of selection/items, so many choices for so many similar items can prove to be quite tiring. 

John made good friends with Amazon. He ordered numerous boating needs: solar panels, wiring, water maker needs, etc.

A few days of car hire:

On our 3rd day we hired a car from Enterprise and set off to get our soda stream gas canisters. John has our soda stream rigged so we can use massive gas canisters which last many months.

Of course being away from any proper facility to refill we had gone without for quite sometime. Here in the Keys we knew to go to Air-Gas as this was where we originally obtained them 5 years previously. It is located near Key West so after getting the new gas canisters we visited Key West.

We were fortunate to be able to find a parking lot and then headed off for a walk around and lunch in Key West. The walk along the front was very much as it was years before. Still packed with visitors of all types, tarpon being fed from the docks, pelicans lingering nearby.

Large custom built flying bridges above sleek looking fishing boats, the old tourist schooner waiting tourists, the open air seafood restaurants dockside, yes, just as it always was – Key West. After lunch we went to return to the car park and realized we had forgotten where it was located…..never mind after a bit of a turn around a few blocks we found our jeep and we retraced our journey to Marathon.  

Day two with the car we sped to Homestead to visit a mall and a Walmart….. We had a list of items we needed to replace on Aeeshah. This was a confusing excursion for us as 1st locating the shops then finding what we wanted/needed in huge shops required patience and endurance.

Most days have comprised of us riding our bikes, for exercise going to usually to either Home Deport, Publix or West Marine where we get what we need for the days projects or food. It’s a good ride and keeps us somewhat fit, especially when we ride against the wind. 

Friends Alex and Dave arrived on their boat Banyan. We had fun catching up with them and going to a local seafood restaurant for lunch one day.

Key West excursion

Believe it or not but I had managed to get not 1, not 2, not 3 but 4 flat tires on my front wheel. Each right by the value! John decided that it was the cheap Chinese inner tubes we had purchased. When friends said they were heading to Key West on the public transit we jumped at the idea, as the closest place to buy inner tubes was in Key West.

7:30am we were at the bus stop and alighted the bus, nearly 2 hours we arrived downtown Key West.

Our companions: Roy and Madeline off Mistril and Lucy and Rosaire off Ma Blonde were there on different missions so off we all set in differing directions.

The bike store was easy to find as we had been there 5 years previously. With new inner tubes tucked away in our bag we set off to the nearest site to visit. 

The Key West Graveyard

We had visited years before, but it was well worth walking through again. Interesting dedications to those passed, lovely iguannas and lizards, quaint signs and lovely shady lanes.

Duval Street 

Was our next stop. This street would never fails to interest just about anyone. It has character, quaintness, arts, entertainment, culture and oh, so much more. For me the highlights were the art galleries.

I adore the unusual, especially where the textures and colors are extreme. Of course there are also the people to watch with their eccentricities, and then wonderful differing architecture to be found. We managed to walk both sides, I loved it.

Lunch was next

We had arranged to meet up, this ended up being the Waterfront Brewery, where John and I landed after Duval Street as it was shady and the AC was blasting out. Yep, they had AC blasting out onto the walkway. Fish and chips was the popular choice at lunch. The fish was Mai Mai and was very good!

John and I set off to West Marine, while the others went back to exploring Key West. However, no sooner than we reached West marine than we heard from them, they were all headed to the bus stop ….. it was too hot, time to head back. John and I completely agreed, we were quite happy to head back to Marathon. 

When we arrived we had: 

– A stove whose oven door had broken off in rough seas, a new one was ordered and delivered.

– A water pump and pressure switch which was barely functioning, a new one was ordered and installed.

– The old VHF had died months previously, a new handheld VHF arrived.

– A starter motor which barely started the engine, a new one was ordered and has been installed.

– The exhaust with its hole has been dismantled, taken apart and the new exhaust ordered, delivered and is now installed after many weeks by John

– John’s iPhone which was more or less dead and my phone which did not have 5G so wouldn’t work here; both have been replaced.

– My wonderful Mac Pro computer of barely 2 years old stopped working. Apparently the motherboard was shot. It was repaired, but meanwhile I have a reconditioned iMac pro to work with.

– John has ordered and received 3 new solar panels and all the connections. – To replace the 10 year olds that are not efficient any more.

– We had a few stitches needed in the mainsail near the clew, plus the track had corroded. I stitched and we ordered a new track, which is ready to be added.

– My eyes have been tested and my new glasses are here. 

– The water maker maintenance kit has arrived.

– A new chart plotter is installed alongside the old.

– The water heater sprang a leak a new one arrived.

– And a few other incidental items are here and are completed.

All this accomplished in just over a month and now we are looking towards the Bahamas….. 

 

Photo Album —>> https://photos.app.goo.gl/J4jZNiAb2h1hKPrZ7

 

After a great sail back with La Favorita from Lighthouse Reef Atoll, via Turneffe were we anchored off Blue Creek, we arrived and anchored in Cay Caulker. 

Along the way we had taken photos of each others boats and tried to catch fish. No fish just seaweed was caught, but the photos were good!

Cay Caulker

This cay is a favourite of many. It’s sandy streets lined with gaily, painted, businesses and homes is delightful place to walk around.

You just never know what you might see with its laid back atmosphere. 

Cay Caulker being a touristy place offers all the regular attractions, diving, swimming with rays and sharks, fishing, etc., at one end of the cay — the northern end — is an area called the Spit. We enjoyed walking there to just to look out over the lovely, clear, turquoise, waters and to people watch the many tourists. 

Walks towards the southern end of the cay past all the differing homes, small guest cottages and tiny shops brings you to the airstrip.

It is referred to as an airport, but really it only hosts the small planes of Tropic Air and Mayan Airlines.

Follow this by a walk back along the shoreline along a rough track that serves as a “roadway” for even golf carts, but mainly pedal bikes. I enjoyed capturing the differing birds we would see. 

One walk we took we followed this shoreline pathway past the airstrip, past the shoreline homes and guest cottages, through the mangrove area at the southern end.

Previously this area was quite undeveloped, but we found many new residences and construction underway for more. To me this was most disappointing as the swampy salt marsh was being destroyed. The birds were still there amongst the trash, building  equipment and what remained of the salt marsh, but their habitat was destroyed. 

 Foods: 

Chinese, sweet and sour chicken, fry jacks and fresh fish were the wonderful dinners we enjoyed.

Ever since we have 1st visited we have enjoyed take outs from Yummy, Yummy a Taiwanese take out/restaurant. So it was lovely to be able to enjoy them again.

And Fry Jacks we had to have some before we left. The dock we used daily was the fisherman’s dock, so we were often around when fish was being cleaned.

And of course we had to buy some for ourselves and Chico. One fellow cleaning his catch spoke of how he free dove to 60 odd feet to secure his catch. Each day after our walks we would indulge in a freshly made watermelon juice. It was very refreshing! We took a bottle of the freshly made orange juice to share for lunch.

Cay Caulker was a delightful place to end our time in Belize.

We had been waiting and waiting for a good weather window for our passage to Isla Mujares. We were going to sail with Tom and Kristie on La Favorita. The general consensus was that we would anchor off San Pedro for the night, check out and leave in the morning.

San Pedro, Ambergrise Cay

San Pedro anchorage is not wonderful. The holding is poor, the water is just about deep enough for our drafts and it is to windward, off of the busy town. However the idea was that it would save us all 4 or 5 hours sail up the outside. So we anchored up and took turns going ashore, checking out and whatever while we watched each other’s boats.

San Pedro is a crazy busy town, the roadways are jammed packed with golf carts, bikes and taxis. Folks walking hither and tether with very little sidewalk, one needs your wits about you at all times.

Tom and Christie had checked out first, we followed, checked out and bought some goodies from the French pastry shop for our trip.

Passage to Isla Mujares

Off we set, through the San Pedro cut, which was terribly rough. The seas were rolling in, we were motoring hard into the huge surf getting a good lot of spray over Aeeshah for the 1st time in 3 years. Outside in the open water the seas eventually settled into a normal pattern, we were headed northward towards Isla Mujares, Mexico.

The passage was not pleasant. It was far windier than expected with winds between 15 – 25kts. The seas were between 6 – 10 feet and from differing directions due to the current and wind conflicting. But, with the help of a 3kts current we traveled at an average speed of 7.5kts and arrived in Cozumel after just over 24 hours.

At Cozumel we anchored off of the Port Captain’s dock, just to the north away from a designated snorkel area. Chico was very happy to find dead flying fish on deck all for him to eat, yummy!

The sea there is amazingly clear. It must be due to the Gulf Stream current that runs through at a good 3kt clip. In fact though the wind was blowing at about 15kts from the southeast the current kept us firmly pointing its direction. Where we were anchored the airplanes were flying over head to land ahead of us, good for plane spotting too.

Across to Isla Mujares we headed early the next morning. There was a lovely sunrise!

Arriving in the early afternoon, the 50 odd mile sail was again accelerated by the strong current, 230 miles approximately from where we started.

Isla Mujares, Mexico

We had last been in Isla in 2017, so we’re quite familiar with where and what to do.

The next day was a Friday and so we started the check in process. And what an ordeal that was……

The 1st person to see us was the Dr. He was pleasant, filled out forms, answered questions everything was completed in a hour.

2nd was the Agricultural fellow, who was a right pain. We spent the rest of the day till 4:30 dealing with him. He became hung up on parasites. Firstly, he made us go and get Chico, he looks at him and all his documents plus passport, then sends us to a vet.

We get a taxi to the vets eventually arriving after the taxi driver mistakenly took us to the Dophinarian, then the Rescue animal centre. There finally at the vet, Chico is checked, admired, photographed as they had never seen such a handsome cat. We get a glowing medical certificate as everything is perfect. Are told all that was necessary was his rabies shots which were present and recorded in his passport.

Go back to the boat to drop Chico off. Back to the office to the Agricultural guy, who looks at the certificate, and all the documents again, shuffles them and says something about parasites.

Well, that was midday, there we sat for the rest of the afternoon while he “checked” something, then left with all our documents, telling us to wait. I was most irritated, pissed right off….… He returned with our documents at 4:30, hands them back with no explanation, not diddly squat.

The only good that happened was the customs guy was with him and he processed us within 5 minutes and didn’t ask to board Aeeshah.

We had to finish the check in on the Monday by seeing the Port Captain. Now we expected, maybe a few hours…….took until 3:00pm. Again, we filled out forms, waited, were told to return at 1:00pm, then waited and waited. Finally after 2 full days of waiting in a small hot office we were checked in.

The first weekend brought a Northerly. This one was quite strong, winds of up to 37kts. The anchorage is not a good one, holding is not reliable and there are many cruising boats.

The only good part about this front was it arrived in the daylight hours. Our friends on La Favorita and on Latitude both dragged. Both of them were fighting the weather for several hours. And as it turned out both had windless issues which made it even more challenging for them. We were really blessed as we stayed put. 

Isla Mujares is a very colourful isle. The Mexican architecture, the street art — murals, the unusual carvings and small decorations that you find are fantastic. Every walk you do you can find a treasure. 

We have had many walks around the town area. (However what I do find disconcerting are the number of people, (maskless). From spending over 2 years in quite isolated areas where if you do go out you have to be masked up, then entering crowds of tourists hussleing along the streets, I found it to be unsettling, almost like I’ve developed a phobia.I need to get used to what is normal life.

Cancun for the day

We decided to cross to Cancun for the day. Why? Well believe it or not John wanted to visit the big mall. The Mall Las Americanas. The biggest around. He was desperate for new t-shirts and shorts. Off we went on the ferry. Then by taxi to the mall. There we wandered around around for 4 hours or so. Yes, we did purchase a few items, but not much. It was all just a bit overwhelming.

Punta Sur

We invited Derick and Carol to come along to the southern end of Isla Mujares, Punta Sur. This point of land is noted historically as an important Mayan “ruin”  and  also as a beauty spot, understandably it is also very popular with the tourists. 

Isla’s history dates back over 1500 years when it was part of the Maya province of Ekab. The island served as the sanctuary for the goddess Ixchel, the Maya goddess of the moon, fertility, medicine and happiness.

For the Mayans their Temple for worship of the goddess Ixchel was located at the South point of the island. The temple has disappeared long ago but there are remains of the ruined lighthouse. They used the rocks piles at the point as their lighthouse. The light from torches were shown through holes in the walls, which could be seen by the navigators at sea. As the Maya also came to the island to harvest salt from the salt lagoons. Nowadays there is a new lighthouse that shines.

We set off early for us at 9:30 catching the bus from just near Oscars. This is a hop on, one fee, bus that circulates the Isla. We all hopped off near Punta Sur and walked along to the park. The views are just wonderful looking out from the cliffs above the sea.

There are modern day statues their to commemorate and pay tribute the Mayan Goddess  Ixchel. At one there was a Shaman performing a ritual or blessing. The folks were dressed in Mayan types of clothes and seemed to be leaving foods/tributes beneath the statue to the goddess Ixchel of the moon, fertility, medicine and happiness.

We headed right out to the tip of the point where the ruins of the lighthouse are located enjoying the views along the way. 

After which we followed the steps and pathways that go below the cliff and trail along the waters edge. 5 years ago when we last visited these pathways and trails were in much better shape, but since then they have had a hurricane and obviously there was some damage that has not been repaired while other pathways have been changed completely from before.

It was quite exciting at times along the sea side pathway trying to dodge the breaking waves while crossing the broken path. 

The colours are just stunning. And as most folks don’t risk going along these lower paths there were fewer people about. When we had been beneath the cliff face we saw about half a dozen police with big guns pointing out to sea.

In the distance we could see a patrol boat following some people trying to swim to shore. We overheard folks saying that they were migrants from Cuba that had been ditched from a boat. Whether that was true, who knows, we never saw them get ashore nor if the boat managed to pick them up in those rough seas. By the time we finished with our cliff side walk and shoreline pathway all was gone. 

Punta Sur is a lovely, lovely point. 

We left and awaited a bus for our return trip. However we had no idea where it would take us. As it turned out we were taken all the way into the town. Let off on one side of a roundabout only to board again and continue back all the way to Oscars. 

Each day we have tried walking a different area or route

and I think we have now just about exhausted our options.

Around the large pond, along the lanes in the town, along the walkway leading along the east side of town, around the airstrip, just all over the isle.

Another favourite was when we walked again with Derick and Carol all the way from Punta Sur along the cliff tops that run in front of the houses on the east side to about halfway down the isle.

It was a lovely sunny day, a hot one, so we set off early. The views were wonderful and the iguanas numerous. Yes, iguanas living in the cliffs above the seas, crouching on the rocks below, running along jagged edges.

There seemed to be families of them. Large males bobbing their heads at smaller females with small juveniles looking on. I think the folks living in the neighbouring houses feed them as we saw fruit peel and coconut halves left near where they were found.

After a good way along the east shore past some pretty beaches we crossed the road to have a look at the cemetery.

Here as in many Central American counties the dead are put in tombs that are adorned to pay tribute to the departed.

It is always interesting to see the various personalities attached to the different tombs.

Still further along in our walk was a wonderful display of murals. The murals are depictions of differing aspects of life here in Isla Mujares. Plus they reflect the Mayan beliefs and culture still very much alive.

Another excellent morning walk followed by lunch at Oscars.

John and I revisited the cliffs along the eastern shore and continued to walk along the shoreline and pathway. It again was just beautiful!

We also visited the little cemetery in the town. We were just passing when on a daily outing and so popped in. Again the cemetery made for interesting browsing. 

We have seen some crazy sights…..The craziest is overloaded tourist boats. Not just one or two but dozens! They just pile these cats with people and then off they go.

We have had a few bad weather days and nights. At this time of year the region is blasted by northers that bring high winds and of course lower temperatures. We don’t mind the low temperatures but the winds are very stressful.

The first norther was as mentioned during our first weekend. The second was worse. It started during the evening, went through the night and continued the next day. The winds didn’t go as high just between 25 – 30kts, but they were persistent. Again boats dragged, one was a catamaran that was anchored just behind us.

They had arrived, dropped the hook, gone off to the beach and we don’t think they even checked in. The boat just took off down the anchorage, hitting a monohull then a dock of a marina and all the time nobody was topside. Plus at the same time others were dragging through the anchorage. The reason being, the bottom is turtle grass on top of thin sand. We have been ok so far, but we do have a near 200ft of chain out. I am just hoping to leave before the next northerly. It’s time to move on again. 

 

PHOTO ALBUM above water :–>> https://photos.app.goo.gl/SVTEyy3yZ2bJTguZ6

Below water–>>. https://photos.app.goo.gl/xZFwhYJdpaptrAGaA

Off to Lighthouse Reef 

Lighthouse Reef Atoll, is an atoll 70 km from the mainland of Belize. One of the four found in this part of the world.

We were ready for adventure after nearly 2 weeks of Northerly fronts….the warmer weather was returning, the easterlies were forecast and we were looking at least a good 10 days of settled weather.

A bucket list destination was the Great Blue Hole and Half Moon Cay. 

From the Reserve we set off for SouthWater, arrived after an easy crossing and anchored up for the night. Along with us was another sailboat, La Favorita, with Kristie and Tom aboard. We had met them at the Reserve and they too thought Lighthouse Reef would be an interesting destination. 

Our crossing from SouthWater Cay Cut to Lighthouse reef was not a comfortable one. It is always difficult to reach Lighthouse reef as from most vantage points it is a matter of having winds and seas against you. On this day the wind was supposed to stay easterly but it kept switching to northeasterly and so we were close hauled and having seas breaking on the bow too. Finally after 7 hours the 37 miles were behind us and we crossed the outer reef where the water is deep enough and anchored off Long Cay. 

This area is totally exposed except on our eastern side where the cay sheltered us. The seas are clear, clear turquoise with the seas crashing on the distant shallow reef. 

Snorkels along the reef:

In the 5 days we were there we snorkelled 5 times off of the outer reef in area, close by where we were anchored. 

Each time we explored a different section and each time it was a wonderful and exciting snorkel. The corals were amazing and abundant. The seas often were breaking over the stag horn corals and with the sunlight shining through it is beautiful.

The fish life was very varied and abundant. Numerous colourful  reef fish, Snappers, Yellow tail grunts, smaller turquoise fishes, Angel fish and so many more to be seen. 

Flamingo Tongues were numerous on the sea fans and whips.

Practically every snorkel I saw a shark, now, I do not mind the Nurse sharks,

but the afternoon snorkel when I met with a Black tip reef shark I was not so happy.

First I saw a big Pompano then I saw this large reef shark approaching from just off my left side. Not quite believing what I saw I decided to alter my course and head further to my left, but sure enough about 5 minutes later I saw it circling up towards me from the reef ahead to my right.

It was quite large, and intimidating as it had altered its course and was edging towards me. I allowed myself to drift backwards while watching the shark. Soon it was out of sight again and I was feeling a wee bit nervous and thought it best to return to the dinghy. Meanwhile, I had no idea where John was, other than he was towards the deeper water where Tom and Kristie were also snorkelling.

Walks and dinghy rides around Long Cay:

We went ashore via the dock on our side of Long Cay and followed the shaded trail towards the resorts. The trail winds through mangroves and trees right across the cay.

The mosquitoes and no-see-ums  are plentiful to say the least, even with bug repellent we served as lunch to many of them. There are a few small resorts, the 1st one we passed is purely a dive resort and very rustic. Set in the mangroves and trees I would not stay there, just too many biting insects. The next resort is now shut, and in need of repair.

The third resort is called Itza Resort. Itza is colourful, also rustic and charming. It offers snorkelling, diving, fly fishing, fishing and numerous other water sports.

When we arrived all the guests were away for the day and it was quiet. We met with the manager Elvis, had a chat and asked about the trips to Half Moon and the Blue Hole.

Making tentative arrangements, We also managed to hook onto the resort’s wifi for a weather forecast and emails. 

There were a few trails which took us along raised platforms to the shoreline further along and a beach which I enjoyed walking along and seeing a native iguana sunning on a log. The cay is very beautiful.

Back at the dock we set off in the dinghy to explore the shoreline. Much of which was mangroves, with occasional coconut palms and tiny beaches.

At one are there was a longer beach where we saw a creek draining from a large inland lagoon.

There was a pair of nesting osprey who were quite anxious for us to leave the area.

After walking the beach we dinghied along to the end of Long Cay. Such a lovely wild cay.

John and I along with Tom and Kristie were very keen to visit both the Blue Hole and Half moon Cay. We negotiated with Elvis, the manager of Itza Resort, reaching an agreement of setting out at 6:30 from our boats, getting to the Blue Hole well ahead of all the commercial boats that arrive from the mainland.

Snorkelling there, the next stop being another snorkel site along the outer barrier reef, followed by a stop at Half moon Cay, a snack, a visit to the Red Footed Boobie and Frigate bird colony and the Lighthouse and ending up with a final snorkel, before returning around 1:00pm. 

We were up very early that day, in fact before the sun so we got to see the sun rise.

Elvis picked us up from our boats which saved us having to take the dinghies all the way to the resort on the other side of Long Cay. The other 2 guests, Kristie and Cristie, yes, two more Kristies climbed aboard and off we went towards the Blue Hole.

Photo below borrowed from internet.

The Blue Hole Natural Monument comprises a gigantic underwater sinkhole surrounded by a ring of coral in the sparkling, shallow waters of the Lighthouse Reef Atoll. The Great Blue Hole, the monument’s principal attraction, is roughly 1,000 feet (300 meters) across and over 400 feet (120 meters) deep. It is the largest geological formation of its kind in the world. This collapsed cave system was likely formed above ground 10,000 years ago. Great Blue Hole is so large it can even be seen from space. Made famous by world-renowned underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau, this remarkable site is on the bucket list of virtually every scuba diver in the world. 

The Blue Hole snorkel:

Arriving at the Blue Hole around 7:30am meant the sun wasn’t that high in the sky so it was pretty hard to distinguish the outer rim. However once in the water it was obvious where the hole was, as it was a deep blue expanse, a bottomless blue, quite beautiful. 

The reef surrounding was amazing! Incredibly full of life, the water with pristine clarity.

There were every type of corals, hard and soft, some I had never seen before, all in pristine condition.

Very diverse, with lovely sponges, sea whips and fans, reef fish of all types, file fish, trumpet fish, cow fish, snappers, hine, Angel fish, just to name a few.

We swam around the entire rim which took just over a hour. It was wonderful but we were all cold, poor Kristie was just blue. 

Off we whizzed to our next snorkelling site.

Snorkel along Lighthouse reef:

This was a completely different reef environment, being the inside of the barrier reef.

The water was amazingly clear, but on the shallow side with a stronger current running.

The reef wasn’t as covered with corals, but more the smaller anemones and soft corals were swaying in the swell. The fish were there but hiding out in the crevasses, surprisingly some were quite large.

I was amazed by a large grouper which a followed for a while also an enormous ray which had been hidden under the sands until I started watching and the ray glided off. 

As we neared Half Moon Cay there were grass beds. These were again quite shallow, but as the ground undulated outward so we began to see large schools of fish, the size of sardines, thousands of them rushing by as we swam.

Beyond them we could spy very large barracudas — the guide Jeff pointed out a shark, a hammerhead, I never saw it but a few of the others did. As we approached the dock and beach there were again rays lounging in the sands and gliding over the grass beds.

Half Moon Cay:

Half Moon Cay was established as a wildlife protected site in 1924. The island got its name from it’s crescent like shape and together with the white sand, it looks like the moon in the clear turquoise waters. Half Moon Cay was established as a wildlife reserve and protected site in 1924. In 1981 it became the first Marine protected area in Central America under the Belize National Park system Act. The Southern part of the island serves as a nursery for the loggerhead, hawksbill, and green turtles which nest there between May and November. Half Moon Cay Natural Monument is also part of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System World Heritage Site which was established on December 4, 1996.

Half Moon is gorgeous, the perfect Sandy cay with palm trees and turquoise waters.

We had swam from the reef, across the grass beds and to the beach and dock where the boat, our gear and Elvis was waiting for us. Elvis had snacks ready: warm breakfast burritos, sliced cantaloupe, muffins and water. We all consumed the food in a hurry as we were famished after the few hours spent in the cool water.

Right after our snack John and I set off to walk to the Red Footed Boobie and Frigate Bird colony found at one side of the cay. 

The most famous inhabitants of this Half Moon Cay are its Red-footed Boobies which nest in the Ziricote thicket at the western end of the cay. Also nesting are the magnificent Frigate Birds.

It was a wonderful walk there firstly through a grove of coconut palm trees and then through the Ziricote thicket. On the way we saw a poor, dead Frigate bird that was being consumed by hermit crabs, I never knew they feasted on dead animals. 

Atop of the platform we were amazed by all the nesting birds spread out as far as the eye could see.

Swooping in the skies above, doing their mating dance and calls,

attending to young, and just so busy they didn’t give us so much as a glance.

We enjoyed watching them for a good while and then set off for Honeymoon beach at the end of the pathway and cay. It too was a very scenic beach

Returning along the same path we headed out for the old lighthouses at the other end of Half Moon cay.

The present one is just a tower, which had an osprey’s nest atop. The old one lies in the sea with the building just a ruin. 

The cay was a wonderful place to visit, I did wish I had more time there.

Next destination was another snorkel, in completely different environment.

Snorkel on the outside reef

This snorkel was in deeper water as it was outside the barrier reef. The water was not as clear as the tide was returning. However we did see an enormous turtle with a remora on its back.

Also in the distance was reef shark, while gliding below us and around us some huge barracudas, in the sandy water and over the grass beds rays were gliding by.

This was John’s favourite snorkel, for me it was the least favourable, but still very good.

Returning to Itza Resort I enjoyed a refreshing  club soda and started to warm up. It was a very successful day. 

In the morning we set off, along with La Favorita to Turneffe for the night. The following day we headed to Cay Caulker having a wonderful, fast sail….

We each took pictures of each other’s boats. Again no one caught any fish. Oh well, maybe next time.

“People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder.” — Salma Hayek

 

PHOTO ALBUM–>>. https://photos.app.goo.gl/H8DVpViwoR5HNo4b6

 Placencia

After Ethan left we decided to get what we needed, by way of fuel, propane, foods etc and head further north in Belize.

We scurried off to renew our permission to be in Belize at the Customs, Immigration and Port Authority offices in Big Creek. Taking the the Hokey Pokey, then a taxi, it’s a right pain….(In Belize you have to check in with these folks every month)

Two days of stocking up and we were all set….…Meanwhile:

Our water maker had a problem — needed a new impeller. We now rely on the water maker, so John ordered one to be flown in, supposedly quickly. Then the weather forecast was grim….…Two large northers were forecast to arrive one after the other. 

Added to the fact that Aeeshah was in need of a good cleaning, the dinghy needed a repair job and I had a ton of laundry to do. So…

We decided to go to the Reserve, into the marina for what we needed to do: to use the laundry, to wait for the ordered parts and to enjoy riding our bikes — for the 1st time in nearly 5 years. 

3 days after Ethan left on the 3rd we arrived at the Reserve Marina to stay for 2 weeks. 

This is a very unusual area and place. 

The whole area is under litigation due to a massive ponzy scheme that of course collapsed. https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/x040009/ecological-fox-llc?fbclid=IwAR1swBeIUmONEh9P_1EwLswyQ8HZ6CusJJNwhjT6vmnEKXDq2U8rLyF1TQE However the basic set up for the estates/homes remains, plus, meanwhile, there are some very nice residences that were built.

Riding our bikes and exploring

Getting back on our bikes was wonderful! We had had them serviced in the Rio, so they were in marvellous condition. Both of us love to ride and explore off track and at the Reserve there was 14,000 acres of possibility.

We had miles and miles of Sandy tracks and road ways to choose from, plus other tracks that cut through the swampland and trees. Nearly every morning for the 2 weeks we set off for a ride, usually for an hour and a half or longer.

I believe we followed every possible track and roadway, some leading to nowhere others leading to homes built way out in the sticks and still others leading to watery canals.

We saw wild pigs,

groups of coatimundis,

prints left in the mud by a jaguar,

many, many wonderful birds of differing types

all sorts of lovely flowers, plants and more,

plus all kinds of varying scenery, but not many vehicles or people.

Bike riding gives you such a sense of freedom and adventure.

Chico enjoyed a daily walk along the docks and usually running back made for good exercise for him.

Chores, repairs, work:

Laundry was done, John patched and repaired the dinghy, oil changes were done, vacuuming, cupboards tidied, every area reorganised. Each day we worked and played. 

We had to pop down to Placencia to pick up our parts from the airport. Taking advantage of this last visit there to indulge in our favourite treats and to purchase a last few supplies.

The biggest excitement at the Reserve Marina was when this antiquated tug arrived to take this huge yacht that had been held/stuck at the marina for 3 years off to Belize City. Some wondered if it was possible to move it, but they had it under tow in no time.

It was time to head out for a grand adventure — a bucket list destination: Lighthouse reef, The Blue Hole and Half Moon Cay.

The purpose of life, after all, is to love it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience –  Eleanor Roosevelt

 

PHOTO ALBUM –>> https://photos.app.goo.gl/wRJu9ZW68FioZwjT6

Underwater PHOTO ALBUM –>> https://photos.app.goo.gl/maHDfoQdL4NBLTNq7

SouthWater Cay

Leaving Sapordilla we headed out to SouthWater cay for the night and had another lovely snorkel. Ethan and John headed out the cut again to the deep water. I enjoyed all the shallower corals and fish. This time the water was a bit warmer, but still 45 minutes was our limit. 

Glover’s Atoll – Ethan’s Birthday

Through the cut to the open ocean at SouthWater we then headed towards Glover’s atoll. It was Ethan’s Birthday and our gift was a return visit to Glover’s. (When he was 10 we had visited on a diving holiday, he had always wanted to return.)

The passage over to Glovers was average, some sailing and some motor sailing the wind was just not quite strong enough. The rods were out, but with all the seaweed we never got a bite. We did see more dolphins playing off of our bow, quite a large pod with small young ones. Ethan enjoyed watching them from the bow. We have seen dolphin in nearly every anchorage and on every passage in the last few weeks, but Ethan reported this was by far the largest family pod.

Entering Glover’s through the break in the reefs on the south east we anchored off of the 1st cay. There is a luxury resort there that looks to be finally finished on this cay. They do not welcome cruising boats and they do not look in our price range. 

That afternoon John and Ethan went for a dinghy about, reminiscing old memories from our previous visit.

For Ethan’s birthday evening he opened a bottle of bubbly on the bow during the sunset which he then shared with Papa. We had barbecued steak for dinner – (Excellent Guatemalan steak which we had saved)

The following morning we dinghied to the second cay where the Marisol resort is located. Unfortunately it was closed so all the staff were away.

We were allowed to walk around and enjoyed visiting the cay where we had 1st taken Ethan when he was 10 and learnt to dive.

Just about everything was still the same, the gaily painted chalets, the coconut lined walkways, the shallow reef on the outside, and the shady coconut groves, our chalet overlooking the reef, all was just as we had last seen and remembered.

However at the far end of the cay the tiny resort there has changed ownership. It is now an eco resort specialising in students and young adults that seek adventure without luxury. (The small cabanas are tented not air conditioned)

Off to snorkel the reef. We started with one large reef in the morning where again the fellows concentrated on the deep water.

They looked for rays and tarpon. I was more interest in the lovely corals and fish, though I did see tarpon in the distant depths. 

Again in the afternoon we snorkelled at yet another large reef. This time I was amazed by a large shark that swam up over the reef, nearly right up to me. It then looked at me, and turned to glide by, I would estimate it was approximately 6-8 ft, a large nurse shark.

Further along I met up with Ethan who was following a large ray, I told him where the shark was located and he actually did manage to find it, now snoozing below a ledge in the reef.

Next morning was time to leave Glover’s and head back as again a front was due to visit in a few days.

Crossing to SouthWater Cay we once again trawled for fish, hoping to get a nice Jack or Mahi Mahi for dinner. However the sargassum seaweed is rampant, just masses of it again this year. Then just as we were about to sail through the SouthWater Cut we had a strike.

Ethan, was coached by Papa as to how to bring the fish in. It turned out to be a small Barracuda. We don’t eat Barracuda due to the chance of cigiterra so the guys released it……..Ethan was most relieved it wasn’t hurt.

We stopped at Blue Ground Range for the night and enjoyed another beautiful sunset. Crossing to the Sapodilla Lagoon the next morning. 

Sapordilla Lagoon – The Range/Reserve

In the lagoon was where we anchored to be protected for the newest front that was approaching. I took advantage of the marina laundry, Ethan and I took advantage of the marina wifi, and we all enjoyed walks around the Reserve looking for wildlife like coatimundis and birds like the swallow tailed fly catchers. 

John took out his drone and along with Don and Ethan tried to fly it.

However they had a few technical problems. After 2 days the weather was fine for us to head out to the reef and cays again.

We again enjoyed a fairly good sail across, but only caught seaweed.

SouthWater Cay and Tobacco Cay

SouthWater was our 1st stop. The weather was quite amazing, dead calm with glassy seas. We had a magical snorkel along the cut and out to the outside of the reef and cay.

The water was amazingly clear and warmer than usual. Ethan and John snorkelled nearly the whole of the outside reef. I snorkelled the deep and the shallows, the elk horn coral beds were huge, normally you cannot get close due to the swell but that day I could snorkel right up to and over them. It was a wonderful afternoon snorkel. 

In the later afternoon John and Ethan flew the drone off of the boat. This was a 1st, normally it is flown from land. The flying went really well mainly as there was no wind and the scenery there is gorgeous.

The next morning it was off to Tobacco Cay. Ethan was very happy to reel in a Spanish macheral, his 1st good eating fish.

We found our old sandy patch to anchor in. The sand holes are few and far between at Tobacco cay. The rest of the holding is not very good being grass beds.

We dinghied to the far side of the cut where we snorkelled. The whole of Tobacco cut and the reefs around are amazing for the corals and fish you see.

We had an excellent hour in the water. Again I spent my time between the deeper reef and the shallow reef. Here the reef nearly sticks out of the water and the swell rolls right over the reef.

Therefore one has to be very careful. In the deeper water of the cut there was a large school of big tarpon. John and Ethan followed them plus the numerous rays.

That evening it was fresh fish for dinner. Ethan was amazed by the size of the barracuda that stalked the side of the boat after the fish was cleaned and the blood and guts put in the water. The following day we were going to snorkel the other side of the cut, but the weather was iffy, the wind was up so we decided to head back to Placencia. The passage back was a mix of sail and engine, but quite interesting as we chose a different route through the cays and not down the main channel. 

Placencia 

At Placencia I was very happy not to have to cook dinner. Instead we could get a take out dinner of the local fish and chips one night, the Belizean pizza the second night and Ethan’s final night Fry Jacks…..no not the fish, a Belize speciality dish…..pic below.

We also were able to walk about and get a few gifts for Ethan to take back to his brother and sisters. Have a few last ice creams at Tooty Fruity and enjoys the sights and sounds.

Ethan leaves

Ethan had a long journey home via Miami over 2 days of travel. We managed to get his covid testing done in time plus get all the necessary travel documents submitted. Travel these days is a right pain! Unless of course you sail. We went with Ethan to the airstrip and saw him off. It was sad seeing him leave. When people leave there is always a void left behind.

“Change is the essence of life.”  —  Anatole France

“The consequences of your life are sown in what you do and how you behave.” —  Tom Shadyac

 

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.

 

Our last month?

PHOTO Album —>>. https://photos.app.goo.gl/KF67CW62tnjByBfr6

Our time in Guatemala has been coming to an end….Or so we think. We have enjoyed our last few weeks just doing the regular routine of yoga 3 times a week,

walks along the pipeline trail, when the weather permitted,

river travel to an from where ever we go, meeting friends for Taco Tuesday lunch and preparing for Christmas. 

We met up with friends Janet and Chris to walk the trails at Tijax. This is another Marina and hotel, difference is that it also has a rubber plantation and walking trails up to a look out on top of the hill. It’s a very pleasant walk, starting off on over hanging platforms through the mangroves where their cabanas are found.

From there you take the “park” entrance and walk another hanging platform over the swampy area before the hillside to the small museum.

The museum is small and offers information about the natural life found in the area. Next we walked through the jungle, uphill and downhill, over streams, and sawn logs until we reached the hilltop.

Ahead was the rubber plantation and further uphill the lookout, called Torre de Shaman.

From the lookout we had a grand view out over the Rio and across the forested expanses to Belize. 

The path returns via another direction where you cross several long hanging walkways in the jungle canopy.

Only two at a time can cross the walkways. The treetops are lovely, looking down I even spied a beautiful purple orchid.

After these hanging walkways we once again joined the pathway downhill and back to the Marina. It was a wonderful morning walk, lots to see and wonderful scenery.

A friend had bought a small, old marina and we were invited to go and have a peek at it.

It was the day he took over the property and it had been sitting neglected for quite a while. He has intentions of setting up a repair business there.

The place has lots of potential, he is young and talented so we are sure he will do well. – Best wishes Chris!

 

We had become so entrenched with the local community that we were invited to a baby Zaida’s christening and to waitress Dianna’s wedding. We didn’t make it to the Christening, but contributed towards her future.

John went with a group from Catamaran to Dianna’s wedding. He reported back that it was very nice but a one time only event for him. Everyone said they had an enjoyable time.

We put up our Christmas decorations and readied for Christmas. The 1st seasonal event was the staff party which was organised by several fellow cruisers here at Catamaran.

It was a fun happenstance with tamales, (the traditional Christmas food here), and cakes for feasting. We presented the staff with a tin of cookies and a gift of cash each.

Next there was a raffle of gift cards for the local grocery store La Torre. It was a fun afternoon for all. 

The next Christmas event was the Christmas Day breakfast of Eggs Benedict  which was made by Chris a fellow cruiser who is a chef.

The eggs and fruit served were amazing! We sat with Derick and Carol and had a lovely breakfast. 

At  5:00pm we had the cruiser Christmas Day dinner.

This was turkey, stuffing, mash potato and gravy dinner that was made by a group of 6 or so cruisers and accompanied by side dishes and desserts made by everyone. We again sat with Derick and Carol, and had a lovely evening. 

Several of us at the marina had been feeling poorly. Out of 8, 5 tested negative and the other 3 didn’t test. We were all certain it was a cold circulating. Luckily for me Jessica who owns a canvas shop volunteered her local recipe for a cold. She gave the ingredients and instructions to Trish who promptly made up the potion. I inhaled the hot fumes, drank a bit of it and continued to inhale and drink. For me it was like a miracle I felt soooo much better.

Recipe for cold

Cinnamon, tiny piece of ginger and lemon grass. Add cinnamon and ginger to a liter of boiling water then add lemon grass, cut up into pieces. Boil for 2 minutes. Inhale steam, drink some and store the rest in the fridge.

We were surprised on our last evening by a going away cake and well wishes at the pool bar. It was lovely of everyone to come and wish us good bye.

We will sorely miss the Rio Dulce, Catamaran and all of our wonderful friends, local and imported cruisers. We do feel we will be back, but who knows when? Chico will be heartbroken to leave his only land home the wonderful Catamaran Marina.

“People are opportunities. The gift is in the interaction and the connection with another person, whether it lasts forever or not.”  – Colleen Seifert

“I believe that when you stop renewing, and are no longer open to change and the possibilities that continually unfold, you stop being alive and are just getting through the years.” – Oprah

 

PHOTO ALBUM –>>.     https://photos.app.goo.gl/WsG3SduXwScnnVzS8

Possibly our last month in Rio Dulce?? We are not sure…..

Prepping to leave

We had/have just a few things to organise before we left Guatemala. As we have plans for travel further afield this year we needed our insurance updated. For this we planned to meet our surveyor near his home in Cayo Quemado.

We motored down river and went to Texas Mike’s place for dinner. John having his favourite, chicken fried steak, which is actually fried pork in a crust of breadcrumbs with gravy. He assures me it tastes great.

Well, our surveyor never came and we couldn’t get ahold of him, so back to Catamaran we went. He eventually arrived some days later….And yes, we have our survey. It’s actually brilliant.

Visit to Grutas El Encanto

With our Catamaran family of friends we went to Grutas El Encanto for the day. It is actually what it’s name implies grottos/caves that have an underwater stream where you can enter and explore.

The guide takes you deep underground where he tells you all about the stalactites, stalagmites and other cave phenomenon.

I didn’t do the underground exploration as I had a few open sores on my feet and that water is not the cleanest. However John went, was the camera man and reported it was interesting, there were a lot of bats flying about and some of the group covered themselves with mud for beauty purposes……

We, Steve and I, the ones who didn’t go, explored around the grounds and chatted.

Once everyone was back, cleaned up and dried we all had a delicious lunch. I loved the nachos! 

Birthday time

We always celebrate birthdays at the marina. But I dislike fuss, plus I prefer to do something, usually a trip or an adventure. This year, the weather was somewhat rainy and we really had spent so many days away I opted for a very low key birthday. We had a walk around Fronteras.

It is such a colourful little town, always lots of action, noises, music, folks buzzing about their daily business, selling every imaginable item, full of colour of every flavour…. Around the back lanes, under the bridge and then down the main streets where there is virtually no room to move due to all the people and traffic.

That day I looked for a new bag to carry my camera. I found a good one in one of the stores off the main street. One of the stores, where it seems absolutely everything can be found, as it crammed floor to ceiling with merchandise.

My second desire was to visit Mega Paca, this is the huge second hand merchandise chain in Guatemala. There I found some nearly new sleeveless shirts. After which we had a very nice lunch at a cafe.

Returning to the marina Muriel surprised me with a wonderful carrot cake. So, I had to share, and took slices to the pool bar for everyone to enjoy.

Mavi’s birthday was celebrated with a surprise party at the pool bar. She is the manager of the hotel and marina. We have known her for many years. It was a lovely celebration with the staff and cruisers enjoying the foods and drinks together for an hour. 

Walks on pipeline

With the slightly cooler temperatures we once again started our pipeline walks. The pipeline actually runs from Mexico all the way through, across the Rio and to Purto Barrios.

The roadway/track that runs along side it for a ways runs from a village near Fronteras all the way to Esmirelda, a village across the river from the marina.

There, many of the plantation workers live, plus there are many very luxurious homes of the extremely wealthy. For example the owner of Gallo beer and Tiago cellular companies…..folks with helicopters, mega motor yachts and such.

This little roadway can be very bumpy with huge potholes being created when we get heavy rains, plus deep mud in the hollows. So we were not really surprised to find that the roadway was being resurfaced, using brand new equipment. 

I enjoy this roadway as it is normally very quiet with just the rubber plantation or palm oil plantation folks about. This means you can often spot birds.

Another walk we enjoy is out of Fronteras towards the Castile/Castle. We enjoy this road on Sunday’s when there is less traffic.

The dreaded mining company uses the El Estor branch of this roadway for trucking their mining spoils. Huge trucks of ore lumber by at quite a dangerous rate.

The drivers are amused when blowing/blasting their horns on passing, stirring up dust and expelling fumes. On Sunday’s there is much less traffic.

We pass the cocoa plantation, a palm oil plantation and then do the circuit through the village by the Castile. Again there is lots to see….. 

On another day, we enjoyed a nearly traffic free walk. This one through Fronteras and over the bridge, under and back with virtually no traffic as there were demonstrations.

The folks here demonstrate by blocking the roads to all traffic. This really annoys many people, but gets the attention of the necessary departments. This Demonstration was concerning the mining companies. They are guilty of much of the environmental destruction in the area, poisoning part of the lake, and rivers, destroying the lands, taking ownership of the land that is rightfully the indigenous folks property. The trucks tear up the roads, drive dangerously and disregard the locals. They are owned, not by Guatemalans, but Russians, Ukrainians and believe it or not the Swiss. They do not care about Guatemala, just the mining rights. Lately, the story is that they have bribed a government official in order to “explore” an entire mountains side. Hopefully the locals get their way and those folks are stopped. 

Zaida’s baby

One day John, Derek and I went with Steve to see Zaida and her baby. Zaida is one of the Catamaran workers who we have known for years. Her babe is called Zaida too, she’s very little being just 5lbs when she was born.

We were welcomed and seated inside. Steve held the baby and we all were treated to mosh. Mosh is an oatmeal drink, made from oats. It is very nutritious and its milky flavour very nice. Zaida also showed us the pottery she paints and then sells.

Our plans keeps shifting due to the covid situation and the difficulty getting in and out of countries. However, we hope to leave near the end of December. Sailing through Belize, maybe stopping at isla Mujares, but landing in Marathon, Florida. Once there we intend to buy a few necessary odds and ends for Aeeshah. Leaving there we would hope to go to the Bahamas, before heading to Panama. But who knows what will be………