Still in Belize

Last entry mentioned that we were going to pick up Tammy and Holly who were flying in from Seattle to spend a few weeks here in the "sunny Caribbean," snorkeling, sailing, and working on a tan. Well, we had one or two nice days, but otherwise, we ended up playing lots of games indoors because we had rain, high winds, and grey skies for much of their visit. Luckily they got off the boat for a few days to spend some time at a resort and during that time the sun was shining, the beach beckoned, and all was good. Roy and I sailed north to Ambergris Cay, stopping at several cays, also enjoying the few nice days. Tammy joined us a few days later and hung out at Cay Caulker, again in rain and grey skies, except for the last day when we had bright, warm sun. Holly and Rob, who arrived the day Tammy came back on board, came down from Ambergris to visit and we all went to a very neat place for lunch. A day or two later Tammy flew home, and sadly never had a chance to use her brand new fins!

A few days later, friends Mai and Dave arrived, hoping to sail to Roatan with us. They, too, came prepared to snorkel in the beautiful snorkeling areas on Roatan. Bad weather once again foiled our plans, and after spending 6 days waiting for some pretty wild fronts to pass through, they decided to jump start the land travel part of their vacation. So, here we are, 4 days later, still tucked into a safe anchorage while the winds are howling and the seas out in the ocean are 7-11 feet high every few seconds. Based on current forecasts, it looks like we'll be able to make the passage to Roatan next Wednesday (today is Saturday).

Happy New Year

January 3, 2009

We had a pleasant holiday season and hope all our readers did as well.

After Charlotte and Bill left Placencia, the weather turned for the worse and the harbor was filling up with cruisers starting the season.  We decided to stay through the holidays since weather predictions indicated squalls and cool weather until January 1 at the earliest.   The Saturday before Christmas 14 of us were up at Robert's Grove, a 5-star resort for a fabulous buffet.  Luckily that night weather cooperated, we all ate our fill, including unlimited lobster.  Bananas Foster for dessert was also a hit with our group.  The Christmas Potluck was once again held at Tranquillo, the restaurant/bar on Placencia Cay.  The owner let us bring our own food and drink since they were closed that day.  We set up 3 tables of cards and dominos and played games until the witching hour -- 9 pm -- Cruiser's Midnight.

On Monday, December 29 we got up very early to take a 7:30 a.m. ferry up to Mango Creek and from there took a bus to Dangriga to get an extension for our visas and boat.  The immigration officer had no trouble granting visa extensions but said we'd have to return to Big Creek, up a river from Placencia, to get a boat extension from Customs.  A long bus ride back, a cab ride to Big Creek and another ferry from Mango Creek back to Placencia and by 3:30 p.m. we were finally finished.  A bonus was finding a market in Dangriga that carried some nice edibles not available in Placencia.

The week between Christmas and New Years found us playing games with other cruisers, doing boat chores, shopping for provisions to last us for at least 10 days since we planned to take off on January 1 or 2.  On December 30, a power boat bumped into our port hull and caused some damage -- cracks in the hull and loosened any eye which we use to hold part of our anchor lines.   The people on the power boat were towed to the dock and we never saw them again.   We reported it to the local police, two officers came to the boat and then went to get an "expert in fiberglass" to come and assess damage and estimate repair cost.  A short time later an officer and the expert returned and shoved $50 in Roy's hand and said, "take this."   No further follow up was made that day or over the weekend.  Needless to say that $50 won't even cover the cost of materials let alone labor, but we thought -- what the heck -- we were flying a U.S. flag, the boat that hit us flew a Guatemala flag and the collision occurred in Belize -- did we have any chance of ever collecting just compensation?  We figured we'd have to chalk it up to experience.

New Years eve several of us dinghied over to one of the big cats in the harbor, hosted by Barb and Torrey, everyone brought snacks and drinks, and at 6 p.m. it was midnight in Greenwich so we toasted the New Year.  As usual, the party ended by Cruiser's Midnight, 9 pm.

Next, we wanted to scoot out of Placencia and find some nice places to snorkel.  Our departure was delayed until Friday, January 2 because of weather and wanting to do some repairs.   Roy filled the cracks with epoxy and we're now using a nearby cleat for the anchor line.  We were a few hours out of Placencia when we received a hail on Channel 16, the emergency radio channel.  Another cruising boat, Tisha Baby, hailed us and said that a police officer came looking for us and wanted to speak to us.  Turns out he asked us to return to Placencia to complete some legal papers for the Port Authority re: the collision, which we did.  While at the dock we heard that the people on the power boat were missing.  Today we heard from friends in Placencia that the power boat has been seized by the Belize authorities

Finally around 1 pm yesterday we left Placencia for the second time and motored, then sailed, to a lovely spot, North Long Cocoa Cay.  This noon we dinghied to shore and were invited to go ashore even though the island is privately owned by Sittee River Wildlife Association.  We declined because the bugs were out in full force, however we snorkeled off the bar at the tip of the island and saw gorgeous coral of many colors and shapes and a few tropical fish.  While in the dinghy we passed over numerous huge dark red starfish.  This afternoon we got in the dinghy again to go to the other side of the cay -- it's very beautiful.

We are anchored in about 5.5 feet of water and our dinghy ride got us within 3 feet of bottom.  We could see everything on the bottom from the dinghy -- the water is crystal clear -- this is why Belize is so high on cruisers' lists.

January 4, 2009

Last evening we had a nice dinner of BBQ chicken, ratatouille, and fresh baked bread.  Afterwards, Roy said, "shall we have Bananas Foster for dessert -- and with that he got up, gathered the banana, butter,rum, cinammon vanilla ice cream and made a scrumptious dessert.  To top off the evening we played Scrabble -- Roy won.

This morning we tuned in NPR on our single sideband radio but at 8 a.m. switched to the local cruisers' net.  It's another beautiful day here at North Long Cocoa Cay; we decided to stay here one more day before continuing to explore the cays in this area.

January 9, 2009

We left North Long Cocoa Cay on January 5 and meandered through several small cays, following a route in our guidebook, and arrived at South Water Cay, right at a cut in the barrier reef.  Two other boats were on mooring balls, Blue and Barracha, we set our anchor in about 6 feet of water.   The cay is home to a zoological research institute and also has a resort with nice cabins peppered throughout the south end.  The following noon, January 6, three more cruising boats arrived and several of us dinghied to shore to walk around the south end of the cay -- very beautiful.

Early in the morning on January 7, we, along with two other cruising boats, Sanderling and Tempest, departed South Water Cay to sail out to Lighthouse Reef, one of the most famous and interesting atolls in the world.  It is home to the Blue Hole.  We've wanted to see Lighthouse Reef ever since we first arrived in Belize in 2007.  We had a light wind forecast so we expected to motor most if not all of the day -- that wasn't a problem, however the swell coming right at us from the east was pretty rough.  All three boats were bumping along for several hours.  As we approached the reef, it was scary since the reef is submerged and not visible until you're right on top of it.  Luckily many cruisers  have plotted the courses into the several cuts in the reef, which we followed to a T.  We anchored on the west side of Long Cay inside the reef, Marlene made a focaccia, invited everyone from the other two cruising boats to come and share -- and had a happy hour on Damiana that evening to share out stories of our "swell" passage.

Yesterday, January 8, we dinghied all around the south end of Long Cay, looking for good places to snorkel.  Finding none, we scooted over toward one of the diving mooring balls.  The sky was somewhat  hazy so visibility wasn't perfect, however Roy was able to swoop down and see some coral and small fish.  Marlene, a surface snorkeler, snorkeled afloat for a short time.

Last evening we had Bob, Annette and Stephanie from Tempest come over for snacks and a rousing game of Chicken Feet (a fun dominoes game), a great way to spend our last evening at Lighthouse.  Last for this visit -- we'll definitely come back -- it's gorgeous!

We weighed anchor at 7:45 this morning and are on our path to return to South Water Cay or beyond for the night, planning to return to Placencia tomorrow.

We motor-sailed all day, not enough wind to give us enough speed to reach South Water Cay by nightfall.  The swell was much calmer than on Wednesday.  We reached the South Water Cay area by 3 pm so decided to try anchoring in Twin Cays, where its reported manatees live.  Alas, we couldn't get good holding for our anchor, and much of the anchorage has silted in since the guide book was written, so we backtracked to South Water Cay for the night.

January 10

After a brisk sail from South Water Cay, we arrived in Placencia harbor around 12:30.   Wind was in teh 10-15 kt range and under jib alone our speed was between 6.5 and 8 kts.  Again, we had "swelly" seas, but since we were behind the reef, it was quite a bit more calm than out in the ocean.

We're here for a few days to provision and pick up Tammy and Holly who will spend the next several days exploring the cays with us.

Belize, December 2008

As planned, we departed Monkey Bay Marina in the Rio Dulce, Guatemala on Saturday, November 29, 2008. After checking out of the country around noon, we started the watermaker -- yea, it started working so we flushed it with sea water -- and then proceeded up to Moho Caye in Belize for the night. At 6:30 a.m. the following morning, we were swarmed with bugs so made a hasty retreat and made coffee and tea underway. We arrived in Placencia about 4:30 p.m. Sunday. We had repeatedly flushed the watermaker, so we finally started to make water and fill our tank after changing the filters.

On Monday, December 1, Marlene took the Hokey Pokey Ferry up to Independence to check both the boat and us into Belize. Yet another small world experience: shared a taxi with a young man, Slater Clay (Xenos) who left San Francisco with his partner, Julie, a year after we did, socialized with many of our cruising friends on the Pacific side before transiting the Canal, and just happens to be a Vermonter with a grandmother who lives a few miles away from Roy's mother's house in Dorset.

The next day we shopped for groceries and once again Marlene tried her hand at making focaccia, Bologne-style. It worked quite well, finally, after 2 earlier tries. We invited the couple from Xenos and another couple from Blue, John and Angie, to come and join us for Rum Punch and, of course, focaccia.

We left Placencia early afternoon, December 3, to start our trek north to Belize City. After spending a quiet night in Sapodilla Lagoon we sailed up to Robinson Caye. After spending a squally night we motored over to Belize City to see if we could anchor safely so we could shop for the next two weeks. We tried 2-3 times but couldn't get good holding so we sailed back to Robinson Caye for the night. The next morning, December 6, we sailed over to Cucumber Beach Marina so we'd be at a dock when Roy's 87-year old mother, Charlotte, and brother, Bill, arrived later that day. We hired a cab driver to take us to several stores and also to the "City Market" which is where fresh produce is sold in stalls, tents, and on tarps on the street, close to the bus terminal.

Finally on December 7, we got underway to officially start our cruising season. An easy sail to Caye Caulker, a walk through the town, an overnight in the anchorage and then sail north to Ambergris Caye on December 8. A few more stops for provisions, a brief stop at the French Bakery, cold drinks and a lobster dinner at a beachside restaurant topped off the day. We raised sail in the morning (December 9), weighed anchor, and sailed to St. George Caye. We spent the night at anchor and waited until morning to go ashore. We arrived during off season so the famous hotel was closed. Nonetheless we walked the length of the Caye (December 10) and were delighted with our visit to the Aquarium at the north end of the Caye run by a family and houses about 30 or so tanks with fish and turtles from local waters. Cali, their 7-year old son and docent, picture above, did a remarkable job, telling us all about the fish and animals. During our second night at anchor at St. George's, a front rushed in at 1:00 a.m. first with a huge downpour and then howling winds, gusting to 30-35 kts all night. Our anchor dragged and dragged some more -- so that by first light (December 11) we realized we were in mud, so we revved the motors, weighed anchor and took off! With jib alone we sailed south for 9 hours in winds averaging 20-25, gusting to 30 kts, choppy seas, but took refuge in Sapodilla Lagoon around 3 p.m., just as the winds were abating -- and had a restful night.

On December 12, we sailed down to Placencia and spent the next several nights at anchor. We took several walks along the sidewalk and the road, shopped for provisions, ate a few restaurant meals, and Charlotte and Bill were able to find some nice souvenirs to take home. Bill spent a full day scuba diving out at a few of the reef cayes.

Another morning we took Damiana out in light winds to try out our new spinnaker and it worked superbly -- went up effortlessly and billowed out with only a few kts of wind. Bill thought we were traveling too slowly so he dove in and attached the bridle around his waist and started swimming. He thinks he moved the boat a smidgeon, but really, it was the current!

We had a nice time with Charlotte and Bill -- we were most impressed with how Charlotte got around as easily as she did. And, as usual, Bill was always ready to help out in any way. They left at 9:00 a.m. yesterday. We spent the afternoon doing laundry and had a quiet evening of reading before turning in at 11 p.m. All in all, in spite of stormy seas and many days with cloudy skies, we had a great week. The other two photos up top are of Charlotte sitting at the bow of Damiana and Bill trying to tow Damiana by hooking the bridle around his waist!

Back on Damiana - November 2008

     We flew into Guatemala on November 6, along with Roy's brother, Bill.  We brought with us 350 lbs of luggage, mostly things for Damiana, some clothes, but not one item from Trader Joe's!  Bill stayed with us for 10 days, helping to get Damiana in shape for the season.  A day after he left to return home, Rob and Linda (Cat'n About) arrived to visit and help finish up preparations.  Rob and Linda designed and crafted new shade covers for our salon windows (using material that we brought down), worked on the winches, motors, etc., always with a smile and constant offers to do more.  Last night all four of us joined several other cruisers at one of the marinas for a Thanksgiving feast.  In addition to turkey and all the trimmings everyone brought a dish -- a fabulous array of delicious offerings.  Rob and Linda left today, on their way to Santiago, Lake Atitlan, by way of Antigua -- we haven't talked about where or when our next visit will be -- perhaps Christmas in Antigua, or perhaps next year in Panama!

     We'll check out of Guatemala tomorrow to start our sail north to Belize City.  Roy's mother and brother will will fly into Belize City on December 6 to spend about 10 days aboard Damiana.  Weather today here in the Rio Dulce was perfect; we hope it persists for the duration of their visit.

Settled in Salinas....temporarily

An unfortunate mishap on Damiana resulted in Roy being "grounded" (meaning off the boat) until Fall 2008. After Roy flew to Sacramento for an emergency surgery he returned to Damiana along with Len and Norma, friends from the 2004 Baja HaHa, and we took Damiana back to the Rio Dulce to spend most of 2008.

Roy had torn his bicep muscle away from the radius in his left arm in an attempt to climb over the rail to get back on board the boat after he had flipped over the side. The sheer weight of his own body undoubtedly caused the injury. We were being towed into an anchorage at the time so we were lucky that it was daytime and that there were lots of people around to help. After many people assisted us in getting Roy back on board, and our boat anchored, Roy knew that something was awry.

So, here we are, in Salinas where Roy is working as a hospitalist. We hope to visit Vermont sometime this summer and of course, spend time with our famiies here in California.

We'll resume our sailing stories when we're back on Damiana in Fall 2008.

Belize, December 2007

After many boat projects, we departed Monkey Bay Marina in the Rio Dulce on December 3 and motored down to Texan Bay at the eastern end of Lake Golfete for the night. We met Ron and Yen from Moonlight there -- they had left the day before us -- had an excellent enchilada dinner and good company. In the morning, Sherry drove Yen and Marlene down to Livingston in the big launch. What a spectacular ride that was: Sherry took us through a cut that was overflowing with lily pads all in bloom, beautiful trees and plants all around, and spectacular birds. When we exited the cut, we headed down the canyon enjoying the sights. We engaged Raul to expedite our checking out and then went to Gabys Restaurant for a great chicken lunch.

After spending a few more days at Texan Bay, we finally left on December 7, heading for Punta Gorda in Belize. We arrived around 11 a.m. to check into Belize, very efficiently and easily, we must add. We continued on to North Moho Cay for the night and enjoyed a very pleasant anchorage. We woke up to beautiful blue skies with fluffy clouds and decided to meander through some of the southern cays before heading north to Placencia, our next destination. Around noon, we thought we'd better get a move on to get to Placencia. The big fluffy clouds turned grey, the wind picked up, the squalls started -- one right after the other with heavy rainfall -- and now the wind was on our nose gusitng to 20 kts and more. In the midst of all this, our starboard motor overheated so we turned it off. Not able to make good headway, we tucked into a lagoon behind No Name Point and spent a rainy night at anchor, safely tucked in with mangroves on three sides. The rain continued in the morning, but subsided by noon. so after checking the starboard propeller and making sure the cooling water was flowing we started both motors without difficulty and got underway. We headed straight for Placencia, dropped anchor, and have been here ever since!

Placencia is a lovely town. Provisioning is very easy, there are several good restaurants, an excellent gelato store, nice gift shops, a sidewalk along the beach for walking or running, friendly people and lots of specialty stores peppered throughout the town. One spot that isn't missed by anyone is Tutti Fruiti, a store that makes incredibly wonderful gelato. We've discovered a really easy bread recipe in one of our cruiser cookbooks, so we're now baking our own bread (Marlene is, to be exact). There's nothing comparable to the smell of baking bread, even when you're out cruising! Also on the domestic front, we've become quite accustomed to doing a small load of laundry every other day (a small washing machine came with the boat) and hanging it out on lines across our cockpit. We've gotten quite used to having our clothes smelling so nice, and they come out less wrinkled than in a dryer.

Last Saturday night (December 16) we attended the 8th Annual Mistletoe Ball with several other cruisers. Hundreds of locals attended; dinner was included in our ticket price -- turkey with all the usual fixings -- and great live music for dancing on the sand in the balmy Caribbean night air. We stayed out til midnight, a rare event for us cruisers who are in bed by 9:30 most nights. Plans are underway for a Christmas dinner on the small key in the anchorage. At least 30 people are expected.

A fun thing that we've done lately is keeping in touch with friends Rob and Linda on Cat'n About via SSB radio. They're across the continent from us, now in Costa Rica on the Pacific side, and since we're on the Atlantic side it's interesting to compare weather and the towns provisions and resources. So far, both of us have good access to provisions, but their weather has been much better than ours. The Caribbean has been experiencing a series of fronts lately -- everyone says the weather improves in January.

Christmas is just a few days away -- so Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to all our readers.

Copan, Honduras

Sunday, November 18, we left the boat aroud 8:15 a.m. to meet Yen and Ron from Moonlight at one of the bus stations in Fronteras. The bus we planned to be on leaves at 9 a.m. and goes all the way to the Honduras border near Copan. After several hours of traveling through the countryside, a few of them with us standing, we were quickly checked into Honduras and whisked away in a "collectivo," a van that holds 12-15 people, and driven to the B&B where we had reservations.

Casa de Cafe, the B&B, is a breath of fresh air -- designed and built by an ex-pat New Yorker who has created a reasonably priced classy place. When we say classy, it means that the rooms are tastefully decorated and immaculate, the bed is comfortable, the windows are screened, and the bathroom has hot and cold running water with a large roomy shower. Plus linens include wash cloths and hand towels. Now folks, these things are taken for granted up north, but down here in the developing nations south of the border, these amenities are luxuries and not often found at all at any price.

So onto the reason for the trip. Copan is an important Mayan archaeological site. Most cruisers visit Tikal while in Guatemala. Tikal is noted for its grandeur; it has acres of huge, majestic pyramids and ruins. Copan, on the other hand, is known for its artistry, its sculpture, and most of all for having the most hierglyphics found in any ancient Mayan site. We spent two days there, the first roaming around the ruins in the Archaeological Park and the second visiting the two museums. The museum adjacent to the Park is built to international standards. The facility is gorgeous, the exhibits are beautifully designed and lit, and the written descriptions easy to read. The museum in the town is much smaller, howeve it houses an impressive collection of ceramics and other relics. The Peabody at Harvard and the Getty in LA have participated in the interpretation and conservation of some of the hierglyphics. If you have a chance, visit the Copan and the Peabody websites to get a small glimpse.

Our journey back to the Rio Dulce wasn't as efficient as the outbound. We took a collectivo to the border, another collectivo to Chiquimula, a town an hour away, however this collectivo crammed in 18 or more people. In Chiquimula we got on a bus that was supposedly going to the Rio Dulce (in fact the bus driver promised it would), but when we got to Morales, about 45 minutes short of the Rio, we got booted off and put in yet another collectivo. At one point the van had 23 people in it and the driver drove like a bat out of hell. After we arrived back in Fronteras, we agreed that we'd never again ride in one of those &*$#@! things.

November 22

We enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving dinner tonight with Ron and Yen at one of the marinas here in the Rio. Turkey was delicious, pumpkin pie, as well, and all the fixings made for a grand meal. A few more days of boat projects -- and hopefully we'll be on our way by December 1.