I arrived in Roatan on January 3, to lovely warm weather and blue seas. It was great leaving the big city behind me. I had met a lovely couple on the plane as well as a fellow who had just bought a boat and was staying at Fantasy Island as well. Small world.
Karen met me at the airport and we had a bit of a tour around the island while Cheryl was cleaning up the boat. We almost ran out of gas searching for a gas station. What a relief when we finally found one. Picked up a few groceries and wine then it was time to get to the boat and relax. So good to see the girls as it had been a while.
Tuesday we went snorkelling met the other boat people who were there and while Karen and Cheryl played a bit of volleyball I watched while the monkeys came down to try to get any goodies (including beer left in cans).
Wednesday found us snorkelling again but with Annie, Linda and Terry who were from 3 of the boats. Saw lots of lion fish amongst many others and feather dusters (a type of coral worm) which when you stir up the water close to it, it disappears. Volleyball was played and a sing a long at happy hour.
I am now officially known as “Bruce’s replacement” wherever we go.
Thursday we motored to West End and they let me “drive” the boat all the way there. Even though we couldn’t sail as there were no winds it was a lovely ride. Once we got there I was introduced to more boat people. Doug and Lisa from Highland Lights and Tim and Paula from Hooligan. Lovely people. More snorkelling was done and saw a green moray eel amongst the many corals and sea creatures. Doug and Lisa invited me to their boat for drinks (not the girls) and said they would pick me up. HAHA but we all get in the dingy and went over for nibbles and drinks.
Friday it was into town for a looksee around. Highland Lights and Hooligan were invited over that evening for a get together and gossip. A lovely time had by all. I also booked my first diving session at Roatan Divers.
Oh boy, Saturday and time for my Discover diving lesson while Karen and Cheryl rented tanks to go off to dive themselves. My instructor Richard was great and was very calm. I actually went down 50 ft. HOLY. It was amazing. Schools of blue tang, fabulous corals and array of fish. The weather couldn’t of been better and you could see everything so clearly. I was only supposed to go down 40 ft but he thought I did so well and we went a little deeper. I loved it. Time to book again for tomorrow. Now its back to the boat to watch the Saints game on the computer, a mandatory thing for the girls. It was a hoot even though they lost. (we lost contact as wifi was intermittent and we couldn’t sing our rooting song to continue to help them along). You had to be there for that one.
Sunday, more diving (yea). Went to the Blue channel this time for our dive. Down to 50 again but water not quite a clear. Richard told the girls he would take me anytime and that I was pretty good at it. His girlfriend Melanie took some pictures of me in my gear for me. Then it was time for a Champagne brunch with Doug, Lisa and John and Sharon from Sunbow. Then on to another place to watch the Greenbay packers play. Good game and they just managed to win it.
Monday, Wow a week has gone by already. Time sure flies by when you’re having fun.
Received a diving certificate from Roatan divers. How nice of them. Proof once again that I actually did it. Now it’s off to Coxen Hole, the capital by local bus to pick up a few trinkets. On the way back we stopped off at the butterfly farm where there really wasn’t too many butterflies but had some birds (Toucan’s, McCaw and few other animals). Was interesting but overpriced.
Fed our new found friend the ballyhoo (a local name) which is a type of gar. He really liked the chicken skin.
Tuesday we met up with Doug and Lisa again for lunch and to get gas. First place we hit was a Mexican place however the waiter didn’t remember our order or us so after a good 45 minutes when asked him if we could have our drinks. Guess what, he didn’t remember that either so we order them again. Poor Doug never did get his and we opted to pay for the drinks we did have and go elsewhere to eat. Good idea and I’m sure better food. Then it’s back to the boat for a water polo game with everyone. Another lovely day, what a hardship.
Wednesday found us walking the beach, again with Doug and Lisa, towards the West Bay where all the people from the cruise ships come in for the day. Wow what a crowd but the beach is lovely. Back to the boat for dinner and had an impromptu dance. What fun.
Thursday and Friday found us boat bound as winds and rains came in and prevented us from going anywhere. However reading and games kept us going. It’s always good when you’re with friends no matter what the weather. Looking forward to tomorrow when it’s supposed to get a little better by the afternoon. Will keep fingers crossed as it will soon be time to leave again, but at least I have great memories and hopefully new friends.
Saturday we thought would turn out nice but the weather forecast was wrong and we had another very breezy and turbulent water day, so it was another day inside .But by dinner time we were fed-up and since I had promised Karen and Cheryl a couple of meals out, we got a hold of the gang and said to heck with it. So despite the crappy weather and since everyone was sick of being boat bound for too long we all headed out for a lovely dinner at the Argentina Grill. It was unfortunate that Hooligan couldn’t make it as they got soaked from a earlier ride into town. Once our tummies were full we headed off to Rick’s Place to watch the Packers game since Lisa is a BIG packers fan. Had a fun time as usual and the Packers won big time. Didn’t get back until 10:50 pm way past the girls bedtime.
Sunday, the last whole day before I head back to Toronto and the cold. Boo. Headed back to Fantasy Island which is closer to the airport. Low and behold the weather actually got better and the seas flatter. A good sign I hope. Will be taking the girls out for my last night with them as a thank you for all their kindness during my stay. I will miss them as usual but know I will see them in the future. I say thanks to all their friends they introduced me to who treated me like one of the bunch during my time here. They made my time here even more special than it was. So adios amigos for the time being and may fair winds speed you to all of your new destinations.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Bruce's Christmas Vacation
December 20
Even before I arrived I knew the vacation was going to be good as the plane had to be de-iced twice even before we left Toronto. Then in Roatan security wanted to check my bag, it turned out they weren’t sure about the dark chocolate covered cashews, or at least that was the only thing they looked at.
Much driving and provisioning ensued, not necessarily in that order. How they expect to get up some of those streets when the snows hit I don’t know - or the rains. Banking the next day required turning off cell phones as ordered by armed guards, luckily I still don’t have a cell phone.
December 21/24
A short sail to Cayo Chochinos and my first snorkel. It is fascinating just watching the fish going about their own business. In places there are cleaning stations where larger fish get parasites removed by smaller ones. One of the animated films seems to have gotten their animation spot on.
Christmas decorations go up: icicles, snow globes (which were kinda neat) and Cheryl’s Ikea tree with the GrinchTM ornaments. We also were “forced” to watch the Grinch original. We tried to watch the Jim Carrey A Christmas Carol that I had brought down but for some reason it wouldn’t play on the DVD player. I’ll have to try at home which means I’ll have to watch a Christmas show before December 2011.
Tourtiere was excellent as usual. The banana ketchup (yes there is such a thing) was good too. Karen and my attempt at Mom’s shortbread fell short of our memories but we will try again in the future. Christmas Eve we had great appetizers’ at Lori and Hoss’ house on the hill with a great view of the bay and sunset.
December 25 Christmas Day
Santa arrived!!! Stockings are stuffed. He even wanted Cheryl to throw me off a cliff (Pirates of the Caribbean zip lines). I can finally showed Karen and Cheryl why my bags were so heavy coming down. Going home will be light by comparison.
Christmas dinner was great. Turkey cooked on a smoker basted with juices of a chicken, celery casserole, creamed spinach, ham, corn bread stuffing and other things too numerous to mention. Twelve people are there: Karen, Cheryl and I, Greg & Judy (our hosts), Lori & Hoss, & others. There was also a lot of wine (not too much I hope, if there is such a thing).
December 26 Boxing Day
We wake up to higher winds coming from precisely the wrong direction so we get everything ready for passage back to Mango Creek in Port Royal, Roatan. It was a very confusing passage (the waves not the crew) although my shins might not be the same for a while. No nausea but I wasn’t allowed below decks due to an incident on our passage out.
December 26 to 28
Some great snorkelling : a whole herd of jellyfish, lion fish and some amazing colours. A great dinner ashore at Mango Creek. Lobster/shrimp, key lime pie and chocolate cake.
December 29-Jan 1
An uneventful passage to French Harbour and we are back where the sailing adventure started!! Cheryl acted on the promise to throw me off a cliff. Actually I jumped, we were so high up it didn’t seem that bad an idea until the last zip. At the start you could see both sides of the island (sorry Isla).
Before the celebrations Jamie’s boat developed hydraulic steering problems and then engine problems. It was nice to see everyone pitching in to help out a fellow sailor. As a result of this we had to dingy in for shopping but I then got the adventure of being driven in a panel van back to Fantasy Island.
New Year’s celebration itself was disappointing but I don’t think I would have been able to stay up anyway as I had missed both my morning and afternoon naps!! The food was great – crab, shrimp etc. Due to rough seas we changed on shore into our good dud’s and stowed the wet stuff.
January 2
Getting ready to go into West Bay for supper at the Argentine restaurant but first I am being forced to write this blog!
Even before I arrived I knew the vacation was going to be good as the plane had to be de-iced twice even before we left Toronto. Then in Roatan security wanted to check my bag, it turned out they weren’t sure about the dark chocolate covered cashews, or at least that was the only thing they looked at.
Much driving and provisioning ensued, not necessarily in that order. How they expect to get up some of those streets when the snows hit I don’t know - or the rains. Banking the next day required turning off cell phones as ordered by armed guards, luckily I still don’t have a cell phone.
December 21/24
A short sail to Cayo Chochinos and my first snorkel. It is fascinating just watching the fish going about their own business. In places there are cleaning stations where larger fish get parasites removed by smaller ones. One of the animated films seems to have gotten their animation spot on.
Christmas decorations go up: icicles, snow globes (which were kinda neat) and Cheryl’s Ikea tree with the GrinchTM ornaments. We also were “forced” to watch the Grinch original. We tried to watch the Jim Carrey A Christmas Carol that I had brought down but for some reason it wouldn’t play on the DVD player. I’ll have to try at home which means I’ll have to watch a Christmas show before December 2011.
Tourtiere was excellent as usual. The banana ketchup (yes there is such a thing) was good too. Karen and my attempt at Mom’s shortbread fell short of our memories but we will try again in the future. Christmas Eve we had great appetizers’ at Lori and Hoss’ house on the hill with a great view of the bay and sunset.
December 25 Christmas Day
Santa arrived!!! Stockings are stuffed. He even wanted Cheryl to throw me off a cliff (Pirates of the Caribbean zip lines). I can finally showed Karen and Cheryl why my bags were so heavy coming down. Going home will be light by comparison.
Christmas dinner was great. Turkey cooked on a smoker basted with juices of a chicken, celery casserole, creamed spinach, ham, corn bread stuffing and other things too numerous to mention. Twelve people are there: Karen, Cheryl and I, Greg & Judy (our hosts), Lori & Hoss, & others. There was also a lot of wine (not too much I hope, if there is such a thing).
December 26 Boxing Day
We wake up to higher winds coming from precisely the wrong direction so we get everything ready for passage back to Mango Creek in Port Royal, Roatan. It was a very confusing passage (the waves not the crew) although my shins might not be the same for a while. No nausea but I wasn’t allowed below decks due to an incident on our passage out.
December 26 to 28
Some great snorkelling : a whole herd of jellyfish, lion fish and some amazing colours. A great dinner ashore at Mango Creek. Lobster/shrimp, key lime pie and chocolate cake.
December 29-Jan 1
An uneventful passage to French Harbour and we are back where the sailing adventure started!! Cheryl acted on the promise to throw me off a cliff. Actually I jumped, we were so high up it didn’t seem that bad an idea until the last zip. At the start you could see both sides of the island (sorry Isla).
Before the celebrations Jamie’s boat developed hydraulic steering problems and then engine problems. It was nice to see everyone pitching in to help out a fellow sailor. As a result of this we had to dingy in for shopping but I then got the adventure of being driven in a panel van back to Fantasy Island.
New Year’s celebration itself was disappointing but I don’t think I would have been able to stay up anyway as I had missed both my morning and afternoon naps!! The food was great – crab, shrimp etc. Due to rough seas we changed on shore into our good dud’s and stowed the wet stuff.
January 2
Getting ready to go into West Bay for supper at the Argentine restaurant but first I am being forced to write this blog!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Across the Bar - One More Time
Another Successful Passage Over the Bar With 1 Inch to Spare.
Well we finally untied our lines from our home at Mario;s marina in the Rio Dulce and removed all the cobwebs that keep us secure to the dock and headed down the river back to the sea. Travelling down the river is gorgeous . Our plan was to stop off at this place called Texan Bay for the night and leave the next morning at high tide around 9 in the morning but another boat radio us as we were meandering down the river and asked if we wanted to go early so we meet up with them in Texan Bay and started to get the boat ready to leave that day. Well about ½ an hour before we were to leave Cheryl stepped over the combing and her back went out……Karen of course said that is what happens when you get old. So the idea of bouncing around was not particularly appealing to Cheryl so we stayed until the next weather window.
Well we made it safe and sound to Roatan, with an average speed of over 6 knots. There had been some problems at an anchorage we passed so we ran dark along with Samarang . At one point we were going 8 knots with one sail up...of course that is when we had a squall go throw and it started to rain of course on Karen's watch . We had confused seas after that for about 4 hours and Karen got launch onto the table while she was trying to sleep. I thought she was practicing for some table dancing. She is okay just a sore toe.
Checking in to Roatan was interesting as the Port Authority Captain had taken the key to the filing cabinet that held all the check-in forms to the mainland so the assistant port captain went and got the local thief, that happened to be hang around by the police station, which is adjacent to the port authority office, to see if he could open the cabinet. He couldn’t get it open either, maybe that is why he hangs around the police station because he is not very good at being a thief. Well Karen came up with an brilliant idea why don’t you get the main land to fax you copy of the form….so they did… buy the way they don’t have a computer so that the assistant port captain manually typed the forms. So now we are all legal again for the next 3 months.
Well it is like old home week as there are 5 boats here from Mario's marina. So we are shopping, visiting old friends and now getting ready for Karen's brother to come down for Christmas.
We have not gone diving yet as it is so cooooold. But we can't complain we just got an e-mail with pictures from our friends in Ontario where they have 3 feet of snow. We think we like our type of weather better, at least you don't have to shovel it. By the way it was 69F last night…where are my socks????.
Well we finally untied our lines from our home at Mario;s marina in the Rio Dulce and removed all the cobwebs that keep us secure to the dock and headed down the river back to the sea. Travelling down the river is gorgeous . Our plan was to stop off at this place called Texan Bay for the night and leave the next morning at high tide around 9 in the morning but another boat radio us as we were meandering down the river and asked if we wanted to go early so we meet up with them in Texan Bay and started to get the boat ready to leave that day. Well about ½ an hour before we were to leave Cheryl stepped over the combing and her back went out……Karen of course said that is what happens when you get old. So the idea of bouncing around was not particularly appealing to Cheryl so we stayed until the next weather window.
Well we made it safe and sound to Roatan, with an average speed of over 6 knots. There had been some problems at an anchorage we passed so we ran dark along with Samarang . At one point we were going 8 knots with one sail up...of course that is when we had a squall go throw and it started to rain of course on Karen's watch . We had confused seas after that for about 4 hours and Karen got launch onto the table while she was trying to sleep. I thought she was practicing for some table dancing. She is okay just a sore toe.
Checking in to Roatan was interesting as the Port Authority Captain had taken the key to the filing cabinet that held all the check-in forms to the mainland so the assistant port captain went and got the local thief, that happened to be hang around by the police station, which is adjacent to the port authority office, to see if he could open the cabinet. He couldn’t get it open either, maybe that is why he hangs around the police station because he is not very good at being a thief. Well Karen came up with an brilliant idea why don’t you get the main land to fax you copy of the form….so they did… buy the way they don’t have a computer so that the assistant port captain manually typed the forms. So now we are all legal again for the next 3 months.
Well it is like old home week as there are 5 boats here from Mario's marina. So we are shopping, visiting old friends and now getting ready for Karen's brother to come down for Christmas.
We have not gone diving yet as it is so cooooold. But we can't complain we just got an e-mail with pictures from our friends in Ontario where they have 3 feet of snow. We think we like our type of weather better, at least you don't have to shovel it. By the way it was 69F last night…where are my socks????.
Friday, December 3, 2010
A Day on the Rio
The Rio Dulce, which means Sweet River, is where the cruisers go to play. They say it is like a cruiser’s day camp and they are right. There really isn’t a typical day for us, some days we had to be off the boat as work was being done in the main saloon and we would play a game of mar jongh, volleyball at 4 p.m. and a dip in the pool to cool off then of course happy hour to follow the hard day of fun. Other days we started working when we got up and stopped for volleyball, or worked through until 6pm.
Our first week on the river we tried to organize some boat work projects, like: getting our forward diesel tank replaced and general cleaning of the stainless steel. The marina offers workers at $4 US an hour to help out, so at that price Cheryl was very happy to give someone else the job of cleaning the stainless steel. Some jobs you do yourself: Karen and Cheryl spent the morning removing the foam around the old diesel tank. Then Marvin worked with Cheryl to finish the job as Karen and Cheryl had agreed to go for an afternoon sail with a couple, where the woman had not sailed before. This women is from Colombia and her and her husband just bought a catamaran and she had no idea on how to sail so Karen gave her a crash course for a half day.
To give you an idea of where we have been staying, it is about a 2 mile dingy ride into a little town call Frontiera where you can buy most anything from fruits and vegetables, meat to motorcycles. There also seems to be a large number of pharmacies, almost one at every corner. As our 2 dingy engines have been acting up we decided we are going to buy a new engine, so off we went to town and bought a new 8 hps Yamaha Enduro engine. What a difference 4 more hps makes, now we can go so fast Karen can dry her hair on the way into town. Zoom Zoom… Frontiera has a large bridge that spans the river, apparently it the longest and largest bridge in Central America so it has become a local attraction, when you reach the high point of the bridge most buses and even transport trucks stop to look around and take pictures, you can even buy juice and peanuts at the top as a local entrepreneur has set up a makeshift vendor stand. It is certainly worth the walk as the view from the top is amazing. There is always a lot of traffic in town, a great deal of it trafficking in cows in open trucks. So we don’t eat from the road side food stands.
For a bit of exercise you can go for a walk behind the marina. You walk through the village where most of the marina staff live. You also go through a rubber plantation. Great views from the top of the hills.
What do you do when you are tired of board games and volleyball well you get a bunch of cruisers from your Marina and go explore one of the side little rivers. So off we went covered in bugs spray, with camera in hand and a full tank of gas. 8 dinghies went exploring and we felt like we were bold new explorers trying to find a new world. The river was so thick with little water plants that we had to paddle for some of it and as one dingy blazed the path ahead, the plants would close up again in seconds it was like no one had gone ahead of you. It was quiet except for occasional sound of the Howler Monkeys saying “hi “.
Our next excursion was a trip to Guatemala City, a 5 hour bus ride on nice air conditioned bus almost as good as our buses at home and the roads have as many potholes as our too. Guatemala City is divided up into 25 zones with 4 million people living in the city…talk about traffic jams. The tourist zone which is where we spent most of our time has sidewalks made of Guatemalan green marble. The drivers are nuts here though, they have these raise speed bumps where pedestrians are supposed to cross but for the Guatemalan drivers the bumps are just there to launch their car in the air and if there is a person there who cares. Even the sidewalks are fair game for cars and motorcycles. So when you walk around, which we certainly did a lot, we had to have our eyes and ears open to make sure we did not get hit by a car or motorcycle. We don’t think they would really hit you but it sure looks like and we don’t want to test that assumption. We went to Guatemala City to do some shopping and exploring and sure enough we found most everything on our list even the things we thought we could only find in Canada. And guess what, it was way cheaper than Canada. They have large stores like a Costco or Walmart and a million hardware stores (okay only a few) and we probably went into all of them at least it seem like it. Like every city, probably everywhere there is McDonalds, but here they deliver!
We forgot to mention the people here are very friendly and helpful, an example of this was one time we were standing in front of a car dealership with a map and both of us thought we needed to go in two different directions, okay we were slightly lost, so this guy who overheard us asked if he could assist us, we of course where miles away from where we need to be so he asked if could give us a lift. He said his driver and car was right there and if we would like he could give us a lift. So we took him up on the offer. No we don’t usually go into strangers cars but this guy seem to very nice and he certainly looked like he had money. As we were driving he asked why where going to a hardware store and we explained that this what all cruisers do when they go into town. Not only did he give us a ride he recommend this great restaurant, he felt it is the best in all of Central America, called Don Mikel. He said make sure you are there by 6 pm or you will wait in line for hours. So after our day of shopping and getting our hair cut we went to the restaurant he recommended and boy was he right, the food was amazing and yes by 6:15 p.m. the line-up was huge.
We had been invited to spend a couple nights in Antigua with some cruisers that we know from our marina, who had rented a house for a month. Maggie and Paul picked us at our hotel in Guatemala City and off we went to Antiqua via taxi but first we need to stock up on some food and wine.
Antiqua was the capital of Central America but earthquakes and volcanoes damaged much of the city, many buildings have been rebuilt, but some of the churches had not been. The streets are cobble stone and very narrow with walls all around. But behind the walls is where the hiden treasures lie, usually you will find a house with beautiful courtyards and fountains and Maggie and Paul’s place was magnificent they a 2 story house with 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, kitchen, living room, formal dining room, library, sitting room and 3 courtyards all with fountains. Each bedroom had a fireplace and boy did you need it because Antiqua is in the mountains and it is cold up there at least for us, okay it was 55 F. We spent 3 lovely days with Maggie and Paul, eating out and exploring the sites. We even went to the local market where the average size of most of the people there was less than 5 feet so Karen felt tall. We wondered around the market and dreaming up ideas for appetizers and bought the ingredients for a fabulous appetizers night. Oh yeah the wine was good too. We said our goodbyes to Maggie and Paul and the city of Antiqua knowing that we will be back to spend more time in this beautiful city.
One of the cruisers friend (Jimmy on Blue Water Cat) organized a Full Moon party and race up to the lake about 4 miles beyond us. This is one of the advantages of being on the river, you don’t have to be stuck to the dock, as there are plenty of anchorages and rivers to explore. As we were heading home two days later we decided not to move Interlude up the river so we joined Jimmy on his catamaran, yes a boat with two hulls. We are still wondering why they need two hulls. We took our gennicker and had a great race. The party was held at place called Denny’s Beach were we stayed for 2 nights and played Karen played Mar Jongh and Cheryl entered a kayak race, played bocce, horseshoes and then it was time for volleyball of course! The next day we dauned our best riding duds and went for a horseback ride, that turned out to be about 4 hours and very aggressive, but a great way to see the countryside. The horses were better prepared for the ride then our butts.
Back to Canada. Getting back was not as easy as it should have been as Mexicana Air was going out of business. In fact we ended up on the last Mexicana Air flight, we did get to waggle our wings in a fly by of the Mexico City airport. Once in Canada something like 18 beds in 5 weeks! It was good to see everyone. We kicked off the visiting with a 50th birthday party for Cheryl. A great turn out and great food. We did the rounds of the doctors, visiting family and friends. Karen went to Winnipeg and Kenora and Cheryl went off to Edmonton. Cheryl had enough Dill Pickle chips to last her a few weeks, and as you can guess, she really didn’t share them. (Okay she shared a 1/3 of a bag)
Back to the Rio. We were to have had wood work done while we were away, needless to say that wasn’t done. And when we got back we found that the lid of the fridge had delaminated. The wood work and the repair work to the fridge is in our main saloon, so it made it very difficult to live on the boat while the workers where there. Basically our entire main saloon was in the V-birth. So 5 weeks later we have the new diesel tank in and filled. Good news is it holds 66 gals, which is more than before, so we are happy but the bad news is when Karen checking the tank she noticed that it was leaking! So our main saloon is only partially back together. Just in case you are wondering why we wanted a new diesel tank is the last one leak too!
We did celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. By the way there only 2 boats at our marina who are Canadians the rest are mostly from the states with an occasional Brit to add some flare. Everyone chipped in making their favourite holiday dish and marine provided the turkeys. Great food and great company!
We did a quick trip to Tikal (the largest Mayan city) and Yaxha, a few hours from the Rio. We went with cruisers from 3 other boats. We stayed in a lovely little hotel in Flores, an island town. You walk around Flores in about 20 minutes, which we did, then circled it again one street up. A very quaint, quiet town.
We had a guide for Tikal and Yaxha who did a great job explaining what life was like, he made sense of the ruins. Temple one from Tikal is used in the tourist brochures for Guatemala, and it is every bit as impressive in real life. Tikal once held some 150,000 people, only a small amount of it is excavated, which we are glad of as we walked and climbed all day. The views from the tops of the temples are amazing, but you have to remember not to look down. Two of our crew are birders and there are a lot of different birds to see, they added greatly to the trip.
Yaxha was a much smaller city, less was excavated, but it is still very impressive. It had a very different feel from Tikal, quieter, more laid back. Which is probably just about how it once was. We were there on Bruce’s birthday. Karen called from the top of temple 4! The ruins are in the middle of the jungle, so the only way you get cell phone reception is from the top of the tall temples!
The next party was Halloween. Cheryl dressed up as a can of deep woods off, the perfume of choice on the Rio. Karen came as a Gemini, an angle and devil. Everyone said that they voted for Cheryl’s costume as the best costume, but she didn’t win! Still a great time was had by all.
We continued with the boat work job list, then at the end of November we went off to Cuba to have a holiday with Karen’s brother Bruce. This was a special week for Karen’s parents as they often went to Cuba and this resort. The resort puts on a special week for all returners and Karen’s parent never missed it. Some of the returners at the hotel did not know that Karen’s Dad had passed away, so there were a lot of tears. This was also where we spread Dad’s ashes alongside Mom’s, and Champagne was added to the ground. It was a great week that went by way too fast. Cheryl is not tired of lobster, but had her fill. We even started to get tired of smoked salmon!
Quite a contrast coming back to Guatemala City. The traffic! In Cuba the roads are almost bare, a few horse drawn carts/wagons, a few bicycles, even bicycle taxis, but very few cars. Guatemala City on the other hand has a huge number of cars and therefore lots of traffic jams.
One day we had some 22 people from the marina go to a restaurant for prime rib. We went in the bigger power boats. The one we were in has a 175 outboard! You can see Cheryl enjoying the ride back.
We are planning on leaving the river on Monday for Roatan, maybe with a stop in Utilia, part of the Bay Islands of Honduras. We have the usual last minute things to do, plus we need to test the diesel tank for leaks again! TTFN
Our first week on the river we tried to organize some boat work projects, like: getting our forward diesel tank replaced and general cleaning of the stainless steel. The marina offers workers at $4 US an hour to help out, so at that price Cheryl was very happy to give someone else the job of cleaning the stainless steel. Some jobs you do yourself: Karen and Cheryl spent the morning removing the foam around the old diesel tank. Then Marvin worked with Cheryl to finish the job as Karen and Cheryl had agreed to go for an afternoon sail with a couple, where the woman had not sailed before. This women is from Colombia and her and her husband just bought a catamaran and she had no idea on how to sail so Karen gave her a crash course for a half day.
To give you an idea of where we have been staying, it is about a 2 mile dingy ride into a little town call Frontiera where you can buy most anything from fruits and vegetables, meat to motorcycles. There also seems to be a large number of pharmacies, almost one at every corner. As our 2 dingy engines have been acting up we decided we are going to buy a new engine, so off we went to town and bought a new 8 hps Yamaha Enduro engine. What a difference 4 more hps makes, now we can go so fast Karen can dry her hair on the way into town. Zoom Zoom… Frontiera has a large bridge that spans the river, apparently it the longest and largest bridge in Central America so it has become a local attraction, when you reach the high point of the bridge most buses and even transport trucks stop to look around and take pictures, you can even buy juice and peanuts at the top as a local entrepreneur has set up a makeshift vendor stand. It is certainly worth the walk as the view from the top is amazing. There is always a lot of traffic in town, a great deal of it trafficking in cows in open trucks. So we don’t eat from the road side food stands.
For a bit of exercise you can go for a walk behind the marina. You walk through the village where most of the marina staff live. You also go through a rubber plantation. Great views from the top of the hills.
What do you do when you are tired of board games and volleyball well you get a bunch of cruisers from your Marina and go explore one of the side little rivers. So off we went covered in bugs spray, with camera in hand and a full tank of gas. 8 dinghies went exploring and we felt like we were bold new explorers trying to find a new world. The river was so thick with little water plants that we had to paddle for some of it and as one dingy blazed the path ahead, the plants would close up again in seconds it was like no one had gone ahead of you. It was quiet except for occasional sound of the Howler Monkeys saying “hi “.
Our next excursion was a trip to Guatemala City, a 5 hour bus ride on nice air conditioned bus almost as good as our buses at home and the roads have as many potholes as our too. Guatemala City is divided up into 25 zones with 4 million people living in the city…talk about traffic jams. The tourist zone which is where we spent most of our time has sidewalks made of Guatemalan green marble. The drivers are nuts here though, they have these raise speed bumps where pedestrians are supposed to cross but for the Guatemalan drivers the bumps are just there to launch their car in the air and if there is a person there who cares. Even the sidewalks are fair game for cars and motorcycles. So when you walk around, which we certainly did a lot, we had to have our eyes and ears open to make sure we did not get hit by a car or motorcycle. We don’t think they would really hit you but it sure looks like and we don’t want to test that assumption. We went to Guatemala City to do some shopping and exploring and sure enough we found most everything on our list even the things we thought we could only find in Canada. And guess what, it was way cheaper than Canada. They have large stores like a Costco or Walmart and a million hardware stores (okay only a few) and we probably went into all of them at least it seem like it. Like every city, probably everywhere there is McDonalds, but here they deliver!
We forgot to mention the people here are very friendly and helpful, an example of this was one time we were standing in front of a car dealership with a map and both of us thought we needed to go in two different directions, okay we were slightly lost, so this guy who overheard us asked if he could assist us, we of course where miles away from where we need to be so he asked if could give us a lift. He said his driver and car was right there and if we would like he could give us a lift. So we took him up on the offer. No we don’t usually go into strangers cars but this guy seem to very nice and he certainly looked like he had money. As we were driving he asked why where going to a hardware store and we explained that this what all cruisers do when they go into town. Not only did he give us a ride he recommend this great restaurant, he felt it is the best in all of Central America, called Don Mikel. He said make sure you are there by 6 pm or you will wait in line for hours. So after our day of shopping and getting our hair cut we went to the restaurant he recommended and boy was he right, the food was amazing and yes by 6:15 p.m. the line-up was huge.
We had been invited to spend a couple nights in Antigua with some cruisers that we know from our marina, who had rented a house for a month. Maggie and Paul picked us at our hotel in Guatemala City and off we went to Antiqua via taxi but first we need to stock up on some food and wine.
Antiqua was the capital of Central America but earthquakes and volcanoes damaged much of the city, many buildings have been rebuilt, but some of the churches had not been. The streets are cobble stone and very narrow with walls all around. But behind the walls is where the hiden treasures lie, usually you will find a house with beautiful courtyards and fountains and Maggie and Paul’s place was magnificent they a 2 story house with 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, kitchen, living room, formal dining room, library, sitting room and 3 courtyards all with fountains. Each bedroom had a fireplace and boy did you need it because Antiqua is in the mountains and it is cold up there at least for us, okay it was 55 F. We spent 3 lovely days with Maggie and Paul, eating out and exploring the sites. We even went to the local market where the average size of most of the people there was less than 5 feet so Karen felt tall. We wondered around the market and dreaming up ideas for appetizers and bought the ingredients for a fabulous appetizers night. Oh yeah the wine was good too. We said our goodbyes to Maggie and Paul and the city of Antiqua knowing that we will be back to spend more time in this beautiful city.
One of the cruisers friend (Jimmy on Blue Water Cat) organized a Full Moon party and race up to the lake about 4 miles beyond us. This is one of the advantages of being on the river, you don’t have to be stuck to the dock, as there are plenty of anchorages and rivers to explore. As we were heading home two days later we decided not to move Interlude up the river so we joined Jimmy on his catamaran, yes a boat with two hulls. We are still wondering why they need two hulls. We took our gennicker and had a great race. The party was held at place called Denny’s Beach were we stayed for 2 nights and played Karen played Mar Jongh and Cheryl entered a kayak race, played bocce, horseshoes and then it was time for volleyball of course! The next day we dauned our best riding duds and went for a horseback ride, that turned out to be about 4 hours and very aggressive, but a great way to see the countryside. The horses were better prepared for the ride then our butts.
Back to Canada. Getting back was not as easy as it should have been as Mexicana Air was going out of business. In fact we ended up on the last Mexicana Air flight, we did get to waggle our wings in a fly by of the Mexico City airport. Once in Canada something like 18 beds in 5 weeks! It was good to see everyone. We kicked off the visiting with a 50th birthday party for Cheryl. A great turn out and great food. We did the rounds of the doctors, visiting family and friends. Karen went to Winnipeg and Kenora and Cheryl went off to Edmonton. Cheryl had enough Dill Pickle chips to last her a few weeks, and as you can guess, she really didn’t share them. (Okay she shared a 1/3 of a bag)
Back to the Rio. We were to have had wood work done while we were away, needless to say that wasn’t done. And when we got back we found that the lid of the fridge had delaminated. The wood work and the repair work to the fridge is in our main saloon, so it made it very difficult to live on the boat while the workers where there. Basically our entire main saloon was in the V-birth. So 5 weeks later we have the new diesel tank in and filled. Good news is it holds 66 gals, which is more than before, so we are happy but the bad news is when Karen checking the tank she noticed that it was leaking! So our main saloon is only partially back together. Just in case you are wondering why we wanted a new diesel tank is the last one leak too!
We did celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. By the way there only 2 boats at our marina who are Canadians the rest are mostly from the states with an occasional Brit to add some flare. Everyone chipped in making their favourite holiday dish and marine provided the turkeys. Great food and great company!
We did a quick trip to Tikal (the largest Mayan city) and Yaxha, a few hours from the Rio. We went with cruisers from 3 other boats. We stayed in a lovely little hotel in Flores, an island town. You walk around Flores in about 20 minutes, which we did, then circled it again one street up. A very quaint, quiet town.
We had a guide for Tikal and Yaxha who did a great job explaining what life was like, he made sense of the ruins. Temple one from Tikal is used in the tourist brochures for Guatemala, and it is every bit as impressive in real life. Tikal once held some 150,000 people, only a small amount of it is excavated, which we are glad of as we walked and climbed all day. The views from the tops of the temples are amazing, but you have to remember not to look down. Two of our crew are birders and there are a lot of different birds to see, they added greatly to the trip.
Yaxha was a much smaller city, less was excavated, but it is still very impressive. It had a very different feel from Tikal, quieter, more laid back. Which is probably just about how it once was. We were there on Bruce’s birthday. Karen called from the top of temple 4! The ruins are in the middle of the jungle, so the only way you get cell phone reception is from the top of the tall temples!
The next party was Halloween. Cheryl dressed up as a can of deep woods off, the perfume of choice on the Rio. Karen came as a Gemini, an angle and devil. Everyone said that they voted for Cheryl’s costume as the best costume, but she didn’t win! Still a great time was had by all.
We continued with the boat work job list, then at the end of November we went off to Cuba to have a holiday with Karen’s brother Bruce. This was a special week for Karen’s parents as they often went to Cuba and this resort. The resort puts on a special week for all returners and Karen’s parent never missed it. Some of the returners at the hotel did not know that Karen’s Dad had passed away, so there were a lot of tears. This was also where we spread Dad’s ashes alongside Mom’s, and Champagne was added to the ground. It was a great week that went by way too fast. Cheryl is not tired of lobster, but had her fill. We even started to get tired of smoked salmon!
Quite a contrast coming back to Guatemala City. The traffic! In Cuba the roads are almost bare, a few horse drawn carts/wagons, a few bicycles, even bicycle taxis, but very few cars. Guatemala City on the other hand has a huge number of cars and therefore lots of traffic jams.
One day we had some 22 people from the marina go to a restaurant for prime rib. We went in the bigger power boats. The one we were in has a 175 outboard! You can see Cheryl enjoying the ride back.
We are planning on leaving the river on Monday for Roatan, maybe with a stop in Utilia, part of the Bay Islands of Honduras. We have the usual last minute things to do, plus we need to test the diesel tank for leaks again! TTFN
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Attack of the Bumble Bees
After spending a couple of days in No Name Point Belize where we had our nightly entertainment of a spectacular lighting shows we started our 35 mile motor down towards the Rio Dulce. As we made our way down between the reef and the coast we started to notice a few bees swarming us we were not too concerned until the numbers started to increase dramatically. Then the bees started to use our boat as a resting station. Karen armed with an old rag started to swat them away after a couple of hours of swatting we left the bee path and anchored for the night of the coast of Honduras.
Early the next morning we hauled anchor and made our way the famous bar in Livingston Guatemala. No we are not going drink at a bar first thing in the morning and no we have not gone off to Law school. The bar is a sand bar at the mouth of the Rio Dulce, it is famous because for those boat like ours you need high tide to go over it. So that morning armed with everyone’s waypoints plotted into our GPS we made our way nervously towards the bar. The theory is that you line up your course and go full speed ahead at near high tide and if you touch bottom you have enough momentum to get you over or really stuck. As we are approaching and are ready to line up for our run a group of fishing boats decide to drag there nets across our path. You have to understand we only have about 1 hour before we will lose the high tide and we would have to wait another day. After circling around and probably Cheryl’s evil eye scared the fishing boats away and off we went. As much as we are trained to go slow when you know it is getting swallow we toss caution to the wind and went full bore watching the GPS and the depth sounder. Yeah we made it with a few inches to spare.
We had made arrangement with this guy that all the cruiser use to organize all the officials need to check in to Guatemala and as soon as we radio he brought our a herd of officials. The whole process took 45 minutes with many forms to be signed and we were then free to come to shore and pay the fees. After heading to the bank and paying our fees we were giving a welcome package from the Port Captain. This was one of the easies and nicest experiences we have had checking in, although far from the cheapest.
Once you raise you anchor in Livingston you start your meander down a winding river with tall pine, palms and sheer cliffs with an occasional howler monkey hiding behind a tree branch saying “Welcome to the Guatemala”. We stopped of at an anchorage called Texan Bay where the Texan flag flew high above the trees. The Rio Dulce is a fresh water river so we both jumped in for a fresh water swim. It was like swimming in the northern lakes in Ontario except a lot warmer. Even Interlude enjoyed the fresh water as she had never been in fresh water before.
The next morning we hauled anchor to head to our new home for the hurricane season. We did notice that the navigation marks a little on the rustic side. In fact we have discovered that poles or stakes with the Pelicans on them are really the navigation marks marking the route up the river. We also discover if there is a Pelican on the pole which usually there was, if you look at the way he is facing he is showing you where the swallow water is. Who needs charts when you have a Pelican?
We arrived at Mario’s Marina to warm hug and kiss from the owner and some of our friends we have met over the past year. We knew we would have fun here because before we had our boat secure we were invited to play volleyball.
As with most hurricane seasons it is the time to spend fixing things, not that you don’t do boat work on anchor, but now you attack the big jobs. We have 2 leaky water tanks and a leaky diesel tank, those are priorities. Last season we dealt some big items like the water maker and electric windless. This season is about tarting Interlude up. She is going to be 30 next year and deserves a make over. New wood in the main saloon, varnish all doors, repaint walls and floors.
Early the next morning we hauled anchor and made our way the famous bar in Livingston Guatemala. No we are not going drink at a bar first thing in the morning and no we have not gone off to Law school. The bar is a sand bar at the mouth of the Rio Dulce, it is famous because for those boat like ours you need high tide to go over it. So that morning armed with everyone’s waypoints plotted into our GPS we made our way nervously towards the bar. The theory is that you line up your course and go full speed ahead at near high tide and if you touch bottom you have enough momentum to get you over or really stuck. As we are approaching and are ready to line up for our run a group of fishing boats decide to drag there nets across our path. You have to understand we only have about 1 hour before we will lose the high tide and we would have to wait another day. After circling around and probably Cheryl’s evil eye scared the fishing boats away and off we went. As much as we are trained to go slow when you know it is getting swallow we toss caution to the wind and went full bore watching the GPS and the depth sounder. Yeah we made it with a few inches to spare.
We had made arrangement with this guy that all the cruiser use to organize all the officials need to check in to Guatemala and as soon as we radio he brought our a herd of officials. The whole process took 45 minutes with many forms to be signed and we were then free to come to shore and pay the fees. After heading to the bank and paying our fees we were giving a welcome package from the Port Captain. This was one of the easies and nicest experiences we have had checking in, although far from the cheapest.
Once you raise you anchor in Livingston you start your meander down a winding river with tall pine, palms and sheer cliffs with an occasional howler monkey hiding behind a tree branch saying “Welcome to the Guatemala”. We stopped of at an anchorage called Texan Bay where the Texan flag flew high above the trees. The Rio Dulce is a fresh water river so we both jumped in for a fresh water swim. It was like swimming in the northern lakes in Ontario except a lot warmer. Even Interlude enjoyed the fresh water as she had never been in fresh water before.
The next morning we hauled anchor to head to our new home for the hurricane season. We did notice that the navigation marks a little on the rustic side. In fact we have discovered that poles or stakes with the Pelicans on them are really the navigation marks marking the route up the river. We also discover if there is a Pelican on the pole which usually there was, if you look at the way he is facing he is showing you where the swallow water is. Who needs charts when you have a Pelican?
We arrived at Mario’s Marina to warm hug and kiss from the owner and some of our friends we have met over the past year. We knew we would have fun here because before we had our boat secure we were invited to play volleyball.
As with most hurricane seasons it is the time to spend fixing things, not that you don’t do boat work on anchor, but now you attack the big jobs. We have 2 leaky water tanks and a leaky diesel tank, those are priorities. Last season we dealt some big items like the water maker and electric windless. This season is about tarting Interlude up. She is going to be 30 next year and deserves a make over. New wood in the main saloon, varnish all doors, repaint walls and floors.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Belize Again
The plan was for a downwind passage, from Roatan to Placencia Belize and it was!!! The surprise to us was we even got to sail most of our way, while during the night we watched an amazing lightning show off the coast of Honduras.
We arrived on a Friday afternoon at Placencia, a cute little village with small resorts, restaurants and the main street is really a sidewalk. We opted not to check in right away as we needed to move our boat over to a big shipping port call Big Creek, where they ship bananas to Great Britain. We went to shore to get the lay of the land and money on our Belize phone. We hung around the boat on Saturday and Sunday, and then moved Interlude to Big Creek to check in. Big Creek has a well marked shipping channel through the cays and shallows where you then meander up a mangrove river for ¾ of a mile to a large shipping port. After taking a taxi ride into town (25 Belize or 12 US) we checked into Immigration another (50 Belize or 25 US) this was a boarding fee although they did not board us???? Then back to the port to check in to customs and were we paid nothing. Then we needed to go to the agriculture and health office and pay another boarding fee of 50 Belize, again he didn’t board us. We were then told that we will need to pay a port authority fee when we leave of 10 Belize per day, (which we don’t know if that is per person or for the boat) but the toothless port authority guy said if come and find him he will give us a deal. Fun and Games.
Back in Placencia we had a mission to check out the restaurants so Cheryl could take Karen out for her birthday dinner as we missed doing it when we were in Roatan as we were both feeling a little under the weather. We found out it was lobster season and Placenia was having a lobster festival, Cheryl was ecstatic! We had a lovely birthday dinner, 4 courses all made with lobster at Rumfish y Vino plus a few bottles of wine. And Karen didn’t even break Cheryl budget.
We discovered the Gelato parlor that everyone told us about and boy were they were right … “It was worth the drive/sail to Placencia”. We had to try a different flavor of Gelato every time we went to shore, it is a rough life but some one has to do the tasting for future reference and quality control.
During the lobster festival tropical storm, soon to be hurricane, Alex was forming and we needed to move to a safe harbour, so along with another boat, Triumphant, we headed into Big Creek. We dropped anchor in the mangrove river and had a peaceful night while we listen to the weather reports and heard that the tropical storm hit just 60 miles north of us. The cruise ship tenders from Belize City and another boat joined us. After having a calm night Triumphant and Interlude left Big Creek to go back to Placenia a 3 mile passage. On our way back we spotted 2 dolphins, so we knew we were okay.
As we came into Placencia anchorage we saw that Litbe, a 40 odd foot ketch, had gone aground and some of the local fishing boats where on shore or had sunk and where being bailed out. We meet the guy on Litbe and offer our help to get him back afloat. The next day along with Triumphant and a Canadian couple (Jim and Caroline) tried to free Litbe. We put out an anchor attached the main halyard and tried to heel her over enough to get her off, but we were not successful. So the owner decided to call in Tug boat to get him out. The next day a tug arrived and within 30 minutes he was a float. It is interesting to note that the Fortress 23 (the anchor) was so deeply embedded that the tug had to use her engine to break the anchor’s hold! (We have the same anchor!)
We enjoyed many meals and drinks with Jim and Caroline, they were great company and we never ran short of words. We watched the FIFA world cup with a young couple (Tadd and Lindsey) who were running charters for Trade winds and picked there brains for waypoints and good anchorages around the cays.
As for the boat work stuff, of course our 9 month old flexible water tank leaked yet again, after Cheryl took the tank out Karen was on a mission to find the hole, she found a small hole along the seam and after a repair job we tried our luck again. Nope we sprang 2 more leaks…needless to say Cheryl had some rather colourful words to say. Repair number 2 in less then 2 days. You guessed it leaks still. Karen did some sewing of mosquitoes netting and some whipping of lines as Cheryl continued to fight with the leaky water tank. Just to add some fun to our life our 4 hp outboard decided to not work again so we tried our 3.5 hp. No luck there either, so we rowed. We ended up going to a repair shop and as they did not have the time to work on our engine we took it apart and clean the carburetor and added new gasket material and it seems to work again, all the while 4 of the mechanics looked on and where amused as 2 girls took apart an engine and appeared to know what they were doing. Fooled them.
We spied a great weather forecast, so we headed out to Ranguana Cay which is located about 15 miles from the mainland and is nestled beside the barrier reef. With the waypoints we had from Tadd and clear skies it was an easy passage. Except for the fact that the depth sounder kept showing .8 of a meter of water below the hull (we need 1.8 meters to float!) We don’t know if it was Felix (our remora) or seaweed, as it happened at the same places on the way back. After picked up a mooring ball in Ranguana Cay, and securing an extra line as the mooring line showed significant chafing we hopped into the water to explore the reef.
Ranguana Cay is privately owned, with a few cottages on it and a restaurant and bar. We snorkeled up to the bar and made arrangements for dinner, you guessed it, Lobster! Dinner was nice, but a little pricy. We shared our anchorage with 2 of local Belize fishing boats, the mother ship is about 24 feet long, where they store the fish and the provisions and somewhere in that boat 5-7 guys sleep at night. Along with the mother ship there are 5-7 little 8 foot boats that the guys go out in all day to catch the fish either by hand line or free diving for lobster or conch. Once the mother ship is full of fish they take the catch to Belize City to sell at the market.
Well we didn’t catch any fish but we did snorkeled each day for a couple of hours and on our last day just around our boat, a large turtle, southern ray and tarpon and the usual snappers, angles and parrotfish came to say “see you next time”.
Since it hurricane season we have been watching the weather and on Sunday morning the winds freshened from the west, so our little anchorage out in the cays was not the place to be. Nor would many of the other Cays be. So we headed back to Placencia, which is sheltered from the west and we have easy access to weather forecasts.
This Friday we will be checking out of Belize but hope to stop at a few cays or harbours along the way before we head into the Rio Dulce for Hurricane season. And maybe by then Cheryl will have the flexible water tank fixed or she will have tossed it over board.
We arrived on a Friday afternoon at Placencia, a cute little village with small resorts, restaurants and the main street is really a sidewalk. We opted not to check in right away as we needed to move our boat over to a big shipping port call Big Creek, where they ship bananas to Great Britain. We went to shore to get the lay of the land and money on our Belize phone. We hung around the boat on Saturday and Sunday, and then moved Interlude to Big Creek to check in. Big Creek has a well marked shipping channel through the cays and shallows where you then meander up a mangrove river for ¾ of a mile to a large shipping port. After taking a taxi ride into town (25 Belize or 12 US) we checked into Immigration another (50 Belize or 25 US) this was a boarding fee although they did not board us???? Then back to the port to check in to customs and were we paid nothing. Then we needed to go to the agriculture and health office and pay another boarding fee of 50 Belize, again he didn’t board us. We were then told that we will need to pay a port authority fee when we leave of 10 Belize per day, (which we don’t know if that is per person or for the boat) but the toothless port authority guy said if come and find him he will give us a deal. Fun and Games.
Back in Placencia we had a mission to check out the restaurants so Cheryl could take Karen out for her birthday dinner as we missed doing it when we were in Roatan as we were both feeling a little under the weather. We found out it was lobster season and Placenia was having a lobster festival, Cheryl was ecstatic! We had a lovely birthday dinner, 4 courses all made with lobster at Rumfish y Vino plus a few bottles of wine. And Karen didn’t even break Cheryl budget.
We discovered the Gelato parlor that everyone told us about and boy were they were right … “It was worth the drive/sail to Placencia”. We had to try a different flavor of Gelato every time we went to shore, it is a rough life but some one has to do the tasting for future reference and quality control.
During the lobster festival tropical storm, soon to be hurricane, Alex was forming and we needed to move to a safe harbour, so along with another boat, Triumphant, we headed into Big Creek. We dropped anchor in the mangrove river and had a peaceful night while we listen to the weather reports and heard that the tropical storm hit just 60 miles north of us. The cruise ship tenders from Belize City and another boat joined us. After having a calm night Triumphant and Interlude left Big Creek to go back to Placenia a 3 mile passage. On our way back we spotted 2 dolphins, so we knew we were okay.
As we came into Placencia anchorage we saw that Litbe, a 40 odd foot ketch, had gone aground and some of the local fishing boats where on shore or had sunk and where being bailed out. We meet the guy on Litbe and offer our help to get him back afloat. The next day along with Triumphant and a Canadian couple (Jim and Caroline) tried to free Litbe. We put out an anchor attached the main halyard and tried to heel her over enough to get her off, but we were not successful. So the owner decided to call in Tug boat to get him out. The next day a tug arrived and within 30 minutes he was a float. It is interesting to note that the Fortress 23 (the anchor) was so deeply embedded that the tug had to use her engine to break the anchor’s hold! (We have the same anchor!)
We enjoyed many meals and drinks with Jim and Caroline, they were great company and we never ran short of words. We watched the FIFA world cup with a young couple (Tadd and Lindsey) who were running charters for Trade winds and picked there brains for waypoints and good anchorages around the cays.
As for the boat work stuff, of course our 9 month old flexible water tank leaked yet again, after Cheryl took the tank out Karen was on a mission to find the hole, she found a small hole along the seam and after a repair job we tried our luck again. Nope we sprang 2 more leaks…needless to say Cheryl had some rather colourful words to say. Repair number 2 in less then 2 days. You guessed it leaks still. Karen did some sewing of mosquitoes netting and some whipping of lines as Cheryl continued to fight with the leaky water tank. Just to add some fun to our life our 4 hp outboard decided to not work again so we tried our 3.5 hp. No luck there either, so we rowed. We ended up going to a repair shop and as they did not have the time to work on our engine we took it apart and clean the carburetor and added new gasket material and it seems to work again, all the while 4 of the mechanics looked on and where amused as 2 girls took apart an engine and appeared to know what they were doing. Fooled them.
We spied a great weather forecast, so we headed out to Ranguana Cay which is located about 15 miles from the mainland and is nestled beside the barrier reef. With the waypoints we had from Tadd and clear skies it was an easy passage. Except for the fact that the depth sounder kept showing .8 of a meter of water below the hull (we need 1.8 meters to float!) We don’t know if it was Felix (our remora) or seaweed, as it happened at the same places on the way back. After picked up a mooring ball in Ranguana Cay, and securing an extra line as the mooring line showed significant chafing we hopped into the water to explore the reef.
Ranguana Cay is privately owned, with a few cottages on it and a restaurant and bar. We snorkeled up to the bar and made arrangements for dinner, you guessed it, Lobster! Dinner was nice, but a little pricy. We shared our anchorage with 2 of local Belize fishing boats, the mother ship is about 24 feet long, where they store the fish and the provisions and somewhere in that boat 5-7 guys sleep at night. Along with the mother ship there are 5-7 little 8 foot boats that the guys go out in all day to catch the fish either by hand line or free diving for lobster or conch. Once the mother ship is full of fish they take the catch to Belize City to sell at the market.
Well we didn’t catch any fish but we did snorkeled each day for a couple of hours and on our last day just around our boat, a large turtle, southern ray and tarpon and the usual snappers, angles and parrotfish came to say “see you next time”.
Since it hurricane season we have been watching the weather and on Sunday morning the winds freshened from the west, so our little anchorage out in the cays was not the place to be. Nor would many of the other Cays be. So we headed back to Placencia, which is sheltered from the west and we have easy access to weather forecasts.
This Friday we will be checking out of Belize but hope to stop at a few cays or harbours along the way before we head into the Rio Dulce for Hurricane season. And maybe by then Cheryl will have the flexible water tank fixed or she will have tossed it over board.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
We Are All Quacked Up
We arrived in the entrance to French Harbour, a beautiful downwind sail from Port Royal, all of 10 miles, Jami, our friend who owns a live aboard dive boat, came out in his dinghy to greet us and welcome us back. After tieing up to a mooring and putting the boat back together after our long sail and yes, we did the 10 miles all in one day. And even got the forecast. We went off to town with Jami for lunch and some shopping for the pot luck dinner the following night.
So what do a bunch of cruisers do when they get together?:
Then we will be in the Rio Dulce in Guatemala for the hurricane season.
So what do a bunch of cruisers do when they get together?:
- Pot luck dinner on Saturday.
- Sunday it was the race of the century! OK, for the day, yes, it was a rubber ducky race. Complete with racing stats and pre track viewing. Well, Pumpkin Duck and Huey Duck got off to a slow start. It didn't help that they spent most of the race upside down. But somewhere along the line they decided to stop looking at the bottom of the sea and poked their beaks up to the sky and started to float on strongly and placed a respectable 7th and 10th. Karen's duck, Dockwise, a mother with 3 babies was busy trying to find her lost chick under the sea, never righted herself and came in 47th of 48! (Even 5200 can't hold a wandering duckling forever!) After the award ceremonies the ducks where put back in their PADDUCK and the celebration continued. Next time we will study the race stats and course conditions more closely!
- Well it is almost time for us to go off for dinner with the gang at a local restaurant, slow roasted brisket and all the fixings, yum.
Then we will be in the Rio Dulce in Guatemala for the hurricane season.
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