Cayo District

While January weather stayed too bad for caye hopping it didn't deter a little inland visit. Spurred by the need to go to the the US Embassy in Belmopan, the capital of Belize, we decided to spend a little time in Cayo District. Belize is small (170 miles long, 68 miles at its widest; 8,967 sq miles) and the country is divided into six districts. To the North, bordering on Mexico, are Corozal and Orange Walk districts. Orange Walk Town is where Walter, Roy's dad, was from. South and East, bordering the Caribbean, is Belize District. Belize City is on the coast. Roy's mom, Buffy, was from there. It's due to the dangers and damage from hurricanes to Belize City that the capital was moved inland to Belmopan. Belmopan and San Ignacio Town are in Cayo District which is in the centre of the country to the West and borders Guatemala. 
To continue the geography lesson - Along the coast South of Belize District is Stann Creek District and 3 towns Dangriga, Hopkins and Placencia all face the Caribbean. Farthest South, is Toledo District and its main town, Punta Gorda or PG as its affectionately called. Guatemala wraps around to border Toledo District to the South. Its this area particularly that Guatemala claims as its own.

Cayo District is visually striking. The Maya Mountains with its plateaus and rivers make this district very different from the coastal plains and cayes we see from Wahoo's decks. Here you find jungle, rain forest, hidden caves and water falls. It is especially beautiful along Mountain Pine Ridge. My first visit to Belize in 1972 included a visit to Mountain Pine Ridge and I've never been sure if I fell in love with Roy or his country first. Thinking back on that trip I'm astounded at all we did! Thanks to Walter and Buffy I saw my first Mayan ruin at Altun Ha, had a private visit with Prime Minister George Price in the new capital of Belmopan, swam in the inland Blue Hole before it was a tourist destination, saw crystal blue water for the first time in my life, took a dory from Mango Creek to Placencia and decided to move in with Roy. Wow!!

Skyflower Hotel, Belmopan

Our first night had to be in Belmopan. We needed to be at the US Embassy for an 8am appointment to get some papers notarized "on US soil" so John Edward can continue handling our finances as we sail.

US embassy, from afar. (I couldn't resist)

We stayed in a small hotel run by a British - Belizean couple. He'd grown up traveling with his parents to British colonies and she was from Belmopan. The hotel was clean, breakfast was delicious and most important, it was near the embassy. I have to admit to some unease about my country here. The US embassy is overkill. Its BY FAR the largest building in the entire country and, word is, its even bigger underground. It dwarfs the Belize government buildings and the other embassies. Not by a little, you could expect that, but by a whole lot! (It's the second largest in the world. Why?) Of course, you can't park in the parking lot but must park several blocks away. Of course, you can't take pictures inside the embassy but you also can't take pictures outside! (Guess they never heard of Google Earth)

But all in all it was an interesting experience. I've never been in any Embassy though I used to love walking by the old colonial building that housed our Consulate in Belize City (now torn down).  Inside the heavy, (did I say HEAVY) massive doors everyone was polite and helpful, even the "walk of shame" through the metal detectors was fine. We only waited about an hour along with 3 other couples who had 8am appointments and were on our way much sooner than we expected.

Hawksworth Bridge into San Ignacio

Maya Mountain Lodge

We stayed at Maya Mountain Lodge right outside of San Ignacio. It was on a dirt road, as is so much of Cayo district. We spent a few hours strolling around San Ignacio eating ice cream and talking to the tour companies. They were offering horseback riding through the mountains, cave tubing, hiking tours to rivers and waterfalls and trips to the several Mayan sites that are in Cayo, like Caracol and Xunantunich. We've done much of that way before Belize was the major tourist spot it is today. It was interesting seeing how much has been developed yet all in a low key, fairly eco-friendly way.

The lodge was a perfect jungle hideaway with a large palapa overlooking gardens filled with tropical plants where guests met for breakfast and dinner. All delicious, or was it just the mountain air? We enjoyed meeting the other guests who filled each day with the tours we had seen on sale and returned each evening tired but happy and excited about their day.

We opted to go it alone and found plenty -
Our attempt to drive up to Mountain Pine Ridge could have been a disappointment as the roads were in terrible shape after two months of rain. Our rental car protested, we had no choice but listen. The road led us past a butterfly farm and so, to oblige the car, we turned in to see what was there. The grounds showed off the natural beauty of croton, hibiscus, large tree ferns and more with hummingbirds swarming around flowers and feeders. Inside the butterfly pavilion we got a tour of the operation from feeding to hatching to fluttering about.





Another day we followed the road up past the lodge to search for a coconut oil operation we'd been told about. What we found was amazing -

Mayan Ceremonial Site 

A Mayan family was building their own Mayan ceremonial site. The father, the eldest son from a long line of Mayan healers, his brother and son have been creating this site for 28 years! The whole area is on the side of a hill in the mountains. They have carved Mayan gods, small stelae, stone steps, exposed and hidden altars; a wonder to behold. But what sticks with me is the 16 year old son who was happily cutting stone steps with an ax and a machete when he wasn't hauling limestone rocks in a wheelbarrow. The father and healer told us about the healing ceremony that had been held for a young girl that morning at dawn. He insisted that it was foolish for the world to think the Mayan had disappeared as here he was doing what his family had always done. We were led around the site on our extensive private tour, $4 Belize per person, and experienced the excitement that this man feels about his life's work.

Hard at work

Eventually we did find the coconut oil production site and here was another person following a life dream. This was a young man who, as a child, had helped his mother make coconut oil for the family. He believes coconut oil offers health benefits, loves the way every part of the coconut can be used and so figured out a way to make a living from this passion. He has a wife and two small children and now may have a sponsor. A lady from Canada is looking for markets. We discussed ways to ship the oil other than airfreight which is ruinously expensive for such a small operation.

 Here's the process: After husking you have to use your machete to open the coconut. Next you have to grate the meat of the coconut.

On the left is the grater most people use.


On the right is an ingenious grater that our coconut man devised using parts of a washing machine for power. He fabricated the spinner and grater.





It takes a lot of coconuts to get to the boiling stage. He has two coconut farms that he harvests coconuts from. He boils the grated coconut for 36 hours to refine and purify the oil. So don't be confused, there's no "first press" in coconut oil refining. He's able to bottle it, in used Caribbean Rum bottles of course. It'll keep for 2 years without refrigeration.






Our final stop was a visit to one of our most loved spots in Belize, the Inland Blue Hole.

This is a magical place with a cave, but right off of the Hummingbird Highway between Belmopan and Dangriga. On my first visit we just pulled off the road and hunted in the bushes until we found the steps which led down and down through the jungle to this serenely beautiful river, cave and blue hole. The water was icy and so blue. Today its part of Belize's National Park system so you pay a fee and buses stop in the parking lot. We were thrilled and surprised to find that Belize together with the Audubon Society have done a superb job of preserving the feel of this wondrous spot. There's a limit on how many people can be there, no picnicking is allowed and even though they have made the descent safer and more gradual the old steps are still there and the new doesn't disturb the serenity of the spot. Other caves have been discovered in the vicinity, all linked and this takes the pressure of too many people from this most idyllic place.

We soon arrived back in Placencia to find other friends had arrived from Rio Dulce and the weather had finally turned warm and settled. All boats were headed for a few days on the cayes and Wahoo soon followed. 

The Sapodilla Cayes have some of the clearest water in Belize

We spent 3 days in the very Southern part of the reef in the Sapodilla cayes. A night at Hunting Caye, where the Belize Defence Force keeps an eye on Guatemala. Then a night at Tom Owens Caye, named for the British Commander who conducted the first survey of the coastal area for the British Admiralty between 1820 and 1830. Too bad it hasn't been updated. Our chart plotter had us running across the caye to get to the anchorage. Luckily we've become pretty good at eyeball navigation. Our last night out had us back at Ranguana Caye for what looked like another lovely evening but by 2am the wind had shifted to the southwest and 20 kts of wind never felt so rough. There was a long fetch and the waves had plenty of time to build up. At daybreak we were hauling anchor and heading back to Placencia and safe harbour.

28 sailboats were in Placencia Harbour - we weren't alone in running from the weather!





And one last picture for my Belizean relatives



Belizean home along the shore in Seine Bight Village


Ranguana Caye 16 19.840N  88 19.186W
Tom Owens Caye 16 11.244N 88 13.803W
Hunting Caye 16 06.540N  88 16.180W 

Geaux Saints!

l'ill hoo with Yolis in the distance

Angela's words of wisdom "Wear your most powerful shirts" about important games made us decide to rename l'ill hoo. Above is the new logo. Shouldn't that help come Saturday night?

We're still hanging around in Placencia. As Jimmy Buffet says: "A sailor spends his Christmas in a harbour on the hook". That's been us. This might be the longest we've ever stayed in one spot and it's kinda nice. There are lots of boats here, 21 on New Year's Eve. So plenty sailors to hang out at Yolis with. Lots of chatter each morning on the SSB during the Northwest Caribbean Net which covers from Isla Mujeres down to Roatan. Boats moving about, getting and giving weather updates and making plans.

Christmas was great! To try and replace our New Orleans Christmas Eve at Galatoire's we went to Robert's Grove for dinner. Robert's Grove is a wonderful resort that extends from the Placencia Lagoon to the Caribbean. We dined seaside at their lovely restaurant and had a 5 star meal. But, first we had to get there. Here I am, all dressed up,  pulling the dingy closer to the boat to go ashore - shoes go on last!

Of course we started with Martinis

 and a Christmas tree

          

Santa Came!  With Presents!

And a little rain didn't dampen New Year's Eve fun

Placencia's famous sidewalk

Festive Plates

Fireworks on the beach

 Now we're in the lagoon behind Placencia as we've just weathered a strong "Norther". The day after y'all were having that horrendous cold front it arrived in the NW Caribbean with gale force winds and rain. It even dropped the temperature down to 65. All the boats in the harbour scattered to seek a safer anchorage. Some left for Sapodilla lagoon and some to Placencia's lagoon. We tucked all the way in to a corner near Robert's Grove with two of our Quebecois friends. The winds here were never above 35kts but we were hearing news of gale force up the coast and awful conditions down in the Bay Islands with some boats washing ashore. Roy spent the time replacing the sound insulation in the engine compartment and I learned to use our new Sat Phone (iridium Extreme - Santa was very good) and how to get it to connect to the internet for weather and emergency messages.

Clouds are beginning to lighten and we'll head back to the harbour this afternoon or tomorrow.

If you haven't seen it - there's a new tab at the top of the blog. MAP-I've started putting in points where we've anchored. You can see the peninsular of Placencia. (might have to enlarge it). Someone let me know if it's not working.

Wahoo at anchor in the lagoon. Maya Mountains in the background. Those clouds were the very beginning of the Norther. Looked so calm on Monday morning but by evening we were rocking and rolling.

Merry Christmas from Belize

Merry Christmas!

Christmas carols to a reggae beat, lighted boat parades and cruisers' potluck dinner instead of cocktails at the Sazerac Bar, Christmas Eve at Galatoire's and presents under our own tree with friends and family. Experiences are what makes life exciting.

Boat parade Placencia Harbor

We wish you all many pretty presents under your own tree and a New Year's Eve filled with fireworks and champagne. But mostly we wish for you a Caribbean vacation aboard Wahoo in 2014.

Watching

1st morning in San Pedro

We sailed from Isla Mujeres with a 20 - 25kt East wind which gave us a reach all the way down the coast. But a mighty current was flowing against us, often as much as 2-3kts. This is where the Yucatan Current takes its load from the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico. This was our 3rd trip between Mexico and Belize and we know on our fourth the current will be with us. It was a long 42 hours of sailing, the seas were high mostly 5 - 6ft but a few higher waves made an appearance all too often. Wahoo sailed along at about 8kts but our course over ground was lessened by that pesky current. We sailed 8 hrs to Cozumel for an overnight stop than 34 hours to the reef opening at San Pedro, BZ. The current and engine gave out just as we reached Reef Point which is the boarder between Mexico and Belize. Luckily we had both sails out and were able to continue making headway but that last 18NM took a little over 5 hours. Roy's skills, tools and abundance of spare parts got the engine's impeller changed and while there were still parts of the old one making the engine run hot we were able to douse the sails and motor gently through the reef cut to our favourite anchorage.

Johnny Cakes for breakfast, yummy

It always feel so good to shower and lay down to sleep after those long overnight passages!

Celie with Roy & I

Street walking in San Pedro

 A couple of hours sleep and we were eager to visit one of our favourite places. San Pedro Town brings back so many good memories and offers the chance to make more every time we visit. Our first stop was Hurricanes Bar and Grill to drink a cold Belikan and see Josh and his parents Daniel and Elodia. Also, they have the very best ceviche of any we've ever had and we have ceviche everywhere we go, so that's saying something. During this stop we spent some time with Celie who owns Holiday Hotel and is a very long time family friend of the Rosses. She had just started renting rooms when we came in 1975 with a 3 week old John Edward. Alex and Donna, Roy's nephew and his wife, got married at Holiday Hotel and last summer came back to celebrate their 10year anniversary.

Rice and beans with stew chicken, garnaches, salbutes - just for the other Rosses

We only stayed a week this time as we had to press on to Belize City and Cucumber Beach Marina. We had 4 boxes of supplies and parts plus two new house batteries being delivered to us there. Plus we were having trouble with the alternators we'd had rebuilt in the summer and Roy wanted a mechanic to look things over. We also continued having issues with the depth sounder and the wind indicator. The wind indicator was giving the right speed but from the opposite direction, go figure! We were counting on better internet reception for calls back to Raymarine who made most things electronic that steers Wahoo. On top of all that a Norther was expected and though we love San Pedro the holding is thin sand over coral. Not a good spot to wait out high winds from the North.

Wahoo behind the reef in San Pedro

Our trip through PortoStuck was a breeze as I've become a whiz at bow watching for depths and we were there before we knew it. Remember the colors - Sky(vodka) , Tanquerey, Amsterdam and that no no - Tequila.

Roy & his King Fish in the dining room at Old Belize

Of course we had to eat at Old Belize that night and Roy had his favourite. King Fish Steak. The guys who run the restaurant at Old Belize are from Turkey. They do a great job and always remember that Roy loves the Kingfish Steak and try to get it for him. The Norther blew in and we had days and days of rain but our boxes and the batteries got delivered, the mechanic came by and they figured out the alternator problems - it was wired backwards when it was rebuilt last summer. Roy talked to Raymarine and figured out why the wind was blowing backwards on our boat but the depth sounder is still an issue. They say there's a new downloadable system coming out in January that will fix the problem.



An aside here for anyone shipping to Belize - can't say enough good things about Belize Freight. They picked up our 4 boxes from John Edward's house in Houston. Put them together with the 2 160lb batteries we shipped from BD Batteries to their warehouse in Miami. They shipped and held the stuff until we got here. Lastly they delivered to the boat at Cucumber Beach Marina. The service and pricing was superb!

Cucumber Beach Marina and Old Belize, from the mast

We spent an evening with friends Mario and Solie catching up as we'd missed them during the summer. Had two interesting meet-ups. First the couple in the slip next to us were from Baton Rouge and she works for Worley (The company Roy works for when doing cat adjusting). We also had a pleasant shock when looking at Cruisers Forum we saw a message to us with a picture taken from the other side of the marina! Sure enough a fellow member was in the marina and recognised the name of the boat. His name on the forum is BelizeSailor and he gives really good advice for people asking questions about the NW Caribbean. We were grateful for his knowledge many times when planning the trip here in 2012.

Now a week later we are in Placencia where we'll spend Christmas and New Years before doing some more exploring along the cayes and atolls of Belize. You'll find the very tentative cruising schedule for 2014 under the Itinerary tab. That way you can plan when you want to meet up with us - the V Berth looks so lonely.)
Placencia is very busy now that the holidays are here. The small hotels all seem full. We saw lots of NO vacancy signs while taking a walk along the famous sidewalk, there's 13 sailboats in the harbour and look what just pulled in.

160 ft  - 10 crew

Here's some great signs - Left is a picture of the Placencia co-op. Middle pic is the sign on the left and...
Yes, the other picture... well its the other sign.

Marina Del Sol in Isla Mujeres

Roy and I are now in Isla Mujeres, Mexico aboard Wahoo. We arrived Thursday, Nov. 21 and our current plan is to stay on the boat until August next year. Note: sailing plans are written in disappearing ink. 

Poncho, the resident iguana met us on the dock

Bringing back the laundry

We arrived at the Cancun airport along with 7 other planes, all full of Thanksgiving holiday-makers. There had to be 1,000. people trying to go through Immigration and Customs. It took us two hours and that was with the help of a wily Skycap. After helping us find all four of our bags (Thank you Southwest for not charging for checked bags) and getting us into the line for Customs he took Roy aside for a whispered "I get you through this quick - $30". Before we knew it I was plopped in a wheelchair and we were zipping through the handicap lane! The kicker came when after we'd passed through the scanning machine, he leaned over and said to me. "Ok, you get up now". I was in front of those 1000s of vacationers, Whooooo, were those daggers in my back. But then we were called to get examined and every box had to be gone through. I'm sure everyone thought we'd gotten our comeuppance. Actually, it wasn't so bad. The Customs agent was a young lady who did her best and when she realised we weren't upset, and weren't going to give her grief for a little custom's duty, things went rather smoothly. In fact, she didn't even notice the 6 lb. of Manda Smoked Sausage. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Sebastien for waiting for us and giving us a ride to the Cancun-Isla Mujeres ferry.

Also, thanks to Sebastien for keeping Wahoo safe. She was in great shape when we got back . 

We had left Marina Del Sol in mid-July as a sleepy marina with most boats covered and owners gone. We came back to a bustling place as owners were arriving and getting ready for the Winter cruising season. Such a variety of boats and cruisers. We love it. Everyone chatters away about their own project and plans, yet there's always a hand when you need it most. 

Greg and Carol on their catamaran

We've met Greg and Carol from the Pacific Northwest. They completed a five year circumnavigation on their monohull which is moored in the Sea of Cortez. But they recently bought a catamaran to cruise the Caribbean, and call home a 65ft trawler in Seattle. These are dedicated and experienced cruisers, of 3 different boats. Next there's Jean Pierre from Quebec. He's retired and waiting for his wife to come visit around Christmas. He spends part of his time on Taj Mahal a 33ft steel sailboat and part of the time either traveling  or at home in Quebec. Across from us is another 40ft steel hull that belongs to Etienne and his girlfriend, Pam. They hail from Paris and Normandy. Last year they did a boat delivery that found them becalmed in the Pacific for 80 days! Of course Sebastien's boat Sea Rooster is also here and there are many more. But perhaps the most interesting is the 23 ft pocket sailing cruiser, Maus, from New Orleans owned by Martin and Alysia. They just left for a 9 day crossing of the Gulf of Mexico back to New Orleans. (yep, I said 23 ft - outboard engine if you're wondering)

Maus leaving for New Orleans

Wahoo needs work too. So we've started on the never ending list. 

Definition. Cruising: Fixing your boat in exotic locations.

Etienne working on the aft bulkhead - Tight Fit!

The stern bulkhead needed to be repaired as there was rot near the water line. I was wondering why there was a sloshing sound under my head at night.

 

The wind transducer quit working when we were in Belize during the summer. So our luggage included a new one. Of course the new one didn't quite work with our instruments, so Roy had to figure a way to fix that. All at the top of our 63ft mast.

We'd also brought two 18" X 2" x 1/2" stainless steel bars that Roy fabricated while we were in Houston. These were needed to repair the anchor holder which was cracked. So while making that repair we're installing new bow cleats. They're much bigger and as we anchor or pick up a mooring most nights, will be very handy. But what a job getting the old ones off. They'd been on since the boat was built in 1992. Lots of pounding and drilling was heard throughout the marina.

Wahoo also needs a new transducer to repair our depth finder which also quit working during the summer and the engine shaft needs some repairs. As Wahoo needs to be out of the water for these, we'll do them at Cucumber Beach Marina and Shipyard near Belize City. In fact there's a whole other 4 boxes of parts that's, hopefully, waiting for us there. 

As those of us aboard say - "If it ain't broke - just wait a minute."

Pelicans nesting in trees near the marina. Never saw this before.