Getting on to Belize

Our Belize courtesy flag flying after check-in.

Finally, the day came for us to leave. After settling our bill with the marina we pulled away from the dock just after noon time on Thursday 4 January to head down river to Texan Bay where we would 

RAM Marina in the rear view mirror. It was hard to leave.

stage our exit from Guatemala. All systems on the boat seemed to be working well except the packing nut seemed to be running too hot so I loosened it up until I could check it after we got to Texan Bay. I had installed new packing over the summer and it needed some breaking in. Finally getting away from the dock and moving down the river was refreshing after being in the same spot for 7 months. As is always the case, leaving the dock was the hardest part but we were ready.

Fronteras became so comfortable and we had no urgency to leave. Every time in the past that we pushed on to new adventures we were anxious to be striking out to new horizons and we are now. But, living in Fronteras for 7 months we can see the truth to the saying that the Rio Dulce is the river that sucks in gringos.

Our buddy boat ahead of us going through one of the canyons on the Rio Dulce.

When settling with the marina we went back over the entire billing. We paid a total of just under $7,800 that covered stripping and refinishing the teak; removing and rebedding all the hardware on the toerail; rebedding the ports; taking apart the aft head overboard discharge valves and reinstalling them correctly; cleaning and waxing the entire boat; stripping the bottom and adding another layer of barrier coat along with 2 coats of bottom paint; galvanizing an anchor; boat storage and electricity for 7 months (with the air conditioning on in the boat almost constantly while on the hard); temporary lodging in the casa; laundry; shipping in 5 packages containing over 80lbs of merchandise (some hazardous); purchasing some case lots of provisions; and, several other smaller tasks. Back in the states, 7 months of storage would almost equal that amount. For anyone in the Caribbean looking for a place to get work done, the Rio is the place.

One of the dwellings in Texan Bay.

We arrived in Texan Bay and dropped the hook near our buddy boat Moondance. Our good friends Bob and Nina Huether at this point plan to travel with us all the way to Panama and maybe further. Over the past couple weeks, we’ve met other cruisers and it looks like we may have at least a 4-5 boat that want to convoy in the passage from the Bay Islands to Providencia. Hopefully that should serve as a good defense against attacks. There is safety in numbers.

Amekaya anchored in Texan Bay.

View from our back porch in Texan Bay.

Texan Bay is a little Bay formed on the south side of the Rio by several creeks that come together. There is a little community there known as Cayo Quemado made up of Mayan villagers, ex pats and some Indians. There is also a small marina, restaurant and of all things a rigging shop. But the water is fairly deep and it provides excellent protection from wind and wake and it is very pretty too. Back in June we anchored here for a night on the way in after clearing at Livingston. At the time we were happy to finally be back in fresh water after years in salt water.

Our buddy boat in Amatique Bay after crossing the Bar.

The next morning 10 of us rode into Livingston with Mini-Mike in his launch to clear out of Guatemala. While in Livingston we did some last-minute food shopping as we waited for our clearance papers, had lunch and then motored back up the river. After 7 months and 3 trips leaving and returning to Guatemala we were now leaving for a long time. But with some expected bad weather coming in we didn’t leave right away.

We spent the weekend exploring some of the creeks back through the jungle and socializing with other cruisers at Mini-Mike’s Juke Joint. Although Saturday’s weather was nice Sunday we had rain all day as the first of a series of cold fronts moved through. We got rain but back in the US the east coast was being hammered with snow and cold.

Monday arrived as another beautiful day and we left to go down the river about 1100 so we could get across the Livingston Bar before high tide. There have been numerous reports from people that the channel has changed so we confirmed our waypoints and got out on the higher end of the tide. Our 

A nice stir-fry at anchor to celebrate our return to the sea.

trip across the bar was uneventful although the water was shallow. With no wind we motored across Amatique Bay to anchor behind Cabo Tres Puntas almost exactly where we anchored months earlier after arriving from the Caymans in June. Going across the Bay I monitored the temperature of the packing nut and it never exceeded 120F so after we anchored I tightened it more. Specifications call for it not to exceed 140F.

Our anchorage by Cabo Tres Puntas in the Bay of Amatique.

Our evening on anchor was one to truly enjoy. The wind was calm and the temperature warm with a beautiful sunset as we enjoyed one of Linda’s original creations. As usually happens in the middle of the night the wind came up out of the west which is about the worst direction for wind in that anchorage and the boat pitched wildly as the waves built. We had agreed with our buddy boat 

Sunrise with a chop coming from our unprotected side.

Moondance to be off the anchor around 0730 and although we tried our best to sleep we got up and just ate breakfast getting ready to leave on time.  At sunup our boat was bounding like a wild mare with each wave that rolled us. Waves were easily 2-3 feet with some higher but at least they were on the bow so the movement was pretty consistent. We heard from Moondance that they wouldn’t be ready to leave so we said we were going because we wanted to get off the anchor. Slowly we brought in the chain and lifted the anchor in the pitching waves with spray from the waves crashing over the bow but got the anchor secured and motored out of the anchorage.

Cabo Tres Puntas as we sail past it and out of Guatemala.

Having nice wind we worked to get the sails up as quickly as possible because we had not sailed since coming to Guatemala from the Caymans in May. The prospect of actually sailing was exciting! The wind was blowing 15-20 to port as we turned to the west and we had a nice 50d angle once we

Looking at our wake behind us.

Hitting hull speed of 8.3 kts in 17 kts of apparent wind with the halyards slack.

got our heading and the boat got up to hull speed over 8 kts. But I noticed the sails had wrinkles because I had not tightened the halyards before heading out. When we put up the sails a month ago I released the tension on the halyards to relax them but I forgot to tighten them. Even with the loose sails we were still hitting 50% of the apparent wind speed. Later in the day as the wind dropped and we turned more downwind I tightened up the halyards so the sails would be in proper shape for our next sail.

The cruise ship island south of Placencia.

We were able to sail all morning and as predicted the winds died midday so we motored the last 2 hours into Placencia anchorage. During the motoring I checked the packing nut again after further tightening and the temperature continued declining so the fresh packing was settling in.

We dropped the anchor near Placencia Cay across the Bay from some resorts and the town dock. There were about a dozen boats here in the harbor with many of them coming to check in and some just here for a short visit. Checking into Belize in Placencia is really simple once you understand it. The officials are not near the harbor and it takes a small odyssey to get there. Walk to the water taxi. take the water taxi to Mango Creek and then take a taxi to the Port Authority area.

A locals boatyard along the waterway to checking in.

The process of clearing in through Belize Immigration, Customs, Port Authority and Agriculture is fairly simple and straightforward. The whole process for all four offices takes about an hour and then 

The Hokey Pokey Water Taxi dock in Mango Creek.

the cab will return you to the ferry dock. It became long for us because I had only copies of the Zarpe from Livingston and did not have the original (the only difference was it was signed in blue ink) so we had to return to Customs with the original zarpe from the boat before we got our final approval. The bad news is that the clearances are for only 30 days which means in a month if we are still here we have to return and do it all again.

Rick's Cafe. One of the funky restaurants in Placencia.

Placencia is a cute and funky little Belizean town. It is much more of a resort town than a cruiser community. There are many resorts, bars and restaurants of all sort and many more souvenir shops 

Out for Saturday night dinner at Barefoot Beach Bar with live music.

than we are used to.  Everyone speaks mostly English and it reminds us a lot of the smaller Cayman Islands. The community in Placencia includes cruisers, ex-pats, tourists, Mayans, Garifuna and lots of people that have been here a long time. Welcome to Belize!

The shore walk back to our dinghy.

We spent several days in Placencia Harbor on anchor waiting for 2 cold fronts to pass that gave us he opportunity to enjoy the little town, provision and our buddy boat to address some maintenance 

Our buddy boaters Bob and Nina on Moondance with us at lunch at Maya Beach Bistro.

issues. There are lots of fun places here as the town caters to the tourist trade. One day we rented a golf cart and drove up the Placencia Peninsula. We stopped at two marinas and ran into lots of people we knew from the Rio. Cruising is truly a small and friendly community.

Placencia Beach.

The pool at Mayan Beach Resort.

We expect a break in the weather over the weekend and take the opportunity for a

shot to head out to the Cayes for a few days before the next bad weather arrives. So, our next blog update will be of our adventures in the Cayes.

Tourists pay big money to come here for a week.