Belize me this is great!

We’ve been in Belize now for over a month which was about how long we originally thought we would be here. But, the weather has not been cooperative so we’ve hung out in Placencia harbor. We had to renew our visas and cruising permit for another month since Belize only grants stays for 30 days at a time. We’ve taken a couple of opportunities to get out to some close Cays and now we are working to see more of this interesting Country.

A beach house in Placencia.

Belize, unlike most cruising countries only grants visas for 30 days and they’re not cheap. Supposedly they will allow 3 renewals. After that nobody really knows what kind of stay they will allow. Immigration will allow additional time but the boat needs to leave in order to renew the cruising permit. The Belize Port Authority also requires monthly clearance although you can buy more time but why buy the time if you don’t have the visa? There are no customs or excise taxes but the health office collects a fee as well. Lots of cruisers wonder why they can only get 30 days at a time and I suspect it comes down to making work for their staff to justify and pay for keeping the staff employed.

As the sun goes down some of the boats anchored in Placencia Harbor.

Here in Central America the focus is more on keeping people employed rather than developing the country. In Guatemala we watched semi-trucks loaded with commodities being unloaded by hand when the pallets could easily be lifted with a forklift and placed in a warehouse. The labor rate is low and so why spend the money to buy heavy equipment and it would cause many people to lose their jobs.

A cute print from a local artist we hung in our main cabin.

Belize is a true multi-cultural community with each culture seeking to maintain its own identity. There are Mayan villages throughout Belize as part of the Mayan culture that’s spread throughout Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. Although the Mayans are broken down into distinct communities with their own dress and languages. Supposedly there are still 2 Mayan languages spoken in Belize. There are also Garifuna here that are descendants of African slaves who bred with local Indian tribes other than the Mayans (mostly Caribs). They live mainly along the coastal areas of Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. There are also Guatemalans and Mexicans who each form a part of the Spanish culture in the country. But the language of Belize is English since it was an English colony for years and there are descendants of English colonists that settled here. There are many people from around the Carib who also speak Creole. One other ethnic group here is the Chinese. I’m not sure why or when they came here but they seem to own and run most of the markets and many restaurants in the area.

Linda with a local artisan Tyrone who had a wood shop selling handmade works from mahogany, ziricote, rosewood and other native hardwoods.

Some of the other wares made by Tyrone.

A sort of surprising ethnic group here is the German Anabaptist culture with Amish and Mennonite communities. This culture first came to the western hemisphere in the early 18^th century settling in Lancaster, Pennsylvania but it has spread throughout North America and even here in the tropics. Like the communities elsewhere they tend to focus on agriculture, but they also have many other mechanical, artisanal and craft businesses that can produce a wide range of very desirable commodities. Having grown up and descended from that community in Lancaster, Pennsylvania I’m well aware of the value they add to the community. They produce almost all the meat products and much of the agricultural products for sale here in Belize.

We were able to find kale, regular sweet potatoes and fresh basil here to make one of our typical meals for the first time in months.

The geography of Belize causes many challenges but for cruisers it provides lots of opportunities. The reef breaks the sea swell so most of the water’s inside the reef may be choppy but very tolerable. The many cays provide remote places to go and hangout to enjoy swimming, snorkeling, fishing or exploring without being in a crowded anchorage like you may find in other cruising grounds.

A beautiful sunset over the anchorage.

Unlike most countries that have a coastline, a coastal plain and then a mountainous interior, Belize begins at a barrier reef with 3 large atolls before the reef. Then inside the reef are hundreds of Cays and shoals of varying sizes usually accompanied by reefs. Then the coast is a geographic barrier of swamps rising up to a coastal plain and then the interior. In fact driving around the scenery looks like it could be North Carolina. I’m not aware of any other Country so unique. There are only a few coastal towns and even fewer of them have good harbor access.

Playful dolphins swimming around our boat on a recent sail

Placencia actually has the best harbor of any of the Belizean ports with ships coming in almost daily. Even a cruise line comes in here almost daily to play on their private island. The only other big port is Belize City and ships can’t even get to the port.

Although we are not strictly vegetarians, we do eat a mostly plant-based diet which has been a challenge in cruising some areas like the Bahamas. However, we have never found a shortage of fresh fruit and produce anywhere we've been in the western Carib. In Caymans they were pricey but in the Jamaica and Guatemala they were downright cheap and plentiful. Here in Belize they're available at slightly more than the Rio. I've heard some vegans say they end up eating mostly rice and beans. I guess that's in the eastern Carib where produce is scarce.

One of the local produce stands we frequent.

Unfortunately, this winter has been one of the wettest on records in this region. Since we left the Rio and got to Belize I can count on one hand the number of days we have had without rain and even fewer without a heavy overcast. While rain is not a big deal it makes traveling to the Cays less fun. Many of the Cays require good light and visibility to support visual piloting when approaching to avoid hitting a shoal or reef. It’s difficult or impossible to navigate many of these areas in rain or heavy overcast. Also, many of the cays afford little protection from wind and their accompanying swells so even if you get in the snorkeling will not be good. So, since we probably would end up spending most of our time on the boat we chose to wait out the weather In Placencia where there are things to do, shopping is available and other cruisers with whom to socialize.

One afternoon sitting at Yoli's waiting for the squall to stop. I went out and saw my shadow and predicted 6 more weeks of rain!

We did take 2 sojourns out to cays to take advantage of a few good days and had the chance to experience some excellent snorkeling. Our first trip we went by ourselves to Laughing Bird Cay for 2 nights because our good friend and buddy boater Bob Huether came down with a bug and was sick for a few days. Our second trip we went with our buddy boat out to Ranguana Cay for 2 nights.

Laughing Bird Cay, like most of the cays in Belize is like the islands you see on screen savers. It was no more than 100 meters long and maybe 30 meters at its widest point. It had lots of palm trees and a white sand beach on the inside. It was surrounded by some very magnificent reefs with excellent examples of soft sponges and corals and a healthy assortment of reef fish. The island was part of a National Park and we were allowed to anchor outside of the coral reefs where we stayed for 2 very beautiful days. The island is visited by lots of daytrippers looking for a snorkeling experience so during the day we had lots of company but after about 1500 we had the island to ourselves. There was no wind the day we went out to Laughing Bird but we had nice wind that we could sail all the way back to Placencia.

The other end of Laughing Bird Cay.

A week after our trip to Laughing Brid Cay we had a really nice day forecasted with some wind so we lifted the anchor and went for a day sail. The wind was out of the north at 12-15 kts and we sailed out at 8+ knts with an apparent wind angle of almost 90. Most of the sailing here is very smooth with little chop so we wanted to keep sailing but we got out about 10 miles and saw a squall forming and turned to head back. The trip back was a little slower as were pinching on the apparent wind angle at about 40 degrees and fighting some current but we were still averaging about 7 kts. With the harbor less than 2 miles away the squall hit us. I was already beginning to bring in the sails so we slowed down to wait for the squall to pass over. The wind passed and we anchored with a steady rain falling but it was easier than trying to anchor when the wind direction is constantly changing which is typical in a squall.

Sailing upwind nicely back to Placencia to beat the squall.

The next weekend we had another weather opportunity and sailed to Ranguana Cay. Like Laughing Bird it was a small island with a little beach and some great snorkeling. We spent 2 nights there before heading back to Placencia to wait out some more weather.

Ranguana Cay.

Looking across Ranguana Cay.

Linda and our friends Bob and Nina at the bar.

While back in Placencia the harbor was filling up. When we first arrived in early January there were only 15 or so boats at anchor. When we left on the 11^th of February there were over 40. Placencia is a great place to check-in and out; provision or just enjoy a nice little town. Placencia is another little tropical town where ex-pats come to hang-out in the winter. Most of the boaters we’ve met are snowbirds who keep their boats in the Rio over hurricane season and then come down around the end of the year, sail to Belize for the season and then back to the Rio. We haven’t found many people like us who are sort of just passing through. Belize is kind of like the Bahamas but there are many fewer boats and they keep them in the Rio instead of Florida.

Looking out at the Belize Spice Farm.

We took advantage of some iffy weather days and did some sightseeing ashore. One day we rented a golf cart and just did some local sightseeing. One other day we rented a car and visited the Belize

The wooden ceiling in the Spice Farm restaurant. All locally farmed wood.

Spice Farm on the way to Lubaantum. Lubaantum is a lesser know Mayan site but was unique in that the temples had curved corners which was unique in Mayan culture. The site was one of the newest discovered and renovated. It is also the source of the "crystal skull" myth that was the basis for an Indiana Jones movie.

The approach to Lubantuum.

The ruins of Lubantuum showing the round corners on temples when all other cultures and Mayan cities were building pyramids. 

The second weekend in February was an arts festival in Placencia and this is a Garifuna Band doing a drum presentation.

We celebrated our 23^rd wedding anniversary with our good friends Bob and Nina on Moondance at the Secret Garden restaurant which was the first place we’ve been in these parts that was almost like a real restaurant with service that you would expect in any nice restaurant in the States. The food was excellent and with our meals, wine and dessert the bill was still less than US$ 60. What a wonderful night to celebrate our life together.

Our anniversary dinner shared with our good friends Bob and Nina.

So on a beautiful Sunday we broke the security of Placencia Harbor and headed to our first anchorage in the Cays. We were able to sail up to Lagoon Cay where we anchored for 4 nights to explore this

Very close-hauled sailing at less than 40 degrees to the apparent wind.

deserted cay and ride out some bad weather. Lagoon Cay is typical of many of the Belizean Cays that are little more than mangroves on a reef. But they provide effective protection from the prevailing easterly wind and have excellent snorkeling. I found dozens of lobsters that unfortunately were too

Lagoon Cay in a calmer moment.

small to capture. The coral is excellent since this is not a frequently visited cay. The water in the lagoon is deep but all along the edges are dozens of huge starfish of many hues and colors. The reefs and coral are teaming with fish and when we anchored a I saw a huge spotted ray swimming around our boat. One challenge here is the holding is varied. Some places are ok but where we anchored we have been dragging. This is the first time in 14 years of cruising that we’ve dragged anchor. But, the anchor is trying to dig in but the bottom is all grass over broken coral. The last morning we were there a pre-sunrise squall came through with 40 kt gusts on our beam and our anchor popped out. We were up quickly and started the engine turning into the wind and powering so as not to go any further. When the squall subsided we brought in the anchor and re-anchored in what seemed to be much better holding.

The anchorage at Pelican Cays. IP Emerald Seas is on one mooring.

On Thursday we left Lagoon Cay and motored 3 miles over to the Pelican Cays. The Pelican Cays afford some protection but we had to anchor in 60 feet of water. There are also 3 moorings there but they were taken when we got there. Not confident that our windlass can retrieve our 75# anchor, 65' of chain and a huge ball of mud I chose to deploy our second anchor which is a 45# CQR with 30' of chain and a total of 230' of rode. That afternoon a squall came up with 35+kt winds and we held fine so I wasn't too worried over night. The next morning when a mooring became available we jumped on it. Bringing the anchor up was easy. As we motored forward I gathered in the rode and when it was straight below I warped the line on the windlass until I got to the chain and then pulled it up by hand. The anchor was caked in mud that took 20 mins to clean off after we got on the mooring. I think in the future when we need to anchor in such deep water I will tie on our spinnaker sheet to the anchor and a Clorox bottle so we can use a winch if necessary to help the windlass. If our primary anchor were down I would have felt much better. 

A barge load of construction material moves through the Placencia anchorage to the Cay for new home construction. The barge brings in loads about twice a week.

We spent 3 great days and nights by Pelican Cay. We saw some fantastic underwater scenery when snorkeling. Kim and Dustin who run the Hide Away Lodge on Pelican Cay are also fantastic. Kim does the food prep and has all the dishes ready to serve to everyone on the table at the same time. She requires reservations so she knows what to serve. The first night we had lobster because it was the last night of lobster season and it was great. We had dinner with our friends Bob and Nina to celebrate their anniversary. Saturday night we had conch and it was probably the best conch we ever had.  Saturday night we shared dinner with some other friends Pete and Jill on Regina Oceani and Mike and Karla on Karis. Fortunately for us we called early enough to get some of the last conch.

Sunday we had a great sail back to Placencia to ride out some more bad weather, reprovision and take care of some other business while we look forward to the rest of our Belizean adventure.

Sailing back to Placencia.

As usual we have some panoramic challenges. About a week or so ago we learned that our insurance company has closed it’s private yacht division because of losses in last year’s hurricanes which means we need to find new insurance. We have several options to work through, but it may require us to deviate from our plan to get a new survey. We’ll see how it all plays out. If this life were so easy everyone would do it!!!

Well now we’re looking at the next weather opportunity and our new destination as of yet undecided. We’ll see what the weather and time brings.