“FISH ON THE LINE, FISH ON THE LINE”, excited shouting woke me from my cat nap. Two days into our crossing from Florida to Belize, the first day the fishing line was out and there it is, a shimmering, glimmering mahi mahi -- if we bring this fish in than we are in the esteemed company of Hemingway, plus dinner is taken care of! Fishing off the boat has been a source of many jokes after last years passage to Tortola when we lost 3 fish while boats traveling with us reported tasty dinners of mahi mahi, wahoo and tuna. This year, led by Rick Fishkin, we were committed to redeeming ourselves and we leapt into action -- I grabbed the cheap rum, Rick Fishkin deftly reeled in the fish, countering every agile leap and dive it made, Skipper Rick tied himself to the boat, positioned himself on the lowest ste , lunged and charged with the gaff until the fish was ours. Once gaffed Rick splattered rum into its gills (the easiest way of killing him even if not the Sorbonne “approved” method) and loaded it into the designated Rubbermaid tote. Now came the messy part, filleting it – which the Ricks executed rather neatly for novices. It was a very proud moment for all. A little while later the fishing line was out and our new goal was a tuna. Four hours later another cry: “fish on the line”. This mahi mahi was a 46” monster and since we were now veterans, it was in the freezer in record time. Our catch of the day dinner was absolutely fabulous and we owe it all to Rick F., our old man of the sea.
Weather analysis became a priority during our last week in Key West as we focused in on setting a target departure date and mapping our route to Belize. So what does that really mean? We have multiple weather sources to consult. (1) The NOAA marine forecast for the local region on the VHF (2) We subscribe to a daily forecast from Chris Parker of the Caribbean Weather Center, which we have found to be extremely valuable. For about $300/year we receive daily emails with the NW Caribbean forecast, and we can call Chris during his broadcast on the radio to ask specific questions (3) In addition, we download “grib files” i.e. weather maps from the winlink system for a certain regions which look forward multiple days. So the daily routine as we approach our departure is to listen to Chris’ forecast at 7:30AM on the ham radio (if propagation isn’t good at that time we listen at 8:30, 8:45 and 9:00 until we are able to hear him). If he hasn’t covered the specifics of our travel area we call him and ask him our questions. We also look at the other inputs and we talk to other cruisers that might be headed the same way.
For this passage we considered multiple strategies – should we head from Key West directly to Belize? Should we stop at the Dry Tortugas (60 miles to the west) and layover? Once past Cuba, how far west should we head in order to minimize the current against us? After considering the various weather forecasts, pilot charts and consulting with our friends on Dreamketch’r, we agreed that all signs were a go for a Saturday departure. The weather window looked very good, only one day of lumpy seas and gusty winds in the Yucatan Channel to avoid was forecasted for Tuesday. This laid out well for two pleasant days of sailing to the Dry Tortugas, a day to visit the island and then departure for Belize, allowing us to miss the bad weather to the southwest.
And happily this plan actually became the reality! We sailed the 30 miles to the Marquesas Keys and joined the three other boats anchored for the evening. We followed DreamKetch’r out of the anchorage in the morning and sailed the remaining 40 miles to the Dry Tortugas. Navigation continued to be cautious in this area as there are shallows everywhere and not much room for error. The Dry Tortugas was a great stop – a group of 7 islands which along with the surrounding waters comprise the Fort Jefferson National Monument. We only had time to explore Garden Key, which is the site of Fort Jefferson. The fort was started in 1846 when the US government recognized the strategic importance of the islands; over 16 million bricks and 30 years of labor built the fort, which encompasses 16 acres. It’s most famous for housing Dr. Samuel Mudd, a Maryland physician who, not knowing of Lincoln’s murder set the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth and was then confined at the fort during his sentence of life imprisonment. Through the years the fort has provided a safe anchorage for U.S. ships patrolling the waterways to protect our trade routes, etc.
On arriving in the anchorage we watched a pair of nurse sharks approach each boat, easily tracked by the hollering and pointing coming from one boat than another – later we understood as the fishing boats arrived for the night and started to clean their catch, throwing the castoffs overboard.
Rick F. and I dinghy’d over to a nearby fishing and in a combination of English and Spanish asked to purchase some fish. They gave us enough fresh grouper to feed 12 people and then refused to take our money. Instead, they suggested beer, rum or whatever liquor we were willing to trade (somehow Rick had anticipated this response and we had dug out the rum). We invited our friends on s/v DreamKetch’r and the new arrivals in the on s/v Aphrodite to a pot luck on Dragonfly at which we contributed the grilled grouper. I plan to approach fishermen all through these waters in order to again enjoy the ‘catch of the day’. Aphrodite is a fabulous 50 foot St. Francis catamaran that was anchored next to us in the Key West anchorage. We had introduced ourselves to the owners one morning and they had provided us with waypoints into the Tortugas anchorage over the VHF that afternoon -- we enjoyed spending the evening swapping stories and were delighted to be invited onto the boat to tour their luxurious home.
This passage was certainly the easiest of the four that I have been on. The mileage from the Dry Tortugas to Ambergris Cay, Belize was 503 miles. The forecast was right on, a downwind run with the spinnaker flying the whole trip, averaging about 6.75 knots for the overall passage (the first half of the trip was very fast, averaging 7.5 knots). We did have some big waves, but they were spread out and behind us so they were relatively comfortable. We sailed under a full moon at night and a beautiful starry sky, enjoyed sunny skies during the day and consistently warm temps so t-shirts were our uniform, perhaps a windbreaker at night. With three of us onboard we adopted four 3-hour watches, from 8PM through 8AM, with the same person on the first and last watch and we rotated our watch each day. This schedule worked well, and with such nice weather we were able to easily cat nap during the day if needed.
Our research for this passage indicated two potential issues: strong currents against us through the Yucatan channel and passing close enough to Cuban waters to encounter Cuban patrols. We were pleased that neither problem presented itself – at our closest point we passed 15 miles west of Cuba, at dusk, but there was no indication of it being there at all – no lights, no boats, nada. The most current we experienced was about 1 knot of current against us during the last third of the trip – much less than the current against us for the trip down the Florida Coast!
We were kept busy monitoring cruise ship and commercial shipping traffic, of which there was lots. We continued our twice daily radio chats with DreamKetch’r, to check in and compare notes. One afternoon we were blessed with a 45 minute dolphin show: at least 15 dolphins zipped along with us, riding the bow waves, leaping into the air, slapping their heads as they crashed into the next wave—it was exhilarating. As the days passed we began to focus on the timing of our arrival and that of DreamKetch’r -- according to Chris Parker an unusual weather pattern was developing in Belize which would bring high winds, rain and squalls by Friday afternoon and would last for a multiple days. Our focus now was getting to the protected anchorage behind the reef before the stormy weather and hoping that we’d arrive early enough to have sunlight to safely enter the cut in the reef – if not we’d have to overnight outside the reef sailing circles or hove to.
It all came together on Thursday. We arrived at 3PM with the sun is still shining. We approached the GPS waypoint as documented in multiple guides as the best reference for spotting the cut in the reef and finding the yellow buoy that sort of marks the cut. I say sort of because the guide books also warn that the buoy has been known to wander so it shouldn’t be trusted. But we spotted the break in the whitewater and the yellow buoy in the center of the calm water so we cautiously approached. The depth went from 240 feet to 100 feet in about 1/8 of a mile, then instantly droped to 12 feet. We follow the recommended route…entered the cut, passed through the reef, immediately turned right on a course of 318T, lined the boat up with the radio tower on shore to avoid a second reef. No wonder the books warn of entering in poor light or rough seas, that second reef was awfully close to the entrance. Inside the reef the water is calm but the depths continued to drop…11 feet, 7 feet. Now we are on our own, hoping the depth sounder was accurate and wondered where to anchor. We crept toward the three boats we see ahead, and found ourselves in a frustrating conversation with a man on an anchored boat-- he says “Don’t anchor in any of four speed lanes used by the power boats or commercial boats” – this is what is known as local knowledge –I ask” what lanes”? There are no marks or buoys or indications of any lanes. He tries to point to these virtual lanes but it’s basically impossible to understand where they are. As we continue to analyze the depth, the holding and these virtual speed lanes, he continues to whistle at us and point us further and further from the shore and away from where he is anchored – we found that odd. Heck, we just drop the anchor and call it a day! Come to find that he was hoping to guide us to a more comfortable area, away from the wakes made by the commercial boat traffic, whereas we thought these were official “do not anchor” areas.
So what is it like here? First it is very quiet compared to any other cruising that we have done. We were the only visiting boat anchored until Friday morning when DreamKetch’r glided up behind Dragonfly. This is one of the more touristy areas in Belize and the most northerly location to clear in with immigration and customs, but after five days here we have had only six boats anchored here, some of which are charter boats from the local TMM charter operation. Those of you who have chartered in the BVI’s, just think of the difference!
The town of San Pedro is quite charming; it somehow combines the Caribbean and the Old West. There is an ordinance against any building over 3 stories so it hasn’t succumbed to the high rise developments. The waterfront is busy with skiffs, small dive boats, fishing boats, bicycles, restaurants and small hotels. There are a number of women selling vibrant fabrics on the beach and folks selling homemade jewelry, everyone is polite and low pressure. The town streets are mostly dirt, and the primary mode of transport is the golf cart. The people here are outstandingly friendly and accommodating, unlike anywhere we have been in our travels We have sampled some great cuisine – a combination of Mexican and Creole is most common, lots o
f fresh fish on the menu. Some of the x-pat businesspeople have guided us toward the freshest produce, fruit, freshest milk, etc. The only nuisance has been the weather, it has been raining hard, non-stop for three days - we were going a bit stir crazy. We rejoiced to see the sun on Monday morning, opened up the boat, put everything outside to dry and made directly for the reef with our snorkeling gear. The water is that gorgeous turquoise blue, very clear, alive with colorful fish and rugged coral.
And to top it all off, Rick found a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. At first light Monday morning, Rick, Ken and Paul climbed into DreamKetch’rs dingy and motored 4 miles, searching the beaches and piers and shallows and just before they ran out of shoreline they hit pay dirt – there was our dingy, just hauled out of the shallow water onto the beach of a local hotel. How could this be the pot of gold, you ask? Well, here is the scene... Sunday night we were aboard DreamKetch’r, enjoying the evening with Marilyn, Ken and Paul, (their friend who crewed all the way down from Annapolis). Suddenly we were startled by the sound of increasing winds and furious rain. We watched the knot meter go from 12, 14, 19, 20, 22 and stay in this range. We were dry and comfy inside their canvas enclosure while the rain poured down and the waves picked up. It was quite a storm, we watched Dragonfly’s anchor light nervously as talk turned to anchors and our hopes that both anchors where well dug in. A few hours later we said our goodnights, headed for the stepladder …but our dingy was gone. The line was still tied on to the boat but it had severed -- the dingy was no where in site.
This was very bad; the dingy is the family car, we rely on it to get from the boat to shore, to get to snorkeling sites, to visit other boats, etc. We knew that it could have drifted a long distance since the squall hit it’s peak and that there was quite a lot of reef for it to hit and not much shoreline behind us. It was certainly too dangerous to look for the dingy in the dark with the current, wind, waves & rain -- we spent an anxious night, knowing that we should have monitored the dingy in those conditions, knowing that it was a long shot to find the dingy at all, knowing if we did it might be badly damaged, knowing that if we didn’t there wasn’t any harbormaster to speak with and knowing that there is little chance of finding a store in Belize to purchase a dingy. If only we could turn the clock backwards a few hours! So when Rick’s jubilant voice came over the handheld radio after an hour of searching, “Dragonfly, Dragonfly” I felt like it was my birthday, Chanukah, Christmas, New Years all rolled into one. They had found the dingy caught at one of the last piers on the island, in fine shape and a rainbow shining above them—well it certainly seemed to me that it they had found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
1710 miles from Marblehead! Watching the dingy with rapt attention…Stay tuned, stay well!
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