It is suddenly very quiet on Dragonfly. We have had 2 weeks of guests aboard, plenty of laughs and activity. As we end our second month in Belize, I feel confident in saying that the winter weather in Belize is not ideal for vacationers; cold fronts continue to arrive every three to four days bringing gusty winds, rain and cooler temps. Our best experience to date has been five sunny days in a row but we have also had daily rain showers with intermittent sunshine lasting as little a few hours. We “made hay when the sun shone” and our friends were able to experience firsthand some of the ups and downs of living aboard.
We chose the Pelican Cays for a stopover with Bill and Blair based on our typical criteria; protection from the expected wind direction, snorkeling possibilities, mid-afternoon arrival providing a decent bow watch for coral at the entrance to the lagoon. It was entertaining to have Bill, a sailor, aboard to help navigate by the standard techniques: estimation/deduction/guesswork. We breathed the standard sigh of relief after crossing the coral bars without issue and found ourselves inside a well protected lagoon. We set our anchor in 50+ feet and hoped for the best-- not being able to visually check the anchor is quite disconcerting, especially now that we have enough familiarity with Belize to know that a front is likely to arrive no matter how calm the current weather or what the forecast predicts.
A typical dingy search for good snorkeling ensued and we found some nice areas that served to re-introduce Bill and Blair to the underwater world. Later we ventured onto to the island to checkout a fish camp we had seen through the binoculars. Bill, Blair and I pulled the dingy on the beach and met one of guys who told us that they have been netting reef sharks - they sell the meat locally in Belize City and the shark fins to Japan. They brought out about 8 shark fins to show us and invited us back the next morning to see their haul for the day. They then retrieved a coconut and hacked it open for us to try its milk. After many thanks, we turned for the dingy and Blair just about stepped on a boa constrictor that was hidden under a bag left on the beach. This smallish boa constrictor had been found by one of the guys at the camp and they must have been in the process of killing it (by thumping it on the head) when we appeared. It was still writhing and we hoped that they would finish the job quickly once we left. A bit of a different visit between the sharks and the snake! Blair became a great fish spotter -- one night she hollered “Look at that huge fish with glowing orange eyes”; we thought she was crazy because none of us could see it at first, then using a headlamp at just the right angle we were finally able to spot it cruising around our hull -- we supposed it was a tarpon but who knows!
We enjoyed a fun filled day on a jungle tour with Doyle of D-Tours. Tour Guides must be Belizean citizens and seem to have a lot of training and first hand knowledge of the country, landscape, flora and fauna. This tour into the jungle west of Placencia started with a thirty minute boat ride on the “hokey pokey” water taxi up to the town of Independence. From there we loaded into a van and drove 20 minutes to the Coxcomb Wildlife Preserve, also known as the “Coxcomb Jaguar Sanctuary”. Part I -- a walk along muddy trail learning about the natural world around us. We learned that the English word “jungle” originated with the Brits commandeering the African word for “plains”, which suddenly explains the lion being the “king of the jungle”. Doyle was alert to the all the details in the forest: leafcutter ants marching along carrying leaves on their backs, toucans feasting on fruit high above in the canopy, howler monkeys leaping from tree branch to branch, certain nuts used in the dye for red m & m’s and a naturally peeling tree bark used in medicines to relieve flaking, irritated skin. Part II – we grabbed an inner tube and floated down the river in the sunshine, surrounded by the sounds of the forest and each other’s laughter, passing instructions down the line “paddle hard right after this bend” as we bumped around logs and glided over small rocks. Part III – a short hike up hill to a waterfall for a refreshing swim under the falls and then a “survivor” trip down the stream bed on our buttocks, slithering over the rocks and sliding thru its natural chutes. At one point Doyle literally blocked each persons slide with his body to obstruct us from sliding over the lip of the next drop. All this fun without signing a waver or permission slip- truly a different world than the U.S.
With Lindsey and Spencer aboard we enjoyed a lovely 3 hour sail to Ranguana Cay alongside Mary & Tom on s/v Carpe Diem. We arrived a bit too late to have our pick of the anchorage but we managed to set Dragonfly’s spade anchor pretty easily in the hard bottom. Carpe Diem was having less success with their CQR anchor in this bottom so Rick and Mary snorkeled around analyzing the bottom, Mary poking into the sand with her extra long screwdriver until they found the softest area, far enough from the coral heads, and then directed Tom at the helm to that exact spot to drop and set their anchor. Meanwhile, the rest of us swam around our boat with a spotted eagle ray and a southern stingray. By the way, lemon juice really does help stop the stinging when struck by an unseen jellyfish creature. The catch of the day for dinner was grilled “yellow jack” thanks to Carpe Diem’s success during the journey.
The next day dawned sunny, warm and windless. Our plan was a 30 mile trip out to the Glovers Reef atoll. At 8:00AM we were unusually motivated to snorkel the coral heads lining the anchorage, after which we headed out to the cut in the reef. Here is another irony of the Belize cruising experience, we had to leave early in the day to make the trip in time to arrive in sunlight, but this early the sun was still shining in our eyes as we headed for the shallows and it was difficult to see the changes in water color/depth -- we motored even more slowly out toward the reef, searching to find the quiet water that identifies the Ranguana cut. Once we were outside the reef (always a reason to rejoice in itself) we were surprised and disappointed to find ourselves fighting an uncomfortable swell – where had this come from? The wind had been down all night and continued to be so light that we were motoring. After about 3 hours of crashing upwind without any breeze, feeling hot and sweaty, Spencer and I turning a faint shade of green, I made the executive decision to abort the strategy. Instead we headed back inside the reef at the Queens Cays cut -- we lined up with the northern most of the three little sand islands (that we figured were the Queens Cays), and wove our way over and around the coral and into a beautiful little lagoon between two of the islands. This was definitely one of our favorite stops so far, and we stayed for 3 days. The snorkeling around these two islands was the best we’ve had; gorgeous corals, every kind of fish and creature. Rick and I theorized that this must be a protected marine park because we saw all the “good eating” creatures that have been hard to find in most other locations – lobster, conch, hogfish – which was confirmed by the park rangers later in the day. Egged on by Mary, we raced hermit crabs around a track on the beach. We were having a blast! Still, you need the whole picture: these 3 cayes are tiny spits of land getting smaller each year. They afford little protection in unsettled weather and of course the wind swung around to a different direction and gusted to 24+ our second evening there. Another restless night on Dragonfly and Carpe Diem!
How cool to be picked up on the boat by Seahorse divers, saving us a trip back to Placencia and then back out to the reef for the dive! We had two fabulous dives with Elroy and Sean, diving at Silkies N. Wall and Silkies White Hole. One of the finest dive moments to date came when we swam alongside four hawksbill turtles, one of which was“beak to nose” with me. Other highlights included a swirling mass of spawning dog snapper, a peacock flounder morphing from purple to beige to brown as it camouflaged itself on a rock, many queen angelfish, comparing the differences between a juvenile and adult spotted drum, lots of huge hogfish and a rare green turtle. The day dawned cloudy and degraded to wet, windy and cold by lunch. Back on the beach, Sean grilled us a lunch of chicken and cheesy potatoes, while we huddled behind a Gilligan’s island-like wind break that Spencer assembled from picnic tables and dead palm fronds. We all agreed that being below water was the best way to spend the day!
On our way back toward Placencia we stopped at Rendezvous Cay, which looked like it was created by Disney. A host of pelicans perched in the weather-beaten trees while others were dive-bombing in the shallows for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A mile away we found beautiful coral in only 4-6 feet of water. These corals bloomed all shades of green, purple, blue, red and yellow – I have not seen such an amazing rainbow of colors on coral before. Our final stop was a quick snorkel at Carrie Cay, where Rick volunteered to stay aboard to boat sit because we could not get the anchor to stick at all. Here we swam between patches of lovely coral with an abundance of fish and completely dead patches of coral that look to have been devastated by hurricanes.
On a technology note, we have not been able to use skype to make phone calls while in Belize. We used it throughout the E. Caribbean but have heard that Belize blocks it in order to advance its own phone system. Another reminder that this is Central America! We now have news and radio aboard again via Sirius Satellite radio. The XM radio service worked all the way down the U.S. coast but stopped once we arrived in Belize. We are once again tapped in to the world news, enjoying programs on NPR and singing along to Broadway tunes, etc. We’ll see if the coverage continues to Honduras and Guatemala.
We have been experimenting with making grilled pizza on the boat and have settled on a recipe that I found in Rick’s cruising recipes file. After two or three trials we consider it ready for prime time and have served it to guests, even pizza aficionados from Chicago. Give a try if you dare!
We have about “done” the reefs and cayes of Belize. This week we will prepare Dragonfly for the 100 mile hop SE to the Bay Islands of Honduras (Roatan, Utila, Guanaja). Wouldn’t you know the forecast is for SE wind this coming week! But we know it will change eventually and we’ll be ready!
