A little pre-Christmas ditty, inspired by Belize:
‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the sea
Not a creature was sleeping, not even the porgy.
The moon was a beamin’ across the water so blue,
In hopes that St. Nicholas would anchor here too!
When out on the reef there arose such a fright,
As the hammerhead and reef sharks cruised through for a bite.
On angels, on hamlets, on damsels, on wrasses,
On morays, on groupers, on parrots and basses!
I jumped to the cockpit to see such a sight!
Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!!
Well, Shakespeare it’s not! The holiday found us anchored in the Turneffe Atoll lagoon with our friends on DreamKetch’r anchored beside us. Before arriving here we had a brief stop at Cay Caulker, a real backpackers island - which translates to a general sense of quiet, slow and casual. It is only about 6 miles from Ambregis Cay, but an entirely different feeling and clientele. The highlight of our 2 days there was meeting a couple from Montreal on s/v Corto II. Michel, Cecil and their friend Nichole sailed in to the harbor while we were dingy’ing back to Dfly from shore so we detoured to say “Bonjour”. Later, they commented that it is rather unusual to be greeted in French, I can’t imagine why since the boat was from Montreal and their flag was Canadian. Anyway, this led to an invitation for coffee in the morning, which led to a fun evening ashore watching the sunset & enjoying a “good” bottle of wine (important to the French), lots of laughs, and sharing of information about Belize and Guatemala as they have lived in this area for a year.
The next day we followed Corto II out of the anchorage as they headed for Belize City and we made our way through ”Porto Stuck” (a deep water gap between two cays) , and through the deeper channel between St. Georges Cay and Mapps Cay, out the cut in the reef, into the deep blue water and over to the Turneffe Atoll. It sounds easy but the reality was that we were unsure of the depths through the entire passage-- we read our cruising guide and notes for description and instructions, studied it’s waypoints and course notations, kept an eye on the book’s hand drawn charts, kept a sharp eye out from the bow and travel very slowly until we are outside of the reef. The water depth changes abruptly: 20 feet to 8 feet, 17 feet to 7 feet to 13 feet. From the deck we see the water color change from dark blue to light blue, to brown to green to light blue; is that coral down there or plants? Is it sand or shallows?
Arriving in Turneffe was a bit hairy as well. Belize has three offshore atolls which offer sensational scenery, spectacular snorkeling and diving. They are known for greater visibility and a diversity of marine life. These atolls were formed by coral growing around the edges of steep limestone flats, and coral rings rise from great depths to enclose central, often deep, basin lagoons. The coral reefs rise very suddenly and require extreme caution.
Turneffe is about 8 miles east of the barrier reef. It is the largest of the atolls, over thirty miles by ten miles. Mangrove cays rim the east and west sides but the entire place is surrounded by a wall of living reef. The west reef is mostly submerged but the east and southern reefs are lined by breaking surf. The inner lagoon and mangrove creeks provide a sanctuary for crocodiles, birds, fish, dolphin, etc.
We planned for an arrival at about 3:00PM, plenty of sunlight to assist us in anchoring on the western side of the cay for the night and then into the lagoon the next day. We learned a lesson though, as the sail was more upwind than expected & we found ourselves dropping the anchor with the sun low in the sky, about 30 minutes before sunset. The bottom here is often hard sand or grass and setting the anchor can be time consuming and frustrating – and wouldn’t you know we couldn’t set the anchor after two tries. Do we continue trying in the last of the sun or do we look for another location which might have a softer bottom? Michel on Corto II had talked of anchoring just within the Blue Creek entrance to the lagoon so we headed for the staked entrance channel that we had seen just north of us. We inched over the 6 foot sand bar just outside of the entrance channel and were psyched to find 12 -20 feet of water and a marked channel all the way through the mangroves. Out of nowhere a dolphin streaked ahead of the boat and led us down the channel, leaping and arcing high in the air, which certainly lightened our hearts, even with the sun sinking behind us. Out of the channel the depth dropped to 7-8 feet again and with the light almost gone we selected an 8 foot spot which looked like sand just outside the channel, dropped the hook and hoped for the best. With the wind picking up to 18+ kn we decided to set our GPS to alarm if our position moved (which also eats power all night long) and made it safely through a rather sleepless night. The next morning we checked the anchor and saw that it hadn’t dug in well at all; it seemed to us that it was purely the weight of the anchor and 80 foot of chain that kept us planted. Lesson: Interrupt that 2nd cup of coffee and the urge to read one more chapter, leave earlier than you think you’ll need to and plan for a longer sail so you have lots of afternoon sun during your arrival. Ironically, our friends on Dreamketch’r followed a similar route a few days later and noticed a few mooring balls for the taking in that same area- undoubtedly we would have found them if we had more time and light to work with.
Over the next 4 days we explored the southern end of the lagoon, both inside and outside the reef. We found really gorgeous snorkeling minutes from the boat by dingy, visited with some locals who have built their own little camps on land leased by the government (who confirmed that crocodiles still live in the mangroves and hunt at night), welcomed our friends on DreamKetch’r, and relocated behind one of the little cays in anticipation of the big blow coming from the north Christmas day. Although we were the only sailboats in the lagoon, there was a very pretty lodge which caters to scuba enthusiasts and they welcomed us for Christmas dinner and sundowners at their bar. The four of us were minor celebrities to their guests, lots of questions about living aboard and where we had been, etc. Dinner was family style, lots of wonderful talk and food, a truly pleasurable evening. My favorite comment came during a chat with the manager of the lodge. He said that his job is akin to”running a spacestation, whose closest neighbor is a 3rd world country”. We all agreed that in the case of living aboard and living on a tropical atoll in the middle of paradise, “the dream” is often better then reality! I have to say that I still prefer a wet dingy ride back to Dragonfly on Christmas night over an icy ride on the highway!!
Even after suffering all our charm and allure, the staff at Turneffe Lodge would not take us diving so we contacted Turnaffe Flats, another of the island lodges, over the VHF radio and they immediately agreed. While Turneffe Lodge had a rather “corporate” feeling and is focused primarily on diving, Turneffe Flats caters to both fishing and diving clientele and has a very laid-back, unfussy style. It is located 20 miles north on the eastern edge of the atoll, and they graciously guided us through the local cut in the reef to a well protected basin so we’d be set to hook up with them for the dives. After a rather rough day of sailing we found ourselves easily maneuvering through the reef behind their guide to be the only boat in this beautiful basin, with it’s sandy bottom, good holding, surrounded only by mangroves and breaking reef. The lodge staff welcomed us ashore and invited us to join their guests for dinner, which was rather unexpected since we know that advanced notice is usually required as they go for their food supplies in Belize City only once a week. Well, who am I to pass up a potential great meal and a chance to socialize with the group with whom we’d be diving. Coincidentally, the first couple we met at the lodge lives on the Chesapeake Bay and we realized that we anchored in front of their house on Dymers Creek during our trip south.
The next morning we were fortunate to dive at Lighthouse reef, the location of the famous “Blue Hole”, and an area much touted by the cruisers we met who had been to Belize. Wow, it is without question a remarkable place. It is a true Pacific-like atoll, bounded on all sides by a well defined rim of living coral. There are only three major breaks which lead into the lagoon and from there you must pick and weave your way through a maze of coral patches that rise to surface to reach the blue hole. We brought along our portable GPS so we could document the path the dive boat took through the coral. I can’t easily do justice to the landscape; you are surrounded 360 degrees by beautiful, turquoise water and rocky outcropping jutting into the sky. Not a place to take a boat without a great deal of courage and definitely not for novices unless the weather is settled! The two wall dives were beautiful, especially our wall dive at Half Moon Cay. We both agreed that we must return to dive that location again. The water is so clear and there is such diversity of coral, fish, plants, textures and colors. Rick and the group first dived in the Blue Hole while I snorkeled the rim. The dive at the blue hole is rather unique – the hole is something close to 450 feet deep; those who are interested dive to about 135 feet spend about 10 minutes at that depth viewing caverns and stalactites up to 40 feet long. On their way to the surface divers usually see reef sharks swirling around the edges – and they didn’t disappoint this group either, a first for Rick! The snorkeling on the surface wais spectacular as well (happily, I didn’t run into any sharks and spent most of my time checking out the Quadruple Crown of Angelfish (queen, gray, French, rock beauties) in all sizes (little juveniles, larger adolescents, small adults, large adults).
And the icing on the cake was the discovery that the Lodge has wireless internet which we can access from the boat! Great diving, snorkeling, beautiful scenery, great people and INTERNET -- we may never leave! We’ll be sitting out some 20+kn winds over the next few days, it seems that our next weather window to travel will arrive on Monday. We’ll probably head back toward the barrier reef, exploring the many little cays inside the reef as we position ourselves to clear out of the country or extend our cruising permit in Belize for another month. Either way we have to show up at the immigration office by Jan. 7, so onward we go. But this area definitely merits a return trip. When the weather is settled, we hope to bringing Dragonfly out to Lighthouse reef and Glovers Reef (the third atoll) for continued exploration.
