Arriving Guatemala

With the forecast for high winds later in the week outside the entrance to the Rio Dulce, we decided, along with most other boats in Placencia, to advance our arrival in Livingston, Guatemala, a few days. Monday morning, I, along with three different boats, caught the 7:45 am Hokey Pokey water taxi from Placencia to the small village of Mango Creek. Once in Mango Creek, we negotiated with John, a taxi driver (in a minivan), a rate to take us to all the stops, wait for us at each stop, and return us to the water taxi. We piled in, and the first stop was immigration in the police station right in Mango Creek. Next, we went to Big Creek, about three miles away, to clear customs. Big Creek is a shipping port, primarily for the export of bananas. A ship was arriving, so the customs officer was not at the office. Nothing to do but wait. While waiting, the Port Captain rode up on his bicycle and processed our papers and collected a departure fee. Meanwhile, Kathy from Tundra would knock on the customs door every now and then, probably out of frustration. Eventually, a guy opened the door. He had worked a long, hard weekend and was not on duty, and would we please stop banging on the door. About 15 minutes later, he again opened the door and said he would process us. He just wanted to get rid of the noisy crowd.

On the way back to the water taxi, John stopped in town at a fruit and vegetable tienda, obviously belonging to a friend or relative, but we were pleased with the selection, and the prices were good. I returned to the boat with a pineapple, a papaya, cucumbers, and tomatoes.

We decided to break our trip from Placencia to Livingston into two short days. We definitely wanted to arrive in Livingston in the morning and get up the river. Livingston is not a safe place to stay. High tide was at 7 am, and we crossed a couple of hours later. We were the last boat for the day, joining about a 1/2 dozen boats already at anchor while clearing into Guatemala. We arrived in time to catch Raul, the agent who helps with clearing in or out, and the entourage of officials while they were still out boarding the boats, which is the beginning of the process. We only had the anchor down about 15 minutes before Raul, the Port Captain, immigration, customs, and the medical officer (in scrubs) came aboard. They all gathered in the cockpit, where we presented our papers and answered their questions. They all spoke English and were very friendly and professional. After about 10 minutes, they were on their way, and we were left with a map and an 11:30 appointment at Raul's office to pick up our completed paperwork and pay our fees.

We had our first experience ever with boat boys when arriving at the government dock in our dinghy. Not really, boys, or at least not young boys, they will look after your boat while away in town. It is recommended to pay this small expense in Livingston. Well, our first experience was not pleasant. They were all clamoring for our business, and we chose a young man who appeared to be trustworthy. A guy we didn't choose felt cheated, and a pretty good shouting match broke out. We could not shake the rejected guy, and he followed us to the bank, constantly still arguing his case. He even went into the bank with me, and I sent him back outside. Coming out, I gave him Q20 to go away, and that worked. 1 USD = 7.88 quetzales. We walked around town while killing time before our appointment, but the heat was just too much, so we found a restaurant, ordered drinks, and watched the activity from our shady spot.

We had Raul also process our boat extension. The initial boat permit is for three months, but it can be extended for an additional year. We will fly back to the United States in June, so we paid Raul the extension fees and signed the application, and he will forward the extended permit to Monkey Bay Marina when it arrives.

We found our dinghy in good shape, paid our boat boy, and were back on Ariel before lunch.

Our reservation at Monkey Bay Marina is not until May 1, so we will take our time going up the river. We could certainly go in right away, but we wanted to spend some time at Texan Bay Marina, which is about halfway, just after entering El Golfete, a wide part of the river.

Going from Livingston at the mouth of the river to El Golfete is an amazing 10 miles or so. The river winds through a canyon that at times is sheer rock walls that soar 300 feet. Most of the steep sides are covered with trees and vines hanging down to the water. It is just one of those places where pictures do not do it justice.

Texans Mike and Sherry Paine started Texan Bay Marina about five years ago. We took a slip ($10/day) and are using the opportunity to meet cruisers. Most boats stop here on the way and either take a slip or anchor in the peaceful bay in front of the marina. It is a fun place. Last night, the excuse for the party was - Full Moon.

Placencia

We are now in Placencia, only the third community we have been to in Belize, and the first on the mainland. San Pedro, where we cleared in, is actually on Ambergris Caye. After leaving Caye Caulker, we traveled short distances and stayed behind some of the numerous cays that lie behind the barrier reef. Most of the cays are uninhabited, some are private, and a few have only fishing camps. For the most part, we had the place to ourselves with no one within sight as far as we could see.

We have really lost contact with news from the United States since losing our satellite radio signal. We tried the BBC on the HF radio, but the short time they were on did not carry any real news of importance to us. We were talking with a cruising family from Vancouver, and they asked if we knew whether the healthcare bill in the US had passed. Well, that was old news, so we were able to answer that one. Logically, you would think that with the internet, we could keep up. Our internet access is sporadic, so when we get it, we have much higher priorities than checking on news stories.

The boats that are headed for the Rio Dulce are in pretty good numbers now. The is a full moon coming up, so there will be dozens taking advantage of the higher tides to get across the bar outside the entrance to the Rio Dulce. Our draft is such that we do not have to worry so much about timing. We plan to stay here in Placencia for another four or five days and then clear out of Belize and head for Guatemala, which will be our home, or at least Ariel's home, for the hurricane season.

Here in Placencia, the Paradise Resort Hotel is cruiser-friendly, with free WiFi, trash disposal, laundry, and happy hour - who could ask for more? This is our new temporary hangout.

I got a new face mask, although not a very good one, and decided to finish cleaning the bottom of the hull. I immediately found that two barracuda had taken up residence under the boat, up against the hull. They didn't seem happy with my arrival and approached me in an intimidating fashion. I was hesitant, but one was about 20 inches, and the other was smaller, so I decided they could not do too much harm. They behaved just like little nippy dogs. They would approach menacingly to within about six inches, and then if I made a move toward them, they would dart away but come right back and repeat. I decided to ignore them the best I could. I was down there for about 1 1/2 hours, and they were still there when I finished, still playing the same old game.

Belize

Belize is a small country, about the size of Massachusetts, and with a population of only about 300,000. With such a small population, the environment and the wildlife in Belize can thrive. Belize is protected from the sea by a barrier reef, the largest in the Western Hemisphere. At 185 miles in length, it is second only to the Great Barrier Reef in size. Belize gained its independence from Britain in 1981. Belize is culturally diverse with Creoles, Latinos, Maya, Garifuna, East Asians, and whites. Belize also has a sizable Mennonite community, which has been helpful in Belize's becoming self-sufficient in chicken, dairy products, and corn.

We really feel like we have transitioned into another world and can certainly understand how cruisers stay year after year. We feel like rookies again as we meet cruisers who have been in the Northwest Caribbean for a number of years. Certainly, Belize is the best cruising ground we have encountered to date. The locals are friendly, and we enjoy interacting with them. Our surroundings are just beautiful beyond description. The water temperature is in the mid-80s. The temperature on the boat, as long as we have the trade winds, hovers between a low of about 80 just before sunrise to about 90 at the peak. It is bearable with fans going and decent winds. I think we are adapting because if it gets into the 70s, we feel a chill.

San Pedro

San Pedro

San Pedro

San Pedro

WiFi Spot on Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Caye Caulker

Traveling To San Pedro

It was quite the adventure traveling from Isla Mujeres, Mexico, to San Pedro, Belize. We cleared out of Mexico easily enough, first stopping in at the Immigration office and then getting the final paperwork completed with the Port Captain. He issued us our all-important Zarpe (clearance document). We had estimated two long travel days, the first to be about 18 hours and the second to be about 24 hours. After lunch, we got underway,  and with the steady trade winds, the sailing was good. There is a two and sometimes three-knot current flowing south to north. The only hope to minimize the impact is to stay close to shore, which is often close to a reef. It turns out this is easier said than done.

We always carry paper charts, but navigate with electronic charts. The electronic charts are made from the same data used for paper charts, so they are no more accurate. We found very little in the way of depth soundings along the Mexican coast, and some that we observed were wildly inaccurate.

During daylight, we attempted to maintain a depth of 60 feet, which put us in close but not so close that we would get into trouble. At night, we moved out to 100 feet. The continental shelf is very close to shore, so often we were in very deep water (too deep to get a sounding) and, of course, running against the current. We arrived at our planned stop behind Culebra Cay in Bahia de la Ascension at 8:45 am. It was a very quiet, isolated location and a good place to rest.

The following day, we left right after listening to the cruiser's net on the SSB radio. We continued to use are same strategy using the depth sounder to keep our comfortable distance from the shore. During the night, the winds began to build, and with that, the seas became a little rougher. We both got unexpected soakings whenever a wave would hit the boat at an awkward angle. These were not light showers; these were full drenchings.

The entrance to San Pedro through the barrier reef is very narrow and requires executing a right-hand turn immediately after clearing the barrier reef to avoid running up on the drying reef. We began to expect it would not be possible with the heavy waves to enter, but pulled in close to have a look-see. The yellow buoy, which marks the entrance, was out of sight behind the rollers more often than being visible, so it was not a hard decision to pass on that.

The bad news was that the next safe entrance was an additional six hours away. We have learned to take these things in stride, so we just picked a new waypoint and pushed on. We entered the main channel, which is very wide and deep. This is the way the cruise ships enter Belize. We anchored behind Water Cay, the first available place to stop. We were anchored at 3:30 pm. We had to clean up the boat, especially the cockpit, which was sticky from all the saltwater. We actually waited for our first Belize sunset before retiring to bed.

The next day, we left at 6:30 am so we could get to San Pedro in plenty of time to check in. We didn't realize it at the time,  but it was actually 5:30 am Belize time. They do not have daylight saving time in Belize. Keeping track of time has been more challenging than expected. Mexico just switched to DST on April 4.

Our charts are much better in Belize waters, which makes sense since Belize was a British colony and the charts are British Admiralty. Traveling back to San Pedro inside the reef was an entirely new experience. Even though the charts were better, it would not be prudent to attempt travel in some of these areas without Freya Rauscher's Cruising Guide. The water can get very skinny. We traveled for miles with depths of around six feet. Your whole perspective changes, so when it goes to seven feet, you feel you can now relax, now that the water is deep again. I thought I was slightly off track at one point, steering by headings and sightings on objects (no GPS waypoint), and in correcting, found ourselves rubbing the keel on the bottom for a while. No harm,  as it is all sand, and we don't think there is any paint left on the bottom of the keel anyway. Luckily, we were able to push our way back to deeper water - ah,  now six feet sounds good.

Finally, at 11:15 (10:15 Belize), we were anchored in San Pedro. We finally became aware of the actual time when we got to Immigration and had to wait for them to return from lunch. Several people were waiting. Belize only grants 30 days at a time, so everyone else was there to renew for another 30 days. You can easily get additional days, but it requires a visit to Immigration every 30 days. The first 30 days are free, but after that, it is $50 for the next 30 days and every 30 days thereafter.

Checking into Belize was very straightforward. We first went to Immigration and then next door to Customs. Each charged us a boarding fee of $20 US. (In Belize, either currency can be used, and they can be intermingled in the same transaction. The ratio is $1 US = $2 B. After completing the paperwork at customs, we took a customs officer out to Ariel in our dinghy for his cursory inspection.

Now to enjoy Paradise

Enjoying Isla Mujeres

It could be really easy to get too comfortable here in Isla Mujeres and forget to move on. We plan to leave Monday after Easter, bound for Belize. We typically get our day started first by listening to the Northwest Caribbean net on the SSB radio and then the Isla Mujeres net on the VHF radio. The majority of the cruisers we have met are heading in the opposite direction. Cruiser gatherings, such as potlucks or breakfast at one of the local restaurants, are announced on the internet, making it easy to meet other cruisers.

Anchorage at Isla Mujeres (Picture taken from ferry)

One of the many ferries that run between Puerto Juarez (Cancun) and Isla Mujeres

Cancun now has three Walmarts. We didn't go to Walmart (we did go to one in Merida), but we did go to the Sam's Club and bought a few groceries. It was interesting. The layout and operating procedures appeared to be the same, but the goods carried were tailored to the local community's preferences.

On Good Friday, we noticed a large crowd moving south along Rueda Medina, the major north-south road. We assumed it was related to Good Friday and then spotted a cross being carried as confirmation. We hurried in and joined the solemn procession of hundreds just before entering town. The reenactment of Christ's crucifixion was very well done and a moving experience.