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 on the days we moved 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 site 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 are 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 with internet we could keep up. Our internet access is sporadic, that when we get it we have much higher priorities that checking on news stories.

The boats 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 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 smaller so I decided they could not do too much harm. They behaved just like little nippy dogs. They  would approach menacingly to with in 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.