Drowned Cayes & Belize City, Belize
Haulover Creek Fishing Fleet, Belize City
It's been awhile since I sent the last update & we've been on the move-highlights include: David negotiating for lobster tails, yellowtail snapper & conch from local fisherman. Sailing from Caye Caulker to the Drowned Cayes-the inside route to the Drowned Cayes includes an infamous passage called "Porto Stuck"-now if THAT's not enough to keep us anchored, I don't know what is!!! Porto Stuck features a channel all of 20 yards wide (and about 7 feet deep) -- we planned to go through on a rising tide. The BIG sugar barges coming the OTHER way through that 20 yard wide channel were NOT part of our plan! But we passed port to port, waved & sailed on!
 Safely Through Porto Stuck |
 Entrance Marker Drowned Cayes |
Approaching the Drowned Cayes was another one of those navigational challenges. The chart says each finger or bogue has 2 (TWO!!!) feet of water at the entrance. We have waypoints & bearings from other cruisers showing 10 - 15 feet of water in the same spots. A coming Norther, the all around protection & mud bottom for good holding in the Drowned Cayes, made us inch ever closer-I thought David was going to have heart failure, but we made it! We spent 4 days in these mangrove cayes.
Held Hostage by NoSeeUms - Yikes!
The first morning we were held hostage under our sheets by thousands of noseeums! The wind died overnight & the noseeums descended at sunrise. Noseeums are small enough they fly right through regular screens & they love to chew on humans, itchy, itchy, itchy!!! What a way to awake-hiding under the sheet until about an hour after sunrise when the noseeums disappear, only to reappear at sunset-but by then, we'd found our noseeum screens & were ready! We kayaked all over the mangrove maze-and dinghied where we hadn't kayaked. Watched manatees play & frigate birds soar overhead and listened to the herons squack loudly when disturbed from their roosts high in the trees. We arrived too early for the cold front, leaving too much time & too little to do. So David waxed the entire hull & I did stainless-it's amazing how quickly boatpox grow on stainless-we just polished it while we were in Isla! The boat looks TERRIFIC! David did such a great job on the hull, it's never looked better!
 Sugar Barges Line the Drowned Cayes |
 Dinghy Fishing Outside Drowned Cayes |
Sailing With Cruise Ships in Belize
We made the daytrip to Belize City for provisions-sailed over in the morning, anchored off an open roadstead with a
BIG SWELL, dinghied up Haulover Creek, under the swingbridge that hasn't swung, probably ever. I could go on & on about the strikes & the tax increase protests, but I'm out of space! Got our groceries & Ace Hardware stuff & GOT OUT! Sailed through the cruise ship anchorage out to Water Cay where we stayed for 2 nights watching the cruise ship parade come & go. We did some more dinghy exploring in the mangrove mazes of Water Cay & spotted an endangered species, saltwater crocodile-he was BIG! David was startled, he gunned the dinghy outboard, tossing the bow, and ME, straight into the air! I accused him of trying to throw me to the crocodile just weeks after we got married! Then we sailed to Turneffe Reef & today to Lighthouse Reef. We plan to stay here for a week, hanging out, hiking on the little cayes, birdwatching, diving, snorkeling, kayaking & dinghy exploring.
BIG SWELL, dinghied up Haulover Creek, under the swingbridge that hasn't swung, probably ever. I could go on & on about the strikes & the tax increase protests, but I'm out of space! Got our groceries & Ace Hardware stuff & GOT OUT! Sailed through the cruise ship anchorage out to Water Cay where we stayed for 2 nights watching the cruise ship parade come & go. We did some more dinghy exploring in the mangrove mazes of Water Cay & spotted an endangered species, saltwater crocodile-he was BIG! David was startled, he gunned the dinghy outboard, tossing the bow, and ME, straight into the air! I accused him of trying to throw me to the crocodile just weeks after we got married! Then we sailed to Turneffe Reef & today to Lighthouse Reef. We plan to stay here for a week, hanging out, hiking on the little cayes, birdwatching, diving, snorkeling, kayaking & dinghy exploring.
David Negotiating Valentine's Day Lobster
