We're in Belize!

We've been very remiss in updating this blog to the point that some people have gotten concerned about us. Rest assured that we are having a FABULOUS time, just not much access to the internet.

We spent nearly a month in Isla Mujeres even though we had planned to stay no more than just a few days. It is a beautiful island, just 30 minutes by ferry from Cancun, but much less developed. We spent most of the month at Pariso Marina where we had good access to town, great snorkeling nearby, and a freshwater pool and bar for whenever we wanted a change of pace. Max loved the marina because he could run free and swim as much as he wanted. Great potluck for Thanksgiving and just before leaving we hosted a Mexican dinner.

We left for Belize mid-December. The trip started out just awful with horrible cross-currents that constantly dumped seawater on us and threw us across the cockpit. After a dreadful night, we headed inshore and had a a great week day-hopping down the coast of Mexico. We didn't see another boat the entire time and since our radio has a range of only 20 miles or so, we were completely off the grid. Each afternoon we would have a tense 30 minutes or so navigating through a narrow break in the barrier reefs to reach our evening anchorage, but our hand-held GPS worked perfectly and the waypoints in the guide book we were using (Raucher's) were always spot on.

We reached San Pedro the Saturday before Christmas and immediately met some delightful people (Chris and John on SaraII) with whom we shared Christmas Eve and Christmas. San Pedro is a hyped up tourist spot, enjoyable in many respects but the anchorage was quite rolly with wakes from dive boats and ferries and blaring music until 3 a.m. that kept both of us awake many nights. We left San Pedro a couple of days after Christmas, heading for Lighthouse reef with Chris and John. We spent the first night at the south end of the Turneff Islands. Terrible holding (the anchor was just lying on its side) but fortunately no wind. The next morning though we had fabulous snorkeling a mile or so from our anchorage -- healthiest coral we've ever seen. We then had a good 4 hr. sail to Lighthouse reef. The wind came up so strong that we were doing hull speed under main alone. When we arrived, other friends from Isla Mujeres were there and guided us to their anchorage on the other side of Long Key. We spent New Year's and our anniversary (Jan. 2) there, but had terrible weather most of the week. Fortunately we had great holding as the wind blew 18-30 most of the time. Lighthouse Reef is supposed to be on the the premier spots to visit in Belize - crystal clear water, white sands, rare red-footed boobies, fabulous snorkelling -- but due to the bad weather we saw very little of it. Managed to go snorkelling one morning and to take Max around the island to a sandy beach another day.

As soon as we got a brief break in the weather forecast we headed off for Placencia. We got through South Water Cay cut just fine, but then ran aground trying to get into the lagoon between Twin Cays. A Belizean fishing boat finally came along and helped us. The fishing boat was about 30 feet in length, clearly hand made, and filled with 13 fisherman who each had their own hand-made single-person canoe strapped to the the side-rail. It took about 1 hour to get our boat into deeper water and settled into the lagoon. They had been out catching lobster and conch, so we bought 2.5 lbs of lobster from them for dinner - five big tails for $25.
The next day, leaving the lagoon, we ran aground once again in pretty much the same place, but fortunately we were close enough to the deep water that Mark could motor through it. We had a great five hour sail to Placencia, arriving in the harbor about 1:45 on Monday afternoon. This is just a perfect place -- quiet and laid back, not hyper touristy, but lots of good restaurants and a great beach. Enough for now. I'll try to update the blog again soon and include some pix.