Saturday, 09 August 2014

We departed Westerman Bay and traveled 25 miles inland. We look for the waterfalls that cascade down from the high mountains. The summer of 2014 has been very dry and the waterfalls are running at just a trickle. We do find the first of two native pictographs that are described in the books, this one high on a cliff at the entrance to Alison Sound. The painting is done in ochre on a lichen-free south facing bluff. It may be the work of the Nakwaktok people who inhabited this area and is believed to date to 1868.

The entrance to the sound narrows to a channel less than 300 feet wide and mountains stand two and three thousand feet high on both sides. There is a bit of current running in the channel, which is split in two by a small islet. We transit west of the islet and are soon in the main arm, passing Summers Bay, through another narrows and then to the head of the sound.

Alison Sound is very pretty. It is surrounded by mountains that reach 4000 feet up from the water. There are two creeks that empty into the sound at its head forming a large delta. The anchorage here is in deep water and the bottom shoals steeply to the mud flats. We take pictures and return down inlet a few miles to Summer Bay where there is another native pictograph. We choose to anchor in Peet Bay, just across the sound. This is a very nice, small cove on the south shore of Alison Sound and we have a pleasant night. We deploy our stern anchor to keep the boat from swinging in this tight cove.

Sunday, 10 August 2014

We are anchored approximately 27 nautical miles due east of Cape Caution, which is on the ocean shore. There is little coastal fog or low clouds this far inland. It is a sunny day when we wake and the tide has changed to an ebb. We have breakfast and depart to head back down Belize Inlet with the tide. Typically, the up-inlet winds start by mid-day and build through the afternoon hours. An early departure means we will not have a head wind to buck through.

Our next anchorage will be in Strachan Bay, not far from Westerman Bay where we were on Saturday. The trip takes us close to an active logging operation on the south shore of Belize. There are several camp barges, a log booming area and log dump. The road goes up the hill to a cutting block where a swing-boom yarder is working. Rob starts having flash-backs to his days of working in the woods of Oregon. This will not be the last logging site that we will see on this trip.

We opt for an anchorage in Village Cove, just at the entrance to Mereworth Sound. It is very cozy, we are tucked behind some islands in the north end of the bay. The only other boat we see is a passing crew boat, headed into the main part of Strachan Bay.