05/12/2008, Cucumber Beach Marina, Belize City
Good morning everyone. This morning I'm in Belize City at Cucumber Beach Marina. I've spent the last few days anchored in the lee of Cay Caulker but yesterday made the 15 mile or so jump over here. Cucumber Beach is the only marina anywhere in this part of Belize for many miles up or down the coast. I wanted to clean the boat real well, wash all the salt off and do a little grocery shopping. The drawback is that the further you get from the barrier reefs the worse the water gets. Also you are truly doing shallow water sailing with the depth sounder never really reading more than 5 or 6 feet and most times hovering around 1 or 2 feet below the keel. For a 3 mile or so stretch through an area between to cays ominously named "Puerto Stuck" the depth sounder never read more than 1 foot below the keel. Watching the thing will just drive you crazy so I just stopped paying attention to it and concentrated on following the route laid out in the Rauscher cruising guide to the letter. This proved to be a winning strategy as I made it here without so much as grazing the bottom.
Belize City, at least the part of it I'm seeing now, is not the most spectacular scenery however. The water is so cloudy that it reminds you of the yoohoo chocolate soda color of Mobile Bay. South of Belize City is mostly very low lying swamp and I read that Belize City proper was initially built upon mahogany chips and stone ballast from centuries of sailing ships that used to call here, the wrecks of many that line the reefs offshore of Belize. Belize is a former British Commonwealth colony and the traces still remain from the Queen's handsome mug on the currency to the British tourists I've been seeing. British army infantry soldiers do their jungle training here and there are 20 or so of the trainees hanging out every day here at the marina, which also doubles as a Belizian waterfront theme park complete with beach, museum, zipline and waterslide. They are very young, 18 to 20 I would guess, all completely fearless and dedicated to the task of wiping out the county's entire supply of Belikin Beer. They are also making some lucky tattoo artist here in Belize City a very rich man. Each day they show up they are more and more decorated. They speak English, sort of. Somebody once said that England and USA are two brother countries separated by a common language. I would tend to concur with that assessment.
The most prominent factor of my stay so far here in Belize has been the trade winds which have been blowing relentlessly strong for the last week. The weather forecasts are somewhat vague regarding wind strengths sticking to conservative language like ....east to southeast winds at 10 to 25 knots with gusts possibly higher......hell I could be a Belizian meteorologist. Out at San Pedro on Ambergris I was anchored between the barrier reef and the island in sand and eel grass over hardpan and the lee shore a couple hundred yards off my stern. Try as I might I never did get my anchor set down in what looked like a very good set and with that wind blowing constantly you tend to dream at night about your boat sitting on its side on the beach at San Pedro with waves breaking over the side. But at the end of the day you just set as many anchors as you can as good as you can and then rely on ......... an irrational assumption of a positive outcome.
The anchorage at San Pedro is in that beautiful water that exists between the islands and the reef out there. Gin clear, full of fish and other interesting things. The only problem, outside of the wind, is the constant boat traffic that zips past at most hours of the day and night. You are sort of situated in their natural highway but they could give you a little wider berth than the 10 feet or so they sometimes give you. If you are in the water or the dingy beside the boat the wake can be pretty rough for a few seconds. This and you also worry of being run over while swimming by one of the brutes. Some of the boats are inter-island ferries probably 50 or 60 feet in length and they come by at full speed and throw a mighty wake. At least they always wave at you as they turn your world on its ear for a few seconds.
San Pedro, the village is a pretty cool place and the people were friendly. You can also get most anything you need there but you may have to go to many places to cobble your list together. The food in the restaurants is good but nowhere near as fresh and good as that in Mexico. The prices were also a shock after Mexico. Much more expensive here. But everyone speaks English and everyone takes American dollars. The Belize dollar is tied to the US dollar at a rate of 2 Bz to 1 US. This is a fixed rate and the Belize dollar is therefore subject to the fluctuations of the US dollar on the international currency exchange. Bet they're pissed at us now.
My stop at Cay Caulker was also pretty interesting. Also bad holding ground in eel grass and silt bottom. Put out two anchors, the big bruce and the fortress. The bruce, normally my best anchor, would simply plow a big furrow in the bottom when you tried to back down on it. I put out the fortress and it did set but not very good. At least here you are in the lee of the island and there is no wave action to further aggravate things. But I never drug anchor while I was there. The island itself is a mixture of sleepy Caribbean island and a fraternity house. The place is full of the international backpacker set, sleeping in hostels and even in tents and soaking up all the rum, beer and sun they can in the absence of any adult supervision. The average age I would guess to be 20 or so. There are a few small stores on the island and a few restaurants as well. The beach on the Caribbean side was beautiful as well but the winds were relentless while I was there. I sure hope I get some days with moderate winds out there.
Anyway, I will be here in Belize City until at least Thursday of this week, cleaning up and stocking up and waiting for a visitor, Jason, whom I met up in North Carolina, to show up for a few weeks. With this additional set of eyes on board we will load up and head to the offshore atolls of Turneffe, Lighthouse reef and Glovers reef for a week or two. This is supposed to be the truly beautiful part of Belize and I believe it. Having another set of eyes will make this part much, much safer as there are no real accurate charts for these atolls and eyeball navigation rules the day, make that saves the day. Jason is a diver and wants to do that and I'm dying to get to the miles and miles of pristine flats that are there. Time for a little fly fishing. Pray for some light wind days for me will ya.
I've put many new photos of my trip south from Isla Mujeres to Belize in the picture gallery. I'm also trying to add a few sailing videos to YouTube and link it here to the site. Have not beaten the technology curve on that one yet, however. I'll let you know when I do.
I've also added many "people pictures" to the Isla Mujeres album. Hope none of these are too incriminating for anyone. If so please remember that it's a scientific fact that "scared runs faster than mad".
So I got that goin' for me.
Which is nice.
HEA
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05/08/2008, Cay Caulker, Belize
I left San Pedro this afternoon for the short hop to Cay Cay Caulker where there is a much more protected anchorage. I spent the morning up to my elbows in grease and diesel working on the engine. Somewhere between Xcalak and San Pedro I developed a leak in the exhaust somewhere. I noticed the carbon dioxide smell in the cabin and could hear a little noise that sounded like an exhaust leak. Turned out that one of the nuts that holds the rear injector on had backed off a turn or two. Now its back to purring.
Anyway, I'm on a borrowed computer in a cyber cafe and there are people waiting. When I get to a dedicated connection and am on my own computer I have many pictures and even some video that I am going to post.
HEA
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05/06/2008, San Pedro Belize
I'be made it to another country. The passage down was blustery, sometimes very rough but mostly good sailing and I may never get quite used to these reef passage entrys. San Pedro on Ambergris Cay is a bustling center of commerce, customs and immigration much easier and more friendly than Mexico by far and it's hotter than the hubs of hades during the afternoon.
Tonight I will sit down and try to write a more detailed log about the last week. It's been very interesing.
HEA
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