PLACENCIA

A yachtie haven - and must-do port of call for shopping, banking, internet.

We initially spent a few days restocking - left and returned later in the month to do our checkout clearance for Guatemala.

Friday 12 May - we came to Placencia from Pelican Caye & Lagoon Caye - a straight, deep water 15 mile run. We had a short stop to explore the mangroves at Lagoon Caye - and a very much needed cool-off swim before motoring on to Palencia.

We arrived mid-afternoon to anchor off Placencia village amongst about 12 other yachts. A very attractive setting - upmarket compared to Dangriga.

We headed straight ashore for an afternoon of internet time.

We chose a good anchoring spot just off the shore with resort closeby (so we could get their internet on the boat) and Yolo, the cruisers hangout bar.

As it was Friday Night this bar had live music throughout happy hour. James noticed many jellyfish in the water - so no swimming off the boat for me.

Whilst we were ashore a large group of charter cats fleet returned - we were surrounded!! It was their last night and they mostly stayed on-board and partied - noise travels a lot over the water.

Saturday 13 - Placencia - a HOT, STILL day. We went ashore for a look around and a bit of shopping.

Placencia is a seaside village at the southern tip of a long, narrow peninsula off the mainland - in tourist speak 'the Caye you can drive to'. The one paved road village has been gentrified by non-Belize businesses - bars, coffee shops, restaurants and various accommodation options. The Chinese run the 3 grocery stores.

A 'happy' looking place. The 500 or so local Creole families were friendly and run the roadside 'shack' food stalls. Cheerfully painted wooden frame houses are perched on stilts to catch, and make the most of the refreshing tradewinds. There are loads of very beautiful tropical palms and flowers adding to the idyllic tropical setting. Again, like Dangriga, the local residents are poor, but happy.

There is also a large ex-pat community here, and it is obvious that their money and kindness is out back into the community. The kids sailing programme would not exist without this support.

The villages main north-south 'street' is actually a narrow concrete footpath that threads this way among the many simple wood-framed houses (some on stilts) and beachfront lodges. The only paved road is where most of the main businesses are located.

There is a small plane airstrip about half a mile from the start of the village.

We wandered along the narrow mile-long sidewalk through the village, with sand offshoot lanes and paths leading like a maze through the village - both beachside and lagoon-side. The coarse loose sand along the lanes were a real challenge for our little used leg muscles. There is some high-end development here with a new beachside resort and a Central American gastro-bar/restaurant in a beautiful 'queenslander' style wooden building.

Sunday 14 - Placencia. Sunday morning breakfast, AND James could get Spanish GP live feed via internet from nearby resort.

Overcast day, then showers and rain from 4pm all evening - the boat got a good wash-down, but it was hot and humid down below.

We spend a few afternoon hours on the internet at the nearby Paradise Resort. I got a Skype call to Mum for Mother's Day. Yolis bar had good live music throughout the afternoon - an expat hangout.

We are informed that this village has a short high season - Christmas to Easter when an international crowd looking for low-key fun in the sun 'Belize style' visit - outside this time it is only the sailing community - both charter boats and cruisers and a few Caye-bound holidaymakers staying one night between flights and the once weekly cruise ship that keeps the village alive. The wharf dock has obviously been tarted-up for the cruise ship visitors.

Monday 15 - jobs day - laundry, food shopping, and bank. We enjoyed afternoon ice-cream treat! It's good to be able to come to 'town' after a week or so in isolation to get a few essentials done. Good evening with breeze through the anchorage.

Tuesday 16 - We awoke to see a cruise ship far off on the next island - Harvest Caye - and the fast boats zoomed past us through the anchorage to bring a few of the passengers to the village. We have been told that the cruise ship company have purchased this island and built a long quay for the cruise ship to tie alongside - big infrastructure indeed.

They have built an exclusive day resort with all the bells and whistles so they passengers can enjoy a day in Belize!!

Onboard day with a little breeze throughout the day, making it hot, but bearable. Went for afternoon walk along the beach - we were both very hot when we returned and had a long, float and dip when we got back to the boat.

We had afternoon drinks and a good chat with Marcia and Rick from SheWolf - they have been in this area and in the Rio for a few seasons, so it was good to get some info. They run the morning SSB NorthWest Caribbean net - so have spoken, and now we can put faces to voices.
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After a few days exploring some of the nearby Cayes we needed to return to Placencia to do some final shopping and our official check-out from Belize.

Tuesday 23 - Placencia - check-out day. I went alone on water taxi and car taxi to Big Creek. Met French/Canadian man also checking out - share costs of taxi.

The Immigration office had not yet opened when we arrived - quite a few people needing extensions and in total 3 boats were checking out.

I was to discover that fees here at Immigration are not charged the same for all boats - corrupt officials again.

At the Port Office they had an issue that we had checked in at Dangriga! I haggled with the young officer over the number of days for their 5B daily charge - it is a strange, confusing and inconsistent system.

Thankfully at the final office, the Customs lady issued Zarpe (exit papers) with no problem.

Got back to Placencia to find that internet was down for the whole of the village for the day!

Final food shopping - but no bread had been baked in the village due to the public holiday.

We departed Placencia for Guatemala on 24th May - with a short unofficial stop at Seal Caye on the way.