Hmmm, I don't know where to start since it feels like forever since I've updated this. We left the Rio on a rainy, quiet day about a week and a half ago, spent a few hours checking out in Livingston at the mouth of the river, then crossed the bar that stretches across the entrance without any trouble. We motored over to a great anchorage about 6 miles away, just in time for sunset. It felt so odd to have the boat back out in the ocean. Thankful for the clearer water, seabreeze and open horizon.

From Glovers Reef

Because of the rain that day, the trip through the canyon of the Rio was really beautiful and it's always interesting to see the local people paddling along the river's edge in their cayuca's, or casting nets midstream. Much of the Rio is that way- a combination of modern and traditional ways. There are SO many cruising boats here, and we bring a fair amount of money and job opportunities to the area but just the same, we change the area too and I suppose just like anything, it isn't all good. Our entire experience with the people of Guatemala was just so warm and good that I felt sort of sad to be leaving the country. Of all the places we've been (which isn't really that many considering there's several more continents to explore!) Guatemala has been richest in interesting experiences and culture for us.

The next day, we motored up to the border of Belize to anchor in a perfectly round harbor called New Haven. There was nothing there to speak of except perfect silence, beautiful clear sky and one other boat. That night, I pulled out my astronomy book that Charlie gave me and started trying to figure out some of the constellations. The night sky is so perfect down here since there's no light to interfere with it.

The following day, we headed the rest of the way to Placencia for Christmas, a small but popular town on the coast of Belize. It's biggest claim to fame is the "mile long sidewalk" that runs along the water and that is where most of the little hotels and restaurants are. It's cute with lots of tropical flowers and neatly raked sand but other than that and the Tutti-Frutti italian gelato shoppe, there isn't much to do in Placencia. There were about 16 other cruising boats in the anchorage. We had a nice Christmas among cruising friends. Some boats organized a really nice potluck at this cute little place that is part of a marina. It sits out over the water and since it was closed, we just got to use the facility. There were turkeys with all the fixings and then multiple special dishes to round it out. There were about 30 of us and the food was delicious. We played dominoes afterward and had a nice time shooting the breeze with everyone. I took a run that morning so I could feel good about overeating. Jon was in the middle of yet another back attack, so he couldn't run. He hurts it almost by accident and then it takes over a week to heal up. He's feeling better now.

From Glovers Reef

We left the next day with another boat named Sea Biscuit to go to Rendevous Cay. We were there last season and did some of the best snorkeling and fishing of the trip. The weather was very unsettled and we basically crashed and bashed all the way over there but the anchorage is well protected and we could still get in the water and be busy while the wind was howling away. It was as beautiful as we remembered, albeit not as clear, but we got lobster, conch and great fish there. Jon loves his new spear gun and says that he would never have been able to get one of the larger 5 or 6 pound groupers he speared had he not had it. A couple of days later, we headed to South Water Cay, which is just inside Belize's long barrier reef. There is a break in the reef right there where you can exit to open ocean and get to Glover's reef atoll, 15 miles away. We had a gorgeous sail over to South Water, walked around the island, which didn't take long and then relaxed for sunset.

From Glovers Reef

In the evening, a Belizean fishing fleet sailed in on their little boats and anchored near us. They remind us of the Outward Bound boats in the US, seemingly they have nothing on them that represents any comfort. They're small sailboats, loaded with several even smaller tenders which each fisherman uses during the day to fish from. Then there can be as many as 6 people on the boat, all piled everywhere! At night, they rig a tarp over the boat and they'll have 1 little light hanging. In the morning, you can see them brushing their teeth and getting ready to head out for a long day of fishing. We can't figure out where the catch is, if it's being iced down or how in the world they can carry enough food and water. We find it very intriguing, to say the least.

The next morning, we had another beautiful sail over to Belize's truest atoll, Glover's Reef. We entered through one of only 3 breaks in the reef to anchor in the lee of a little cay inside. There are 3 other cays in a little further- 2 have resorts on them, one is for research. The whole atoll is a preserve and UNESCO world heritage site. While we try to have as many zero dollar days as we can, it costs money just to be here- $30 US per week. That's fine, but we're not usually sure what they do with the money. If they truly wanted to preserve it, there would be moorings and dive buoys to protect the bottom from anchors, etc. It is beautiful here. We had some heavy rain showers that cleaned all the salt off the boat so it's all spiffy again and we topped off our water tanks too. It's always nice since then we don't have to make as much water, which uses fuel, which costs money....Plus, since our varnish is looking ever so good these days, it's nice to get the salt crystals off of it so it lasts longer.

Our friends on Tashmoo and Sea Tryst arrived a couple of days later. Now we feel complete! We spent yesterday together spearfishing, going to a cute bar at the resort here to have a drink, and then getting together for a potluck dinner on Sea Tryst. The bar was neat since it sits out over the water with an underwater camera underneath it. There are fish everywhere and you can pan around and zoom in on them, all while sipping your drink. You can watch pelicans crash into the water in front of you and hear the resident osprey calling. Plus, the free internet antenna sits on top of this bar.

Once back on our own boat from the potluck, we made it till midnight, but just barely, and now we're ready to go scuba diving today. It felt nice not to have a hangover! It looks like it's going to be a pretty day, hopefully with lots of sun.

From Glovers Reef