Adventures with David & Gail

Vessel Name: Wildest Dream
Vessel Make/Model: Caliber 47 LRC
Hailing Port: Dallas, Texas
Crew: David & Gail Dodgen
Home Page: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/wildestdream47
15 June 2013 | Dinner Key Marina, Miami, FL
20 May 2013 | Dry Tortugas Nat'l Park, Florida
18 May 2013 | Dry Tortugas, Florida
14 May 2013 | Puerto Isla Mujeres, Q. Roo, Mexico
10 May 2013 | Lighthouse Reef, Belize
05 May 2013 | Guatemala
01 May 2013 | Ram Marina, Rio Dulce, Guatemala
26 April 2013 | Livingston, Guatemala
23 April 2013 | French Harbor, Roatan, Honduras
20 April 2013 | Le Bight, Guanaja, Honduras
18 April 2013 | Vivorillo Cays, Honduras
10 April 2013 | Providencia, Colombia
01 April 2013 | Providencia, Colombia
23 March 2013 | San Andres
22 March 2013 | Off Nene's Marina, San Andres, Colombia
12 March 2013 | Red Frog Marina. Bastimentos
10 March 2013 | Boquete, Chiriqui, Panama
10 March 2013 | Cruiser Casa, Panama City
10 February 2013 | Panama City, Panama
02 February 2013 | Red Frog Marina, Bocas del Toro, Panama
Recent Blog Posts
15 June 2013 | Dinner Key Marina, Miami, FL

My how time flies!

My how time flies! – Well, I must confess to being a little overwhelmed and getting mixed up into the real world pace again faster than expected. Here it is mid-June, we have been back in Miami for almost 3 weeks, back in our house for almost a week, and I have not updated the blog. My sincere apologies! [...]

20 May 2013 | Dry Tortugas Nat'l Park, Florida

Back in the US, kinda!

Back in the US, kinda! - We are on US soil! There is no immigration or customs office out here so there is no way to clear into the US. So we are kinda' illegal aliens! But we are flying our Q flag and no one seems to care. Or maybe they don't know what it means. Anyway, we are getting closer to [...]

18 May 2013 | Dry Tortugas, Florida

Isla and beyond!

Isla and beyond! - We stopped in Isla Mujeres to officially clear into Mexico, wait out some weather and do some provisioning. Actually US immigration really doesn't care about where we started from to reenter the US, and they don't ask for a Zarpe so we could have gone on to Florida without stopping [...]

14 May 2013 | Puerto Isla Mujeres, Q. Roo, Mexico

The last flag!

The last flag! - Having skirted along the outer cays and atolls of Belize, we headed north to Mexico. I went to the flag bag that we have been using for the whole trip to store our courtesy flags for each country and it only had one flag left. It was the Mexico flag. All the others had been used and [...]

10 May 2013 | Lighthouse Reef, Belize

Belize it or not!

Belize it or not! - Sorry. I could not resist! We planned an 18 month trip and we are now into the 18th month so it is time to head home. We have about 800 miles to go with Belize and Mexico yet on the itinerary. We could go nonstop or we could take our time. Or we could stop a few places as we [...]

05 May 2013 | Guatemala

Guate!

Guate! - The ride into Guatemala City, or Guate for short as the locals call it, takes you along the Rio Montagua river valley as it winds is way up to the mountains. The Rio Dulce is at sea level and Guate is at about 6000 ft. so the climb is steep at times. Plus it's mostly a rural two land road [...]

Belize it or not!

10 May 2013 | Lighthouse Reef, Belize
David
Belize it or not! - Sorry. I could not resist! We planned an 18 month trip and we are now into the 18th month so it is time to head home. We have about 800 miles to go with Belize and Mexico yet on the itinerary. We could go nonstop or we could take our time. Or we could stop a few places as we pushed on. We decided on the latter with only a few stops in the outer atolls of Belize on the away north. First we had to come back down the Rio Dulce and clear out of Guatemala.

We left early from Cayo Quemado and motored back down the Gorge. Since it was around 7 am, we didn't expect to see much traffic but were surprised how many kids were off in their little cayugos on their way to school. We also passed several larger pangas filled with kids like a school bus on water. They were all dressed neatly with their backpacks. And they all waved as we passed. Life goes on!

We arrived in Livingston about 8 am in a rain shower. There was no wind so it was a very pleasant rain even if we had to get out in it. We stopped at a little tienda to get a loaf of bread for the trip and then went to Raul's office to get our passports stamped and our Zarpe to Isla Mujares, Mexico. We were going to stop several times in the outer islands of Belize on the way but not actually be in a port of entry so we did not plan to clear immigration.

The rain had stopped by the time we got back to WD and we were off across the bar again. We had set a track on the chartplotter on the way in so we just followed the "bread crumbs" back out without dropping the anchor! This time the tide was coming up and we were just past low tide so we saw depths under 6 ft. for a short distance. But since we only draw just over 5 ft. we were fine. Once clear of the bar, we back tracked along the same course to Cabo Tres Puntas in Honduras and then turned a little east toward the lower end of the Belizean barrier reef and the Sapodillo Cays, a distance of only about 32 miles.

The winds were light and mostly out of the east so we motored but did pull out the newly repaired furling mainsail. The day was beautiful and the seas calm so it made for a pleasant trip. But since we got a bit of a late start, it was getting near sunset when we rounded Sapodillo Cay to Hunting Cay.

We cut the corner as close as was prudent and made for the cut between Nichols Cay and Hunting Cay with Gail on the bow watching for coral heads as best as she could in the setting sunlight. It was shallow but was mostly just sand, grass and a rocky bottom. We pulled up just off the little fishing resort on Hunting Cay and anchored in about 8 ft. of water for the night.
An interesting story of the Sapodillo Cays is that when Belize declared their independence from England in 1981, Guatemala tried to claim the Sapodillo Cays and set up a fishing rights in the Caribbean. Their coast line is only about 75 miles long and they have limited fishing area. But Belize quickly set up a small defense post and a police office on Hunting Cay and it remained a Belize territory.

Next morning early, we headed northeast to Glover's Reef and the island on the southern end called Southwest Cay. The trip was supposed to be about 40 miles but the wind was still mainly northeast and we had to tack several times as we went up the barrier reef. We ended up covering over 60 miles but arrived in the early afternoon. We had been here before on a dive trip and stayed at a small dive resort called Manta Resort. It was a memorable trip and we were interested to see how the resort had fared since the late 90's. But it was completely different and the resort was gone. Some of the buildings were still there but the tall palm trees were gone and replaced with much shorter ones. The hurricanes had really done some damage to the islands in the past 20 years. But the island is still beautiful and the water crystal clear. That will never change.

The next day we headed northeast again to Lighthouse Reef, home to the Blue Hole that Cousteau made famous, again only a 40 mile trip. It is the most eastern of the outer atolls of Belize and is a major stop for divers and liveaboard dive boats. We had almost perfect winds at 10-15 kts and 3-4 ft. seas. It was one of the best sailing days of our entire trip. We arrived in early afternoon and crossed the banks from Long Cay to Half Moon Cay with good light to avoid the coral heads. We arrived around 3:00 PM and anchored on the sand in only about 6-7 ft., of water behind the reef.
Using the remaining daylight and the remote nature of the anchorage, we gave each other haircuts. It had been over 8 weeks since our trip to Miami and we both felt pretty shaggy. We are not very good at the hair cut thing but we have several weeks before we arrive back in civilization so things should even out by then.

The next morning we went ashore on Half Moon Cay to see their infamous Boobie Bird Sanctuary. These are a variety of red-footed boobies that have various feather colors from white to brown. It is past nesting season and the chicks were in the fuzzy feather mode being about 4 months old. There were a lot up in the trees and the park has an observation deck that puts you above the tree tops so you can really see the different birds.

Early afternoon we backtracked across the banks and out to the anchorage on Long Cay. This will allow us a quick start for Mexico in the morning (and the park charges $10 per person per day to anchor). We went for a short snorkel on Long Cay reef before we put the dinghy away for the trip. It was a surprise to see so many queen trigger fish in one small area. It was the most we have ever seen at any one time!

So much for Belize. Weather was good for a two day trip up to Isla Mujares and we were ready. This would be a big leg on the way home. But we were glad that we stopped for a few days in Belize. Truly. Belize it or not!
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