Belize City, Belize

Wouldn't you know that the wind would pick up just before we finished our move. The anchorage is totally exposed and when we got there is was real choppy. We went a couple of miles east to the Drowned Cays for protection. More mangroves, not exactly what we had in mind for Christmas, we are really tired of mangrove cays. There are no beaches and just plane nowhere to go ashore and walk. The few places that are cleared of mangroves are made into beach resorts for the cruise ship tourists and prices for food and drinks are adjusted accordingly. We visited a couple of these just so we could get off the boat. We catch up with Serene here and meet their son Miles and his family. They are in Cucumber beach marina where we anchor outside and go in to visit. We take a road trip with them to see more of the interior. We drive through Belize City where its almost as bad as Colon Panama. A very dirty and dangerous city that we were warned was unsafe to walk around,its all true. The countries interior is nice, mostly agriculture and primarily juice oranges. We return to the Drowned Cays to get better protection for the returning westerly winds and wait for weather to move north. 35 NM. motor sailing to Belize in 7 hours, 22 NM. motoring around the area taking shelter from the winds.

Dangriga, Belize

The weather was calm enough for us to stop at this small town and we were glad we did. Someone in Placencia called it a few bad names asking why we would want to stop there. Besides Punta Gorda this was the only other non tourist town on the coast. But like Punta Gorda its and open road stead anchorage only tenable in settled weather. Ashore the locals were all very friendly & we did not see a single tourist here. We went through there market area but just stocking up in Plecencia we did not need anything but enjoyed looking anyway. Being only 4 blocks long it didn't take long to see everything. Back at the boat we had a large Manatee hanging around the boat for a couple of hours, i guess we anchored right on top of his dinner.

30NM. motored

Plecencia, Belize

Finally made it here after having poor weather and having to turn back getting half way here but making no headway against head seas and wind on the nose. We went back to a bay by where we started at Wilson Cay and found New Haven Harbor very protected. Like Wilson Cay it was just mangroves. We didn't realize it but we were in another of the many marine parks that they charge by the person per day to anchor in. This one wanting $8:00 each. Told them we had no cash after checking into the country until we hit town. What could they say? This was on our 3rd day in the park that we didn't know we were in. The water is to green to snorkel, the shore is nothing but mangroves and they want to charge us to be here? We planning our routes to avoid these marine parks , just cant justify the fees.

Plecencia is a nice enough place but geared to the tourist. Not much here that shows Belize culture. We did rent a car for an excursion to the Mayan ruins well inland. This car should never have been rented out for such a long trip and turned out not to be up to the task. The roads wind through the mountains and the further we went the less power the car had, some roads i didn't think it was going to make it up. We did make it to our destination, well sort of. One mile before the ruins there is a hand cranked ferry that takes one vehicle at a time across a river. We made it across the river but when we went to drive off the ferry up the far slope the car died. I was able to get it to the side of the road and out of the way where we left it. We walked the remaining mile and borrowed a phone to call the company for a mechanic to look at it. We came all this way and we were not going to have our tour ruined. This is one of the largest temples and it sits atop a mountain overlooking Guatemala 8 miles away. Afterward we waited for the mechanic and when he finally came he thought it to be the fuel pump, i was thinking fuel filter from the way it slowly lost power through the morning. They towed away our ride and now we were 3 hours away from our boat. Ya , we were on that creek without a paddle. After a few hours and deciding the car was not going to get fixed right away the rental companies owner gets the mechanic to drive us back, 3 hours each way, poor guy. Poco was real good about it but then he was getting paid to drive. His radiator leaked so he brought along his kid to keep it filled. Poco pulled his back trying to move our car off the road and was having a very hard time doing anything besides sitting. Every 45 minutes or so we would pull over and junior would get out and pour water into the reservoir. It started getting dark and also started raining the last hour. Poco didn't know where to go the final 5 miles so we are wandering around back streets looking for the right place. Trudy got a little nervous at this point noticing the Poco keep a machete in between his front seats. We finally found the right street and we meet Dennis , the owner of the car company. Dennis also has a fishing/ shuttle boat service which we are now at, across the bay from Plecencia. Now we have to get into an open boat with a sheet of plastic spread across us like a blanket while we get blasted across the bay, in the dark,in the rain, through the mangrove channels to where we want to be, well sort of. Here we jump on a very wet gulf cart for the final mile to the dinghy dock, elapsed time 12 1/2 hours. What a great adventure for $90. I'm sure Dennis paid much more getting us ,and then later his car, back across Belize. We will always remember this day. 10NM. motored to Wilson Cay, 20NM trying to motor to Plecencia and then turning and sailing, fast, back, 24NM motor sailing to Plecencia.

Belize

Leaving French Harbor Roatan Honduras 12-09-09 in the morning we had a slow but nice sail to the outer reefs of Belize. We stopped at Lime Cay on the second day around noon not having enough daylight to make it to the mainland. We misunderstood the cruising guide that you could check in here. We did check in but it was with the navy which had nothing to do with customs and immigration which we would still have to do on the mainland. What we did not know was that this was a marine park and they charge $10 per person per day just to anchor here. This was not going to work and we had to map out where all the marine parks were to avoid the absorbent charges. We moved closer to the mainland the next day to a Moho cay that was a resort that charges just to go ashore. This is not the kind of welcoming we expected from Belize. So far the most cruiser unfriendly country we have been to. We go to Punta Gorda to check into the country then check out the town. The anchorage is very exposed and we did not plan staying. The town was small and nice and it would have been nice to stay longer but had to get to a good anchorage while we had good light. We go to yet another mangrove cay for the night and the next day make a short move to, ya, another mangrove cay. 4 days in Belize and we are not impressed. Lime Cay 117 NM 28 1/2 hours sailed, South Moho Cay 27NM motored 5 3/4 hours,

Punta Gorda and back to the Moho Cays 20NM Sailed there motored back, Wilson Cay 10 NM motored.

Roatan, Honduras

The weather was not what was reported when we left the island of Guanaja for Roatan. We had the wind and waves on the nose and the going was slow so we stooped into Port Royal bay. This was a very pretty bay but unfortunately there was a lot of shredded plastic trash floating in the water. We later found out in comes from the Honduras mainland where they dump their trash in the ocean. The next day we complete the trip to French Harbor. A little tricky getting into but a real nice protected anchorage. There is a barrier reef that breaks the ocean surge on one side and land on the other 3. Ashore we see a real American like grocery store with great prices and only a short walk away. The town is small and very nice. We went to a nice little dinner were we ordered cervesas and got soup also, not a bad deal for a buck. We really enjoyed the laid back atmosphere here. The place we need to go the check out of the country we decide to take a cab to instead of moving the boats and we split the cost with our friends from Serene. We go over to Coxin Hole which is the main town on the island and not real great. A busy town with a bit of crime we just want to get checked out. The port caption is just a difficult person and likes to give people a hard time. He takes a vital piece of paper from us then sends us to the airport to immigration where they ask for our crew list that the port caption kept. Back to the port captions office he reluctantly gives us our customs clearance without immigration first which has our crew list. While waiting for Mel i discover there is and immigration office behind the building we were in. Why did this guy send us to the airport if there is an office in the same building? Finally finished we take a taxi to the far end of the island and check out West End. This seems to be the tourist area. Lots of shops and restaurants on a rutted dirt road, it has a pleasant feel to it. Back to the anchorage we get soaked on the ride back to the boat where the waves had built up while we were away. 38NM. motor and motor sailed 9 hours total.

Isla De Guanaja, Honduras

Leaving San Andres on 11-20-09 we made this long trip with 4 stops, 3 at very isolated reefs well offshore, originally it was to be a 3 stop trip.The first stop was supposed to be a short trip of 63NM. to a reef north of the island of Providencia. Our tack angle had taken us a good 30 miles off course and heading into a southerly 2 1/2 knot current, we were north bound and we seemed to be going along quite well until we looked at the GPS and it said we were only going 2 1/2 knots. Our tack back towards our destination had us losing our northward progress. We already had been out 24 hours and decided to tuck in behind Providencia 8 miles short of the reef. We still did not get in until almost 10:oo pm, 110NM later. We rocked and rolled all night passably our second worst anchorage ever. We were up and ready at first light to finish the remaining 8 miles and get some protection at Low Cay. This looked like we were anchored in the middle of the ocean. The only land was Low Cay which was very small and awash. The reef which was very large provided excellent protection. There was only two other boats we seen here the 3 days we waited out the weather. On one we knew one of the crew who has been crewing on different boats sense Turks Caicos on yet another boat.

Next leg took us to another reef system but this one had a few small cays. Cayos Cajones is where we stopped at and rested for a day and a half. No where to go here just stayed on the boat.

The last leg we got to test our boats and our skills. We had to dodge squalls the second day out and on the second night we got hit by a fierce cold front that did not have any rain or clouds to give it away so we could not see it coming. We ended up heaving too for half the night until the high confused seas settled into their new pattern at 2:00 am. We lost about 8 miles drifting down wind through the night but we were able to get some rest. We were able to sail to within 17 miles of the island before the wind just died away and we had to motor in the rest of the way. The main island has very few people on it, instead they are all crammed on a very small island in the south bay. So many that they have even built buildings on stilts over the water extending off the land. Hurricane Mitch hovered over the island for 3 days devastating it in 1998. It was nice to hear English spoken again and to be hear from the locals about their island.

Here the water was very clear and we could see the bottom of the keel so we ran some lines under it to support it so that i could replace the rudder cap that rotted from electrolysis. The emergency repair that i did in the Chagres River held it together and got us here but i was nervous.

We did visit the main island at El Bight where a German couple ran a bar. The upstairs of the bar was an open loft, perfect for us to do some sail repair on Serene's stay sail.

Providencia 110NM sailed 26.5 hours motored 4 hours into anchorage in the dark, very slowly. Low cay 8NM motored.

Cayos Cajones 196NM 39 hours sailed all but 4 hours into anchorage in the dark, again.

Isla De Guanaja 180NM 48 hours heaving to for 6 hours.

San Andres, Columbia

Leaving the Chagres River in the rain we thought it best if we got going before they opened the damn gates again. By the looks of the current they had opened a couple of them already. When we got to the mouth of the river it was a mess with the outgoing current and the seaway coming in at it. We had about 6 foot standing waves with the silt all stirred up where we could not see the shoals. we had our incoming track on the GPS to follow out plus the waves broke noticeably on the reefs. We leave with all our water jugs full and the boat well cleaned. It was nice to have fresh water to clean with.

San Andres is a Colombian island north of Panama and closer to Nicaragua than anything else. Being a Colombian island we needed to use an agent to clear us in and out. I think he was scamming us also. He charged us for a tourist card which we never received anything indicating we had received. The island is a popular Colombian tourist destination. Lots of beaches and resorts and plenty of light life though we were always back on the boat at night to avoid any passable problems. We split the rental of a gulf cart with Serene to tour the island which we were able to do in about an hour or so. There are thousands of motor bikes on this island. We only planed to visit 2 days but had to wait on the weather and spent 4. Not a bad place but there was only so much to do here.

220NM 56 hours sailed 36 hours motor sailed the remainder

Chagres River, Panama

Just a short distance from Colon harbor this was a world of difference from Colon. The entrance was a little tricky with a 6 foot deep reef guarding the river entrance we had to travel a "s" shape track into the river. Once inside it was deep and had long stretches with a few bends. It didn't take long before we saw our first family of Howler monkeys in the tree tops. We motored about 3 1/2 miles upstream and anchored at a lovely bend in the river. We could see toucan's and parrots from the boat here. The were 2 other boats with us and one other that was already there. We took a dinghy ride up to the damn and saw a sloth and more howler monkeys along with many birds. We stood under a large tree watching the monkeys for over an hour careful not to be right under them. Our second day on the river we heard that they were going to open the damn gates because of all the rain to lower the Panama Canal's water level. We chose to stay put because no one in charge came and told us we had to leave. We put out lots of scope and stood ready. The current picked up to close to 5 knots we figure. Every ones speed transducers were fouled and we all had to rely on our GPS for our speed, which wouldn't work for this. We had a bit of debris come down the river with a few trees, one getting caught in one boats anchor chain. They were able to get it off without any damage. One the way into the river i looked down to our rudder cap to see one side of it had fallen off. Once anchored i discovered that electrolysis had eaten away the cap where it did not have much metal left to it. I used some nylon blocks, screw clamps and fiberglass cloth and resin to reinforce it until i could find a replacement. This was one of the highlights of our trip for sure.

13NM motored

Colon, Panama

Now for those that know, we came from the Michigan area and that I (Dennis) worked outside the Detroit area which is know far and wide as being a crime riddled and dirty city so this will be a very serious claim. Colon Panama is DIRTY. We have never seen a city in such poor shape. Our cab driver locked the doors. We had seen part of the city already traveling here by bus but now we get to see more. We first need to anchor the boat, Colon Harbor is HUGE. Must be more than 10 square miles. They leveled the Yacht club before we got here so there is "The Flats" which, without the yacht club, is in the middle of now where. The only marine is Shelter Bay Marina and is 5 miles away by the break water. We had heard that there was no anchoring allowed for yachts anywhere but the flats. Once inside we could not believe it. There was so much room. Its not so much a harbor but a bay. We tried to claim ignorance and anchored outside Shelter Bay Marina. At dusk a patrol boat comes by and in Spanish tries to tell us to move. In English i say i don't understand. He tells us in English "No parking" I ask him "Minyana" (tomorrow) and they leave. In the morning another patrol boat shows up and in English tells us to "Move NOW" . Inside the marina or over to the flats. Oh well, over to the flats we go. Serene is in the marina and we made plans to share a cab to clear out of the country. Now we have a 5 mile dinghy ride back to the marina. We help Serene get some fuel and we fill our jugs at the same time. Then the fun begins. We get a cab and lucky us this guy really helped us out, we started the Panama check out mary-go-round. Use and agent, it costs the same and its less hassle ,hindsight is great. We find the port captions office no problem, our cab driver used to work there. We go to office #1 and they ask us for copies of our paper work, we don't have copies, you think they have a copy machine there? Off we go to find a copy machine down the street. Back to the office they fill out their form for us. From here we take their form to office #2, same building right next door. First question, "DO YOU HAVE COPIES OF YOUR PAPER WORK?" If we needed 2 sets of copies don't you think we had been told by office #1? We were able to complain our way out of it explaining office #1 had copies. They fill out another form and charge us $2:50 then they send us to.............office #3. Here they do nothing more than fill out a receipt and charge us $1:50,which we need to take back to office #1 to get our exit zarpe. 1 1/2 hours down. We ask where the immigration office is to get out passports stamped and they give us directions. This used to be done at the yacht club but now that its gone? We find the office we were directed to and the lady tries to tell us we need to get a visa. We explain we are not staying we are leaving, we don't need a visa to leave. She gets crappy with us and now we don't know what to do. We find our cabbie and he goes to the office and in excellent Spanish finds out we are in the wrong office. We need to go to pier 13, something or another. This takes us through the local dump and the worst road we have ever seen. We get to the pier office to find out the officer took a nooner. We get a cell phone number and find him in town, where we just were. Now this pier is just adjoining "The Flats" so you can see there is absolutely nowhere to come ashore when you are anchored here. Now we go back to Colon, find the immigration officer, who jumps in the back seat of the cab with us and proceeds to stamp our passports on the back of drivers seat head rest. He insists on a "tip" which at this point we are just to happy to oblige. Start time 11:00am, Return time 4:30pm. Total time to check out of the country, 5 1/2 hours and a hell of a cab fee.

20 1/2 NM motored

Portobelo, Panama

From Porvenir we needed to stop over at Isla Linton then completing the trip to Portobelo the next morning. Portobelo is a sleepy little town with a lot of history. This and Colon were the two main ports for trade on the Atlantic side of panama from the 16th to the 18th century. In 1668 Captain Henry Morgan captured and plundered the city. The fort ruins were fascinating to wander around. Panama has a great bus system and is very cheep. We took the bus to the outskirts of Colon to a great grocery store. We were due for a good stocking up so in the end we had to take a cab back to the boats with the cab filled with bags on every ones laps. We took a road trip across to Panama city to see the Miraflores locks. This was a very interesting tour and we also got to see how the new locks are going to look when completed. The bus ride across Panama was $4.00 each. Our cab through the city was more than that. We were able to cross both ways do the tour and be back to the boat by 5:00. Portobelo had the Panama Independence celebrations while we were here. People from all around come the this little town and it was packed. They had a parade of school kids from very young to collage age and the schools would all compete to be the best in dance and music. Water is never a problem for us in this country as it rains all the time. The lightning makes us nervous but we have not seen many ground strikes.

Isla Linton 44NM motor sailed, Portobelo 10NM motored.

Kuna Yala,Panama

We had light winds on our way to Obaldia Panama. Being this far south we are below the trade winds and see light and variable winds with frequent rain. We are at 8 deg 39.8 north which puts us a little over 500 miles from the equator. Puerto Obaldia is just a tiny town, more of a military outpost than a village. On our way to check in we were greeted at the dock by army solders. This is on the border with Columbia where the FARK still rebel. Also known as the San Blas, this is the land of the Kuna Indian tribes. Most live a traditional life style, fishing in dugout canoes and living in thatched roof huts. The woman make and sell beautiful molas and dress in a traditional style. They were very welcoming to outsiders wanting to visit their villages. They seem to inhabit the small islands instead of the mainland, some barley above the high tide water line. One island we saw water in the streets at high tide. We often had lobster and crab which we bought from the fishermen for $2 to $3 dollars each. To take pictures of the woman they wish to be paid a dollar each. At some of the western islands we had the women coming out to the boat in dugouts to sell there molas. It was cute at first but soon got annoying. We had all the molas we wanted and they didn't take no for an answer very well. This area is only charted in a guide book that we used to avoid the shoals. We had no real charts that showed this area in detail. The guide book was very good though. We spent 3 weeks traveling the islands that stretch approximately 200 miles along the southeastern Panama coast. We enjoyed the eastern communities more as they were less visited by outsiders and less focused on selling to tourists. Rain and lightning are regular events here. We have a light show every night and plenty of clean rain water to fill our tanks. There are quite a few boats that seem to have claimed one or two islands here and only leave to go to Cartagena or Colon to provision. We visited Puerto Escoses,Suledup,Isla Pinos, Usrupu, Aridup among others finally clearing out of Kuna Yala at Isla Porvenir.

A lot of motoring as there is not much wind down here.

Cartagena,Columbia

Columbia is a place that has had a lot of problems in the past but we found the coast very safe. Getting here was quite the ride from Radadero. This coast is known for its fierce conditions and we are here at the best time of year for moderate conditions. We left Radadero at 1:00 am and had a great downwind run to Punta Morro Hermosa . For this area we were seeing winds of 25 knots or so but the seas were running around 3 meters. We tucked in for a night of rest before motor sailing over to Cartagena. The city could be seen from a long ways off with all the high rise buildings along the water front. We anchored up by Club Nautico where an agent would be to assist (mandatory) us in clearing in. He spoke English very well and we had no problem understanding each other. There is not much to look at in the new city the real place of interest in the old city. The short walk there was quite nice also. The old city is very well preserved/ restored and takes several trips to see it all. 4 couples went out for dinner one night and had a pleasant walk back after dark. The old city really lights up at night and was quite a sight. The amount of vendors is hard to adjust to. They approach you everywhere, even when you are sitting in the cafes. They will line up and politely take a turn at you to try to sell you there wares. You get used to saying no real fast. Things are very inexpensive and most all you might want you can find here. Many boaters get work done here because of the cheep labor. With all the high rises we had expected a bright skyline, instead there were very few lights in these buildings. Made the city seem deserted. The harbor water was rather nasty and very warm at 90 deg. Growth on the bottom and ground tackle is incredible. Radadero 15NM sailed,
61 NM fast sail 9 3/4 hours to Punta Morro Hermosa, 52 NM to Cartagena 11 hours, sailed 3.

5 bays, Columbia

This has got to be one of the most magnificent anchorages we have been in and no other cruisers. The bay we anchored in is Ancon Nenguange. We had intended on joining Serene on more bay over but we encountered a series of problems, one the wind continuing the build on the nose ,two, water in the fuel, again. We had a very easy sail the first day and had to motor sail through the night then by morning the wind started to shift and build. We kept going slower and slower. We were running out of daylight so we decided to tuck in one bay early. Wow, what a sight with the mountains coming right down to the water. Serene joined us here while i drained more water from the fuel tank again. We found out this is a day park that the Colombians travel to from the city for the day to hang out at the beaches and snorkel and lay in the sun. Even with these people here we hardly noticed they were there.

84NM to Cabo De La Vela 22 hours sailed, 125NM 30 hours the last 5 were painfully slow, sailed 12.

Monjes Del Sur, Venezuela

We had heard about this little island and thought it would be interesting to see it ourselves. It has no vegetation and the only people on it are around 20 guys from the Venezuelan navy. It was once 2 islands that they joined together with rock and gravel then they ran a rope from one shore to the other in the small bay where visiting boats tie up to. We arrived at dusk on a Saturday and thought we would clear in in the morning. The navy wanted to do it then so we had to go ashore to get them as they did not have a boat to come out to us. Yep, a navy with no boat,something for Hugo Chavez to work on. They were very friendly and we got through the paperwork in a short time. In the morning i got the radar down and installed the new motor and belt that Trudy brought back from home. We were hailed from shore and invited to join the guys for breakfast drinks and then lunch. The guys had been up all night playing cards and drinking, (ya, service men, the same all over) and wanted to show us around there rock. They are stationed on the island for 45 days at a time and it has to be extremely boring as not many boats come through here. We got to go up in the lighthouse and get some great aerial shots of the island. They served us lunch and we played a quick game of domino's before saying so long and heading for Columbia.

55NM sailed in 13 hours

Oranjestad,Aruba

This was more of a necessary stop as there were people flying in and out. Serene's crew, Tony was going home and Trudy had to go home to visit to see her sister Bertha who was very ill with cancer for some time who passed  away during her visit. Her return was hard as she continued to morn her loss. 

Aruba's clearance procedure is rather difficult as there is a different place for yachts than there is for cruise ships. The island has no real culture, its just a island dourest destination for Americans. While Trudy was away i pretty much just sat on the boat and took care of things on board. When she returned i was more than ready to get going. Unless its casinos and bars there's not much to do here.

84NM sailed in 15 hours