Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Had a great sail up the coast to Isla Mujeres. We didn't expect every port to be a tourist trap but once again we are exposed to the same vendor booths and poor food. The vendors are very aggressive working the passing crowd to come into there shops. If we hadn't already seen this same thing in Cozumel and Cancun it might be interesting but its a carbon copy. The wives find the shops more interesting than the guys. We pick up a few trinkets to bring back with us. We end our Mexican coast tour about as disappointed as our Belize trip. Checking in and out here was very easy unlike checking in at the other ports. 34 NM. 8 hours sailed the entire way.

Puerto Morelos, Mexico

The weather report missed by a day and we found ourselves totally exposed to a North West wind in Cozumel's poor anchorage. Leaving Serene there we pulled anchor a little after 5 am in the dark with 2 to 3 foot waves rolling in. Our best bet was to make for the main land that sweeps northeast here giving us some protection from head wind and waves. We made great time with the wind on the beam for Puerto Morelos. This anchorage was quite shallow and once again we hooked just inside the barrier reef and dropped anchor in 7 1/2 feet of water at low tide. This is a very small resort town where maybe %90 of the population are tourists. We still have not checked into the country and this is not a port of entry. We reported in to the port caption that spoke English well , explaining that we were unsuccessfull in checking in at Xcalak or Cozumel and weather would keep us here for another week or so. He was great about it getting on the phone and getting the various people down to our boat starting within an hour. By the time we made it back to the pier they were already there and waiting. They got us checked in quickly, short the health department which went to the port captions office the following morning. We got our paper work to take to the bank for our clearance. We took a cab to Cancun and the bank which we had wanted to go to anyway. Had a small problem with immigration not giving us the bank routing number and we had to make a dash around the corner to the immigration office. Approaching the guard at the door he explained that the office closed 5 minutes ago. There were still long lines inside and a young man that spoke English asked me what i needed. Explaining to him, he translated to the door guard who allowed us in. Relieved we didn't have to make another trip, we were back to the bank to pay our fees. That done we looked around town. We were looking for the market area which turned out to be just like the vendors in Cozumel , very aggressive with much the same items. That out of the way we enjoyed the atmosphere of Puerto Morelos with its small town atmosphere. It did have souvenir shops but not the aggressiveness of the big cities. After we were here a couple of days Serene rejoined us.

Cozumel Mexico

We broke up the trip to Cozumel , stopping at Cayo Norte and Espirtu Santo along the way. We thought we had the weather to do this with just an overnight stop at each. The sailing was great only having to motor through the inlets. We had a currents up to a 3 knots at times. I cant comprehend going south down this coast as the currents are so strong. Cayo Norte is an atoll with only a Navy outpost on it. They stopped to Question us but did not give us a hard time at all. This is a very pretty spot but there is little protection so we press on the next morning for Espirtu Santo. The weather was going to kick up the next day so we decide this location would give us fair protection. The following morning around 2:00 am the wind picked up to 25 to 30 knots and created a chop that sent a breaking wave over the bow and onto our heads in our bed, what a rude awakening. This went on until the late afternoon when it died back to 15 knots. Both Serene and ourselves broke our anchor snubbers through this blow, a first for each of us. The holding was good and we both stayed put it was just to far from the reef to give us good protection. The morning of the 20th we headed for Cozumel. We dropped anchor just after dark, around 7:00 pm.

The following morning we split a car rental with Mel and Joni so that we could run around and check into the country. They don't make it easy as all the different departments are all over the place, and as we found out nobody knows where they are. We finally found the health office, the one we needed to check into first and found it closed, so much for checking in until Monday. We ended up driving around the island instead. We stopped at the San Gervasio Mayan ruins site and then drove the coastal road along the beach that spanned the length of the island. Back in the main town there are all the vendors who aggressively try to get you into there shops. The food is geared to the tourist and we find it far from being Mexican. The beer is getting more expensive the closer we get to the states along with most everything else. Two days of window shopping and were ready for something else. Cayo Norte 46NM 9 hours, Espirtu Santo 45NM 7 hours, Cozumel 79 NM. 12 1/2 hours, full sail all the way.

Xcalak Mexico

This might not have been such a good idea to stop here. The anchorage once again was very shallow and we did not venture to far in from the cut in the reef. We had intended to clear into Mexico in this little town and we got in early enough that they should still have been in the office, they we not. We spoke with someone that indicated that it was unpredictable when the office was open. We had no intention of staying and loosing our weather window to move north so no checking in for us here. Ashore we were getting bit up by no see ums and mosquito's. We tried to take shelter in a local restaurant for some Mexican cuisine and a coldie but the bugs were just as bad on the upstairs patio as they were down on the street and the food was a joke. We ordered Fajitas and burritos. The burritos were a folded flour tortilla with a thin slice of cheese inside, the fajitas were the same with the addition of a thin slice of ham added in. We sucked down our beers and made a mad dash for the pier to escape the persistent bugs. Back at the boat we made a real dinner without the bugs company. 32NM 4 1/2 hours sailed final 2 hours.

San Pedro Belize

Leaving Serene back at the Drowned Cays we head to San Pedro on New Years eve. The wind is almost on the nose and somewhat lite but we are able to motor sail into it. San Pedro's anchorage is shallow and we hook just inside the reef and anchor in water that leaves 3 inches under our keel at low tide. One of Belize's most popular tourist destinations with a Moorings bare boat charting base here we are in vacationers paradise. For us we find the island nice but more expensive than other Belizen ports. There are few cars used here. Most everyone uses gulf carts, bikes or walks. We walked most of the town in a short time. Being a small island it didn't take more than a couple of hours for us to see the business district and the resort district to the north. The weather has been sunny but windy which has been fine ashore. In the anchorage the reef gives us great protection and we see only a small wind chop. Serene rejoined us here after seeing their son Miles and his family back home from Belize city to Miami. We share the cost of a gulf cart and see a bit more of the island. We also took a ferry trip to Caye Calker to check it out. We wish we were able get our boat in here as it is very laid back compared to San Pedro. All the streets are sand and the only motorized transportation are gulf carts. We enjoyed a day strolling the streets before returning to the hustle bustle of San Pedro. We find there is a large percentage of shop owners that are Americans and Canadians. The weather did not allow us to depart the country before our 30 day immigration allocated time limit and we have to extend our stamp for another 30 days, at a cost of $25 each, even though we only needed 3 days before the weather breaks. 47NM. 9 hours, sailed 2 hours, motor sailed the rest of the way.

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