Current Locale and Forecast Synopsis
[00:30] [Saturday, March 10, 2007]
We are back in Placencia and will be staying through Sunday for Tipsy Tuna's live reggae/punta band, and then head out Monday morning. We haven't decided exactly where we're going yet but most likey we'll be staying in the southern cayes and attempt Glover's Reef and the Sapodillas in search of whale sharks. In about a month we are thinking of heading for the Bay Islands (Roatan, Utilla) of Honduras and then back to the Rio Dulce of Guatemala to wait out hurricane season.
Until next log... Team Sol Searcher, over and out.
Easy Breezy Customs
[09:42] [Friday, March 09, 2007]
We left Livingston yesterday afternoon with mixed feelings about our departure plan. Raul, our customs officer, printed "Big Creek" on our zarpe as our port of entry to Belize. He said the general consensus seemed to be this was an easier place to check in than Punta Gorda.
This gave us two options: continue to Punta Gorda anyway, anchor overnight and check-in in the morning, taking the chance customs would board us and take away various prohibited produce "imports;" or sail all the way to Placencia through the night across the Gulf of Honduras and check in "where everyone goes." Big Creek is situated a short motor inland along a trading ship channel, opposite Placencia Lagoon from our favorite town.
I cannot think of any other reason sailors choose to enter Belize at Big Creek. Being inland, the village offers ample protection on all sides to vessels at anchor, and its super-casual atmosphere (so we hear) attracts anyone -- haha, everyone -- who just wants to get the paper pushing done with and continue their merry way.
But Punta Gorda is way closer to Livingston. We're talkin' 3½ versus 10 hours out, and this makes it an ideal port of entry if you're departing Guatemala at the end of the week and want to avoid Belize's weekend entry fees. Granted, the town is open to the gulf, but customs, quarantine and immigration all share the same building -- right on the pier!
We provided all the necessary info, signed all our paperwork and had our passports stamped within half an hour.
Even if a vessel arrived too late in the day to cover a lot of ground fleeing rough water, the Moho Cayes are just about an hour northeast of PG, offering a safe anchorage in east winds that make the town look a little scary on the chart.
In steady weather, we had no problems anchoring right off PG. We rolled a bit in an easterly breeze last night, but with our nose straight into the wind at anchor, this was not an issue. Our customs/immigration officers all worked in uniform -- no shorts or tennies here, as in San Pedro -- but were just as friendly and casual as you would expect in Belize.
We're headed out to finish crossing the Gulf of Honduras and land in Placencia this evening. Brady's set up a rod to troll a fishing line on the way. The water ripples in a light wind, sparkling bluish-green under clear blue skies.
If we're lucky, the wind will pick up enough to unfurl our sails ... And we'll be eating fish tonight.
Phone Calls We Forgot to Make
[22:31] [Thursday, March 08, 2007]
While in Guatemala, we purchased a prepaid cell phone to make our phone calls, since the call rates via wireless service are such a great deal. Unfortunately, being taken up once again by the gorge as we exited the Rio and then having to deal with customs clearing out of Guatemala, we forgot to call several people we said we would ... By the time we realized, we had already sailed beyond service range.
Once we track down an international payphone in Belize, we'll make some of those calls. To Jim and Nic, sorry we couldn't share another round o' beers before we left, but we'll be back this summer! Until then, this is for you ....
Don't Cry For Me, Guatemala ...
[14:24] []
We received the voltage regulator for our generator yesterday afternoon, and within a couple hours we had fixed our problem. Hoorah!
Woke up this morning in no particular hurry, but we were -- as expected -- very anxious to get moving. Had our coffee, tidied up, filled our water tanks at Mario's "B" dock and started our not-so-lazy motor through El Golfete back toward Livingston.
The jungle and forest surrounding the Golfete was as gorgeous as we remember it. Brady slowed the engine to just a hair above nuetral as we exited the Golfete back into the river, and we let the Rio Dulce's current push us through the gorge while he took pictures from the dink. Is there any area of Guatemala not overflowing with breathtaking beauty? We can hardly believe we have been here just over a month ... It seems as though we already know the place like home.
Still, our bow points toward the rolling waves of clear, deep blue, and we could not be more pleased. Because we have arrived at Livingston so early in the day, we have decided to forego anchoring here tonight and continue north. We will stop at Punta Gorda -- the southernmost settlement in Belize -- and check-in there tomorrow morning.
So, SO pleased to be on the move again. The partial cloud coverage that saw us off this morning has broken open around a brilliant blue sky, and the wind has picked up to a pleasant 9 - 10 kts. It is as though nature herself bids us good tidings on our return to beloved Belize.
Team Sol Searcher + Team SeaYeti == Team Adventure!
[16:33] [Monday, March 05, 2007]
Friday morning we headed back into the lake with SeaYeti. Our first stop was back to Denny's beach on the south side of the lake for swimming, frolicking and beer.
We had the hammock hanging over the side and put God in it. He decided he did not want to be in the hammock and attempted to jump back onto the boat but missed completely, going into the drink. We quickly got him out and he was much cooler after taking a dip. Poor cat has to wear a fur coat year round and it has been very hot and humid the last few days.
In the morning we motored across the lake back to Finca de Paraiso to share the falls and caves with SeaYeti. We have been there three times and we never get tired of the place.
Everytime we visit we discover something new, whether it is a new little cave full of bats or another geo-thermal pocket spewing hot water or just picking up rock after rock expecting to find gold. Several times during the day I exclaimed, "Gold!!!" or thrust any green-veined rock into the air shouting, "Jade!!"
After a couple hours at the falls we began to make our way up the stream to the cave through which Rio Caliente's major source runs. We waded straight up the river and climbed over huge rocks carved by thousands of years of water and made our way to the mouth of the cave within 45 minutes.
I always enjoy gulping down the water that flows from the cave. It is crystal and cold and is the best water I have ever tasted, not to mention it has been purified by aeons of gold and jade.
We swam the 70 or so yards into the cave and within the first 20 we were engulfed in blackness. Our flashlights only offered a pinpoint of light in the vast blackness and always in the back of our minds was the thought, "What if the flashlights stop working?"
As we swam further in we began to hear a roaring sound. It is the first of many waterfalls in the cave and is usually where most visitors stop. We attempted to take pictures here and then continued on. We climbed above the waterfall and proceeded to the next, which is about 8 feet high.
After our senses were overloaded we turned back.
There is always a bit of anxiety in the cave. The mind is always playing out scenarios like, "What if I slip off this rock and break my leg in here?"
"What if there is a sink hole at the base of this fall that sucks into a sub-subterranean cavern and I am taken into some far off vein of the cave with no hope of ever returning?"
"What if there's a tremor (Guatemala has them often) and this cathedral ceiling lands on my head?
"Or the seams burst and one of those geo-thermal pockets burps boiling water?"
These are some of the thoughts that pass through one's mind that not only make the experience unnerving but exciting.
In the future I would love to return with proper gear and food for several days and see how far I could really go. We have heard this cave system continues for miles.
Exhausted, we made our way back to the palapa on the shore for drinks and to celebrate another day of cheating death. After the sun went down we enjoyed a spectacular lunar eclipse over the lake. We only managed to catch the second half of the eclipse, which left us no time to prepare any background music; namely Pink Floyd's, "Dark Side of the Moon."
While we slept, God caught a bat on deck and managed to ingest half its wing ... Apparently, bat does not taste as good as river finch. I made it clear to him I would not be kissing him as long as he decided to eat bats. Luckily he received his rabies vaccination back in November.
In the morning the winds began to pick up and SeaYeti raised sails for an excellent daysail. We raised our sails about noon and as the day wore on the winds increased. We had sailed all the way back over to the south side of the lake seeking a protected anchorage for the night but as we arrived the winds switched around and were howling directly into what was supposed to be our calm anchorage.
With winds blowing a constant 22 knots with a max gust of 28.8 recorded we debated whether to stay there and deal with an uncomfortable night or motor back to Mario's Marina. Despite the setting sun and having to motor through the darkness we chose Mario's. It was amazing to see Lago de Izabal change from glass to something you would experience off shore in blue water, but that lake can get very rough. We plowed our way back through white capped waves and flashed our spotlight several times on many of the local boats speeding by, whose skippers can somehow afford a 100hp outboard but not a single light.
We await Wednesday's mail call and hope our parts arrive.
