Beyond Panama

12/30/2008
1200 While Lela was finishing up some last minute Case Management work, we both noticed that the winds had finally died down a little so we quickly decided to get underway for Isla Linton to position ourselves for a better wind angle for the trip to San Andres, Columbia. (That island is actually just over 100 nm off the coast of Nicaragua, even though it belongs to Columbia.)  John checked out of the Marina while Lela packed up the computer and we finally left Shelter Bay Marina.  Lela tried fishing with a drinking straw lure but all she caught was a small frigate bird.  John took the hook out of his beak and let him go.  The rest of the trip was a slog to windward into significant but not impossible seas.  We finally anchored at Isla Linton about 2130.

12/31/2008
John cleaned the rest of the major barnacle growth off the starboard hull and cleaned the props. 

1100 U/W for Isla San Andres. The first 50 miles of the trip was tolerable, the last 50 miles was almost pleasant, but the 100 miles in the middle was very uncomfortable and made us both think we had made a bad decision to leave when we did.  Because we were so late leaving Linton, we could not make our destination before dark on 1/1/2009.  We ended up actually trying to slow down during that day to time our arrival at first light on 1/2/2009.

Clich this thumbnail to see a slideshow of our visit to San Andres, Columbia:

San Andres

1/2/2009
0830 Anchored in the harbor at San Andres after several tries. 

Internet service at the anchorage was sporadic so Lela packed the computer into the Sunrise Hotel lobby when she needed to use Skype™ for work.

1/8/2009
We rented golf carts and toured the island along with Rick and Cindy on Dragon Fly and Byron and Denise on South of Reality.  The view of the bay from the oldest church on the island at the top of the ridge was spectacular.

1/9/2009
0720 Underway from San Andres for Roatan with significant but tolerable wind and seas.

1/10/2009
0720 Logged 147 miles for the day, an average of 6.125 knots.

Clich this thumbnail to see a slideshow of our visit to Roatan, Honduras:

Roatan

1/12/2009
0830 Anchored  in French Harbor, Roatan. We used internet at Fantasy Island Resort for a week until David on Second Wind told us about his AT&T AirCard.  It is essentially a wireless modem for the computer. We bought one so Lela could work from the boat or in places without Wi-Fi internet. 

1/22/2009
Rented a car to tour the island. Our first stop was at Infinity Bay Resort in West Bay as Lela’s brother-in-law, Grant, knows one of the owner/developers. He was not there at the time so we did not get to meet him. We ate lunch there and were definitely impressed with the resort.

We drove down the one street in the village of West End to see what was there. It was a typical beach front tourist town like the dozens of others we had seen before. This one was a little more upscale, though, since it had a fairly high number of tourist visitors.

1/25/2009
1245 U/W for West End, Roatan.   Arrived at 1715 to find no more moorings available so we anchored near a private mooring close to the channel entrance.  The town is a funky beach town with quite a few bars, some small trinket shops, an internet store, and a place that had really great rotisserie chicken. We were close enough to the reef we could swim there off the boat.

1/27/2009
1000 The owner of the private mooring came by to check it out while John was topside. He informed John that he would be bringing his boat there in the afternoon so we had to move.  We weighed anchor and moved to the other side of the anchorage where luckily our anchor bit on the first try. That location was within swimming distance of a small reef that a motor yacht almost drifted into the day before. We snorkeled that reef and saw a huge lobster hiding in his hole in the reef. We were tempted to haul him back for dinner but didn’t since we didn’t know the exact boundaries of the nature preserve.

1/29/2009
Moved back to French Harbor to wait out another cold front predicted to come through and to watch the Superbowl at Fantasy Island Resort. The cold front turned out to be insignificant. We got our laundry done while there.

2/11/2009
0840 A good weather window has finally arrived so we are leaving for Utila, Honduras, about 20 miles southwest of Roatan.  It was a beautiful spinnaker run the whole way.

1530 Anchored in East Harbor, Utila.  There is no 3G coverage here so our new AirCard did us no good. Fortunately, Lisa on Barmina redistributes Wi-Fi from the local provider to subscribers in the harbor for $3.00 a day.  We signed up for only two days because we want to get going to Belize and don’t plan to be here long.

2/14/2009
1145 U/W for Thatch Caye, Belize. The winds are forecast to die off this afternoon so we need to leave ourselves plenty of time to cover the 90 miles. Once we rounded the southwest end of Utila, we put a reef in the main and roared ahead at 6-7 knots.

Clich this thumbnail to see a slideshow of our first visit to Belize this year:

Belize

2/15/2009
Once again, we had to slow down awaiting daybreak to enter Tobacco Cay Cut, a 200 yard wide opening in the barrier reef. The reef entrance wasn’t so bad – the shallow water inside the reef almost caught us though as we proceeded in too close to Tobacco Cay.

1000 Tied up to the southernmost mooring on the west side of Thatch Caye. Took a nap and went ashore to meet the folks there. Travis, one of the founders, had corresponded with John on the Cruisers Forum so we accepted his invitation to visit. Lela used their internet through HughesNet satellite while John worked on minor boat projects.

The resort is a cute but very rustic place. John examined their battery bank to see why it had minimal capacity. He used his clamp on ammeter to analyze all the leads to the various cells and recommended replacing all the old cells. His recommendation for a less expensive solution was to remove some of the apparently shorted cells from the bank to see if they can restore some capacity.

2/18/2009
Took Malcolm and Kirsten from Toronto on a day sail in the inner channel.  Rob and Becky from Northern California were to come too but Becky didn’t feel well so they cancelled at the last minute.

2/19/2009
John went to Dangriga with Steven, the other co-owner of the resort, to get Belize money, a can of spray paint for the anchor chain, some bread, and lettuce.

2/20/2009
0740 U/W for Laughing Bird Cay to snorkel. This was our favorite spot in 2003 when we came here with Tony, Susan, Alex, Roger, Marylou, and Ryan.

1240 Changed destinations to Cary Cay for better protection from the northeast winds. Laughing Bird Cay is oriented parallel to the present wind so it would offer little protection. Cary Cay is a small uninhabited island covered with mangroves and a few palm trees with minimal beach. The cruising guide said it had good snorkeling off the south end though.

1330 Moored to a ball 100 yards southwest of the Cay. John inspected the mooring and found it quite sturdy. Lela snorkeled between the boat and the reef on several coral heads.

2/21/2009
1000 Both of us snorkeled around the coral heads Lela discovered yesterday. The water was much smoother there than over the reef and it didn’t require swimming as far.

1100 U/W for Placencia in a lovely 12 knots of wind from the port quarter. Wind built to 15 knots as we crossed the Inner Channel.

1320 Anchored in Placencia Bay at the back of the pack. Went ashore to the Paradise Resort, which became our Wi-Fi headquarters.

Wendy’s old restaurant is now a vegetable market. Her new establishment about a block away is a very nice two story building. We at lunch there on Monday while waiting for Belize Telephone Limited (BTL) to open after their lunch break. We were looking for a SIM card for the phone we bought in Panama so we could receive an authorization code from VOIPCheap.com since Skype is blocked by BTL. That office did not have any SIM cards for cell phones so the lady sent us to Independence via the Hokey Pokey water taxi. That office had SIM cards but unfortunately our Panama phone was locked so it wouldn’t work. Fortunately our taxi driver, Vick, was very helpful and gave us his old Motorola phone to check out. Unfortunately that phone was too far gone so we ended up buying another phone that Vick’s friend Denzel could unlock. Getting a phone that would work in Belize turned out to take the whole afternoon. When we got back to Paradise Resort, VOIPCheap.com could not send the required text message to the phone and would not even work for a free one-minute call to Ryan’s phone. We went back to the boat very frustrated by the whole experience.

2/22/2009
Rob, owner of Belize Charters, helped Lela set up a Virtual Private Network that allowed Skype to circumvent the block BTL has on Skype. It enabled her to save quite a few pre-paid minutes on her phone. Even at that, she burned up $40 BZ ($20 US) during the day when Skype wouldn’t work right.

2/23-3/6/2009
A typical day started with John listening to weather and the NW Caribbean Cruisers Net, lowering the dinghy, and then waking Lela. When she was ready, we went to Paradise Resort where she worked. John usually went back to the boat to work on projects but occasionally stayed at the resort to help type.

3/7/2009
0400 During a serious wind storm one of the Moorings catamarans, Grins, dragged anchor and tangled up with Barefoot Two, anchored in front of us. Both boats then blew down on us, with Grins striking our starboard bow and taking out two chunks of gel coat.

0800 John reported the damage, shown below, to Kevin, Manager of the Moorings office.

Gel coat Damage to Stbd Bow

1000 Kevin and his repair person came to the boat to evaluate the damage. They expected us to move the boat into the sheltered water in the lagoon so they could repair the damage and we could be on our way to visit some other islands on our way to San Pedro. We had planned to leave about 0830 but our departure became completely dependent on the repairs because we couldn’t allow water to intrude into the damaged spot.

1300 Kevin informed us that they were ready to fix the damage this afternoon. He left his chief mechanic, Hymie, to guide us into the lagoon to the repair “shop” so we raised the anchor and headed for the lagoon. We drifted a few feet too far to the right of the channel entrance and got stuck in the mud and had to be pulled off by another Moorings catamaran. When we arrived at the shop, it was a concrete seawall that we had to drive up to bow first and set the bow against the steep mud bank while the stern was tied off to whatever was available (a tree on one side and another boat at a dock on the other).

1630 Repairs complete. Underway to the anchorage with Cricket as our guide.

1650 Anchored close to the Moorings dock.  Took Cricket ashore and visited the Moorings office to sign a release.

3/8/2009
0730 U/W for South Water Cay. Winds were brisk (15-18) so we hoisted the main only to the first reef. Fortunately, the wind was out of the east so we could make good course 030 to take us to Blue Ground Range. We motored from there to South Water Cay because the water was shallow and the wind was directly on the nose. All things considered, a pleasant voyage.

1400 Moored to a buoy at South Water Cay. A TMM Belize 43 was on the buoy to our right and a Moorings Lagoon took the one to our left about an hour after we arrived. A fisheries patrol boat came to collect $10 from us for using the Marine Reserve. All around us manta rays were jumping. Lela baked chocolate chip cookies and gave a baker’s dozen to the 11 fishermen on a small boat anchored right behind us. We used their flour because ours had bugs in it. They gave us two small fish in return for the cookies.

3/9/2009
1100 U/W for Colson Cay. We had planned to snorkel at South Water Cay but decided to move on because the water looked really rough where the lodge snorkelers were.  Some of them appeared to be having trouble dealing with current. Again it was a beautiful sailing day with 14-16 knots from the east.

1530 Anchored west of the lagoon entrance to South Colson Cay between Windfree and Sipapu. Lela snorkeled for a while then floated until she got chilled. John snorkeled just long enough to check the anchor. Mike and Gloria from Windfree stopped by on their way back from snorkeling off the southwest tip of the island. They were quite cold as well so didn’t stay long. They have been cruising for 13 years.

3/10/2009
0900 John paddled the kayak into the lagoon but saw nothing of interest.

1100 Snorkeled on a sink hole just off the mouth of the lagoon. Not many fish lived there but saw some interesting upside down jelly fish, confirmed later in the fish identification book on Sipapu.

Jake and Sue from Sipapu stopped by on their way back from buying a fish from some local fishermen. We invited them to come over for sundowners and pot luck hors d’oeuvres along with Mike and Gloria on Windfree. We had another lovely evening chatting with them about places we all have been and where we plan to go. Mike spent 8 years in the Air Force then sold cars and retired as manager of a car dealership. They live in Florida. Jake was a retired veterinarian and Sue was a retired school teacher. They are trying to sell their boat and will move to Florida. They sailed in the 2000 Baja Ha-Ha.

3/11/2009
Snorkeled two more sink holes then moved to a patch reef further out that had more coral formations and many more fish.

1630 Went to Sipapu to pick up a copy of a fish identification book but Jake had given it away already. Lela and Susan talked pressure cooking while John and Jake talked batteries, generators, SSB radios, etc.

3/12/2009
0800 Heard discussion on the cruisers net about where visas can be renewed in Belize.

0930 U/W for Water Cay with 10-15 knots of wind, a very pleasant sailing day.

1230 Anchored off the west side of Water Cay in 4 feet of water with 100 feet of anchor scope to ensure we don’t drag. Lela was about to go snorkeling when she asked if there was anything to see. John replied, “No,” so she made salsa and 3 bean salad instead.

3/13/2009
0600 Checked our passports and discovered that our visas expire on Sunday, 3/15. Based on information from the net yesterday we decided to proceed expeditiously to Belize City to renew them.

0700 U/W for Cucumber Beach Marina, just south of Belize City. Enroute we discussed our options for our remaining time in Belize and decided to check out of the country today instead of incurring the expense to renew our visas for only one more week in the country.

1030 Tied up outboard another boat in Cucumber Beach Marina since getting into our assigned slip with strong cross winds was problematic.

John went to Immigration only to find out that they expected us to stay on the boat while they came to us. He stopped at Customs on the way back to the boat only to find out that our check-in at Thatch Caye was incomplete as there was no Customs office in Dangriga. After writing out a letter to the Comptroller of Customs of what we did to check in, the senior inspector dispatched an agent to our boat to check us in then check us out.

1630 After an hour or so downloading Lela’s e-mails, we got underway for Cancun, Mexico.

2130 Nearly hit an unlit fishing boat that crossed directly in front of us. After he passed clear he tooted a small whistle that was barely audible over the wind.

3/15/2009
0200 Killed several hours of time sailing against the current in the lee of Cozumel to time our arrival at Marina El Cid after sunrise.

Clich this thumbnail to see a slideshow of our visit to Cancun:

Cancun, Mexico

1000 Moored at Marina El Cid, Puerto Morelos, Mexico. Washed the boat, took a nap.

3/16/2009
Checked in with Customs, Immigration, and Agricultural Inspectors who came to our boat. Walked around the resort complex.

3/16-3/26/2009
The marina Wi-Fi was good so Lela worked. John did minor boat projects as the wind howled at up to 30 knots, making our slip in line with the channel entrance very uncomfortable.

3/26/2009
Rented a car from the Budget office at the resort. Took a shopping trip to Cancun to Honda Marine to get a Mexican courtesy flag (they were out of stock and the incoming shipment was in Customs), stopped at Banamex bank to pay our visitor fee, to Office Depot for notebooks, and to Costco for provisions.

3/27/2009
0930 Moved to a more sheltered slip for comfort and to accommodate Jim and Marlene’s visit.

1250 Picked up John’s brother, Jim, and his wife, Marlene, at Cancun Airport.

3/28/2009
Took a road trip to Market 28 in Cancun, a large flea market type place that covers over a full city block. The girls picked up a few pieces of jewelry, some statue figures, and other trinkets.

3/29/2009
Winds finally diminished overnight. Washed salt off the boat and returned rental car.

1500 Visited resort pool and warm tub.

3/30/2009
0930 Went for a sail out into the Caribbean Sea, which was still a little rough from the week of near gale force winds. Turned back when guests Jim and Marlene started to feel the effects.

4/2/2009
Packed into Trevor and Sandra’s tiny rental car for the short trip to Puerto Morelos for dinner at El Faro, a Mexican restaurant above the grocery store near the lighthouse. Everyone enjoyed their meals.

4/3/2009
Had Trevor and Sandra over for a roast beef dinner and a lovely evening of discussion.

4/4/2009
Picked up a Mexican courtesy flag and four new fenders from Honda Marine in Cancun. The fenders were to replace the ones smashed flat by the strong winds that blew us onto the dock. Toured outskirts of Cancun and Puerto Juarez by rental car. Lela bought a necklace and ear rings from a jewelry store next to Sorianna. Ate a delicious late lunch at the steak house in the Home Depot/Sorianna shopping complex. Bought a few groceries at the store. Exploring our way back to the marina, we penetrated deep into several housing developments near the airport but that were not connected to the main highway. Thus we backtracked a few miles to get back on the main thoroughfare.

4/5/2009
0530 Dropped Jim and Marlene at Cancun Airport. Returned rental car on the way back to the boat.

4/11/2009
Lela flew to Orlando, Florida, to see Dr. Lee. She stayed in our unit at Westgate Villas.

4/17/2009
Kathi Saks, our chef friend from the Baja Ha-Ha, arrived. She came to visit, dive the outer reefs of Belize, and help us sail to Guatemala.

4/18/2009
1030 Lela returned from Florida.

1300 Checked out of Mexico with the Immigration agent who came to the marina.

1500 U/W for Lighthouse Reef.

4/19/2009
Sunrise: Discovered our new trampoline had been torn loose from its lashings along the starboard bow. One batten and three corner pieces were lost at sea.

After a very uncomfortable night transit, we anchored in Bahia Ascencion, Mexico, to rest and remove what was left of the trampoline. Swam in in the bay to clean our bodies even though the water was light green.

4/20/2009
1000 U/W for Lighthouse Reef again.

Clich this thumbnail to see a slideshow of our second visit to Belize:

Belize Revisited

4/21/2009
1500 Anchored at Lighthouse Reef in 7 ft of water with 75 ft of chain near Always Sunday and Hiatus, who was using call sign Sabbatical. (They had been delayed leaving Caye Caulker for several days and adopted a pseudonym when talking on the radio to avoid catching the attention of the Customs agent who had checked them out.)

Visited the dive resort ashore to check out diving opportunities. They were doing Blue Hole dives tomorrow (130 feet), none on Thursday, and Lighthouse Reef (a few hundred yards from here) on Friday. We concluded that none of us were ready for diving to 130 feet so passed on the Blue Hole. We could not afford to wait around until Saturday to leave so we did not dive there.  Snorkeled the reef just north of S/V Ooph, who we had met briefly in El Cid Marina. WOW!! More fish and colorful coral than we had seen anywhere else.

4/22/2009
0930 U/W for Glover’s Reef.

1300 While trying to hail the dive resort on Glover’s Reef, Dragon Fly came back to us on the radio. We had met Rich and Cindy in San Andres, Columbia, and shared a golf cart on our tour of the island. They were also headed into Glover’s but were a couple of hours away. We agreed to meet up after we all got settled at anchor.

1700 Dinghied over to Dragon Fly for cocktails and chat.

4/23/2009
0800 Went ashore with Rich and Cindy from Dragon Fly to check out diving. The local dive shop was closed while workers replaced pilings in their dock. The next closest dive shop was 7 miles north along the reef but we had no way to contact them so we settled for snorkeling the nearby coral heads.

4/24/2009
Snorkeled with Rich and Cindy on coral heads within swimming distance of Yachtsman’s Dream. They were just so-so with relatively few fish. Wave action had churned up the sand considerably limiting visibility.

4/25/2009
0800 U/W for Sapodilla Cays. Once inside the reef the seas became smooth and sailing was once again fun.

1600 Anchored in 3 feet of water at Hunting Caye.

4/26/2009
0900 U/W for Guatemala. As we approached Cabos Tres Puntas, we saw half a dozen other boats headed the same direction.

1500 Anchored at Estero Lagarto, Guatamala, to await morning entrance to Livingston, Guatemala.

Clich this thumbnail to see pictures of our short stay in Guatemala:

Rio Dulce, Guatemala

4/27/2009
0830 U/W to Livingston. Wandered slightly off track and recorded sounding of 1.5 feet before getting back to the channel. Other boats with deeper drafts had to be towed across the bar.

1000 Anchored off Livingston in 8 feet of water. Customs, Immigration, and Health inspectors came to the boat by panga to check us in. They took our papers ashore and asked us to pick them up in a few hours.

1200 Left Kathi aboard while John and Lela went ashore to retrieve papers, get some Quetzales from the ATM, and a few groceries.

1230 Kathi called on the walkie-talkie to say the anchor was dragging. John went back to the boat to help her reanchor but could not get it to hold. After two failed attempts, they retrieved the anchor and motored around the anchorage, awaiting Lela’s return by panga.

1330 Left Livingston for Texan Bay Marina. The ride up the Rio Dulce was comparatively uneventful through a stunning river gorge.

1500 Tied up at Texan Bay Marina.

4/28/2009
Kathi cleaned the galley, freezer, and refrigerator while John watered batteries, changed engine oils, and discovered a leak on the raw water pump on the port main engine. Lela worked on CM things at the restaurant where she could get internet.

4/29/2009
0700 Rode the marina’s panga to Fronteras in the rain, caught the Lategua bus to Guatemala City, and spent the night at the Holiday Inn.

4/30/2009
Rode the hotel shuttle to the airport and departed Guatemala City by air to Portland.