Sailing Belize

In early 2019 we were invited by friends to join them and on a catamaran sailing adventure in Belize. We were delighted with this invitation and jumped at the chance to see a country we had never visited. It was of particular interest to me as Belize is still part of the British Commonwealth and has a very young-looking Queen Elizabeth on their banknotes. It was formerly known as British Honduras.
We flew to Belize City in the second week of January to spend a few days in the small town of Placencia, where the boat would sail from.  Our flight from Guadalajara to Belize City was via Houston. That experience is not something we want to repeat as we had to enter the US, customs, passport check and all of that, to then immediately go back through security to catch the flight to Belize. Since returning, I have discovered that we could have chosen a better set of flights, but originally that option did not show up on an Internet search.
We were told that we needed to pack light,  meaning no hard cases allowed on the boat, so carry-on was the order of the day.  After arriving in Belize City we took a local small plane for the short trip to Placencia.

 

The plane had about 12 seats and since we sat near the front, we had an interesting view!  

It was a fun ride as we were never above 5,000 feet, so had good views of the coastline.  As you can see, "close quarters"!

We spent a few days exploring the small town of Placencia, and stayed in this little, very basic, but comfortable cabin.  It was centrally located within easy walking distance of restaurants, shops and beaches.

The beaches were pretty deserted and this was the high season!!

The area had this nice laid-back "Caribbean" feel to it, I guess, because it is in the Caribbean, or technically Central America.

Breakfast with views over the beach.

Grocery stores were well-stocked and had a few items that we don't normally see.  Who knew there were so many flavors of Spam! There was also lots of local rum available.

On Saturday we headed out to where our catamaran was being provisioned and to meet our captain for the week.

A good name for the boat.  We learned that the boats are privately owned but operated by Moorings.

Captain Dwayne, who turned out to be an absolute delight.

Just some of the provisions to keep us fed and watered for the next 7 days. There was a lot more rum on board!!

And this was the crew that would make sure there was no rum left at the end of the adventure.

Looking at the charts to determine our anchorage for the first evening and to decide on a general plan for the next few days. Everything was contingent on what weather would be in our path.

Our boat was a 48 foot catamaran which was often under sail.  At other times relying on its twin engines, and sometimes, both.

The boat had four double berth cabins, each with their own bathroom, so we were all very comfortable and were lulled to sleep each night by the gentle rocking of the boat.

Preben, our host and fellow sailor, took every opportunity to catch fish for dinner.

And he was successful!  One of two large barracudas that were hauled in during the week.

Being scaled, ready to be cut into steaks. Now that is "fresh"!

This was an amazing little BBQ.  It did a great job cooking our fish and lobsters, thanks to Captain Dwayne.

Did I mention lobsters! Captain Dwayne is from a family of lobster fisherman and was one himself, so on many evenings he would tell us he was going to "go shopping". This particular day he returned in little over half an hour with these eight lobsters, and they were the most delicious I have ever tasted. On all of my snorkeling swims, I never saw a single lobster, and I was always on the look-out. I think this means you have to know where to look.

Every evening we would anchor in the lee of one of many islands, both for shelter in case of squalls, and to be in calm water so we could go snorkeling.

Off to snorkel!  We would get into the dingy and Dwayne would take us to a spot where he knew the water would be clear, have coral heads, and generally lots of fish.  Diane chose to stay behind on this day as the water looked a little "choppy".
 

In one anchorage, Dwayne noticed a location that he thought might provide us with sardines, and it did indeed. Our fellow sailor Johan, knew how to cook and prepare them and showed us how we should eat them!

Of course, I had to try this! They were delicious.

We had lovely sunsets,

And some glorious skies.

It was not all sunshine and smooth sailing.  We hit a number of squalls, a thunderstorm, and wind gusts of 35 knots with very heavy rain.  Unusual for this time of year, we were told.

There were moments when the boat's motion had things sliding around, so we had to batten everything down.

The galley was busy every day with each of us taking turns to prepare  a meal.

Even I managed to contribute. The fun part of this was that everyone contributed in one way or another. We had ordered provisions for our dinners that included steaks, chicken, hamburgers etc., but the fishermen caught so much seafood, we chose to eat that first.

There was plenty of time to sit and visit, drink tea, coffee, and of course wine and rum!

There were rainbows and incredibly beautiful water.

Finally we had to return to the dock and end an amazing week.  A very special lifetime experience.

We all helped the captain bring this big boat safely back to it's mooring.

It was arranged to meet Captain Dwayne and his family in a local restaurant for dinner before we all caught our flights home.

Dwayne and his baby daughter.

Coffee on the beach before saying goodbye to Belize.

This was the aircraft to get us from Placencia back to Belize City, then through Houston again, and finally Guadalajara and home to Ajijic.

Farewell Belize, we hope to visit you again someday.......