Things that go bump…..

 

It was always going to be a close shave – the tide level at the mouth of Guatemala’s Rio Dulce is 2m and Bandit draws 2.06m.  We needed to cross the bar as Bandit is spending hurricane season 30km or so up the river at the town of Fronteras, an incredibly popular and safe hurricane hole for yachts.  We planned to cross on full moon…..but even with the high tide we knew we would bump and grind our way in.  Bandit has been sitting lower and lower in the water the past five years as we’ve added Italian pasta (kilos of it), Moroccan bowls and tagines, Turkish rugs and Sicilian pottery. 

Tension was high as we approached the bar which is unmarked apart from one buoy which wasn’t where it should have been according to our guide.  Most channels have clear markers but not in Guatemala!

You’ve already guessed that we didn’t make it….under our own steam that is.  We bumped and scraped our way for a bit before coming to a complete halt – hard aground.

A fishing boat was quickly on the scene to offer us a tow “all the way in” for $50US.  They took our halyard and heeled us over and we slowly inched forward but went aground several times until right in the anchorage at Livingston.  Our rescuers then came alongside and announced the fee was now $75 because of the “extra work” involved.  Hmmmm….you can’t argue as you may need them again but it makes the blood boil!  We weren’t the only ones to go aground – a French boat also needed a tow.  A good day for the fishermen.

Several strong coffees later (to sooth frayed nerves) we had a visit from the local agent Raul along with customs, immigration, health and the port captain.  The usual round of paperwork followed and finally we were allowed off Bandit to go into Livingstone to get money out to pay the fishermen, Raul and provision.  Livingstone is not a safe overnight anchorage so we headed up the river.

Just out of Livingstone the Rio Dulce curves and winds its way through a spectacular canyon (we’d call it a gorge in NZ) smothered with thick jungle ranging in colour from lime and emerald to bottle.

The original Tarzan movie was filmed here and it’s easy to imagine Tarzan and Jane swinging on by – there are plenty of vines for them.

We motored slowly upriver passing shacks with thatched roofs, fishermen in dugout canoes and women washing in the river.  The only sounds were unidentifiable jungle noises. 

We kept an eye out for crocodiles and manatees – both of which live here - but didn’t see any.  We anchored in Texas Bay for a night – a quiet backwater off El Golfete, a huge lake. There is quite a community here and we enjoyed ice cold beers at the local bar for $1.

We loved watching the local fishermen skilfully casting their nets from their tiny dugout canoes….how on earth do they not tip out? The net falls in a perfect circle on the water and the fisherman hauls it in and picks out the fish caught in the net.  It’s addictive to watch.

 

It was a weird feeling being anchored in a lake in the middle of the jungle.  Definitely no swimming here! 

 Next day we continued up the Rio and as we approached the town of Fronteras started passing some pretty upmarket houses with swimming pools and motor boats.  This is where wealthy Guatemalans holiday.  

It’s a complete change to be on a river instead of the sea and we are missing the cool sea breeze (but not the salt).  Temperatures are in the high 30s and humidity 100%.  To say it’s hot is an understatement!

 

Whale shark experience in Belize

Up Close and Personal….with a whale shark

 

Our all too brief sojourn in the Belize Cays ended up being the best day of our season – seeing and getting into the water with a whale shark.  People pay hundreds of dollars to do this and our encounter was entirely free and totally unexpected.

                      

David not only got to swim with this magnificent creature but managed to get some fantastic video footage of it – you can see above that it was only inches away.  Note that skipper is firmly attached to boat with one hand in case he needed to make a hasty retreat!

We saw the whale shark near the reef off Hunting Cay as we were leaving and motoring across a glassy flat sea. To our sheer delight the inquisitive creature glided right up to Bandit.  We put the back down and David jumped in with the video camera.  What an amazing experience…..to be only inches away from such a huge shark. 

We’d have given anything to stay longer in these beautiful Belize Cays but needed to get to the mouth of the Rio Dulce in Guatemala to cross the bar at high tide. 

It was heart in mouth stuff anchoring.  We had an excellent guide book with good coordinates, but there is still much uncharted water around here.  To complicate matters our depth sounder is dying and only works in less than 20metres.

As we eyeballed our way into the anchorage I told the skipper I though it was getting shallow.  “No….still two metres under the keel,” he said, looking at the depth sounder.  I’d heard that water clarity here is so amazing that it can be deceiving but it really looked less than two metres to me.  Then…..crunch....not the best time to discover the depth sounder is now not working at all! 

Safely anchored away from rocks we headed to the reef to snorkel. This is the second largest reef after Great Barrier and is reputed to offer some of the world’s best diving and snorkelling.  After several amazing snorkels we had to agree.  The water clarity was superb with some amazing coral and fishlife.  We saw a huge stingray feeding in the shallows, a giant green moray eel draped around a rock and lurking in the shadows, a reef shark.  Best of all the water was a tepid 30deg.

 We went ashore and met the caretaker – a friendly chap of indeterminate age and race.  Belize is English speaking but he was strictly Spanish only.  We semi communicated.  He wanted cigarettes and we promised to bring some next season.

                            

It’s a stunning anchorage -  it would have been easy to spend a week or longer here.  But Guatemala was looming and we’ve got that bar crossing to deal with.  We console ourselves with the thought it’s only six months before we’ll be back and have the entire Belize Cays to explore.  Magic!

A 24 hour fling in Guanaja

 

We cautiously picked our way through the reef strewn seas off the Honduras Island of Guanaja, having timed our arrival for midday.  It’s so much easier to eyeball navigate when the sun is directly overhead.  The tiny main town of Guanaja Settlement sits on an island about a kilometre from the mainland and we anchored just offshore.

Locals live in houses built over the water on stilts mainly to avoid the horrendous plagues of mosquitoes, sandflies and noseeims that are a huge problem here.  The houses provide respite from the intense heat.

The island is a rabbit warren of concrete streets and wooden planked pathways.  George and Candice (who we sailed with from the Hobbie Cays) were here 20 years ago before the destructive Hurricane Mitch and said the entire island was wooden walkways.

                     

Red…..a friendly local who tagged along hoping for a tip….tells us the town has been completely rebuilt since the hurricane.  As we follow him to customs along narrow walkways we hear an almighty din – turns out we’re walking past the local prison cell.  There’s a very black face peering out at us uttering a string of obscenities – we keep going!

He takes us to immigration and customs where we have the usual wait – everything is done by hand or on typewriters and the paperwork is unbelievable.  But at least the offices are air conditioned.

            

After several hours sitting around in various offices we’re officially cleared in so head to a nearby anchorage and enjoy a fantastic night’s sleep – we always sleep so well after a night passage.

Next morning we listen to the north west Caribbean cruisers’ net and hear the high tides for the mouth of the Rio Dulcie are a few days earlier than we had listed.  There’s a nice breeze blowing so, after a quick discussion, we decide to take advantage of the wind and head to Guatemala.  The wind is predicted to die by tomorrow and we hate using unnecessary diesel.

                        

Of course we have to go back into the town and check out and that takes several hours……but a bonus is that the fresh produce has arrived from the Honduran mainland so we stock up on papaya, mango, banana, courgette, peppers and herbs.  Bliss!

It’s been an all too brief stop in this intriguing island but we’ll be back next season – armed with plenty of mosquito repellent!

The amazing Hobbie Cays

 

Dotted seemingly in the middle of nowhere is a group of beautiful palm tree dotted Caribbean islands, sandbars and coral reefs that make up the Hobbie Cays.  Owned by Honduras and lying about 80kms off the north east coast, they are uninhabited except for a few lobster fishermen. The Hobbies were roughly halfway between Providencia and the Honduras Bay Islands so we opted to overnight there to catch some sleep.  It was so beautiful we stayed for two!

Our sail up from Providencia was wonderful, with light winds on the beam all the way.  Highlight was catching a good mahimahi – lowlight was having a friendly migrating swallow jump aboard for a ride, stay for a few hours and then die!  Burial at sea followed.

                           

Minutes after dropping anchor behind one of the islands, friendly fishermen Jose and Gabriel arrived with a bucketload of lobster tails.  They spoke good English and so we chatted for a while and they told us they each had an island to caretake.  Commercial lobster season was over and the pots were piled high between coconut palms on the tiny islands.  We gave them a small bottle of rum (we’d stocked up in duty free Providencia) and some coke and they were delighted.

That night we ate freshly grilled lobster tails and panfried mahimahi and watched the sun set –life doesn’t get much better!  Next day we snorkelled on the reefs around the islands hoping to see lobster and sure enough, found one rock that was crawling with them but we let them be as we had enough lobster on board to keep us happy.

After one enjoyable day and two solid night’s sleep we headed west for the Honduran island of Guanaja with American catamaran Puma not far away…..for a while anyway.  Cats don’t like wind from behind so George and Candice started the engine and quickly left us in their wake.  Once the wind increased however they put up sail and Bandit slowly caught them up. 

The skipper insisted on fishing, spurred on by hearing on our morning net that fellow cruisers Eye Candy had caught an 18kg marlin.  Not long after the line went out it screeched and ran - we had a big one.  Yeap…a shark.    Jaws live.   He was absolutely beautiful.

It put up a mean fight and it took some time to get the hook out of its snapping jaws.  We were pleased to see it finally swim away to live another day and scare yet another yachtie.

 

With conditions remaining perfect we sailed on towards the Honduras Bay Island of Guanaja enjoying the best sailing of the season.