A blast with friends

We traveled from Punta Gorda to Placencia, a really cute little town on the coast of Belize. There Ben ran into a friend he had met in Guatemala. He and Thomas spent their days jumping off the roof of the boat, kayaking, and pulling each other around behind the dinghy.

Our good friends, Roxanne and Debi, came to visit us. Although they flew into Belize City, the weather kept us from meeting them by boat in Belize City, so we hunkered down in Placencia and rented a car for the 4 hour drive each way (due to bad roads not distance) to go pick them up. The countryside of Belize is beautiful— lush mountains covered in jungle and palm trees, and acres of farms.

First order of business—haircuts. Roxanne gave each of us a much needed haircut and the kids were spared from the dreaded “Momma cut”. That’s the one I do where I keep cutting getting everything even that could pass for a military recruit. Even Skipper got a trim.

We spent the week traveling from one little island to another as we gradually made out way north the 60 miles from Placencia to Belize City. We snorkeled and fished and napped and played nightly games of Uno and laughed till our cheeks hurt. It was the best medicine ever after the difficult time we had over the last few days.

Some of the anchorages were a little tricky. The charts for Belize haven’t been updated in years. We carried three different charts for Belize plus a cruising guide that is 15 years old. And the the topography is very different from the Bahamas. The Cays just rise up out the the depths and are often surrounded by additional reef. So our depth goes from 100-20-6 really fast. Some of the anchorages Ben went ahead of us with a portable depth sounder and a VHF radio to lead us in.

Although Debi and I trolled for fish diligently every time we were underway we didn’t catch a thing. Fortunately some fisherman stopped by our boat and sold us some fresh Grouper and Snapper, and even gave us a bag of fresh conch in exchange for some beers. They stopped by the boat again a couple hours later and asked if we could trade the rest of their catch of the day for more beer and some sandwiches for lunch. I hadn’t baked bread yet for sandwiches, so I made them a snack pack of kind bars, Habanero BBQ almonds, beef sticks, our last 2 beers and a cold Ginger Ale. We departed happy with the exchange and feasted the next few days on grilled fish, fish sandwiches, and conch ceviche.

Our favorite place we visited was Rendezvous Cay. It is out on the Eastern ridge if the barrier reef. Other than the caretaker who lives on the island it was deserted. We had a picnic on shore under the palapa and snorkeled the shallow reefs. Then while Deb and Roxanne napped in hammocks the four of us donned our SCUBA gear and dove the surrounding deeper reef.

It was a magical week: full moon, sky full of stars, gentle breezes, torquoise water, and hearts full of love and laughter.