Goodbye Belize, hello Rio Dulce and Catamaran Marina

PHOTO ALBUM —>>https://photos.app.goo.gl/YTR9zphSqQTN4NDc8

Upon returning to Placencia the very 1st place we visited was the Health Clinic to see if we could get covid shot number 2. It was just one day short of the 8 weeks and the nurse administered the shots giving us our covid freedom. Belize has been wonderful to us!

Our last few weeks

Our time in Belize was slowly coming to an end. We had enjoyed many wonderful days exploring the cays, snorkeling the reefs and walking the shores.

The last two weeks were spent in Placencia. There was no wind most days, it was incredibly hot and nightly squalls were becoming a regular occurrence. In other words, there just wasn’t the wind to sail and neither of us felt bothered to motor anywhere.

A few more boats arrived bringing the total number of us to 6 in the anchorage. Compare this to the norm from before of 50 odd…..

We all visited the newly established Placencia Yacht Club for sun downers. It was very enjoyable catching up with friends and hearing news of others in the Bay Ialands.

We enjoyed our last few:

Fry Jacks from Carmen’s

Sunday Barbecue at Yolli’s

Italian ice cream at Tutti Fruiti

Walks along the longest sidewalk

Off to check out

We were all off to check out on the morning of our last full day, June 21st. There were 4 boats leaving, Latitude with Derek and Carol, Rainbows End with Don and Pam, and Sea Mist with Rene and Michael, and us. We all caught the 7:30 Hocky Pocky to Big Creek and Pappy’s taxi to the Port Captain’s office.

There they had us fill out forms with info they already had, then sent us to the Immigration office which is down the road to get a paper stamped. Well what a fiasco at Immigration as they were awkward yet again. This time around demanding copies of boat papers. They stamped our paper that needed stamping, but wouldn’t stamp the passports and sent us to get a copy of the boat papers.

Back at Customs a very nice officer printed our boat papers and stamped the form sending us back to Immigration who finally stamped our passports, sending us back to customs to pay $50 and Port Authority to hand in our stamped paper to collect our exit document. This all took over 2 hours. Belize had said they were streamlining their system……

New Haven

The following morning we were off to New Haven. Sailing to New Haven was uneventful, but dreadfully hot. Even Chico complains about the heat when it’s blazing.

However the evening and the morning were distasteful as we were plagued by tabanos.

These dreadful insects literally attack you. Their bite is very nasty leaving a cavity which hurts and itches like no other.

Luckily I had the remedy at hand, fresh limes to rub on the bites to lessen the effects. Meanwhile John came up in hives, not from tabano bites but something he ate. It started around the waist and spread by morning he was covered in hives, his hands and face swollen. We could not think of what he had eaten to cause the out break. Away from New Haven we fled as soon as we were ready.

Tres Puntas

Next stop was Tres Puntas. Here we had planned to spend two nights, but that was not to be.… During the first night the weather came in with a furry. The wind blew, the thunder crashed and the lightning flashed, waves were coming over the bow. This started just after midnight and continued for several hours. So plans changed, we were up anchoring at 5:00am and off we sped to Livingstone enjoying a beautiful sunrise.

Now normally the sand/mud bar at Livingstone is very challenging for us. In fact one time we had to be tilted over and dragged across. Well with the wonderful Strawberry full moon the tide was way up and at 7:00am at the highest tide we crossed without even smudging the bottom.

The regular fishing, shrimping boats were chugging back in with the usual following of birds, Livingstone looked the same, a somewhat grubby little town. Around 10:00am the authorities came and visited. As usual they were polite, friendly and cheerful.

Our details and documents were taken and we were to go to Raul’s office after 45 minutes to pick them up. Oh, and no covid test as we are vaccinated!

Up the Rio Dulce

Off we went up the Rio Dulce towards Cayo Quemado our destination for the next few days. The river journey is always spectacular! The birds, pelicans, egrets, laughing gulls, and other water birds are ever present, flying, swooping, roosting, floating on the water all around.

The sounds from the forested slopes of the shrilling ciacada, the chirping birds and crickets are amazingly loud.

The folks living along the river banks paddling around conducting their business on the river, the launchas whizzing past with the waving tourists out for the day all combine to make the journey magical. Nobody would ever tire of the ride along the Rio Dulce.

Cayo Quemado

At Cayo Quemado we opted to anchor on the outside for several reasons, better breeze, fewer bugs and better wifi. The day was still and the reflections were wonderful.

Pam and Don anchored on the inside. We were just exhausted from 2 nights of very little sleep so a quiet, early, night was had by one and all.

Latitude and Sea Mist arrived in the afternoon the following day. They had enjoyed great sailing weather and calm night anchorages. What a difference 24 hours makes….

John and I enjoyed revisiting the byways of Cayo Quemado. We went in the dinghy along narrow mangrove canals, enjoying the beautiful scenery.

The water lilies, the reflections, hovering dragonflies, and the mystic of what’s around the next bend make this a delightful experience once again.

That evening we all met at Texas Mike’s for dinner.

This is always an experience that is a bit like the Mad Hatters tea party, but in the evening with booze. It was a fun night as usual with interesting company.

Back at Catamaran

Off we went to Catamaran the next morning. Arriving around noon we were soon all tied up, set up and off walking around the wonderful grounds.

Chico was soon prowling the grounds, enjoying love from his fans, and munching grass. Within a few days we were once again well established. We began all the regular end of season chores, met the new comers, enjoyed social time and daily strolls around the property.