Captain's Log

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Part 1:  March to July, 2006 - Honduras & Belize

Finally got out of the shipyard and we were off to Roatan to wait for papers from the states to close on a piece of property.  While we were there we had six days in which the wind blew a constant twenty-five to thirty-five knots.  The weather forecasters had not predicted it and did not know where it came from.  During that time we were emailed the documents on a Thursday afternoon and told to print them, sign them, and have them notarized and FedEx the papers overnight back to Houston so they could close the next day.  Oh, and I almost forgot it has to be an American notary. Ya right!

For an American notary the papers must go with an attorney to the American Embassy, which is a full day’s travel from where we are and then back again.  So, the mortgage company agreed that a Spanish notary would be OK.  The only notary would be back on the island on Saturday, so closing on Friday was not going to happen.  But, the papers got that notary stamp on Saturday and we took them straight to the FedEx office where they tell us that “priority overnight” will have them in Houston by next Friday at the latest.  What can we say?  It’s island time.  It all came together somehow and the property closed the following Wednesday, so FedEx was faster then they predicted. 

With that taken care of we are off to sail.  We buddy boated with two other boats, Kristiana and Winterlude and head out to Utila, for two days.  We check out of the country there and head for Belize with a stop over for one night at Punta Sal on the north coast of Honduras.  We arrive in Placencia, Belize and check into the country at Big Creek on March 20th. 

That afternoon we are on the move to Sapodilla Lagoon to wait out some north winds.  The winds didn’t happen so the next day we sail to Garbutt Cay where all three boats spend the night and we are off again the next morning for Glory Cut.

Glory Cut is one of the cuts through the barrier reef that runs along the entire coast of Belize.  We all tucked in behind the reef and had a great afternoon fishing and snorkeling on the reef.  We spend the night with a nice cool breeze on the calm water behind the reef. 

The next morning it’s anchors up for Lighthouse Reef Atoll.  Winterlude decides that there is just too much headwind so they decide not to go.  It Kristiana and Lone Star Love.  This is our favorite place in all of Belize.  There is nothing there but beautiful water, great diving, snorkeling and fishing.  We arrive and go straight to the south side of the atoll to get out of the northern that is scheduled to arrive that evening.  Doug and Rayene from Kristiana and the Lone Star Love crew all go fishing and come home with a nice catch.  It’s a fish fry tonight.

Late in the afternoon the rest of the boats that are anchored on the west side of the atoll come around to the south to get out of the expected north winds.  Everyone is invited to Lone Star Love for the catch of the day.  We had a huge grouper from Kristiana and the prized Hog Fish from Lone Star Love.  We feed the whole anchorage.  BlueJacket, Querencia, MolaMola, Kristiana and Lone Star Love and we still had fish to spare.  Good time was had by all.

Late that evening the M/V Chickcharnie came into the anchorage.

Next day the north winds came so it was a day on the boat to rest and relax from all the traveling and by the following morning the winds died down but the seas were still very rolly.  BlueJacket and Querencia left for the west side again.  The rest of the boat stayed on the south side a few days longer for the seas to calm down and then we moved to the west side of the atoll.

Once on the west side the crew from Chickcharnie, Rosie and Don along with Doug and Rayene from Kristiana and the Lone Star Love crew went snorkeling and fishing every day.  One day Don decides to take Chickcharnie south along the outside of the reef for the day to fish and invite Kristiana and Lone Star Love to pull our dinghies behind.  Don will anchor Chickcharnie behind the reef and we will take the dinghies from there to go snorkel fishing.  What a fun day.  Everyone got lots of fish and had a great day.

After ten days it’s time for us to head back into Placencia because out goal is to meet up with Odyssea there and head to Utila in the Bay Islands to go look for whale sharks just before the full moon in April.  We have been told that this is the best time to see the magnificent whale sharks.

April 1st we leave Long Cay at Lighthouse Reef Atoll; head back to the mainland, we want to make it to Sapodilla Lagoon that day.  About 5 miles out from the lagoon we catch a huge Yellow Jack.  That was fun and we had fresh fish for dinner that evening.  The next day which was a Sunday we sailed to Placencia.  M/V Chickcharnie caught up with us during our sail on their way to Placencia as well.  We got anchored and Odyssea came in a couple of hour’s later.  We checked out of the country the next day and that evening we were invited along with Odyssea to “Happy Hour” aboard Chickcharnie.  Great stories were told amongst good friends.

Tuesday April 4th we have the anchor up at 6:00AM to set sail for Punta Sal, on the north coast of Honduras.   This is a sixty-seven nautical mile sail and we want to make the trip in the daylight.  We are approaching Ranguana Pass, which is another pass through the barrier reef system along Belize.  Coming very fast toward us along our starboard side is the Belizean Coast Guard ponga boat.  It is approaching very fast and then cuts just behind the stern of Lone Star Love cutting one of our fishing lines that had a brand new silver spoon lure on it that we bought the day before.  Greg replaces it, gets that line back in the water and we have a fish on the other line.  It a Wahoo!  We get if off the line and the other reel is singing.  We have a yellow fin tuna on the other line.  The Wahoo measures up at 32 inches and the tuna is 17 inches, not bad!  Fresh fish, what more can you ask for.  The rest of the sail to Punta Sal we had some bites, but nothing on the line.  One hit on the line was so big we could not get the reel stopped to even begin to reel it in when whatever it was snapped the line and we lost most of the line and the lure.  The good thing is that we already had plenty and it was fresh fish for dinner again.

Next morning we are up early headed for Utila.  Both days have been perfect for traveling east.  The easterly trade winds have stopped blowing making it possible to go east, but today is all motoring without any winds at all.  About five miles out of Utila we start catching fish again.  They were small Bonita which is part of the tuna family.  They are pretty small and we still have plenty of fish from the day before so we turn them loose, but they are sure fun to catch.

We have made it to Utila before the full moon so we can go looking for whale sharks.  To do this we must go to the Whale Shark Research College to get on the list to go on the boat.  So we sign up to go the next morning at 7:00AM.  We get a briefing about the sharks first and learn how the sightings are handled and we are off for the search.  Whale sharks like really deep water, as in two or three thousand feet deep. The sharks like to feed where they can dive very deep.  The waters around the east and north sides of the island provide just the conditions the whale sharks like for feeding.  In this feeding process the sharks cause the water to “boil” and the fish in that area will all come to the surface and jump out of the water like they are being chased by something.  The whale sharks eat algae so they are not interested in the fish or a human at all.  Once we spot the “boil” the boat moves toward it.  At the edge of the “boil” all the people on the boat are instructed to sit on the edge of the boat with their snorkel gear on and be ready to slide into the water.  Once the whale shark is spotted in the “boil” then we slid off the edge and swim toward the center of the “boil”.  There she is, a female about sixteen feet long.  That may not sound very big, but when you are swimming next to it, that’s huge.  The whale shark is just spectacular and could care less that we are there.  The female starts to dive deeper as she prepares to come back toward the surface, which is part of the feeding cycle.  We all get back into the boat and wait to see if the “boil” starts up again.  Three times we are in the water with the whale shark that afternoon.  What a treat because they are not spotted everyday.  We feel absolutely privileged to have gotten to see one on our first day out.  They are truly magnificent creatures, growing to lengths of ninety feet.  So the one we saw was a young juvenile.  What a great day!  We went the following day, but did not spot any “boils”.

That same afternoon Odyssea arrives at Utila and we have dinner together.  Dave and Jan are really super folks and we enjoy their company a lot and have been planned for a long time to meet in Utila for the whale shark watching.  The next day is Saturday and we go out again to look for the whale sharks.  This will be Dave and Jan’s first try at getting to see one.  Unfortunately we are not successful and do not spot one, but we are not giving up.  We will try again.