Sailing The Pacific Ring Of Fire: Belize It or Not

Some time ago now I found myself sneaking along inside the world's second largest barrier reef, in very shallow waters, looking for Ambergris Caye.

This small narrow island inside the reef is a popular tourist destination, with sailing charters, diving and snorkelling its main drawcards – from here you can dive the Belize Blue Hole, see cannons, manatee, sharks, and corals. Its the largest developed island in Belize, its main village of some 4,500 residents being San Pedro (after St Peter, the patron saint of Fishermen)

Ambergris is the name of a rare grayish waxy substance secreted by sperm whales and once highly soughtafter as a perfume base. Apparently it was once common for find ambergris washed up on the shore here.

My new crew, Jackie, had made herself comfortable at Xanadu resort and was enjoying a welcome respite from the Colorado winter. I busied myself in more “boat maintenance in exotic places” which my shakedown was teaching me to accept as Cruising in its truest sense.

The generator consumed more time & dollars, and when fixed (two new impellors reqd) I foolishly thought that would be the end of it for some time.

The winds and seas remained huge so while waiting for better conditions to head out to the cays around Belize with a rookie sailor we checked out the local sights, then decided to take a tour that went north to the Belize / Mexico border, a Mayan-made cut through mangroves to create a canoe trading route, and visited protected areas and snorkelling sites inside the reef.

All went well until our boat captain decided he could run a pass through the reef and take the faster route back south. He mis-timed his run and drove the the boat too fast
on into a huge cresting wave, bursting off the top and taking us airborne for some ten feet to pancake down hard. The boat was all steel, and everyone took really hard hits. I'd prepared myself for the impact but still felt my brain thud against my skull and my spine compress. Several people were lying on the deck crying in agony, a mother was irate with the crew for her sons' injuries, a young honeymooning couple just held each other recovering, Jackie was very quiet and obviously hurting.

We went on with the tour slowly and quietly, and by the time we were back at San Pedro people were displaying a lot of bruising, aches and pains. The company refunded all fees and we heard there was some action against the boat captain who had expressly been told the route outside the reef was not to be used in the current conditions.

The physio and massage services in San Pedro did well that week, and in hindsight Jackie should have made more use of them. As time went on her movements around the boat became slower and more painful, and she was constantly being critical of her physical ability. I was also making many changes to how and where we sailed, tasks I'd give her, and so on as I could see she was struggling and in danger of getting further injured. It wasn't until J had returned home and had an Xray that it became clear how serious her injuries were. Some three months later she is still receiving treatment for a lower spinal fracture, is wearing a custom made full torso fibreglass brace, and having to live with very limited movement. Time will tell how her spine responds to the treatment. I am still totally amazed she carried on to crew on the boat, complaining little when e.g opening the heavy chest fridge lids (which could only have aggravated her injury each time), and even spent two solid days cheerfully hiking around Tikal, in the Guatemalan highlands.

When the weather finally improved we set sail for the Tuneriffe and Half Moon Cays to the east, running the San Pedro Pass just after dark and sailing through the night in still brisk 20-25 knot winds and a ESE rolling swell. Our first anchorage was at South East Pass for breakfast but the swell was very uncomfortable, and the pass into shelter at Big Cay Bokel was still closed out by big seas. So we headed round the point into the swells again and crossed to Lighthouse Reef where all the dive charter boats anchor, and entered a massive lagoon with the clearest water I had seen since the Bahamas. We briefly explored the area and landed on deserted beaches, and after bludging some fuses from a dive boat for my cantankerous fridge compressor, went on to Half Moon Cay.

Wow, this is possibly the most beautiful cay in the region! To the sough is Half Moon Cay Natural Monument, featuring a huge White Morph Redfooted Booby and Frigate Bird colony and fantastic snorkelling, and to the north the famous Blue Hole Natural Monument. These are two of seven components of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve World Heritage Site. Getting there is a breath-stopping traverse of shallow shoals and coral heads, using various wrecks on the skyline for bearings.

I had decided not to dive at the Blue Hole, or motor sail over it as many cruisers do - both seemed inadequate ways to add to the experience of simply seeing and appreciating its uniqueness. So we spent our time enjoying the intense activity at the bird colony, visiting at dawn, noon and dusk, and had the bonus of close encounters with land crabs, lizards, iguanas and Booby chicks.

After saturating ourselves in the beauty of the place, we picked our way out through numerous coral heads in crystal clear waters, and made the long run on an easy reach to Punta Gorda to clear out of Belize and make for the Rio Dulce. As in the Bahamas, and Cuba, I was in many ways sad to be sailing past such extensive and beautiful cruising grounds after only scratching the surface, and aware that many cruisers I had met were spending whole seasons exploring just one of the many regions I had sailed through in less than four months. As I sailed the grave yard shift down the outside of the

huge archipelego of reefs & cays all the way to Sapodilla, I peered at my chartplotter wondering if I would ever get the chance to explore any more of this fascinating watery world, most of it at threat from sea level rise.

Punta Gorda

Punta Gorda turned up in the early hours, and delightfully the skies were clear so we could take in the striking landscape – the Rio Grande emptying into the bay, Saddle Back and Gorda Hills some 620m high above the village. The people were easy going, village life in full swing with many markets along the dusty streets. My papers weren't quite in order due to a misunderstanding when leaving San Pedro but we were treated fairly and quickly, and soon able to leave, hopefully making the high water at Livingston where we would enter the Rio Dulce 16nm to the south.