We caught a taxi early this morning and went to the Avalon Hotel with Robert and Ane. We went to hear the time-share spill to receive a free day on the golf cart to cruise around the island, t-shirts and breakfast. Normally, we would not even consider it, but, hey, we are retired and have time to say "no" and get the goodies.. So, we did. The resort is very nice, but not an option for us.
We went to the end of the island to the Mayan ruins and lighthouse and to eat at a restaurant we found yesterday where they grill these huge fish on an open fire. I must say, it looked better than it actually tasted. There were lots of bones in the fish. May 2, 2006
We took the ferry to Cancun today to pay our customs fees. You have to go to 3 different places in Isla, then to the Bank here, then to the Bank in Cancun to clear in. Today, we just found out you have to import your boat for more paperwork, but, you have to do that 15 miles south of Cancun.........what an ordeal..........we waited in line at the bank in Cancun today for 2 hours. Crazy...........we still do not like Cancun.
May 4, 2006
We dinghied into town to have our clothes washed and update the internet. Here is a couple that are in the eame place everyday on our way. They are nephew/aunt. She has diabetes and cannot see.Later we went to a restaurant for lunch. Of course, Kay had guacamole.....her meal every day since we have been here.
After leaving the restaurant, we had 2 hours to wait for our clothes to be ready, so we just walked around, went to the grocery store and then realized, "We do not have our laptop!" So, we rushed back to the restaurant where we ate, and just knew our waiter would say, "No....no, senór, no bag at your table....." but, he just smiled and said, "Se, se......" Whew! We were so lucky and thankful. Needless to say, he received a great tip! And we received a great lesson!
May 5, 2006
Cinco de Mayo in Mexico...........we will go to town to see the festivities. Before we leave here, we are going to get some of the Nexium (purple) pills for Sonny. We can get the Nexium for $1 per pill. That is cheaper than we could get it with insurance in the states. It is a generic brand, but, works for him just as good, or better. We are going to prepare to head down the coast pretty quick.
May 6, 2006
We attended Larry "Nexus" 47th birthday party on their beautiful power boat, along with all of the other cruisers in the anchorage. Larry and DeeDee have a gorgeous four year old girl, Isabella and have been cruising for several years and plan to go through the Panama and to the Pacific.
May 7, 2006
After the morning net, we prepared the boat to go to Puerto Morelos, about 20 miles south of Cancun. We went to the gas dock in a whirling wind and topped off the diesel and water and headed south at about 10:30 a.m. We had 20 knot winds and 4-5' seas. South of Cancun, the seas and swells became much bigger and we were cruising at about 6 knots. We arrived at Puerto Morelos and anchored by 5:30 p.m. A good sail...but, we were pooped.May 8, 2006
We got on the list to talk to Customs to get the "Importado" for the boat. We were number three, so it did not take us that long. We received the papers so we will be clear for the boat to be in Mexico for the next 10 years. Paperwork....When we got back to town, we saw "Valhalla" coming into the harbor, so we met them and showed them how to get to the Customs office. Then, we saw "Deux Pieds" on the horizon and they made it in.
We went to snorkel on the reef. Lots of pretty fish.....great snorkeling!
We walked about the shops and met this lady sewing with a pedal machine.
We all met in town for dinner for the evening. It was a nice, local restaurant.
May 9, 2006
We woke up this morning and waved goodbye to "Valhalla" on their way south. Hopefully, we will see them again in Cozumel. We went ashore and ate breakfast with Roberto and Anne "Deux Pieds" and then they went snorkeling and Sonny and I walked the beach.
We saw two guys kite surfing and one was jumping in the air.
We walked several miles, until we came to a resort. We walked in and it was just beautiful. We saw a wedding, swam in the swimming pool, ate a hamburger and had a drink. What a fun afternoon. We acted like we were guests there. It was fun...
We left Puerto Morelos at about 7:30 a.m. with our buddy boat, "Deux Pieds". We headed south along the coast until we got to Playa De Carmen. Due to the current in the Yucatan Channel up to 5 knots to the north, we had to go south along the coast so we could cross the channel with the current rather than against it. We motor/sailed the whole way. We were going south, and you are right, the wind was out of the south. Of course. Usually, it is a pretty rough crossing with the strong north current, but is was a great crossing for us. Not much wind or waves, peaceful and beautiful.We saw tortoises, had a butterfly castaway, flying fish, Parasailing, a new Playa de Carmen, much different than when we were there several years ago. About 5 miles from Cozumel, we caught a barracuda, but, tossed him overboard.
The water is just breath-taking. We cannot believe we are here on "our" boat in this beautiful water, in this beautiful place. And, we can stay as long as we want, our plane does not leave on a certain day.....this is our home.
We are very happy and very thankful to be able to do this. It is so different being on your own boat and just being able to snorkel anywhere, anytime you want. When you get tired of that island, just move along, there are plenty more to explore.
After we arrived at Cozumel and anchored, we met Roberto and Ane, our buddy boat friends, in town for dinner. We are anchored right next to the ferry dock in downtown, right across from McDonald's.It is a full moon tonight. Beautiful.
May 12, 2006
We changed anchorages this morning. A huge cruise ship anchored nearby and we had the ferry boats all up-wind, so we moved north of the ferry dock to a much calmer, quieter anchorage. Valentina is on the right of the cruise ship. We went to town to walk around and then we came back to get our snorkel gear and snorkeled all afternoon. We just tied a line to the dinghy and drifted along the island with the dinghy. It was just beautiful . There were so many, many, fish. We saw a lot of star fish too.
We are having fun in Cozumel.
May 14, 2006
That most difficult part of the cruising life, is...........knowing what day it is. We sometimes have to look at Outlook Calendar on the laptop to verify what day it actually is. But, we can handle that problem very easily.
There is a fishing tournament on the island today and huge fishing boats are zooming by us creating havoc with the waves and current around Valentina. Here is a sailfish that was being weighed in. We were in our dinghy near the pier so we could see up close. It was very crowded on the pier.We rented a moped today and rode around the island. We found the resort we had stayed at years ago and ate at the restaurant at the southern tip of the island. Sonny had a Cheeseburger Paradise, but it did not agree with his stomach. We went to the grocery store while we had the moped and took the groceries directly to the dinghy and then unloaded them on the boat. On Sundays, there are no cruise ships on the island, so it is a pleasant day. The storekeepers are not aggressive and it is a different atmosphere. More like the old Cozumel we fell in love with years ago.
Today, we are going to meet Roberto and Any at the pier at 9:15 a..m. and take the ferry to Playa de Carmen for the day. After we return, we will need to prepare the boat for leaving early in the morning. Oops.....the weatherfax showed a front coming through, so we will have to wait until probably Friday to leave Cozumel. But, that's OK, we need to wash clothes, get fuel and oil, and enjoy the island some more.May 15:
The weather front blew through this morning about first light. The wind switched out of the west, so we were watching our anchor to make sure we did not land on the beach..........but, no problem, man. There is supposed to be another front coming in tonight from the Gulf of Mexico with wind and rain. We will stay put.
We are washing clothes today and going to update the website. We were ready to get off of our rocking horse for a while. The swells from Yucatan, MX are hitting us directly and then we have a 2 knot current from the north that keeps the boat sideways into the swells. Yee-haw.....
May 18, 2006
Cozumel to
Xcalak
As we work our way south, Xcalak is the last port of call to clear out of customs and immigration in Mexico, so we pulled up anchor in Cozumel at 3:30 a.m. this morning and headed towards Xcalak, which was 160 miles away.The wind was NW at 15 knots and the seas were 2 to 3 feet so we were able to sail on a beam reach. It was nice to be able to sail, no motor, although we were only sailing 4 knots.
We started out this crossing very tired, as our last three days in Cozumel, we had a freaky May front with a "north" wind. To us, that means, we had 5-6' waves directly from the Yucatan Channel beating us while on anchor. So, the previous two nights, we got very little sleep. It reminded us of our anchorage at South Riding Rock.
We checked in on the NW Caribbean net this morning as we were underway. This is a very good cruiser's net. After you check in as being underway, the next day, you need to let them know you arrived at your destination safely, or they will be asking on the net where your boat is and if anyone has seen you.We motored, sailed, or motor-sailed all day. It is a good crossing.
Out here, in the middle of no where, no towns or civilization we could see, were two cruise ships. This one was headed in and there was one already docked on the shore.
About 8:30 p.m. it was pitch dark, and our speed had dropped drastically as we were rounding the point near Bahia del Espiritu Santu. There is a very strong current that whips around this point. We were trying to stay in shallower water to avoid as much of current as possible. The depths of the channel are over 2,000 feet. There are reefs and wrecks outside of this point you have to avoid. The charts said we were in about 54 feet of water, then would jump to 8 feet. It was a long, tense few hours as we passed the point.
After rounding the point, we set our weigh points and stayed about 5-7 miles off-shore in over 3,000 feet deep.
May 19, 2006
Around 3 a.m., we changed watches. Sonny showed me the light of an upcoming island on our port side and he went below to sleep. I kept watching the light and it was getting closer and closer and then noticed he had a green light below the white light. It was a power boat, not a light on the island. He kept getting closer and closer, until he headed straight towards us. When he was getting near, I called down below to Sonny and he came up. The boat then shined a bright spot-light on us, then turned and went away. It did scare me. We had not seen one boat or ship since we left Cozumel and then this one comes to us. I watched him on our radar as he left. It must have been the Mexican Marines checking us out, but, they did not hail us on the radio. I did not have any trouble staying awake the rest of the watch.
At sunrise, Sonny was walking around the deck and saw a flying fish that landed on our deck during the night. He was about 8 inches long. We motored most of the rest of the way, in order to arrive in good light. The entrance of Xcalak is, of course, between a cut in the reef you pass through. You line up two lighthouses and keep them on a bearing on the compass at 283 degrees, then pass through the reef. Once inside, the anchorage was in about 7-10 feet of water.
We were so tired, but, we did go ashore to try to check out of Mexico, but, the Port Captain was off, so we will try tomorrow.
We went to the one restaurant in town, and had a fish dinner. It was absolutely delicious and we were starving. Kay is looking around in the shop in the restaurant. We went back to the boat and crashed.
May 20, 2006
When we pulled our dinghy up to the dock, the Marine boat pulled in and we got a picture of one of the Mexican Marines. He said he does not use his gun very often, but, they sure were shining them.
We went ashore today to catch the customs officer, but, he was not there, so we walked down the road about a mile to a small dive resort where groups come in to go fly-fishing and bonefishing. Kay ordered Mexican eggs with tortillas and Sonny ordered two pancakes with potatoes. After about 15 minutes, the waiter brought out two pancakes and we did not see him again. Our Spanish and his English was not communicating. That was all he thought we ordered, so we waited for them to prepare the rest of our order. There is no hurry in Mexico. 
We saw a young girl giving an elderly lady a ride on the bicycle and some banana trees along the way.
We returned to the boat and prepared for leaving early in the morning for San Pedro, Belize.
May 21, 2006
We pulled up anchor at 7:30 a.m. and headed south to San Pedro, Belize. San Pedro is the first entrance where you can check in the country with customs and immigration. It is around 25 miles away, so a good day sail.It is overcast, a mist in the air, but we checked on our radar and it shows rain, but, no storms, so we will head out. We have learned how to reef in a second, if necessary.
We motor-sailed for about an hour to charge our batteries, then we turned the motor off. There was 15-20 knot winds with 5-6' seas on the beam and Valentina was sailing at about 6-7 knots. This has been our best sailing day, since cruising.
Great.
When you go into San Pedro, you have to pass between the reef opening. You enter by lining up a red roof house on shore with a yellow buoy between the reef, then when you get to the yellow buoy, you head towards the light tower towards your starboard. Anchor in 8-10 feet of water. Valentina is 6:, so we will have 2-4 feet underneath us. The tricky thing was, the cruising guide was 10 years old, but the most recent, and there are a lot of red roof houses on the beach now. You definitely relax once you set anchor and breath a sigh of relief.
We went ashore to check in with immigration, but, of course on Sunday they were closed. Monday is a holiday, so we will have to fly our yellow "Q" quarantine flag until we can check in on Tuesday.
We walked around town, it is nice. It has sandy streets with bright colored cottages and buildings. Very small shops. The locals speak English. We ate a delicious chicken barbeque dinner at the Tackle Box where we park our dinghy.May 22, 2006
Sonny had just showered and we were ready to go ashore, so he was getting the dinghy down off the davits. He quickly had tied the dinghy to the stancion because he was going to grab the air pump to pump up the inflatable. He had the air pumpand hose in his hand and when he turned around, the dinghy had come untied, and was quickly leaving the boat. Also, the hose to the dinghy pump had fallen in the water....Whew!
He started tossing the stuff in his pockets in the cockpit and dove into the water. He brought the dinghy back to the boat and then we got the gaff on the boat hook and he retrieved the hose for the air pump. He changed clothes again.............not a good way to start your day. But, it cooled him off, right?
We went to town and walked around. The main event is the chicken dump. On Wednesday nights, (we will be gone), at a local hotel on the beach, they spread out numbers and you pay $5 for a number to see where the chicken decides to "dump". The winner gets $100. Posters are all over town.We went to the grocery store. It was nice (for here)! We found a 48-count box of M&M's for $33 and we bought Pace Picante Hot Sauce, water, juice, etc. We spent about $100.
Belize money is 2-1 to US dollars. So, dinners may be $20, but, actually $10 our money.
We ate a the local street vendor and had beans, rice, stewed chicken, and potato salad for $2.50 each. It was a lot of food, we could not eat all of it. But, it was good.
May 23, 2006
It is Tuesday! We will head to town to immigration to see if we can get cleared in and download the website. We also found a place to buy Coke "Light", so we will go and stock up. We are on our last two cokes.....oh, no!
We are cleared in and out of Belize, so we need to "get outta here".
We ate lunch "jerk chicken" at a local restaurant. It was hot....our lips were burnings for a few hours afterwards.
We walked around for a few hours this afternoon trying to spend our Belizean money we had accumulated. It is hard when you "need" to buy something or spend money, you just cannot find anything. After a while, we went by the fruit market on the street and bought a supply of mangos and apple-bananas.
We have enjoyed the mangos. A local in Isla Mujeres showed us to put lime juice and salt on them. It is very tasty! We even buy Mango juice.
Today we bought apple-bananas. They are very small bananas, but sweeter than regular bananas and kind of taste like an apple.
We went back to prepare the boat and dinghy for tomorrow's crossing.
May 24, 2006
We pulled up anchor at San Pedro, Belize after 7:30 a.m. to follow our bread crumbs to get out of the reef. The skies look gray and dreary and there is a mist in the air. The wind is blowing at 14 knots and the seas are 3-5 feet.
We did make it through the opening of the reef, but it sure was a tense time. The waves were hammering in the opening of the reef, so we gave it more gas and barreled through on our crumb trail. All is fine.......just rough. We are being tossed to and fro. We put up some mainsail to help stabilize the boat. It worked!
We tried to let out the jib, but the wind was up to 20k and the gusts were too rough on it, so we took it back in.
The waves outside the reef were at least 10' with 20 knot winds. Not a fun way to start your day. But, again, we are thankful for our boat and the security she gives us. Priceless.
It started raining and has rained all day. We can see it on the radar, but, no squalls, just a constant rain. I think the rainy season has begun.
You could stay inside the reef from San Pedro to Belize City if you have a shallow draft boat, but, we have 6' under our boat and would possibly run aground. So, we can duck in at Belize City and it is deep after that. We can go all the way to Livingston, Guatemala inside the reef.
Now it is 10:45 a.m. and we have let out the jib and full main We are going 6 knots with 16 knot wind and little calmer seas. The rain continues.
We are 3 hours and 17 minutes away from going inside the reef at English Cay. I am ready to be inside.
We saw two dolphins swim along with us, but, it was raining so we did not go out on the bow to see them.
It continues to rain and we thought of watching a DVD, but, then, Sonny thought of hooking up a funnel to the end of the main boom while the sail was up......to gather rainwater. Just for fun! I guess that is what you do on a crossing when you get bored, right? We have enoughh water on board to last until we get to the Rio.
We have a 100 gallon tank and we are down to less than 1/2 tank now. We filled up in Isla Mujeres before we left. That was about 2 weeks ago, so we have used 50 gallons in two weeks. You would not believe how stingy you can be with your water when you need to. I wash my dishes in Joy and a saltwater faucet at my galley sink, then rinse with fresh water.
Of course, after we get the funnel rigged, the rain stopped and the skies brightened up. The last two hours of sailing has been very nice.
We ate a couple of mangos. We love them.
We arrived at Middle Long Cay at 4:30 p.m.
Latitude: N 17 15.81
Longitude W 88 05.45
There is not anything much on this island. We see a shack a local has made with his outhouse out over the water.
We are not getting our dinghy down today, we are eating Bowtie pasta for dinner and going to bed early.
Rainy season is here..............we have had squalls and rain constantly. We are going to stay here today and just stay on the boat. We will leave early in the morning for Placencia.
After two nights, we pulled up anchor at Middle Long Cay before 7 a.m. this morning. There was a lot of coral under the boat and the anchor chain hung on some coral as we were pulling it in, so we motored towards the port side and got it loose. Sonny was not quite ready for an early morning swim.
It has rained here, almost non-stop. It began this morning at 1 a.m. and still continues. No strong wind, just rain and lightning.
In spite of the rain, we decided to go ahead and head south. We think it must be raining "all over the world". We have about 20 knots of wind with the staysail up and one reef in the main and are going about 6 knots. We are headed to Placencia, about 60 miles away. So, at 5 mph, it should take most of the day. We want to get in an get anchored before dark.
Along the way, we saw dolphins and the gray skies turned to blue. Such a welcome sight. The sun even came out.
We arrived at Placencia about 5 p.m. and anchored then walked to town. Placencia has a mile long sidewalk with restaurants, local vendors, and guest houses all along the way. We were told to eat at "De Tatch" for good fish, so we walked along the sideway for a ways, until we reached the restaurant. It had a thatched roof, palapas, palm trees and great food. After a crossing, we like to go into town and eat a good meal. This is our waitress tonight and the view from the restaurant.
May 27, 2006
It was washing day at Placencia, so we gathered up our dirty clothes and sheets and headed to town in the dinghy. We stopped at a local shop for a lady to wash our clothes. She charged us $8 US for washing, drying, and folding two loads with her including the soap. A good deal and much needed.
We met Bob and Peggy, fellow cruisers who have spent hurricane seasons in the Rio Dulce at the Cozy Corner for lunch. We stayed there for 3 hours listening to stories of the river.
We then walked around town and down the sidewalk.
There are beautiful palm and coconut trees wild.
May 28, 2006
Today, we woke up and Sonny typed emails while Kay baked a carrot cake.
It was already getting hot, so we decided to take the dinghy 5 miles over to Bugle Cay and snorkel. After a bumpy ride in the dinghy over, when we arrived at the island, there were four dogs to greet us. We were not sure we wanted to get out of the dinghy, but, Castro, the lighthouse keeper, came out to greet us and said, "the dogs are fine, come on ashore". So we did. It was a pleasant visit. Castro is hired by the government of Belize to keep the lighthouse going on the very small island. He works 3 weeks solid, then off one week. He is 63 years old and has done this for 30 years, and hopes to retire in 2 years.
He knocked down two coconuts for us, then cut them with the machete and we drank the water inside. He then split them so we could eat the coconut. He handed us a "spoon". It was one of the slivers he cut off the coconut.
Very interesting visit.We then went around to the other side of the island and snorkeled. We saw lots of fish, one that looked like "Doree" on Nemo, but, she was not blue, she was spotted, a sting ray, barracuda, star fish, and conch. Very nice snorkel.
Some children came by with backpacks selling necklaces, bowls, etc. for their school money.
They said it costs them $100 a month to go to school.
The small boy's father had died two weeks ago when he fell from a bridge. We asked around, and it was true.
They were very polite children, and not pushy or bothersome. Needless, to say, we bought something from all three.Starting a business, very young.
May 29, 2006
We will head to town this morning and go to the "big" grocery store. The "big" grocery store is not as big as a small convenient store in a gas station at home.. We plan to head south in the morning. We will have to anchor outside of Livingston, then cross the sand bar at high tide and go to Livingston, then after customs and immigration, we will head to Mario's Marina.
