Belize Cruising Season 2016 in Photos

Scott Free under sail with our dingy on the davits and our kayak up at the bow - taken by Jim on Emerald Seas

Russ Wolf came for his annual and much appreciated visit

Russ is right at home on Scott Free now and pitches right in

We spent lots of time out in reef islands exploring and of
course, lots of swimming and snorkeling

Here on Tobacco Caye

Party time at Hideaway Caye in the Pelican Cayes

Dave on "Cordelia"

Lovely  Uli on Toriba

Scott and her husband Thomas - we visited them in Bavaria
last summer

Dave & Pat from "Ten Year's After", Renate, Heather and
Jim play Mexican Train Dominos at the Paradise Hotel

Jim and Renate with some conch they hunted down. Renate
made them into conch fritters that evening - Yum!

We found the most amazing tree covered with
orchids on a remote Caye out on the barrier
reef. I'm not going to tell you where!

There were hundreds of gorgeous white orchids on it

Unbelievable

Emerald Seas afloat in a world of blue water and sky

Jim cleans conch and fish - a messy job

A local fisherman in his dugout spends the day hunting
fish and conch

This fisherman was better equipped to travel far

Jim and I took his dinghy out on the reef to take pictures of
both the fishermen, the water and a wreck

This old freighter is now in several big pieces over the reef

And the birds enjoy the perches it provides

We found it fun to photograph. Getting there was a bit of a job
as the water was so clear it was hard to tell how deep it was.

This is the "mother ship" for 6 fishermen who live on this tiny
boat for up to a week at a time.  A charter boat at the end of
their week gave us a ton of food they hadn't eaten. We shared
it with these fishermen and I think they hadn't eaten so well
for a long time. They especially appreciated the meat and
cheese.

Jim took this dramatic picture of a big ship at sunset. We
saw a lot of them, particularly cruise ships, from our anchorage
at Terniffe Atoll

As I can't dive any more due to my lung surgery, Scott now
buddies with Jim and Renate

And in this dramatic picture by Renate, his buddy is a huge tarpon!

Dinner on the beach at Ranguana with Marsha & Rick on
the left of "She Wolf" and Dave & Pat on "Ten Year's After"

End of the Season farewell dinner at Tortugal - around
the table from left - Steve & Tricia, Rosie, Heather,
Scott, Judy "Quest", Don "Chickcharne", Renate & Jim,
last 2 , sorry can't remember their names

Crossing the Bar and a Rescue!

Scott Free motoring down thru the canyons of the Rio Dulce

Before we start our cruising season we need to get out of the Rio Dulce and that can be difficult for us. There is a five foot .2 mile muddy bar at the beginning of the river and we have a 6.5 draft. And that's assuming we exit with less than full fuel and water tanks. Most years we've been able to enter and exit by ourselves (but plowing or bumping our way through at times) with our unusually big Ford Lehman 135 hp engine. But this year we had to leave on a 1.2 ft tide - a minimum of 4 inches too shallow. So we planned ahead for a boat to meet us and lean us over with a line from the top of our mast while we powered through. It worked fine. Jim on "Emerald Seas" documented the exit.
With Jim & Renate we sailed up to New Haven Bay for that night. Just as we finished anchoring we got a distress call from Zula - a small sailboat with a very inexperienced captain and first mate - Roger and Valerie. They had gone aground about 7 miles (as the crow would fly) south of us. We managed to talk them through the kedging process (taking an anchor out to deeper water and pulling the boat off the ground with the windless to it) but it was more difficult due to the cracked ribs Valerie had sustained crossing the bar earlier. Roger thought his draft was 3.5 and it was actually 6 feet. They finally settled in at anchor for the night - a huge relief for all. It would have been a difficult, possibly dangerous, trip back to them from our position at night.

That's Scott Free far left and the motor boat far right - between them is a line from our mast that is tipping the boat over
to allow our 6.5 feet draft to go over a 5 foot bar with about a foot of tide. We're powering ourselves. The boat below left
is stuck fast and will need a tow forward as well as a tilt over - two boats.

The next day we sailed north to Placencia but soon after had another call from "Zula". They were having trouble reading their chart plotter, weren't sure where they were and they were taking on water while moving. Scott and I volunteered to go back and assist. Emerald Seas was having problems with their motor and needed to continue on to Placencia.

The boat on our left is stuck fast and
 will need a tow forward as well as a tilt over - two boats.

Scott boarded them and investigated their leak. It was through the cutless bearing and their bilge pumps weren't working. I called for assistance from the Belize Coast Guard who came and took Valerie to a health clinic in Punta Gorda and from Monkey River Tours, who sent a fast launcha and 2 men with a portable pump. They towed Roger into Placencia Lagoon and he had the boat repaired at Thunderbirds Yard. Valerie made her way by bus and ferry back to us. We met her and got her a room for the night on shore. She was naturally quite shook up.
Everyone it seems in Placencia followed the drama on the VHF radio so we were the center of attention at Yoli's that night and had to recount our adventures for some time afterwards.

"It's a Boat!" - Endless repairs to the Generator and the Head

Celebrating at the Maya Beach Bistro

The last weeks have been busy with important boat repairs. And all during our visit from Julie and Peter Gowan. Luckily for us Peter is a mechanical engineer and experienced cruiser. And Julie took all the constant installation activity in stride. We ate dinner in the cockpit a number of nights while Salaam, our mechanic, worked on the generator. To do this we have to open up the whole salon floor so moving about the boat is a real challenge. Peter also jumped into the head repairs after Scott previously cleaned out the whole system. The pump mechanism had come loose from the floor and was leaking. They were successful.
The generator had stopped working ten days before they arrived. Salaam removed the engine portion and drove it up to the Mennonite community of Shipyard in the far north of Belize to have it repaired. A week later he returned and installed it but it didn't work. The new plate they built was too wide. Then Peter and Julie arrived and their second morning we moved to the town dock and Salaam and 4 men removed the entire generator and brought it back up to Shipyard. We had 2 nights to sail out to Pelican Cays and enjoy some cruising life before returning to have the generator replaced. Salaam thought that the new Thunderbirds Marina up in the Lagoon behind Placencia would work for us and be easier to effect getting the 700 lb generator back on the boat. We stopped by the Marina a week before by land to check it out. They gave us way points into the Lagoon and said the channel into the Marina was 8 feet. We'd never been into the Lagoon as a lot of it is very shallow. So we decided to give it a go. At several places going in we were scraping the bottom but we figured out what happened (and on the way out, had no less than 7 feet). So when we got to the channel into the Marina we thought we had it made. But right in the center between the red and green buoys marking the entrance we went hard aground! We managed to get off and anchored. Dad and Peter went in but there was only a man at the fuel dock that didn't know anything. So we went all the way back out and into the main anchorage. It was past 5 by then so we determined to go out and enjoy ourselves. During Julie and Peter's visit (and the endless repairs) we celebrated our 37th Anniversary and Heather's Birthday. And we had a wonderful evening! Drinks at Yoli's Over D' Water and grand fish dinners at Rum Fish. Topped off by fabulous gelato at Tutti Fruitti's. The next morning we were at the dock by 6 am and effected a very successful transfer of the 700 lb generator into place. That night Salaam returned for 4.5 hours to finish the job. And IT WORKED!
It wasn't all work during their stay. We had fun times on the boat and exploring the Placencia area. Naturally there were lots of wonderful meals and sun downers! We look forward to our next time together.

Our rented golf cart was fun transportation

Peter and Scott with their heads in the Head

After days of work cleaning out the system,
the pump mechanism broke

Salaam, on the left, trusses up the generator with a halyard through

After lifting it, a second line is attached from the boom through
the companionway

and then 3 men move it up the companionway

While 2 others lift from above

The last push into the cockpit

Now they plan for the next move, onto the dock

Using the boom and tackle, they are successful and then have
to the carry it to Salaam's truck.

Now Peter could get into the space left and clean up.
Some persistent leaks had to be fixed before we could head
out to enjoy the islands for a few days.

Three days in the idyllic Pelican Cays, swimming and snorkeling

Then back to Placencia to get the completed generator
 back onboard. That's Julie on the far right.

Peter and Salaam worked out a great system for moving it
 from the cockpit to the salon floor.

They used a heavy board to "slide" it down onto the floor
 with the line attached to the boom.

Two additional heavy boards were laid across
 the floor to support the huge weight

And then they carefully placed it back into it's place

Julie on the beach in front of our favorite breakfast place, De' Tatch