The Endless Estrogen Chronicles Part 5

Turn Right at the Mangrove Islands

This is where we turn right

Moorings gave us prescribed courses in and out of the Pelican Cayes and Blue Ground Range. And it's a good thing!

This was probably the trickiest section of the trip, and after a false start, retraced our way points out of our sheltered moorage at Hideaway Caye. Then turned north, back into the main channel. Our way points took us through the Blue Ground Range of Cayes, with tiny coral outcroppings and shallow areas visible in the bright sun! Many of these are private islands and the development on them ranges from flimsy fishing shacks, to elaborate resorts and everything in between.

Through the first section, with some beautiful buildings close by to port and a fishing shack off to starboard, we kept watching for an area that was marked as "dry!" With only an 18" tide, this area could be covered during a high tide, but we did pick it out and our way point put us right in the correct spot where we made a sharp right turn towards South Water Caye, our planned overnight stop. South Water was just a blip on the horizon as we navigated through a couple of really, really narrow and shallow areas, our lookouts on the bow scanning the water ahead as Betsy and I watched the depth sounder in the steering station.

A local boat

But it seemed we were the only ones on this course, as local pangas and fishing boats went full speed across what appeared to be shallows and full of coral heads! Local knowledge!

South Water is part of the South Water Caye Marine Reserve, the largest Marine Reserve in Belize, encompassing 117,878 acres  and is part of the Belize Barrier Reef System World Heritage site established in 1996. It's a popular Caye with three resorts and several mooring buoys and we approached hoping for a hook-up! Unfortunately, all the mooring were taken but not to be discouraged, we made the perfect anchor set! Right on the edge of the sand, almost in the sea grass, plenty of chain and we were solidly there.

Just to the south of the cut, the break in the reef, lies Carrie Bow Caye, the Smithsonian's base for the Tenenbaum Marine Obervatories Network and of particular interest to our two NOAA crew members who dinghied over for a visit.

Birthday Celebrations Continue

As we hadn't made reservations for dinner, I tried calling on the VHF to the two resorts that purportedly served dinner, but with no luck. Tina, who was out kayaking went ashore and discovered that The Blue Marlin had just hosted a large group and was out of food except for pork chops! And so she made a reservation at Pelican Beach where our choice was Tumeric shrimp or Tumeric shrimp! So guess what my birthday dinner was? Right!

Of course, no one needed an excuse for a party, but seeing as it was my birthday, Jane had planned for the fun and brought out a whole lot of decorations, including a transparent air mat, or as we used to call them, a li-lo that lit up with colored LED lights! How she got everything into her bag, I have no idea! Bubbly appeared and the celebration began, with a ride to shore for dinner. The meal was delicious and our charming waitresses treated us to some special, local fruit wine and a little birthday desert! It probably wouldn't have mattered what they had served, it was such a fun evening onshore which culminated with all nine of us dancing!

Back to boat and once again, seeing as it was my birthday, it was time to test out the birthday suits! Over we went, in the dark, with the lit air mattress sparkling in the night. We almost lost Jane as she swam into the darkness, chasing the all-important $1.99 (also LED lit) beach ball, the gently drifted away! But being the strong swimmer that she is, the ball was captured and returned!

It's been years since I went skinny dipping, I think the last time was in the British Virgin Islands! I do love the freedom and I definitely plan to do it more often.

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The Endless Estrogen Chronicles Part 4

Looking for Manatees

Happy birthday to me

Saint Patrick's Day dawned bright and cloudless and after big pancake breakfast, we went looking for manatees. We had heard that they gathered in the sheltered waters of Lagoon Caye, where we could anchor away from the entrance and then dinghy, kayak or paddle in to the area.

Wending our way north west up the Victoria Channel, through the cayes and reefs from Hatchet Caye, we kept a sharp lookout for shallow areas. The cayes all lie very low and it's difficult to recognize which is which as they are also very close together. Sometimes the cruising guide will identify one by indicating there is a house on the northern point, or a large stand of coconut palms! The charts are filled with notes of "Numerous coral heads" and "Incomplete Survey" which was a bit nerve-wracking!

But we reached Lagoon Caye, and anchored in about 10 feet of water off the entrance of the horseshoe-shaped caye. The weather cooperated as usual, with the water absolutely still and glassy and we hoped this would give us an advantage to see the manatees. All the toys went overboard and the crew headed into the mangrove-lined lagoon. Pelicans roosted on the tree tops, watching as we slid by, slowly circling the entire shoreline without a sighting. The manatees were not cooperating! That was disappointing but of course, there are no guarantees that the giant mammals will be there. They were definitely operating on Belizean time!

to hideaway

Back on board, the next short leg was through  a maze of small islands, coral heads and shallow water. On one of the tiny cayes, someone has built a whole compound and it sits out there, all by itself, brightly showing off it lively Caribbean colors! Underway, in honor of Saint Paddy's day, we enjoyed corned beef and cabbage for lunch!

Very carefully, we made our way to Hideaway Caye.

Hideaway Caye

If you have ever dreamed of living the Robinson Crusoe life, this is where you will find it. Hideaway Caye is the manifestation of Dustin and Kim Ingersoll's dream, a built-from-scratch restaurant and cabana, where they work and live with their young daughter, Ama. Completely self-sustaining, boaters must call ahead to find out what's for dinner, as Dustin fishes each day to provide for the restaurant.

We called in early in the day and he asked us to call once we were actually there before ordering dinner, which we did. As we attempted to order, there was so much laughter, he could hear us from his aerie, our sounds wafting over the water! We confirmed that along with the grouper and conch, he had conch fritters and he replied, "Always, and the best rum punch in the islands." That settled that!

Shortly after that, Dustin paddled out in his kayak, a big, burly guy with his 3-year old daughter in his lap, and Ki the dog, swimming alongside. Apparently, Ki swims three miles every day! He is a big, black Rottweiler-mix I think.

Conch shells tangled in the mangroves

The island is magical, there just is no way to really describe the winding wooden walkways, meandering through the mangroves, piles of conch shells tangled in the tree roots. The stairs switchback up to the small restaurant and bar, perched on stilts. A long bar spans the length and two big dining tables, all hand-made from native woods, take up the rest of the space. The kitchen, visible through the pass-through is tiny! But Kim churns out the meals, while Dustin pours the rum and keeps an eye on Ama, who is very outgoing and entertaining, especially to a bunch of women with children and grandchildren of their own.

The next morning, my birthday, I woke to the sounds of birds squawking and men's voices echoing across the water from the far side of the adjacent caye. As the sun rose, I felt so lucky to be spending a second birthday in Belize. The first time was 16 years ago, when I first fell in love with this little country and I knew, then, that I would soon be making an all-out effort to move there. Some places just feel right, and fit!

We wanted to make an early start as it was a bit-longer-than-usual passage to South Water Caye but we were delayed because, darn it, our fresh-baked bread delivery was a few minutes late! It amazes me that Kim could produce fresh baguettes and have Dustin deliver them by kayak, all by 9am  after cooking for our crowd the night before. Of course, one of the loaves was demolished as soon as he delivered and the rest were reserved for our pulled-pork lunch.

Then it was throw off the mooring lines and make our way through the very tricky Blue Ground Range on our way to South Water Caye.

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It Was a Complete Surprise!

Today was the day - Zoze's birthday and as we skyped with video, Jenni presented her with a huge, gift wrapped box, which she proceeded to open and discovered my ticket inside! At first she didn't get what it was, then she cried!

So surprise complete, and now we can talk about it!

More to come - big adventures in the works.