Saturday, February 14, 2015

San Pedro, Belize to Guanaja, Honduras

Thirty days was quickly ticking away. That was the amount of time we had before forking over more money to stay in Belize. Many of our friends had skipped over Belize because they charge more than the rest of the Western Caribbean and each port seems to want something different. Not to mention their beer is two to three bucks a bottle and their bottles are smaller. Hahah. Never the less we had to check it out for ourselves. It was for sure more expensive. When I say expensive I mean states prices. With us being on a tight budget we really can't do that for long so we decided a month was enough. 

I enjoyed Caye Caulker' dirt roads and slow living but I enjoyed San Pedro' beach that you can walk forever and the water seemed clearer. It was as if we lived in an aquarium. We would watch the rays and huge starfish. At night schools of big fish would come around.  It was simply amazing. 

On our way back from Caye Caulker we found we still had a fuel issue. Then Steve dropped the lid to the racore filter into the bilge. If you dont know Steve he has a Charlie Brown personality or Beaver Cleaver. You never hear him curse. I did the day he dropped that lid. Hahah. He was beside himself. A new racore housing is $600 there in San Pedro. 

Luckily, the guys at TMM had an old housing they hadn't thrown away lying around. I love mechanics, they never throw anything away. 

So it took a process of changing All the filters and going back over the system to make sure everything was the proper amount tighten.  He ran her several times for over an hour and half and he called her good. But of course that was yet to be seen. 

On Tuesday morning we went to check out. We were nervous because earlier a guy was fined $1,000. We never did hear for exactly what but it made us very nervous. Once we heard that story we changed our plans of seeing more of Belize. Our thoughts were maybe we could reduce having any problems if we checked out in San Pedro. Since we checked in there maybe they wouldn't ask for any forms we didnt have. 

It worked, we payed approximately $65 and we got out of there as quickly as we could. We got through the reef and had no issues with the engine. We had a nice easy trip to Guanaja. Very little wind and at some parts of the trip the water was so glossy. At night the bio-luminescence would ripple in our wake. It was magical.  

Since we dont like arriving at night we took it slow. We even did some fishing but didn't catch anything. We used the drifter for the first time. It was just a nice easy trip. 

We arrived in Guanaja on Thursday, setting anchor around 11:30. We anchored in a little cove which they call the bite. There are a few boats here.  The cove is surrounded by hills or mountains. Steve and I disagree on that term. Him, being from Texas calls them mountains and I, being from California, call them hills. In any case, Im in paradise. 

Guanaja is like nothing I have ever seen. There are several Cayes surrounding it and the town is on one of them. The whole Cay is completely full of houses. No roads only walk ways they use to be wood planks but now is concrete. 

The people are very friendly. Walking in the town maze we pass the same ladies or men sitting outside chatting. Our check in process was simple and reasonable. A guy named Red assisted us in the process as well as showing us around. 

In the "bite" there is a restaurant named Manati. A German couple runs it and lives on the second level. Im in love with the whole thing. So far Im in love with this place. My pictures dont do it justice. I might not want to leave. 
























1 comment:

  1. Glad to hear from y'all. Maury and Debbie came by and helped Louis up the mast and we spoke of y'all today. They were a God send. Hope to hear from you soon.

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