We are anchored up in the little harbour made between the shoreline of the mainland peninsula terminating in the town of Placencia and an off shore cay.
Information on check in
Now that we have made it to the mainland of Belize officially we need to ‘check into’ the country. This entails a visit to customs and immigration.
We have gotten a lot of advice on where to check into the country and most have included how to avoid ‘extra’ charges that some officials have imposed on vessels, usually for the cost of agriculture inspections. Belize has also introduced a $5 Belize/day ($1 US = $2 Belize) cruising fee on visiting vessels that has prompted a lot of cruisers to avoid the mainland, and instead yellow flag themselves up and down the outer cays rather than check into the country.
We decided to come to Placencia because we were told it was one of the nicest Belize city to visit and there is a commercial port a short distance away where we could find customs and immigrations officials. We heard that officials here were geared to dealing with commercial traffic, so could not be bothered to go to the Placencia anchorage to do boat inspections. This way the humans hoped to avoid any additional charges and any hassles about me being aboard.
We heard there was a ferry from the town or you could take your own dingy. It was calm weather so the humans decided they would take the dingy round. The trip was short and sweet. You can not miss entry to the creek as it is well buoyed out from the channel. Customs and Immigration are located right at the commercial dock inside. Unfortunately the security guards, who waved us over to dock there, wanted $125 Belize dollars to tie the dingy up against the wall. We did hear another cruiser found a small boats dock where a guy charged them $10 Belize. Of course my humans were too cheap to pay the fee and asked if they could drop off one human while the other went and anchor up a short distance away.
Check in was easy, especially as the humans had learned from Mexico that officials love it if you have a copy of the ships registration (1) and crew lists (3). Customs would not check the boat in until you went to the Port Captain and paid the $100 Belize (clear in fee) and the $5 Belize/day (Cruising fee). They got a receipt that we have to show when we leave.
The humans plan to come back to Placencia to check out so they found an alternative to getting to the Big Creek commercial terminal. There is a ferry service out of the inner lagoon at Placencia that costs $6 Belize return to the near by village of Mango. It is a 15-20 minute walk from there, but my human will try and bring his bicycle. Tell you later how that goes.
Sorry to drag on about check in, but information on avoiding ‘extra’ fees is a real concern for other cruisers. Lets get back to the lovely town of Placencia.
Placencia
Placencia has come a long way from being a tiny fish village to a major tourist destination. The abundance of self catering rental properties in the area sprouted a whole infrastructure to support this that visiting cruisers benefit from.
For stocking up we counted at least 5 fair size grocery like stores along the main street, and that does not include a number of ‘variety’ stores. There were at least 5 permanent fruit and vegetable stands. The competition seems to keep the prices reasonable and the many stock imported delicacies.
There are a whole host of homes offering laundry services and one place had self service machines.And, of course, there is a whole host of bars, restaurants, cafes, spas, souvenir shops, dive shops and tour agencies.
What gives the town a bit of a hippy edge is the number of artists working within the area. Craftsmen, and women, work in wood, shell, canvas and thread in small workshops that line the ‘side walk’ that parallels the windward beach. Some of these artists are local Belize, some have come from villages as far away as Guatemala others are North Americans and Europeans that have relocated to Belize to have a ‘different’ kind of lifestyle.
The artists and tourists support the variety of alternative food and drink shops including health shakes and vegetarian foods (best falafel I have eaten since Egypt). There is even a big thrift store selling ‘pre-owned’ clothing. One of my humans found another pretty sun dress for $10 Belize.
Here are some pictures of town.
For you land lovers who would like to visit Placencia you will have to make a connection from the international airport in Belize city, although we ran into a family who have enjoyed a road trip from Cancun, Mexico. There are two companies offer return internal flights at around $250 Belize/person. There are a variety of coach and bus options, and there is always the ‘car rental’ route. I am told the trip is 3.5 hours but very pleasant one the famous scenic Hummingbird Highway.
There are accommodations for every budget here and we have seen some cheap deals for self-catering accommodations on the cays of the outer atolls that included transport out there for a week. Even some cheap diving deals from the same resort cays.
I am sure there is a huge amount of info on the net but if you want a point of contact, to steer you in the right direction, the tour operator out of the Barefoot Bar is very helpful:
email: bookitatbarefootbar@gmail.com
facebook: bookitatbarefootbar
We are off to the barrier reef today. Using the last of the settled weather of June to do a bit more diving and snorkeling, and maybe even see a Whale Shark again, as they are congregated off the Belize waters this time of year.
I will not have email again, so I will text you what we get up to and send you the pictures when I get back here to Placencia to check out.
Fair winds and following seas!
