We have left the mainland for the tiny cays that rest on, or just in side, the barrier reef.
Now that we have left the mainland we have lost our internet and I am sending you this up date as a text message through a SSB (single side band) radio. Sorry, no pictures for a few days.
The winds are very light right now. Not unusual in the rainy season. This time of year you tend to get no wind or too much with lots of rain. It is officially the start of the hurricane season. With the usual trade winds so light, it is an excellent time of year to visit some of the smaller and poorly protected anchorages, especially those along Belize’s barrier reef. Unfortunately there is little wind for sailing so you have to expect to take twice as long to get anywhere, or you could motor.
Luckily the barrier reef is only about 16 nautical miles from the mainland here in southern Belize. It is quite incredible heading out on the sea when it is just like glass. The mainlands high mountains fade into the distance as you pass by a few of the internal mangrove cays towards the reef. Once past these cays you have only open water in front of you. Then a tiny ‘black dot’ appears on the horizon. Just a couple of palm trees on a shelf of sand rises out of 60-70m of water.
Our first stop is a tiny cay just before the rim of the barrier reef. Ranguana Cay is truly tiny, but it has some absolutely lovely snorkelling in it’s shallow protected waters. Waters shallow very quickly around this Cay, and it has a long sand spit running from it’s southern tip, so be very careful when approaching. It also has some big coral heads rising very close to the surface scattered about in its shallows. The caretakers on the cay have set out a row of mooring balls. These mark the limit of safe navigable waters. You can tie onto one of these mooring balls for a small fee ($25 Belize)or anchor just short of them in 5-6m of sand and turtle grass.
The Cay here is very pretty, just how you imagine islands to look like in the south Pacific. Palm fringed beaches and clear coral filled waters. Unfortunately the tiny cay is privately owned and developed. I am worried we may find this a lot? The owners have put up a lovely palm roofed shaded area, loungers, picnic tables and a short dock off the swimming area of the beach. They have also put small cabins on stilts and cleared a camping area. Now they charge the tourists to use the island. It seems to be about 25 Belize/day for everything from camping to using their beach.
It is ‘off season’ right now and the island is desert, except for the caretaker and his young family. I went ashore with one of my humans this morning for a run about and no one came to shoo us off or try to take any money. Not sure how accommodating they would be in the ‘high season’?? I guess everyone needs to ‘earn a buck’ somehow.
Unfortunately our weather window is closing soon. The forecast is for strong winds and squalls to hit the south coast of Belize by Wednesday. This gives us only four more days to do some exploring out here in the exposed area of the reef. We hear that Northeast Sapodilla Cay has the best diving in the area and the cay is government owned. Does not mean we will not get charged to go ashore, but at least I am insured to be able to go for a regular walk unmolested. We are going to head there today.
We have a few way points to head towards from our cruising guide (Rauscher), but unfortunately both our Garmin chartplotter and the Navionics program on our tablet are incorrect on depths of water and placements of the cays here. We need to use ‘eye-ball’ navigation and our depth gauge to feel our way around here. This means we need good light and aim to reach anchorages with the afternoon light directly overhead if possible. Only one problem today…..it is overcast! We are hoping the rain holds off until we get anchored up safely.
Wish us luck!
