Ranguana Cay to Glover’s Reef, Belize

2/25/15

Again we have another beautiful morning with the wind on our nose.  This is the misnomer about “sailing”, we mostly motor as of late, no sailing involved, due to the direction of the wind.  So again, we had a very uncomfortable crossing, pitching back and forth and sideways for the next 5 hours.  We listen each morning to Chris Parker for our weather reports and it seems that the south east trades winds that we need come at night, so in the near future we will be making a night “sail” on our way to Mexico.

The entrance to Glover’s Cay seems so ominous when reading it from the books.  “Be sure to have good light overhead, flat seas, and watch for numerous coral heads”.  But with the correct way points and Charlie on the bow directing me at the helm we made it into Glover’s with no problem.  Vida Dulce was behind us all the way and they are now anchored behind our stern.  Glover’s is one of the few true atolls in the Americas.  It is ringed with coral and there are only a few cuts in the reef for entrance and exit.  The island is flat with beautiful white beaches, coconut palm trees and palm nut trees.  It is another beautiful sight to see.

1st time for wifi in weeks

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I dove the anchor with Charlie today so I could see exactly what that looked like.  As it turned out we needed to put the boat in reverse again and dig the anchor in deeper.  We also have out 200’ of chain, which seems excessive, but after our dragging experience in a squall in Mexico we learned from a fellow sailor to put out more chain when you anchor in “turtle grass”…which is what we are doing here.

never get tired of these sunsets

Melinda and Harry on s/v Sea Shell, who we had met in the Rio Dulce, was also anchored nearby.  We picked Susan and Jerry up and headed to their boat.  Susan said Melinda would know anything we needed about Glover’s Cay.  As it turns out several cruisers are meeting at the bar for happy hour.  In Belize, happy hour is exactly that, just one hour and then the drinks were $8 (US) for my (very small) vodka tonic.  We made arrangements to have dinner in the dining room, as Isla Marisol is an all-inclusive resort for diving and bone fishing.  Lobster was on the buffet tonight….which was somewhat disconcerting as lobster is out of season at this time.  Then we found out, finally at pay up time, that each dinner was $30 (US) per person…we all grumbled and got the price down to $25 per person….hell I was just glad Charlie didn't have to cook and I didn't have to clean it up.

We finally got a great night’s sleep as the water had smoothed out, so Island Sol was like a water bed for tonight.

Bar at Marisol Resort

 

Susan & Jerry (back left)   Melinda & Harry (front)