Belize - Sailing from Caye Caulker to Placencia
Trip Start
Feb 05, 2008
1
10
24
Trip End
Apr 24, 2008
Caye Caulker, Belize
Monday, February 18, 2008
Although Caye Caulker was a bit of a tropical heaven the travels had to go on...and what better way to do it than spending three days on a sailboat with rum, reggae and rasta-farians (http://www.raggamuffintours.com/overnight.asp)! We wanted to head South in Belize to experience the golden sands of Placencia, and to continue our trip onwards to Honduras. Instead of spending two sweaty days in a bus we went for the boat option...and boy are we glad we did!
Sunday morning we arrived at the wooden pier in Caye Caulker with our backpacks ready to load the ship that was going to be our home for the next three days. The Ragga King is a great old sail boat with two massive sails, a small cabin, seating area at the back and a huge deck up front. We were in a group of about 15 people (plus three crew members) and luckily it turned out to be a great bunch of people and we all got on brilliantly. Expectations were high as we left Caye Caulker - the sea was turquoise, the sky blue and with the soft reggae tunes and our three singing rasta crew members, life couldn´t really be much better!
The first day on the Ragga King was spent fishing, tanning and snorkeling at various beautiful reefs around the small islands dotted along the Belizean coast. This barrier reef is the second longest in the World (the Australian Great Barrier Reef obviously being the longest), and the variety of marine life you see is just overwhelming! Even on our relatively short snorkeling trips we saw manta rays, barracudas, large green moray eels and literally thousands of brightly coloured tropical fish. The fish are everywhere and luckily they aren´t scared of large flipper-clad Scandinavians who approach them rather gracelessly in an attempt to touch, catch and swim amongst them. The snorkeling also gave me an oppotunity to observe Ian in his natural element - I swear he´s was a fish in his previous life. He was diving, swimming and wiggling along with the rest of them!
The first evening we docked the boat by a tiny (tiny actually means minute! The island consisted of a sand bank with perhaps 5 coconut palm trees), uninhabited tropical island called Rendezvouz Caye. We were all provided with a tent and as the wind had picked up considerably, and a palm tree provides very little shelter, we spent about an hour trying to put the damn thing up! Never have I been so happy about the 4 months I spent as a girl scout when I was eight (on our first "mission" away I eloped under cover of darkness as I decided that the scouting lifestyle wasn´t for me - when are you ever going to need to tie a rope 124 ways!? but that´s a whole different story). Our three trusty crew members mixed up 10 gallons of rum punch which we sipped standing in the warm Caribbean Sea as the sun set. It was perhaps one of the most amazing sunsets we´ve ever seen, and provided a good taster for the equally beautiful sunrise the next morning. Yes, it was magical. Dinner that evening was a couple of Rock Fish that we´d bought from a local fisherman earlier on during the day, coconut rice and more rum.
The next day we packed up and spent another day on the boat fishing, tanning on the deck and stopping at various tiny islands along the way for a bit of snorkeling and swimming. The highlight of that day was catching a massive barracuda which our trusty captain barbecued on the beach the same evening. That evening we stayed on Tobacco Caye which, although bigger than the first island, still only consisted of five acres of sand and numerous stately coconut palms. The island is surrounded by its own beautiful reef, and after docking the boat that afternoon and pitching our tent, we spent an hour snorkeling the beautiful underwater world surrounding this caye. The evening was again spent watching the spectacular sunset, sipping caribbean rum punch and eating bbq`ed, self-caught barracuda! A million miles away from 57a Crawford Street, London!
The third and final day of the trip was spent doing pretty much the same as the first two days, but with a little more luck in the fishing department as we caught an even bigger barracuda and a huge Spanish mackerel. As we finally approached tierra firma on the last day, it was with mixed feelings. Having spent three days at sea, sleeping in tents and enjoying less than dubious bathroom facilities it was quite a blessing, but at the same time it was sad to say goodbye to a great group of people, and a truly unique experience that probably won´t present itself again. But I suppose that was the beauty of it.
The arrival in Placencia also presented the beginning of the last leg of our Belize adventure. Ian will tell you more about that next.
