Isla Mujeres to Guatemala January 28, 2005
Indiana's Cliff Cooper and Florida's George Huffman were aboard as crew. Both are experienced sailors and pleasant companions.
We arrived at Isla Mujeres, Mexico at 2100 hrs on Fri the 21st. after an easy 3 1/2 day passage from Santa Rosa Bay, next to Ft. Myers Beach, where we had anchored the first evening after running down the river.
The paravanes have saved our behinds as they truly reduce rolling by 80%, as “advertised”. For example, right now I am typing with the keyboard in my lap in the pilot house perched somewhat precariously on the wooden bar stool navigator's chair. We are taking 6-8 ft. waves directly on the beam and it would be impossible to ride on this heading without these flopper stoppers (f/s), as known in the vernacular. We have figured out how to deploy and recover the stainless steel birds and the 30 foot very heavy thick wall aluminum poles.
…….Owwwwww! The stool rocked right off the sole and I landed on my back with the chair still in one piece, computer keyboard now minus a space bar, and a cut on my right heel (not another cut!:-). So much for 80% reduction in roll…but that wave would have turned us turtle without the f/s!
There’s always opportunity for “excitement” aboard Simba. As we began the entrance to Isla Mujeres harbor, the computer went down so we lost our GPS chart map showing us exactly where we were and identifying all the confusing flashing lights. We turned to the paper chart.
Owww! (rocked again). Entering a strange port, especially at night, is always high pulse rate time. Fortunately the entrance is quite easy (if you’re cool) and we anchored to the west of the main harbor where our paper chart indicated there was plenty of water.
Next morning we went ashore. The guys went off to explore and I visited the immigration , customs and sanitation department offices.
My leg wounds received at Bert's in Ft. Myers were healing very slowly, and still looking quite mean. In addition, the first morning there I discovered a small rash in a personal area, so I checked into the island health center. There I eventually found a wonderful young doctor who gave me a prescription for the latest malady and told me to come back later with a urine sample to see if what caused the rash had entered my system. Next day after a long stay in the waiting room, the good doctor strolled in, greeted me like a long lost friend, looked at the lab results and said my system was clean, and said I should drink 3 liters of water a day. OK, I can do that. BTW, I was appalled at the poor condition of the island health center. It needed paint and plaster. In one bathroom the sole sink faucet was not even connected.
Talked to Bert on the radio aboard Vagabond, a steel trawler like Simba. He was then six hours out from Isla Mujeres and planned to spend several days on Isla. I had looked forward to sailing in tandem with Bert, but Cliff Cooper wanted to get back home rather than spend a week to two more on the boat cruising down to Guatemala. I sent him off to Cancun on the 0530 ferry and then George Huffman and I weighed anchor as we decided we didn’t want to hang out at Isla any longer.
We cruised South to anchor in the dark off of the island of Cozumel, which offers some of the best scuba diving in the world. We could see McDonalds and Hard Rock Café signs glittering ashore – yuck! Next day we sailed to the ancient Mayan town of Tulum and spent a night there. We loved the temples and other buildings. We snorkled but the reef was virtually dead and saw no grouper or other game fish.
Next day we made it to the very large and shallow Ascension Bay. In the afternoon we set out in the dinghy to find healthy reefs to snorkel, but the wind and chop made for slow going. We finally gave up and turned back to arrive at the boat at sunset.
Sailed to Xcalak (pronounced Ishcalak with accent on first syllable) the next day, We ran overnight and arrived at 0430 hrs. so had to idle offshore until the sun rose so we could see to get thru the reef. We found it very arid and hot once one hit the two streets paralleling the shore. We ate twice at THE little restaurant in town, Conchelita, run by two nice gals from Canada. Turns out there are a number of Canadians there. Two motorhomes were parked in the dusty lot near the small town dock. One was a converted greyhound bus with a Detroit Diesel 671 like the two I had on my cruise boat Voyageur. The American owners park and live on the dusty waterfront all winter. Not for me, but I guess the price is right. One family flew several kites -- gotta get a kite or two for the boat from Maine.
Protocol demanded we formally clear out of Mexican waters and Xcalak is the last port north of Belize, where we are headed next. We were told Jorge, the port captain, was a friendly guy and could process our paperwork quickly. However, Jorge was away all weekend and even Monday morning we were advised he might not be back until that afternoon. So fagettabout them papers, we’re outahere!
Set out thru the reef Monday morning (yesterday, the 31st of Jan., and found the sea quite rough. I was a bit too casual in preparing for departure; among other things I did not close the portlites so suffered wet bedding in two staterooms. Thank goodness for the watermaker and the clothes washer. The appliance can also dry clothes but it takes forever and its fun to fly laundry from lines up on, what George has christened, the Promenade Deck.
We had planned a short run down to Ambergris Cay to check into Belize at San Pedro, but the large seas likely rendered the cut through the reef dangerous, so we sailed on to anchor in the dark behind a cay off the large channel into Belize City. We had no interest in visiting that port so left this morning (Tues) to sail down the very wide and very CALM! inner channel to Placencia, a neat-sounding little town where we can also check in. Cruising today, without stabilizers flying and with some portlites open, is like being on Long Island Sound. We love it. Have time to make repairs and catch up on sleep, etc.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
We’re leaving here by late morning to go out to the barrier reef, some 15 nautical miles out, where we will snorkel and spend the night. We may spend the day there tomorrow, if the reef is rich with life. We’ll next head for the Rio Dulce which is only 6 hours away from there, and cross the much-dreaded off shore sand bar at 5-6pm which will be high tide.
We’ll head up the river to and anchor somewhere and then get the “lay of the land”.
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