Whitecap’s Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

11:00 re-fueled US$106 at the Isla Marina, up in the lagoon, where the haul out is, and passed out through the small inlet at about the centre of the island in 6.9 ft.

12:15 rounded Punta Cancun, changed heading to 193M, reach parallel to shore along the hotel strip zone. speed 5.04kts ETA Peurto Morales is 16:33 hrs.

14:03 Abeam Punta Nizuc, the beginning of the reef which runs to Peurto Morales about 13 miles south. There are many diving boats and underwater viewing boats along the inside. A TV crew comes alongside and films us for about 10 minutes, wonder what channel???

16:00 running along the reef on a broad reach, depth 80+ ft, until we looked outside and there were breakers, could have been OK but turned back , doused the main, and motored around outside the breakers. Saw a new stone breakwater along the shore, looked like a nice sheltered place, went in but there was a navy boat in there, beat a hasty retreat, no need to rile up these guys, motored upwind past the ferry dock.

16:30 anchored behind "Celtic Pride", a 100+ foot power yacht we saw leaving early this AM from Isla Mujeres. Depth 15 ft, put out CQR and 90 ft chain, backed up and set her good. Time for a rhum.

18:00 the vehicle ferry "Cozmul" came in, unloaded empty trucks while we had shrimp cocktail for dinner, put the flourescent light in the cockpit, which we use as an anchor light because it only takes 7 watts, and went to bed. Dawn comes early here...

Notes and Remarks:

06:15 nice day time to get going, roll in chain, hawsepipe takes the first 40 ft, then we have to put it on deck, will have to modify that somehow!!!

06:30 underway and passing the ferry dock, Coyote a sport fisher from Roadtown BVI passes us, they were anchored in there also.

08:42 passed over reef, sounder goes from 66 ft to 9 ft then nothing??? approaching big sports fisher passes heading north only 100 feet away... if he can go there so can we.. Turns out there is a least depth of 56 ft over the reef, the rest is 1000 ft. Raised main, winds up to 12 - 15. Did a controlled jibe, only Dick’s foot was in the way and the slider caught his toes, some sore....

10:50 car ferry Cozumel II passed us about 50 ft away, don’t know if that was his route, or whether he was giving his passengers a thrill, I put n. Engine fresh water low, must be a leak somewhere.

12:04 Raised mizzen staysail, speed picked up to 3.4 kts, there is a 5 ft swell on our tail, the hotels on Cozumel are just visible at 11 o’clock.

13:30 Playa del Carmen is 3 miles away at 2 o’clock, there are at least 100 windsurfers and hobie cats just inside the reef to stbd; we can see cruise ships over in Cozumel. Peurto Aventuras is 13.3 miles ahead

14:05 Abeam of Xcaret, a man made tourist attraction some one poured 20 million dollars into just for dolphins and turtle displays, there is also a small cruise ship in the next cove dropping off passengers for a day trip from somewhere.

15:15 abeam of Puerto Aventuras, lots of hotels and beach homes along the shoreline, our jib would not roll in, had to make 25 circles to get it all rolled up, something probably the halliard again jammed up top. There are two sailboats coming from south, they are probably wondering what we are up to. We enter the narrow channel first, looking for a place to tie up. Marina manager comes alongside and we give him our dock lines, which he ties to a floating buoy, after an hour of circling, we med moor to the wall stern too, rates are US$17 day no matter what size boat. Glen and Suzanne on an Alberg 37 "NorthStar", give us two fish steaks from their catch of the day, which we put in the freezer and we crash for the night. The other boat was a Pearson 424 ketch "OTR" with Roger and Linda. There are two other Canadian sailboats here, "Cookie Monster IV", a Whitby 54, and "Midnight" (dinghy name: One Minute After") out of Toronto are also here.

Thursday, March 8, 2001 We all walk the mile to the port Manager’s office to check in, the young lady only wants to copy our papers, there are no stamp in procedures here, this is a private harbour. Find an Internet café, maybe we can hook up, walk all the way back to the boat for the computer, no luck!!! Centro is all shops and restaurants, we found a nice place for dinner, and the manager came out to talk to us, when hen found out we had done the Mississippi River Tenn-Tom route, he gave us a complimentary bottle of wine. Turns out he also did the same trip in 1988 from Chicago in a C&C 25. We swapped stories of our experiences and the people we met.

Friday, March 9, 2001, found another Internet Café on the back street, young man says to bring our laptop. Walk back to the boat, another mile under my belt. We decide to join the pool party, with the two other sailboat crews, and partake in the showers at the OMNI hotel pool. Young man at the Internet café wants to keep the Ignoble for the night, says we have several viruses.

Saturday, March 10 2001,, computer will not be ready until late afternoon, so we walk back to the Omni Hotel lay on the beach and drink rum and coke all afternoon. Found a restaurant facing the dolphin pool, which serves German sausage and potato salad for lunch, delicious, but the mustard is some hot... Finally got the laptop back, there were 39 infected files, some of which screwed up our "send-receive", finally sent our outdated mail from February 15. A sailboat comes in at dusk, a C&C 29 out of Toronto, went over to talk, he is Jack Mawhinney, and he has a brother Gerry who is married to Natalie Johnson, Nelson’s sister, from Summerside; small world eh!! They are heading back to Canada for the summer.

Sunday, March 11, 2001 Woke up to nausea and diarrhoea, not a good day to leave anyway, winds are 30 - 35 from the S. Do not feel like climbing the mast today. Spent most of the day in bed sleeping.

Monday, March 12. Feeling better today, went up the mast and fixed the problem, same as before, halliard wrapped around twice inside the foil, put a hose clamp and taped it, hope it does not get caught in the halliard when we roll her in, also managed to pull out the old wire which was wrapped around up there, Harken should have a fix to prevent this from happening we put a hose clamp over the foil and taped it up. Arranged at the condos just in front to use their pool, US $5 per boat per day and they supply the towels, now we do not have to walk so far.

Tuesday Mar 13, 2001 Walked to the Centro village area, did the e-mails and went over to the Omni Hotel beach, too windy, the bar was not even open. Went to the car rental agency, reserved a car for Thursday afternoon at 4PM, then we can drive to Cancun, pick up Cindy and Evan, save them a hotel room fee, and have the car for touring the next day, smart eh!!! Invited to a cruisers pizza party at Rikki’s bakery, next to the internet café, organized by Glen and Sue on "NorthStar", Mary had supper almost ready when the invite came, e put it in the fridge for tomorrow

Wednesday, Mar 14, 2001 Picked up rental car, and slowly found our way to Cancun, with stops in Ciudad del Carmen, a very busy place, but an open roadstead anchorage, had lunch at a beachfront pub. and Puerto Morales for a look see from shore.

Arrive at the airport and wait, after several inquiries, we find out we are at the wrong terminal, charter flights use the "old Terminal building". Great, Cindy and Evan are probably over there waiting for us. We walk the mile, it turns out their flight is delayed until 21:00 anyway.

We arrive back at the boat at 23:30.

Thursday, Mar 15, 2001. Use up the car time touring Aventuras and we drive to Ciudad del Carmen for groceries. We spend the rest of the day drinking Belikin beer and watching the topless beauties on the beach.

Friday, Mar 16, 2001 Two sportfishers went out today, quite a sight to see them in the cut. One called "Six Pak" a Hatteras 42 on his way back in, mistakenly went between the two green buoys marking the reef and when he tried to correct , a wave caught his stern and deposited the boat on the breakwater rocks, he suddenly came to an abrupt stop, while we watched from the beach. We checked later, and they were taking water and had two bent props and shafts. The hired skipper was not impressed with the driver-owner who also pays the bills.

Saturday March 17, 2001 we spent the day at the beach with stops at the internet café and the pubs. In the evening, we had a "St Patrick pot luck Party" on the dock behind Whitecap with all the cruisers along the dock including "Shama" the Italian boat’s crew.

Sunday, March 18, 2001 Winds are down, Glen and Roger decide to try the exit, they are heading north for Isla Mujeres, the rest of us stand out on the breakwater watching them go. Got some good pictures of "NorthStar" and "OTR" in the surf.

Notes and Remarks:

Pulled in our lines from the mooring balls, after a week in here, there was lots of growth on our lines, we left them on the deck to bleach.

08:00 left harbour, easy exit, only a few rolly breakers, the other two boats Frank and Linda on Simba and Douglas and Bernadette decided to wait one more day for better weather, there is a front coming through, we want to ride it.

08:40 passed wrecked sailboat on shore, apparently it was stolen at Aventuras some time ago and beached here for stripping. Think we can see Tulum already 13 miles away, but it turns out to be the large palapa restaurant at Akumal. Course 211M

09:00 abeam Akumal, white condos along shore motor sailing with main only, close hauled

11:45 Arrive off Tulum, we sail all the way down to the lower pass to go through the reef, and then motored the mile back up to the Castillo to anchor get pictures, have lunch and a drink to celebrate. Everyone on shore is taking our picture!!

12:30 exited through the reef with the castillo windows lined up just like the Mayans, and head south 179M for Punta Allen

14:15 Punta Allen still 19 more miles, SOG 5.3 and we have a 5 ft slop slowing us down.

16:30 abeam Punta Zamach, 8 miles to go. We can see some small dinghy sailboats along the shore, and what looks like a 30 footer.

19:15 found the opening in the reef just at dark, it begins to rain with thunder and lightning. We decide to head up behind Punta Allen, and drop anchor in 8.5 ft. CQR and 60 ft chain, pour a rhum and hit the sack, Hope this blows over before morning

Notes and Remarks:

08:03 pulled anchor, winds 20- 25 Norte, weather cooler, wondered weather if we should stay here, but this will be a broad reach, just what we want. Looks like a Morgan Outisland 41, anchored about 1/4 mile north of us, too far to make out the name, and there was no country flag. Followed the same track back out on the computer as we came in last night, we had a least water of 4.8 ft but stirred up some sand. Back out through the reef, set jib and main, and course of 179 M for Punta Pajaros 9.3 miles away across the mouth of the bay.

09:34 pass the fishing lodge, "Casa Blanca" reputedly one of the best light tackle salt water fishing locations, they even have their own landing strip. SOG 5.4 constant swell 5+ ft.

10:00 beautiful long white sand beach 7.8 miles long to Punta Tupac the start of Bahia Espirito Sancto. Winds shifted to broad reach. Raised Mizzen staysail, speed picked up, hit a high of 7.84 kts SOG. School of dolphins swim alongside, Cindy is excited.

10:40 Mary spots a large turtle off the stbd side, changed course to go closer alongside the reef. See large powerboat inside the reef heading east for shelter on the cove by the small village.

12:05 Another large powerboat heading north, looks like "Celtic Pride" again. We finally find the break in the reef, the book says one thing and the computer another, but it turns out they are both the same in the end, it is just the angle we were looking at everything.

13:40 dropped the main and rolled the jib, passed through the reef in 25 ft, and turned south towards the light house. There is not much shelter in this bay, everything wide open roadstead, finally picked a "cove" in front of a small fishing village, dropped anchor in 5.6 ft, 60 ft chain and CQR. Three Marines come over from the lighthouse, with the required machine guns and drug dog, looked at our papers, and did an inspection of the boat, they wanted all the kitbags opened. After they left, Evan dove over with snorkel, the zinc anode is gone from the prop, only one allan bolt left sticking out, he installs a new anode, which we have and only one other bolt. Two should hold the new anode on. We will have to replace all these this fall when we put her back in the water.

16:00 project complete. Hope everything holds together. The large white power boat to the east is now just inside the reef, must be scuba diving, at least we hope they are... they are about five miles away from us. Two locals in a panga came out trying to sell pieces of the local food staple, they called it pig but we think it really is a wild rodent. And it was covered in flies, we gave our regrets. No Thanks!!

Whitecap’s Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

05:30 Up and at it, Happy first day of spring, pull anchors, both were dug in and crossed!!! Batteries down to 9.5V. Start engine and Honda

06:00 passed through the reef and headed parallel along shore, if we stay in 50 ft or less we seem to have a favorable current

06:30 Punta Herrero abeam, can see the remnants of old ship on the reef. Set main and jib close reach

08:30 Punta Pulticub is 3 miles ahead, we hit 7.04kts, there is a 8 ft swell in our favor, we have covered 13.6 miles in 2 hours.

09:45 flying fish everywhere, Cindy still has not seen any, Xcalak is 45.5 miles. Very few houses along the shore, we are in 180+ ft about ½ mile offshore

12:00 we are passed the half way point between Punta Rio Indio and Punta Xocoxh. Average speed for last hour over 7kts. ETA 17:40. Beautiful large home onshore, with radio tower. Cranes and construction equipment up ahead, looks like a new wharf. Winds tapering off speed down to 3+. Passed a large turtle heading north about 5 ft off our stbd.

12:25 Two Mexican navy speedboats pass heading N , just abeam of the construction, large development and a wharf. Turns out to be a cruise ship wharf, probably to take people to Chetumal a duty free zone 30 miles away. Winds shifty, but we still have the swell.

15:15 Wind finally picked up again, this time from SW, our batteries are dead, have Honda going and Mercedes. Off Punta Herradura doing 4.75 with main only. Another new development along shore,, see swimming pool chairs but cannot see any people.

16:12 school of dolphins chasing our bow wave, Cindy getting her fill today. Full main and jib, too much, wind now SW at 20 + reef main.

17:30 started engine, speed picks up to 6.29 trying for Xcalak before dark, now we are racing with the sun.

18:05 dropped sails, look for the range lights, two men come out in a panga flashing a light, show us through the reef and take us to the anchorage, we thanked them profusely

18:39 dropped 2 anchors, depth 6.9 ft just in front of the small village, there are two other sailboats anchored here.

Notes and Remarks:

09:00 launch dinghy and head for Port Captain’s office. Get our exit despacho for San Pedro, Belize and then the lady tells me to go to the Immigration office. When I asked a local for directions he pointed to the wharf where the Immigration Officer was fishing, he drove Dick to his office, stamped our passports, collected the visas and wished us a good trip. We picked up a litre of Bacardi for US12, should have bought more as we soon found out in Belize..

10:35 abeam Boca Bacalar Chico (Small boat pass) which is the Mexican-Belize border, we really had to look for it. This is a small canal dug by the Myans th keep out intruders from the north of their land. And also serves as a small boat pass from the ocean to the large bay behind Ambergris Cay

11:15 Abeam Reef Point, set spinnaker SOG 4.5

13:00 just outside the reef, passing condos and hotels along the shore, seems to be on the water activity, in there. Cindy and Evan wonder which one is Captain Morgans Retreat?? Mary and Dick have not seen the show. Speedboat comes by and tries to direct us to a pass in the reef, but we do not notice it until too late, would have been fun to fly the spinnaker all the way.

14:45 San Pedro Town abeam, boats coming and going inside the reef, we are in 20 ft outside the reef

15:25 arrive at San Pedro pass, douse spinnaker and look for the post marking the opening. We power around to where the cruisers are anchored and drop the CQR and the Bruce, launch the dinghy and go ashore, so we do not hear the Honda noise.

San Pedro is a busy harbour, ferry boats, dive boats, private boats, tour boats, Sea-Doos, everything going by at top speed, it appears wide open is the only speed around here.

The town is also a very busy place, cars, trucks, golf carts, bicycles and people all share the sand streets, shop doors are closed to keep out the dust. Lots of souvenir and tee shirt shops.

Friday, March 23, 2001, Dick heads to the customs to register in, rents a golf cart on the way, beats walking with my broken toe with shoes on, wasn’t so bad with flip flops, but one of the straps broke and they are only good for showering. Fill out the forms at Belize Customs, then they send me to Immigration for more papers, this time they want a list of all the grocery and liquor supplies we have on board. The Officer says I look like an "honest mon", he forgoes the inspection of the boat and wishes us a fun time in his country. In the meantime Evan stopped over at the Belize Yacht Club to see if they had a dock for us. They did, and we moved over so we could plug in to charge our batteries.

We all pile on the golf cart for a tour of the Ambergris Cay, first we head for the south end, and we go down all the way to the hurricane damaged house cannot go much further. Then we decide to go to Captain Morgan’s Retreat for lunch... well that was an experience. First we went across a "hand pulled 1 golf cart ferry", and over a "road" that was really only a double bike path, sometimes along the beach and sometimes through the trees, this explains why there are so many ferries, everyone travels by boat around here. Finally we arrived at Captain Morgan’s and the cart just quit. Dead batteries, so we called the shop, told them we were taking the ferry back, they said they would send someone for the cart. We had a pleasant lunch in the dining room took lots of pictures and caught the ferry back to San Pedro town. To catch a ferry, you just stand on the dock, put up the green flag to go south (red one to go north) and the next passing ferry going in your direction, will stop in and pick you up... Simple eh.

Whitecap’s Cruising Log

Notes and Remarks:

Walked over to the charter boat office, sure enough they had a charter for a Gerard and Susan MacPhee and friends, coming in today and staying aboard tonight. The charter company have 18 of these cats, which are ideal for cruising this area.

Topped up the diesel tank, and hosed down the boat, Belize $246.22 includes docking, taxes, fuel and $5.25 for electric. Picked up a double supply of groceries, Evan and Dick picked up what we needed, Mary and Cindy also picked up what we needed, so now we have 2 dozen eggs, 4 loaves of bread, 2 lbs bacon etc... and we headed for Caye Caulker.

12:30 saw about 15 boats at anchor all snorkeling, turns out this location is called "stingray alley" stopped nearby for lunch and snorkel, bumped on some coral on our way down inside the reef to Caye Caulker

14:30 there are no boats on the east side of the island, but we see several on the west side so we decide to go around the south end and promptly run into shallow water and go aground but were able to plow our way to deeper water.

15:30 dropped Bruce anchor and 60 ft chain. There are 6 boats in here, one "Crom" was Canadian from Vancouver Island. Later 6 charter cats came in the cove after us, and it was fun watching them anchor!!! lots of yelling and screaming, setting and resetting. This is their first night out. And then one of then lit the barbeque!!!

We dinghed to shore and walked the half mile of streets, found an internet café with 14 terminals, sent mail, and went back to the boat for supper.

Notes and Remarks:

Cindy and Evan dinghed through the cut to snorkel the reef, but it was too rough, so they came back. We had breakfast, and headed out 09:00 pulled anchor, We decided to head off and go around Chapel Cay out to the reef in front of the resort about 10 miles away.

11:00 rounded the south tip of Chapel Cay and went between it and the lonely house on stilts on a sandbar. Sure would not like to be there in a hurricane!!!

13:00 drop anchor just behind the reef, in 8 feet, Cindy and Evan go snorkeling, lots of small barracudas and other colorful fish.

13:40 set sail for "Castaways Lodge" on Long Cay, the next island, but it looked like there was a lot of storm damage, and the lodge was kind of tilted over half in and half out of the water. Long Cay has a deep natural harbour on the N side but we carried on to "Porto Stuck" the narrow shallow passage between the north cays and the south cays. Set spinnaker and had a great sail until the wind shifted then died.

14:20 through "Porto Stuck" we can see Belize City in the distance, but we decide to sail over to St. Georges Cay for the night.

15:10 Chart shows 8 to 12 ft water behind St Georges Cay, but we have to go through some 5 ft stuff to get there. We found a deeper channel by following close along the bird Rookery at the south end of the island.

15:40 dropped the Bruce in 12 ft just off the back side of St. Georges Lodge alongside a small mangrove cay, put up the "African Queen" and relaxed. Water was not inviting enough for a swim, there were a few homes with outhouses set on wharves just up ahead... so we went ashore for a walk and a taste of history. The Island is only one lot wide and everyone walks along the "pedestrian trail", a path on the east (ocean) side past all the houses and along the white picket fences and through yards. At one time St Georges was the capital of British Honduras, and there is a historic cannon mounted facing east on the bank commemorating the battle of September 10, 1798 when the British forces finally defeated the Spanish. September 10 is the national holiday of Belize. Hurricane Hattie October 3^rd 1961, destroyed many of the original homes on the Island and split it into two pieces, the southern end is now a fowl breeding preserve. The British Forces maintain a R&R facility here, and after spending weeks in the jungles of Belize come here for fun and relaxation, there are all kinds of dinghies, kayaks and other equipment here at their disposal while they are here. We walked back to the Lodge for a drink, but unfortunately it was closed for the week, while the owner went back to the States. We went back to Whitecap for supper and drinks, and fortunately arrived back in time to put the mosquito netting up, because within a very short while they came out in droves, and there was no breeze so our choice of anchorage was not the best!!!

Notes and Remarks:

07:30 The mosquitoes were driving us out and there was absolutely no breeze, so we pulled anchor and headed to Belize City where we could check on Cindy and Evan’s bus schedule so they could get back to Cancun sometime on Wednesday. On a course of 248M to Mapps Cay and then 225M through the channel around North Drowned Cay and we were in the ships channel to Belize City. We slowly passed along the front of the city past the Baron Bliss monument and the lighthouse on the point in front of the Radisson Fort George Hotel, before heading un-announced to Moho Cay Marina. We passed 2 other marinas, but they were wide open to the weather making Moho our choicest spot. On entering the marina (we bumped on rocks on the way in) we were signaled to an empty dock by the restaurant. A real neat protected marina... and there is a travel lift here!!!! Only been here for 6 months.

Tuesday, March 27, 2001 Rented a car and driver for the day and traveled 30 miles on the Northern highway to the Belize Zoo, then all the way back to the city and 40 miles out the Eastern Highway to the Mayans ruins at Alton Ha. We were pretty tired when we returned at 18:00 with a stop for a few groceries.

Wednesday, March 28, 2001 Up and about early, the taxi will be waiting for Cindy and Evan at the landing at 08:00. The executive bus leaves at 09:00 so they should get to Cancun, a five hour ride, around 18:00 tonight

Thursday, March 28, 2001 Spent the day waiting for the ships agent to call back, and trying to keep as cool as possible. We are running low on groceries and beer, so we will have to make a run to the city soon.