Scary Stuff

We anchored really easily in Bahia del Espiritu Santo, but when it was time to lift the hook it was as if we were stuck in concrete and Rocness (our anchor name) was being a real little brat and would simply not come out of the ground no matter what we did, once again dealing with wind, current and a really strong metal object holding us down, will certainly leave room for the occasional unwelcome challenge. We had a few scary moments in this, where we were hooked so tight that the winch was being forced and groaning, due to being under more pressure than it should be, with the chain stretching extremely taught, so much so that out of fear of the chain snapping I jumped to the furthest side, in the meanwhile the whole bow of the boat dipped down un naturally. At this point our buddy boat Dilly Dally realized we were having a problem that now looked like it could go wrong quick, and as life has it sometimes an extra thought from outside and someone that is not in the stress and chaos of the moment, goes a long way to solving a problem, still with a challenge, we were able to free ourselves from the grip of the seabed, today we are thankful for a buddy boat and a VHF radio. When Rocness came up I understood why we were stuck, the mud was literally like concrete and she was extremely dirty and very heavy, with difficulty, I successfully managed to get her cleaned up with the boat hook, by pushing off the heavy grey seabed.

I must be honest this was the first time, since we took delivery of Intle Breeze in 2022 that I can say I was really afraid, landlubbers have often asked me this question and I could always say no with confidence, but not today. Once the anchor was secure, my legs turned to jelly, and my hands were shaking, I was officially sweating like a pirate and not glowing like a lady of leisure.

It is somehow comforting report that we all have different boat problems, Dilly Dally have had there share as have Happinez, so at least I don’t feel alone in the saga. This is all part of sailing, maybe we make it just a little more complicated by going to strange remote places I am not sure, however we embrace it all, the good the bad and the ugly. So long as the journey is worthwhile, we are happy at sea.

Well with that out of the way we are now able to head for Robinson Island in Belize, the entire time knowing that we will check in to Belize as we would in most countries. Somewhere during our passage, we had a deeper look at the cost to check in which seemed really over the top expensive, so we made the decision to go under the radar. Sailing straight past was certainly not going to be an option, I mean we don’t want to miss anything.

Robinson was a bit of an odd place almost like they wanted to create some kind of something for cruisers, but it never really worked out. The Island is mostly uninhabited except for a few fisherman, whom I was very grateful to encounter, as we have not really had much luck in catching, most likely we have not put in enough effort either, we bought a couple of red snapper and lobsters from them freshly caught, since there are no shops, and barely any form of life. These islands are totally sea locked, so one cannot drive anywhere, they really never had much interest in cash, they wanted alcohol and painkillers. 😳 Alcohol is running rather low around here as well now, as our provisioning was around the fact that we would check into Belize. Well lucky us we found a couple bottles of booze that we would most likely never drink and of course I have a very well stocked first aid kit, so I was happy to part with a few painkillers as well.

With Dilly Dally we took Miço for a dinghy ride through the mangroves and a walk on a very odd-looking beach.

For me this was a worthwhile one-night stop as I got some fish. BUT……..I now only have crayfish, because the person that put the fish in the freezer somehow, mysteriously, decided to take a photo of the fish and forgot to put it inside the freezer, instead left it on top for 24 hours, 🤬 before he noticed, needless to say it had to be tossed back into the water.

New day new story………YEAHHH 😁 easy anchor up the next morning and a 2 hour sail to meet up with SV Happinez on yet another uninhabited island called Colson, on arrival we got a wonderful welcome of hooting and offers of cold beers which we have also run out of, as you can imagine that was a very welcome feeling.

By now Eric and I are starting to realize that we are in fact moving too slowly as we would like to spend some time in Guatemala Rio Dulce before heading further down to Panama, this would be close on another 1000 nautical miles from Rio Dulce, about 10 more days with no stops, all the while hurricane season is looming. The rest of our friends are waiting out the weather season in Rio Dulce, where no one will have insurance cover for a named hurricane even though they have not been hit by one, they are still above 12° degrees latitude, and we must be below this to be covered by insurance.

Well, guess what life changes out here all the time, like sandcastles on the beach built at low tide. A few beers some wine and good food……. the plan changed!  We have decided to leave our boat in Guatemala Rio Dulce In the meanwhile, we take the 7 hour sail to Placentia Belize with our two buddy boats Dilly Dally and Happinez, so that we can make a  sneaky illegal visit to land for some cocktails and a little extra food.

3 Boats 6 people and a dog trying hard to stay under the radar.