Sailing with the Treleavens: Western Caribbean - Guatemala, Belize, Mexico

Hi Everyone,

After an interesting start to our 8th season cruising, we’re now departing the Caribbean and heading back to the Mediterranean with a lesson learnt to expect the unexpected and trust no one.

Maria met us at the airport in Guatemala City and her chauffer drove us the six hours to the Rio Dulce River and our yacht on the hard out of the water. Arriving early December after six months, we find her in near perfect condition. The heat and dampness of the hurricane season was taken into consideration before we left by covering the yacht with tarpaulins and a dehumidifier was left running inside. The tarpaulin was in tatters from the sun but the inside was perfectly dry. Several other cruisers reported returning to yachts full of mould and one even had a bee’s nest. Small things seized in the heat including the impellers and others things had warped but with local help, we were soon up and living on board.

At first we stayed with Maria at their holiday house (up a creek in the jungle, servants all around) but when we were in the water we stayed onboard (no servants here). All is well with us and we’re getting more acclimatized to the heat 38-40 every day.

Here for a a few weeks but not too much of a problem as it’s a place of interesting contrasts, rich and poor but with Christmas lights all around and many cruisers to celebrate with, it is a very beautiful place. The shooteroo’s are out at night protecting the crime bosses; let ’s hope we can avoid them. One thing we can’t get used to is people carrying guns.

We were very shocked and sad to hear that a couple on a boat next to us where killed in a car crash while we were gone. The road to Guatemala City is very dangerous with thousands of heavy trucks on the go 24/7.

Still in Ram Marina for Christmas, we share Christmas day with the other cruisers and Mayan Indians. They love fireworks and all night long you could hear them; it’s a long time since we saw fireworks for sale in shops and they also out number the Christmas gifts for sale.

Maria joins us for a week to motor out and cross the bar at the mouth of the river. Timing is important as we need a very high tide but it’s still not enough and we had to be pulled over on our side by a local shrimp boat.  New Years Eve is celebrated in Belize on stunning Hunting Cay, the most southern of the islands, and the locals put on another small fireworks show. The contrast of river water to clear turquoise sea is amazing; it’s nice to be back in the Caribbean…or is it?

I am unable to identify anyone or names of places but this next incident has literally taken the wind out of our sails and left us in complete shock. Quite often you meet cruisers with whom you get on well and you travel side by side for whatever length of time. We became friendly with a young couple and their child and they asked if they could sail along with us. For quite a few weeks we cross borders and island hopped and then one day in port the FBI from America were waiting to arrest them. At first we didn’t know what for and my imagination ran wild. We have since learnt that he is a fugitive, travelling on a false passport with a considerable amount of money hidden on the yacht. He is also wanted for firearms dealing in America. TRUST is a big word and we were completely oblivious to his past as they were such a nice couple and solved many electrical problems for us. Thankfully we haven’t been drawn into all of this and have now moved on.  

The earthquakes in Haiti are not affecting us but the weather is having its moments and as America is covered in snow we are getting some of the effect down here. When the northerly winds blow we hide behind islands and wait for the warm easterly trade winds to return and move on.

For the past two weeks we have had Janne Sutcliffe and Chris Gillett from Sydney on board. Covering 300nm up the coast with us, we have had a wonderful time visiting amazing resorts, crystal clear atolls and eating plentiful lobster. Our favourite port in Belize would have to be San Pedro once the nerves settle after navigating the narrow entrance through the coral reef. A two metre sea is breaking and in our sights is a yellow buoy; once you reach the buoy it’s a hard right hand turn as another reef is in front of you.  You hope like hell it’s not on a wave and in a short distance the depths have gone from hundreds of metres to just 0.25m under our keel. Once inside the colour is magnificent and this is home for a few days. Janne makes sure we have lobster and negotiates 60 tails at $1.60 a tail. Oh no, not lobster again!!!!!!!!

Banco Chinchorro is an atoll 20nm off the coast of Mexico and is as isolated as I ever want to be. The colour turquoise is blinding, the wind is blowing and we are visited by the Military with machine guns strapped to their backs. We can only assume this is a known anchorage in the drug trade. The wind is great for a fast night sail (with a 4 knot current we reach speeds of over 12 knots) to the Yucatan Peninsula. Puerto Aventuras is our destination but on arrival the breaking waves prevent us from entering and we have to sail out to the island of Cozumel and anchor in the lee of the old town San Miguel. To the south six large cruise ships are lined up at anchor.

By ferry we visit the mainland in an area now called the Mayan Riviera. There’s the boutique style Playa del Carmen, its fabulous coast of white white fine sand, turquoise seas and resort after resort. Of course we find the top resort in Mexico, lunch in style and pretend we are rich and famous for a day. Rosewood MayaKoba Resort (the number 1 resort in Mexico) is where you leave the outside world behind and become engulfed in tropical gardens, a spa retreat and private bungalow accommodations each with their own lagoon or beach access.    

Tulum is the only Mayan ruins on the coast (A.D. 1200-1450) and a must see but swarming with tourists. Sacrifices of young women took place here to bring rain. The Mayans were great astrologers and all of their temples were aligned in various ways to the heavens. Tulum is famous for noting the changing seasons and to this day on the equinox and solstice the sun still lines up directly through the holes on the eastern side of the temple.

Our next anchorage is Isla Mujeres and with 3 knots of current we cover 50nm in less than 5 hours. From here north we get this amazing current (the start of the famous Gulf Stream that runs up the east coast of the USA and turns right to extend all the way across to the UK) that only flows north and is consistent so will be great to get 3 – 7 knots of stream all the way to Cuba.

Isla Mujeres is a cute small Mexican island village and we are enjoying the naturalness of a beautiful place. The harbour, with it’s bay and lagoon, is the only all weather shelter on the Caribbean Mexican Coast and full of cruisers waiting for the perfect weather window to head south or north.  In the far distance we see Cancun, or is it Surfers Paradise only bigger. The resorts have over 30,000 rooms and see in excess of 4 million visitors a year. A quick visit by ferry and we quickly retreat to the idyllic Isla Mujeres for a stone massage on the sublime beach and beer battered lobster at the local fish and chip shop for lunch.

Janne and Chris go home with smiles on their faces and Kevin Horne will join us to sail to Cuba and then Key West, Florida.

One thing I won’t miss when we depart the Western Caribbean are the shallow reefs; we just have a yacht with too deep a keel. The western Caribbean is the ideal multi hull cruising ground.
 
A belated start to our letters as we have been finalising our second book 'Letters from the Caribbean'. It is now with the printers and will be launched early June.

Cheers Andrea and Ian