Saturday, April 10, 2010

Very Hairy

Belize - (as Steve reported via Sailmail)
They checked in to Belize in Big Creek after Easter, then left Wednesday and went “through the reef.”
Barrier Reef at Ambergris Cay, Belize
The next email said:
We had to go through the reef in a very narrow channel with another little reef just inside the cut. There were big swells pushing us in. The boat tried to surf. Very hairy!! A dive boat was guiding us in. At the bottoms of the swells the depth gage read just less than 2 meters. How was your day?

Heading out through the reef


We are at the port of San Pedro which is on Ambergris. Is. From here we will go (plan to go) nonstop to Is. Mujeres.

It seems that many of the tiny cays are private. They often have houses that are two feet above water and not on pilings. Hurricanes?


Aduana
Checking in to customs and immigration in Central America is a pain. It has cost from around $400 to $12 per country, seemingly at the whim of the person in the office at the time. And to do it right, which not everyone does, you are supposed to check in with every country you enter. Then you need to obtain a zarpe that tells the day you are leaving and the next country you are going to. That's OK if you are flying, but not if you are on a little boat in the ocean at the mercy of the weather.