Oct 31, 2006 we are ready to leave Mario’s Marina and head down the Rio river to Livingston and beyond to Belize. We are guided out by Marco and Hugo and slowly pulled away from the dock. That is until their engine quit and then they had to use our dinghy to get us out the rest of the way. We anchor in Schell Bay for the night and last minute provisions. We head down river passing many of the locals in their daily routines. Livingston is a quick anchor in and even a faster check out. All our papers have been faxed in ahead of time and Raul is ready for us. We travel out with Valentina and Blow Me Away, and meet Queen Mary and Moon Slipper in Livingston.
Gary and Aaron get their last Guatemalan souvenirs hand fashioned by a local fisherman using pink conch and a hacksaw to create unique conch horns…now it is truly Blow Blow Blow us away…adios Guatemala. From there, we travel over to Bahia Graciosa and spend the next three days in major rain. During this time, Gary and Doc, on one of their shore visits, meet Antonio, a local fisherman. Antonio brings over to us a bucket full of West Indian Crown Conch. I do mean a bucket full, more then 150 of them that fed all three boats for days.
We finally get a break in the weather and off we go towards Punta Gorda, Belize to check in there. We are hit by several squalls, Blow Me Away – blows an engine hose and we are separated. During our separation, a hitchhiker, the small feather kind, joins us. We get to Punta Gorda and wait and wait, but no Blow Me Away or Valentina. We then head to the alternate place to meet, South Moho Cay. But, alas, we have missed them by about an hour or so. We stay and have a great visit with Breeze, a local Belizean contractor building a small hi-end resort on the island and Domissio one of the staff. The next day, after quick farewells and a gift of rosewood from Breeze, we are off to New Haven where the others have been anchored – safe and sound. They had a rough crossing and were happy to just sit in calm waters and visit Hard Luck Charlie’s old place. Charlie has passed away and the jungle is taking back his grand place.
No comments:
Post a Comment