Sailing February 24th
We are finally ready to go; we certainly had not planned
to be in Mojo Cay this long. It was our alternators, both of
them. Obviously the last bench job didn't take. One had bad
diodes; the other had bad brushes.
Tomorrow we sail for San Pedro, our final stop in Belize.
The bad alternators have given us some time to see Belize
which we hadn't planned. We took the water taxi north because
the northern part of Belize from Belize City is very shallow.
It would be wonderful to sail with a shallow draft sailboat.
It has many small mangrove islands with manatees, dolphins,
and great fishing. Coral heads are everywhere. That's why
Belize has more tourists than pop. each year, but we think
Roatan is better diving because of its walls of coral. It's
all in your perspective.
The trip on the water taxi was uneventful, but hold onto
your hat. It took 45 min. to do the distance we will do in a
day in Grace. When we arrived back at Mojo the front that
was holding us here moved in. The waves were over the dock so
we had to wade to catch the ferry back to the marina. Four drunks
were going out to the yacht club with us. Suddenly the ferry
took off going full blast into big waves and wind. One of the
drunks had commandeered the ferry. The ferry driver was flirting with
the girls as we headed full throttle across the bay in pitch black darkness Jerry took over as the driver was waving his beer & trying to
drive.
Jerry gave about 3 orders in a voice I have never heard
before. Must be his captain's voice."Slow this thing down!
Slow it down, now!! Aaron, get back on the helm!"
The ferry stopped dead; the driver got back on the helm, and we
arrived safely.
Back on board the wind continued to climb. We were
supposed to get 25-30 knots. Astonished we sat hanging on as
the anemometer climbed above 50 & stayed there for 45 minutes.
After the first few minutes, we started hauling out lines.
First we added extra lines on Grace, then we started on the
boat next door. Niantia was inland visiting Tikal.
Our awning was threatening to blow us away so that was
next, but we're getting pretty good at collapsing it in
high winds. Our next Norther is due on Wed. We'll
head out tomorrow so we can get a good anchor set before
it hits. Hopefully it will slide East.
If the mosquitoes don't carry us away, and the lines
aren't stuck to the dock, we'll see you in San Pedro.
- February 24, 2002