caribbean sailing, belize

17 - 19 June 2014

Hello! This blog update is brought to you by both Damo and Kath. A winning combination!

We hadnt planned to do a caribbean sailing trip, but thanks to a special someone who gifted this to us, we enjoyed three idyllic days of sailing, island hopping, snorkeling, fishing and rum punch on a yacht affectionately named the Ragga King.

The trip went from Caye Caulker back down to Placencia, stopping at Rondez Vous Caye one night and Tabacco Caye the second night. Rondez Vous Caye was our fave, a private island all to ourselves!

The whole trip was amazing. We are very grateful we got to enjoy it. Thank you..! xxx


The highlights

• The salty sea life. It totally works for us! Nothing better that chilling under the sails on deck with delicious food and some cold rum punch. We also solved the age old problem of what to do with a drunken sailer... give him more rum punch! 
• We listened to reggae music, which was loud (very loud), but fun none-the-less. 
• Snorkeling... where do we start? In a word... epic. Colourful fish, spotted eagle rays, turtles, octopus, spear fishing and plenty of coral. Damo was awesome at spear fishing. He mustve speared over five snapper fishies! And considering the captain gave him no instructions, he did well. If you ask me, giving Damo a spear gun and free reign in the ocean is a BAD idea, however we all made it back to the boat alive, with no tropical fish harmed, or limbs stabbed.
• Star gazing was incredible. Never have we seen so many stars! There were also fire light things in the ocean. Imagine if 50 fire flys went for a swim. You got it! Coupled with shooting stars, it was quite the experience!
• Finally, but certainly not least... the food! This consisted of everything from chicken, sangas, lobster, fresh fish (including some of the snpper Damo caught) and even bacon and eggs for breaky! 
  

The Summary

Weather: Balmy, except for one little storm that ripped the main sail into shreds.
Snorkeling:  Awesome, especially spear fishing. 
Food: Delicious, fresh and plentiful

Beverages: Rum punch

People: Our captain was very knowledgeable and interesting, his skipper one of the strongest guys ever, and the rest of the passengers were friendly and worldly.
Accommodation: Tent the first night and, well, a bed the second night. I would have preferred the tent...
Budget: Thanks to a generous donor, this was gratis.
Overall: Bueno! Muy bueno! Proper caribbean sailing, like in the brochures.

The setup. Standard.

Not a huge boat, but big enough for 13 of us.

Damo spent 2 hours desperately trying to catch a fish, and then handed the rod over to another passenger... the inevitable happened...

After a full 5 minutes, the other dude caught this... barracuda. Gah!

Charles prepping our freshly caught barracuda, ready for dinner.

Coming into our private, remote island where we would camp the night.

Our route, from Caye Caulker to Placencia. Note, the animals depicted in this drawing are to scale...

Snorkeling and sundowners. Did we mention its our own private island??

The picture doesn't do this justice. It was actually a 3 metre long fish. Honestly.

Peek a boo! At 5:30am

Breakfast on board. Mmmmm.

No caption necessary.

Our posse. Every one was super friendly.

Get a room!

Damo doing his best blue steel impersonation. Kath is hoping for Ted Baker sponsorship.

El capitan, guiding us to paradise.

The storm that shredded the sail as we all took refuge under the deck.

Anther rum punch Kath? Yes please Damo!

All swapping travel stories while dinner was being prepared.

Photobombing birds

Thats a big bottle of rum!

Lobster season!

There was something not quite right about our room on the second night... perhaps starting with the lack of a door on the toilet, strategically placed 2 feet from the pillow.

Breaky.

Not a bad view! Also, Kath enjoyed her view too :)

Bathroom break. Kidding! Just a couple of dorks in snorkels.

A sample of the coral. It is the 2nd largest reef in the world, and still growing. Whenever we were told of this fact, we would inquisitively ask where the largest reef was. Thats right. Aussie pride!

The hunter. Not watching where he is pointing that thing!

Important numbers. Including "the cops" on a recycled school bus, where you could see the road through the floor. After the sailing trip, we spent 8 hours straight on this, before reaching Mexico. Off to our next adventure.