Belize Cruising

[Dreaming Yachtsman]

Steve,

Sorry but I have no experience cruising the Gulf Coast. All I know is what I read in the Cruising Guide.

John

[mohave_steve]

Well, from what I am hearing lately, I may want to take a different route anyway. If Obama moves us toward normalized relations with Cuba that will be my first stop on the way. Wouldn't that be fine!

[starfish62]

Speaking from the perspective of someone living in South Florida (Jupiter), it would be wonderful to have "normal" relations with Cuba. Our economy needs all of the help it can get right now. Historically speaking, Cubans don't much like Democrats, though, so we'll have to see what happens.

[mohave_steve]

Hey Starfish,

I am headed to Jupiter on Friday. Never been there before. I understand there is a cold front heading in I was hoping for warmer weather.

As to the economy, I don't see that in these times the spending of dollars by Americans in Cuba would be helpful?? Do I misunderstand?

As to the opening of trade & relations I simply think the embargo has gone way too far and opening relations is the "right" thing to do.

Now let's talk about cruising

[sck5]

Its hard to see how letting us cruisers go there or letting people visit grandma back in the old country would help Castro all that much. Loosening up those kinds of restrictions would be a great thing for many but would be far short of endorsing the Cuban revolution, or even helping the Cuban government.

[starfish62]

Originally Posted by mohave_steve

Hey Starfish,

I am headed to Jupiter on Friday. Never been there before. I understand there is a cold front heading in I was hoping for warmer weather.

As to the economy, I don't see that in these times the spending of dollars by Americans in Cuba would be helpful?? Do I misunderstand?

As to the opening of trade & relations I simply think the embargo has gone way too far and opening relations is the "right" thing to do.

Now let's talk about cruising

It's supposed to get cold (40's) Friday nite, then back into the mid 50's at nite & mid 70's during the day.

It's not the spending of American $$ in Cuba that I was referring to. Cuba is starving for raw materials and needs billions in infrastructure. There is a lot of money willing to go back to Cuba if a democratic system with private ownership of goods & property is embraced. Cuba has ready exports in cigars and alcohol--both high-margin exports--and the cruise ships would descend upon Havana as the next big thing, generating a ton of cash needed to buy the raw materials to fix up Havana--which really needs fixing up.

South Florida will explode with exports from Miami to Havana if relations are normalized.

[mohave_steve]

Now that makes sense. A balance of trade. Tourist $ going to Cuba followed by Cuban $ coming back for raw materials & mfg'd goods.
Win/Win.

Heck with it I'll tell the truth. All I want is good cruising, good rum & good ciagrs.

[starfish62]

Originally Posted by mohave_steve

Now that makes sense. A balance of trade. Tourist $ going to Cuba followed by Cuban $ coming back for raw materials & mfg'd goods.
Win/Win.

Heck with it I'll tell the truth. All I want is good cruising, good rum & good ciagrs.

I'm with you, man. I had never seen a cigar that I would smoke, and then I had a cohiba, and I saw the light.

[Limpet]

I'm thinking of a Chartering in Belize this December. December has a little less humidity and a little lower temps, although it appears to rain more often than say February.
When I charter I typically like to plan for at least a couple long sails (4+hours). I'm getting the impression that Belize does not lend itself to long sails. My sense is that it is very short sails followed by a good deal of motoring to navigate through the coral heads and the like.

We will keep to ourselves on the Cat most of the time, going to recommended snorkeling sites and parks. Given that, will there be any opportunities for long sails?

[Chuteman]

Limpet:
The longest sail we had was from the southern part of the reef (nicholas caye) back to Placencia, it was about 28nm.......good winds, running from squalls took only about 3 hrs on 43' Cat best sail in whole trip.
With small (and I mean small) Cayes all over the place & ones we wanted to stop sorta got us away from any long trips.
Oh well, we make it up in other areas

[Sparohok]

If you like covering distance, sail out of San Pedro with TMM. There is more distance to get to South Water Caye (definitely the highlight of our trip), well spaced good anchorages, and more opportunities for long legs in relatively unrestricted waters. We covered 160nm in a one week trip, and we weren't going out of our way to sail a lot (spent a whole day anchored at S Water Caye).

We went in mid January and got 3 straight days of rain and north winds. Later in the winter/spring you are unlikely to get that sort of rain, or so we are told.

We really liked TMM and their Nautitech 40 catamaran "Wildflower."

PM me and I'll send you a link to our GPS track.

[Intentional Drifter]

Do any of you folks know if Rauscher's cruising guide has been updated since '96? We're thinking about heading that way for awhile it sounds like a great resource. Any others that folks know about and could recommend?

Sounds like the official charts for Belize are pretty antiquated. How about for the rest of that coast?

Thanks.

ID

[sck5]

I dont recall if the Rauscher guide I used last January was more recent than 96 - I think it was but in any case it was the most recent version available and was excellent. All the waypoints in there were good, at least everywhere I went, and all shoals and reefs were right where the guide said they were.

Having said that, eyeballs are the only reliable way to get into and out of anchorages. We made sure we either had the sun high enough to see what we were doing or we followed a GPS track we had made ourselves on the way in somewhere. By the way, the GPS's arent any better than the charts. Our charter boat had a Raymarine plotter and I had my handheld Garmin. The Garmin seemed a bit better but neither was at all reliable - You will definitely end up aground if you trust the plotter instead of your eyes.

[Intentional Drifter]

Great, thanks. I did track down the publisher and found where there was a 2007 update.

Absolutely agree on the eyeballs! In that famous acronym "VPR (visual piloting rules) Applies". In shallow water, I never trust the plotter -- darn things will sink you.

Wow -- just see where this is my 600th post! Is there a prize?

ID

[Dexter&Shrimpy]

My husband and I will hopefully be setting off in the general direction of Belize in October. We are planning to cruise with our jack russell and small mixed breed dog. I am curious what people's experiences have been along the Belize/Mexico/Honduras/Costa Rica/Nicaragua coasts? I have always heard that that stretch of coast is alot more dog friendly then some places in the Caribbean but I would love to hear personal experiences.

Thanks, Nicole