During my three day sailing adventure from Caye Caulker to Placencia, Belize, I accumulated hundreds of photos. This posting is a collection of my favorite photos, painting a picture of my wonderful journey in the Caribbean.
As usual, you can click on any photo to download a more detailed image.
This first photo is a map of the Belize shoreline, showing the route of our sailing adventure. The top of the dotted line is Caye Caulker and the bottom is Placencia. Marked at the 1/3 and 2/3 distances are the small islands of Rendezvous Caye and Tobacco Caye where we stopped and camped.
An early morning shot of Raggamuffin’s two sailboats. Ours is the one on the left called the “Ragga Queen.”
A zoomed in photo of the Ragga Queen. The skies are gray because the sun is still very low in the eastern sky. These first two photos were taken before boarding the boat for the first time.
This is the captain’s helm with the steering wheel, the floating compass, and the throttle lever on the right. In my writing, I forgot about the dials to the left… I have no idea what they do. Notice how old and rusty everything is.
This is the lower-rear cabin of the boat. We stacked our daypacks around the edges of this tiny area. The marine bathroom is directly to the left from the spot where I took the photo.
This is the front under-deck cabin. In the front is the old kitchen area. Further back is where our long-term luggage is stored, and where two of the crew sleep at night.
This is the front upper-deck of our boat. This beautiful couple is Collin and Natasha from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
A final look at Caye Caulker as we begin to pull away from shore.
In this photo, Caye Caulker is beginning to fade away in the distance.
Deep sea fishing from the back of the boat. In this photo, Collin is holding the rod, the red scarf is on Justin’s head, and the young man standing in white is Jacob, one of our fabulous crew.
Shortly into our southbound journey, a couple of dolphins joined us for a short round of playing near the bow of our boat.
I caught this dolphin briefly above water. I love these beautiful animals.
Justin, in the red scarf, reeling in our first and only catch on Tuesday. This one was a tasty barracuda.
Justin, proudly holding his catch of the day.
Slowly approaching the tiny island of “English Caye”. This island sports a single resident, a man who has run the lighthouse for over fifty years. We purchased a 13 pound grouper from the man who lives here, and came away with many coconuts as well.
A closer-up view of English Caye.
A view of Rendezvous Caye on the distant horizon. This tiny island is where we spent our first night out on the seas.
Approaching Rendezvous Caye more closely. As you can now see, the island has a large dock and a couple of grass-roofed huts. It also has a single permanent resident–a man named Del Ray who cares for the facilities and guards the reef on the east side.
We’re almost there. You can see how beautiful and tiny this island is. I understand that cruise ship companies sometimes bring day guests out here to enjoy the isolation and the reef.
Our boat, tied up on the dock at Rendezvous Caye.
Looking from the dock toward the south end of the island where our tents have now been pitched. My tent is the first yellow one on the left.
Looking out at the beautiful sunset to the west. This photo was taken while standing on the east side of the island, standing between the tents.
The main covered patio area. Everyone hung their wet clothes out to dry. Even with no rain, the moist humid air made them all more water saturated by morning.
Del Ray lives in the tiny building at the far end of the covered area.
Another view of the beautiful sunset, as taken from the door of my tent.
Renaissance, heating up the grill, preparing to cook our lobster tails, grouper, and barracuda.
One of my first photos of the new day, early Wednesday morning. The skies were still very dark, with a faint glow barely peeking up in the east. If you look very closely on an enlarged photo, you can see the faint twinkle of lites on a large cruise ship far away in the distance, just left of center.
A beautiful sunrise in the eastern skies above Rendezvous Caye.
Looking at the north end of the island in the early morning light.
Looking back at the south end of Rendezvous Caye in the early morning glow.
My friends Marty and Carolyn, enjoying early morning coffee with Captain Amado (seated in white).
Our boat on the dock, bright and early on Wednesday morning. The lighting in this photo is very deceptive, as my camera adjusted for the light exposure. The skies were still very dim and grey, barely beginning to glow.
Del Ray paddling out in his kayak preparing to fish in the dim light of sunrise.
This photo was taken while standing barefoot in the surf at the north end of the island, looking toward the south.
This beautiful photo was taken while standing barefoot in the surf on the south end of the island, looking back toward the north.
Another view from the gentle surf, looking northward up the east side of the island.
A small cluster of mangroves situated on the northeast corner, right behind Del Ray’s hut.
Del Ray sitting right in front of his hut. Behind him on the left is his kayak, standing on its side.
Jacob, one of Captain Amado’s two crew membes.
Renaissance, Captain Amado’s other crew member.
Captain Amado, trying to look all tough and cool–but I could see right through his tough act.
Our crew of three. They took excellent care of us during our three day voyage.
One of our earlier views of Tobacco Caye off in the distance. This was our home for the second night (Wednesday evening).
Looking through the front window of the main cabin, back at the helm where Captain Amado is currently piloting the sailboat. Seated on the far right is Morgan, a handsome young man from Italy. Seated on the far left is Catherine, a really fun lady from England. Standing on the let is Eifa (not sure of spelling). She is Irish, but moved to italy, and is now with Morgan in Rome.
Carolyn, enjoying a seat at he bow of the boat. (Carolyn and Marty are from just north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada,)
On top the main cabin area, looking toward the rear of the boat. In the front is Jacob (crew) and in the rear is Justin, from Kentucky–but currently living in Washington D.C.
Alex and Elouise, two delightful friends all the way from Austrailia.
A closer up view of Tobacco Caye — yippee, we are almost there.
In case you can’t tell, this is me, squinting into the bright sun with my hair pulled back. My hair is getting really faded, and my mostly-white gray is really showing after four months of no coloring. Eifa, from Rome is behind me on the right.
Not one of my more flattering photos … LOL
A glimpse of the north end of Tobacco Caye,
The middle area of Tobacco Caye, The orange building in the middle is a bar. The dock right in front of the bar is where we anchored and tied up our sailboat during the intense nighttime winds.
In the rear, Renaissance and Jacob preparing to drop anchors before the boat swings around with it’s rear on the dock. In the foreground is Nick, a handsome young man from Boston.
In the foreground are Catherine and Morgan. In the background is Justin.
The anchors are dropped as we make our final approach to the dock. At this point, the waters are still quite calm, the winds barely blowing.
On the dock at Tobacco Caye. Left to right: Eifa and Morgan, Cathering, Renaissance, Me, and Marty.
Our official Tobacco Caye welcoming committee–hoping that we might share a little of our food.
Our tents all set up on shore. Interestingly enought, the crew told us we probably wouldn’t need our rain fly. Since the top covering on my tent are very difficult to put on in the dark, I attached mine at the front base, just in case. As soon as the strong winds began, we all immediately pulled our rain flies up over our tents.
Another view of our tents, looking out toward the western shore of Tobacco Caye.
Your’s truely, standing near our tents.
The winds have begun to blow. Notice the trees above and the once calm waters now beginning to get white caps. The winds increased rapidly from here …
Another view on the western shore. This photo does not really capture the wind …
Some of the beautiful guest cabins on Tobacco Caye.
The Tobacco Caye Restaurant, not far from our tents.
More of the beautiful guest housing.
An interesting structure on the south end of Tobacco Caye.
More beautiful guest cabins.
Sunset over Tobacco Caye. A small island is visible in the distance. If you look closely, you can see white caps on the water. The trees were blowing quite hard by now, as the winds really picked up strength.
A view of shore from the back of the sailboat. This one shows the powerful winds in a dramatic way. Look closely at the palm trees. The stiff winds have bent the leaves back in a very interesting windmill-looking pattern.
If you look closely at this photo, you can really get a feel for the gale-force winds blowing through the tree tops.
Waves washing up onto the usually dry sand near these guest homes.
Carolyn (right) and Eloise (left) sitting in the main cabin of the sailboat as we took refuge from the winds while waiting for dinner to be served.
Marty in the main cabin. Renaissance in the distance.
Left to right: Collin, Natasha, and Aeifa, waiting for dinner to be served …
Another view of sunset over Tobacco Caye.
After dinner, several men try to pull the boat back alongside the dock so that we can disembark to return to our tents. The winds were blowing our sailboat away from the dock, and were so strong that four men struggled to pull us slowly back to jumping distance.
My tent being beaten down by the gale-force winds. You can’t really tell in this photo, but the right side of the tent is supposed to be much taller. You can already see a sand-drift forming at the lower right portion of the photo, on the upper right flap of the tent.
This is a photo of the palm tree that blew over in the middle of the night. The trunk simply snapped, right in the middle. This is very unusual for a palm tree. They are usually so flexible. That must have been some wind force that was channeled between the two cabins.
Another photo of the palm tree that blew over.
Much of the debris scattered around the island was like these downed branches near our tents.
A small sand drift that formed on the bottom of my tent flap.
One of the cleanup men running around the island shortly after 6:00 a.m.
A coconut that fell right next to one of the tents.
Our boat as it looked early in the morning. I was wondering if it would survive the high winds, but it looked just fine.
The broken trunk of the downed tree.
By 6:30 a.m., the groundskeeper had already lit this huge bon fire, burning up all of the debris dropped on the ground by the high winds.
Jacob working on our Thursday Morning breakfast.
Collin and Natasha waiting for breakfast.
Marty and Carolyn, also waiting for breakfast.
Finally, on day 3, our motors were off and we were sailing totally under the power of the wind.
Captain Brenda at the helm. I piloted the sailboat for much of our final journey.
Captain Amado sleeping while I am at the helm.
The shore of the peninsula (hanging down from Belize), just a short distance north of Placencia.
Renaissance (foreground) and Jacob (background) during our final few hours of our journey.
These beautiful little guest cabins are just a few of hundreds that line the beautiful shoreline of the sleepy Belizean town of Placencia.
More of the shoreline of Placencia.
This is the souternmost tip of the little penninsula on which Placencia is situated.
This is a group shot of everyone that was on our boat. This was taken on the pier at Placencia.
Front Row, left to right: Marty, Captain Amado, Brenda (me), Eloise, Alex, Natasha, Carolyn
Back Row, left to right: Renaissance, Catherine, Morgan, Aeifa, Justin, Jacob, Kim, Nick, Collin
The view from the balcony at Lydia’s guest house–the place where I shared a room with Marty and Carolyn on Thursday evening, and the same place where I will have my own room this evening. In fact, I am sitting on this very balcony right now, because the wireless internet connection here is great.
On the balcony at Lydia’s guest house. This photo was taken from the exact seat in which I am currently seated, facing toward the north.
This is the boat dock in Placencia on which we disembarked. If you look closely in a detailed image, you can see missing boards, and you can see the middle section where planks have been laid above rotting boards so that you can safely pass …
The beach at the south end of town. The point at the upper right where the fishermen are standing is the southern tip of Placencia’s beach. If you turn left at that point, you begin walking up a long crescent-moon shaped white sandy beach. Near here is where Raf Jacob and I ate lunch together …
Looking north along the crescent-moon shaped eastern shore of Placencia.
This is the entryway to the large room I rented for three nights (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). It is upstairs from BJ’s restaurant, in a very noisy part of town–but it was large and roomy, and served my needs.
The stairway leading up to my room (on the left). BJ’s is on the lower right. There is a six-inch gap that i had to step over…
BJ’s is on the bottom left. My room was upstairs on the right, behind the tree. I piggybacked on the wireless internet connection (barely reachable–sometimes not usable) from a local nightclub …
The main road (only road) through town, looking south from near BJs restaurant.
This is the main thoroughfare through town–a small concrete sidewalk that runs from the southern shore to the north end of town. A continuous series of guest homes, small hotels, restaurants, shops, etc… line both sides of this sidewalk. The sidewalk runs north-south about 50 yards from the beach.
This is the little to-go shack where Raf Jacob and I bought our lunches of Rice, Beans, and King Fish.
More of the beautiful north-south sidewalk.
Still more of the same sidewalk.
Further down the walk.
And even further … it is all very well maintained and clean.
Looking from the sidewalk toward the east, looking out at the ocean by the Tipsy Tuna – a club where many of our group reunited later Thursday evening.
A cute little beach restaurant just off the sidewalk.
This is the exterior of Lydia’s guesthouse where I stayed Thursday night, and where I will sleep tonight on my last night in Placencia.
More of the sidewalk at the north end of town. Not as many places on the sides here.
The shower at my apartment above BJ’s restaurant. Even though this showerhead is supposed to heat the water, I could not get any hot water to come out.
The inside of my large room at BJ’s. I slept in the bed in the far corner.
This afternoon, after posting all of the above photos, I rented a bicycle and explored the area. Since my blog is titled “Brenda’s Bicycles”, I just had to add this one last photo from Placencia.
Hasta la vista … I leave in the morning for destinations unknown …