I arrived in Placencia late on 28 December 2023 to be able to enjoy the New Year celebrations with cruising friends, which we decided to have in the Barefoot bar with an alcohol-free diversion to Tutti Frutti ice cream parlour. It is now 1st January 2024 and it’s a wet and dreary day. I have some boat jobs to do, and until they’re completed I will stay in Placencia. The featured image above is Laughing Bird Caye.
I have replaced the exhaust hose, and all is well. I am ordering a new exact replacement Lofrans anchor windlass to be delivered to Shelter Bay marina in Panama, which should be a simple replacement job…he said, optimistically! I have also discovered an electrical fault that requires my attention!
Friend, Bridget visited me in Placencia, and we went on a scuba diving trip to Laughing Bird Caye. I have also booked a long weekend land trip to Hopkins, about an hour’s bus ride north of Placencia.
It is said that sailing plans are written in the sand only to be washed away by the tide. It is now mid-January and yesterday was my first video call with the boys in 2024. My eldest son announced that he is having a marriage celebration in the UK in June, and would like me to attend. But, finding a safe and reliable marina with space and near an international airport in the South Pacific islands is a daunting prospect…as is missing the marriage celebration! So, I am now considering postponing the Pacific crossing for yet another year! This would allow me to safely moor the boat in Panama or Colombia, both of which are outside of the Atlantic hurricane zone. Then I could visit the UK in Spring/early Summer and do some South American land travel. Decisions, decisions!
I’m now taking a long weekend in Hopkins, a Garifuna village about 1.5 hours bus ride north of Placencia. Hopkins has become a travel destination for backpackers as well as being a new “home” for US, Canadian and British expats. The photograph above is sunrise taken from the endless beach at Hopkins.
As a year long celebration of hitting 70 years old in April I have listed twelve books published in 1954 and twelve films released in 1954 to enjoy one a month. In January I have read Lord of the Flies by William Golding and I have just watched the Alfred Hitchcock film, Rear Window starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly.
Today, I extended my Belize visa for an extra 30 days which will expire on 25 February, and I have decided to stay in the Western Caribbean this year to be able to visit the UK and finally complete a backpacking trip around South America…and complete some boat jobs, as always, in Panama. Then Pacific 2025!
Time marches on and it’s now February. I have read my 1954 choice of book, Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis, and watched my 1954 movie choice, Dial M for Murder, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Grace Kelly. I have also decided to make best advantage of last months change in plans to sell one of my UK rented properties. I expect the western Caribbean weather to remain unstable through February with strong northerly winds cycling through on a regular basis from the USA….but right now it’s calm, warm and sunny.
I have moved into Placencia Yacht Club, and will probably stay until I decide to leave for Panama. In the meantime, the photograph above is my early morning view.
The February Snow full moon has just passed, and it’s 1st March next Friday. I now have my second, and final visa extension which expires on 25th March. If weather patterns become more consistent then I will sail down to Panama, and if not, I will go down to the Bay Islands of Honduras. I have booked an eight-day yoga retreat in Nicaragua for my birthday week at the end of April, and I need a safe place to leave the boat. In the meantime, I have ordered some spare parts for my windlass which is in need of repair. Although I have a new windlass being delivered to Panama, I will be happier to have my existing windlass fully operational.
The photograph above is a recent sunset over Placencia Harbour taken from the boat.
I have already read my March choice of 1954 book, Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan and watched my 1954 movie, On the Waterfront, which won a young Marlon Brando his first Oscar for “Best Actor in a Leading Role”. Eve Marie Saint also won an Oscar for “Best Supporting Actress” in her screen debut on the same movie, and will hopefully celebrate her 100th birthday on 4th July this year!
My revised Vague Plan for 2024 is taking shape…at the end of March I will sail to Roatan in the Bay Islands of Honduras, and while there I will fly to Nicaragua for the eight day yoga retreat in San Juan del Sur to celebrate my birthday in April. Then in May I will sail from Roatan to Panama, and once in Shelter Bay Marina I will fly back to the UK for THE wedding celebration of the year and a Boys Weekend in Dublin and visiting friends and completing my usual list of stuff to do! Then I will fly back to check on the boat in Panama before embarking on backpacking trip to South America. To end 2024 I will return to the boat to complete any jobs in readiness to pass through the Panama Canal in early 2025! Phew!
In the meantime, I have embarked on an online yoga class with Positive Vibrations Yoga with Brice based here in Placencia. The classes, three days a week, begin at 6am which is perfect for an eternal early riser. Not only is it a new yoga experience, although I know the class instructor, Brice, from my previous visit to Placencia in 2022, it’s also my first experience of using Zoom. I can also use the covered, but open air facility at Placencia Yacht Club…and their WiFi. It is truly a fabulous way to start the day! The photograph below had to be planned with some uncertainty…I had to take the dinghy into town in the dark and way before dawn, and then walk along the beach to arrive near to the Chabil Mar resort at least half an hour before sunrise to be certain of being there as the sky developed its best colour scheme possible…and it worked!
The spare parts for my anchor windlass were due to arrive in Belize yesterday, 13th March, so I contacted the shipping company only to be told that Belize City port was closed because of a strike and my package would not be delivered until further notice! This industrial action affects all Belizean imports and exports so I hope, and believe, it will end soon.
Today is 1st April and Easter Monday. The spare parts arrived last week but don’t solve the problem, so I will leave sometime soon and either manually anchor or go straight to a marina. The new windlass has arrived in Panama, and I’ll check which other parts I need to repair the existing windlass and buy those parts while I’m in the UK in June & July.
Fantasy Island on Roatan in the Bay Islands of Honduras are expecting me, and the distance is about 120nm which I’ll do as an afternoon and overnight passage to arrive in daylight the next day. I will need to clear out of Belize first and then send a pre-arrival notice to Honduras.
I have already read my 1954 book, Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck for April, and will save the movie, A Star is Born, for later in the month. The perfect movie for my birthday month!
I left Placencia Yacht Club at 08:00 in a brisk northerly wind, but I hadn’t secured my anchor well and it fell into 25m of water a few miles out of Placencia. There was no way I could retrieve the anchor, 60 metres of chain and 20 metres of rode alone…so I cut the rode and left the anchor at the bottom of the sea!
Comment
Hello Sailor,
Well it seems that there’s always a reason to come back to the UK, and a wedding is an excellent one!
As you say, plans are made to be adjusted and revisited, and this sounds like a good opportunity to spend more time doing yoga in nice places at sunrise!
A long overdue browse through the Wildbeast’s adventures has been a lovely way to avoid working on a Monday afternoon.
Your birthday celebrations sound suitably relaxing and calming – yoga, reading and watching excellent films – but I hope you do find time for a ham and pineapple pizza and a glass of something to add to the celebrations.
I wonder if we’ll have time for a pizza or something when you are over here? I will be away on a boat myself for a week in June 🙂 with Chris and a couple of friends from Melbourne. We are spending a week on a narrowboat on the Llangollen canal so my excellent navigational skills won’t be much needed, just a bit of muscle for opening and closing locks. The dates are 14-23 June, including a day at the end of the week to take the Aussies up Snowdon, possibly for sunrise as it’s Midsummer weekend, and if it’s not too busy (ha ha)
I’m off to Iceland at Easter for a confirmation – my goddaughter’s son – so that should be fun, still a fair amount of snow over there and another volcanic eruption this weekend.
We are also heading north in May, walking the Dales Way from Ilkley to Bowness on Windermere, so we’ll be packing waterproofs but also shorts in the hope of some sunshine along the way. I’ve not been running really since the end of October due to a knee / tendon injury – still not quite sure what’s going on. Walking is ok and I’m back trying short runs in between walking to test it, but a week of walking should be fine and some decent exercise too.
Won’t bore you with work but I’m definitely doing less so that’s a good feeling. Would be lovely to see you for a birthday celebration if possible but if not this time we’ll save it to next time.
Good luck with all the book reading – I am currently reading Helen Mort (Sheffield journalist / climber) “A Line Above The Sky” which is very good.
Safe travels and look forward to an update on your travels as and when.
Julie xx