Short stint to Belice

Merry Christmas, And Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well we are in the Rio Dulce and plan to be here for the Holidays. The face lift to the woodduck begins. But before all the work we spread the ducks wings with Rachel (Rae) and took a two week run up to Belice. With only a small delay to fix some dry rot we finally got going and spent two nights in the River (Lago del Golfete). We checked out and in to Belice in one day and spent our first day anchored off Punta Gorda. We didn't venture too far north. The real excitement was our first stop on our way to the barrier reef. At Laughing Bird Caye we dropped the hook and in no time were swimming off the island. Here we saw more Barracuda than I have ever seen. In all we saw 20 or more swimming in packs of 6 to 7. A nurse shark crossed our path next with a whole lot of fish all around. What a wonderful way to start the day. We didn't spend the night but kept moving after we were chased down by the park ranger for money. It turned out the area was a national park and somehow they wanted 24 bz dollars from us. That evening the duck slept at a Caye called Ranguana, a private island.


We didn't stick around long we had our eye on the cayes of Tom Owens. This is where we caught our fish -- a grouper -- we believe. And boy did it taste good in our tacos that night and the next.



Our next fish was caught by rae. I think it was a Bonita. We made fish sticks. Yummm Yummm.



After playing in the water, trying to catch some rays and reading alot, we made our way back to livingston to check into Guatemala. Even with a little rain the transit up the river was another gorgeous trip back to the Rio.







- Captain Jake