SailingKnitter

Caye Caulker, Belize

Last night the storm winds from the North suddenly abated and today is beautiful here on Caye Caulker, Belize where we are now enjoying the easterly trade breezes. Just as suddenly, most of the boats in the anchorage took this chance to continue their travels - North for most folks and left with shouted good-byes. But also the charter catamarans needed to go-see-do more before their week aboard was over. We are almost alone now out in the anchorage.

We had a thrill yesterday evening. A catamaran came close to our boat on their way up to the shallows to anchor and when they spotted Jonesy they called out to him. "We love your blog - we've been reading it for years" hollered a man on the catamaran! What a hoot! I got goose-shivers! Unfortunately, they were one of the boats that sailed off this morning so we didn't get a chance to chat. We are still giggling and smiling about it today.

So, the beach photo above was taken just 2 hours ago while I was out scoping sites to take photos of my newly finished pair of socks. Even though it is Easter Week, there aren't a lot of people about. We do see groups of college aged young and healthy folks wandering around with sunburnt skin but not nearly as many as we expected. We wish our sons could have come down to play on the boat.

Eggplant Parmigiana Socks

See? I've been busy. I finished these Eggplant Parmigiana Socks by Nicole Rodgers for her recent KnitAlong.

To be able to post this blog, and do anything that involves the internet, we have to come ashore. Actually we love coming ashore here! Caye Caulker is a quaint little island with flat crushed coral streets that make walking fun. Most residents and tourists walk everywhere, some ride  bikes, and a few drive golf carts. The streets are spotless and are even raked every day! What a change from other places we've been!

We have already researched the different little grocery stores (interestingly all owned by Chinese people). Prices are eye-popping! After a few days you just get used to it. Even so, when Vivian (my new friend that I miss already) and I saw a baggie of sugar marked "11b" we were outraged. 11 dollars Belizean is $5.50US. Heck they grow sugarcane in Belize! Vivian, we were wrong...the marking is 1 lb for one pound of sugar and costs 55cents Belizean!

We found a lovely lady to wash our laundry. We don't like to (hand) wash on the boat as it releases detergents into the fragile reef environment - oh, and it roughs up my hands which negatively impacts my knitting and makes me hot, sweaty and crabby.

We've found a couple of friendly restaurants and bars who encourage us to bring our laptops and use the wifi if we buy something. So we buy our lunch and enjoy the breezes.

Here we are at Bambooze Restaurant and Bar on the beach. We sat on swings at the bar as that is where there was a power outlet for Jonesy's battery challenged laptop. Sorry for the awful quality of the photo. There is just so much difference between the inside shade and the bright tropical sun.
No, neither of us fell off of our swings. Really. We both can eat, keyboard, and swing all at the same time.

We've ordered a replacement carburetor for the 15hp Yamaha outboard engine. We've been fighting an expanding problem with how the motor runs. The carburator has been taken apart 8 times now by not only Jonesy but two other hired mechanics. Finaly they tried simply to put a known good carburetor on our balky motor and it worked! Of course, there is not a single spare carburetor to be found in Belize, so we ordered one from the states and it is now on it's way FedEx down to us here. Our address here? Simply: c/o Tropic Air, Middle Street, Caye Caulker, Belize City. Tropic air operates little Cessna Caravan airplanes between spots

Niki Wiki at anchor on the lee side of Caye Caulker, Belize

throughout Belize for passengers and cargo. Sure, we're paying a fortune for shipping but that's part of the cruising budget. We need reliable transportation.

Now here's something wierd. After spending time in Belize, our ears have gotten tuned into Caribbean music including reggae. Sure, we've liked some of this before, but now we CHOOSE to listen to the "Joint" station on our Sirus radio. See? Even old cruisers can gain new appreciations for different cultural expressions. Who would have thunk?

Life is good.