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SAN PEDRO, AMBERGRIS, BELIZE Ambergris is the largest of the cayes on the barrier reef. The legend is that it got its name after the grey matter ejected from the intestinal contents of sperm whales. This valuable substance, called ambergrease, is used in the making of fine perfume. So ladies, the next time you splash that expensive stuff on your neck, you can remember where it comes from. The substance is said to have been so plentiful in days before whale hunting that it washed to shore and covered the sand giving beaches a grey cast. Just north of Ambergris, a few miles, is the Mexican/Belize border. Dividing the border is a man made ancient channel called the Boca Bacalar Chico. It is a shallow 6 foot wide canal dug by the Mayans about 900 AD to provide access for their canoes to the ocean and amazingly it is still there serving the same purpose.
San Pedro is dive city, I mean scuba diving. There are so
many dive shops and dive excursions available that I would think it difficult to
decide which one to select. This is a wonderland destination for divers and
here’s why.
The town is bustling and full of colorful buildings. Their three roads are covered with white sand. Everything is super casual. There are many dive shops, cafes, fruit stands, and just about whatever you need. It’s a funky little town in paradise. You have to hunt for things though, it’s not always easy finding what you need. It’s like a treasure hunt.
BELIZE YACHT CLUB
We enjoyed our stay at the Belize Yacht Club and were grateful we had a dock to tie up to. We thanked our lucky stars while comfortably docked as we watched those at anchor coming ashore on their dinghies. What a wild ride over those windy choppy waters, even though they were inside the reef. The docks were a bit rustic and it was a real challenge climbing up and down, off and on the dock from the boat. It was about either a 3 foot jump down or 3’ climb up depending on where you were going. We were so sand blasted by the winds that you tried to
spend most of your time inside the boat. The yacht club had a nice restaurant,
outside bar and swimming pool. It was surrounded by time share condos. It was
a nice place to be stranded. We were within walking distance of the town and
could either take the dusty road or walk the beautiful sandy beach.
There were rumors that the Club was having some internal
problems. We concluded it might be financial problems. While we were there, the
dock manager was let go. We heard through the grape vine that he was suing the
management for non pay. There were other rumors that the resort was having
troubles paying their bills. Regardless of the rumors, they were energetically
trying to sell the condos as time shares for $250,000.
When we arrived, we met an overly friendly older woman who said her son-in-law had just bought the place three weeks ago. She said they were going to add another restaurant and introduce a casino in a large building by the road. She boasted all the docks were going to be redone. The docks were getting pretty shoddy so that would be a good thing. We could care less about a casino. One day the power went out for a full day.
We all had to run our
generators to keep our refrigerators and freezers running. We were getting a
little nervous as we weren’t sure if their power was cut off because they hadn’t
paid their bills or what. The power was on by late afternoon so we forgot it
all.
DIVING WITH SHARKS AND STRING RAYS One of the captains we met at the dock, was a seasoned captain, who does this route a couple times a year. He got us connected with a local named Clive Forman. Clive took us out to Hol Chan Marine Reserve for the day of snorkeling off his boat. He seemed to know where to go and more importantly where the crowds were not.
After an hour, we were back on his the boat and he released the mooring and took us to another location. This time as he picked up a mooring, he said we would be swimming with sharks! He said it was perfectly safe and to follow his lead. They were everywhere, these huge brown things. They were the docile nurse sharks that are supposed to be safe if you don’t bother them. They would swim right by us ignoring us completely. They swam in groups and their strength and size were impressive. It was a bit intimidating at first but after awhile we were more interested in seeing the huge stingrays. They were monstrous and very stealthlike. They looked like black velvet and others had coloring and markings of a leopard. We had a fabulous experience exploring these dives. We
felt lucky to have had this experience on our own because as we left we saw the
tour groups coming. Clive said that too many people drive the fish away. He
said when there are fewer people the fish aren’t afraid and you can see so much
more. We agreed.
AND CHASING ALLIGATORS Clive had told us there were some alligators on the outskirts of town. He said it’s fun to go out and watch them and throw food to them. I guess we were starting to get bored waiting for the weather to get better and decided to check it out. We stopped by the meat market one afternoon and got a big fat juicy raw chicken, threw it in the back of the golf cart, and headed south of town to find the alligators. Clive told us they hung out near the town water reservoir and the best chance to see them was at dusk.
We tied Ziggy in the cart so he wouldn’t go after the alligator. Larry got the chicken and tore it apart in big hunks. We threw a quarter of the chicken to the alligator and suddenly he came to life, emerging from the dark mucky water. I was spellbound watching him open those huge jaws, neatly lined with sharp teeth. He used his lower jaw as a scoop and would sort of toss the meat up in the air to get it back farther in his mouth then he gave the meat a couple chews before swallowing it in a big chick. Crunch, crunch and down it went in seconds. It was easy imagine an unlucky creature quickly becoming the demise of this prehistoric looking creature. As he swallowed the big chunk we noticed another gator emerging nearby, curious to see what the interest was. It came closer but didn’t intrude on this guy’s meal. We rationed the chicken parts out as long as we could for our amusement. The chicken parts, though large to us, were nothing more than Chicken Mc Nuggets to this big guy. After a belchy burp, he slowly backed down into the water and slowly slithered away. We could see his mate waiting nearby only exposing the two lumps that housed it’s grey black eyes and occasionally blowing a few small air bubbles that surfaced with every breath. GROCERIES, SUPPLIES AND RESTAURANTS One night we ate at the very popular Elvi’s Restaurant. It took us two days of not very hard searching to find it even though it’s located in the middle of the town. I guess that’s because it’s not very distinctive on the outside. It was, by the way, the only restaurant on this whole trip that would not allow Ziggy. Everyone who comes to Ambergris eventually eats at Elvi’s. It is recommended by the clearing agents, the staff at the yacht club and is in the travel books. We had also heard about it from other tourists. So, with all these recommendations, we had to go there.
Elvi’s started as a small outdoor café a few years back. It started with only with a few tables clustered around a tree. Now as they have prospered, and become famous, they progressed to a building. The only thing interesting to me was that they still had the original tree but now it was inside the new building. It wasn’t in great shape though as it’s poor limbs had been hacked off until there were only a couple left. The floors were sand floors, no wood or concrete.
We found plenty of other restaurants that were much more
colorful and tasty. The first night after our escapade at sea, we ate in a
place not too far from Elvi’s. We were driving about town in our golf cart
looking for a place to eat. Having just arrived there that day, we were
clueless about where to go. We passed one restaurant and the owner was standing
out front waving us in. It looked interesting, and was busy, (that was a good
sign), but we pointed to Ziggy (to see if he was allowed as we didn’t have the
heart to leave him on the boat that night after his rough couple days out at
sea). He said no problem and in we went.
The service was friendly and courteous. They immediately
brought a large serving of Conch ceviche. It was so delicious and fresh, filled
with fresh tender conch, onions, peppers, and cilantro. It was so good, we
ordered another serving. We then ordered huge platefuls of blue local blue
crabs ad they were out of this world. Larry & Jim raved about how sweet the
crabs were. The servings were so plentiful we could hardly finish them. We
still talk about that place. Another night we ate at the only Mexican place in town. We ordered some fabulous freshly homemade jalapeno poppers. They were huge and were encased in the most delightful light batter, almost like a tempura. The filling was a creamy peppery cheese filling. The final touch was the sweet pepper dipping sauce. They were fantastic. Our last night we ate at a place called Picasso’s. It was recommended by a few locals. It wasn’t located in town but on the outskirts in what we thought a most unlikely location. It was in a residential area in a house. It had no signs out front, you just had to know about it. We were early and there was no one around. We were reluctant to go in but decided what the heck, after dining in that crazy place in Providencia, Columbia, which required a ride in the back of a pick up truck, what could we lose?
We walked in to a strange entry. I felt like I was entering a bordello. A young man immediately came out behind a curtain and greeted us. He took us through several hallways separated by curtains instead of doors. The interior of the house was stripped of any ressemblance of what it was. It was stark and warehouse looking. The floors were smooth polished concrete floors and the walls were painted dark glossy colors. The curtains that divided rooms and hallways was of a shimmering sheer material. This place was very unlike anything we’ve seen on the trip and certainly not typical of the island style of Ambergris. We continued to follow the young man as we entered through another doorway draped by another shear fabric and finally entered the dining room. It opened up into a large room that must have been a combination of the original kitchen and living room. The house was nothing special on the outside, just a typical, what I’d call a track house. I’m sure it hard a cookie cutter floor plan and built with your typical cheap construction materials. Somehow, they transformed this mediocre structure into a really interesting space and environment to dine. If you didn’t know better you would have thought you were in a new restaurant in Soho, NY. The room was open to the backyard but was totally screened in to protect it’s diners from the bugs. The diners were also protected from the bugs by the multitude of geckos stuck to the walls waiting for a bug to eat.
The day before we left, as I was waiting for Larry and Jim
to get our final customs papers cleared, I noticed a small shop. It had a small
handwritten sign in the window listing fruits and vegetables and other items for
sale. I couldn’t resist and went in to see. I was overwhelmed when I saw glass
doored refrigerators filled with fruits and vegetables that I hadn’t seen or
eaten for months. Things like asparagus, eggplant, fresh greens, wonderful
smoked meats, etc. etc. They had everything I ever wanted including gourmet
cheeses. Why couldn’t I have found this place earlier? I couldn’t believe it!
I came to the conclusion that there was more to this town
than what appeared. We had found some pretty interesting restaurants, this
wonderful fruit and vegetable and gourmet store, a good meat shop (if you can
get beyond the looks and smell) and several fresh bakeries in town. You just
need some time to settle in and I ‘m sure that the way many of these places are
that we’ve been in
LOCALS Again, like Roatan, Honduras, we found it hard to understand the locals at first. A few, not all, but a good number, mumbled when they talked, maybe because they seemed shy. Sometimes, what they said didn’t make a lot of sense though. We struggled trying to understand their reasoning or directions. It became comical after awhile.
During our stay, the stabilizer alarm went off. After some lengthy research and expensive phone calls on the satellite phone, Larry said the “brain” was defective and had to be replaced. This meant we would have to have a new “replacement brain” shipped to us from the states and then Larry would hopefully be able to install it and calibrate it. We consulted with the captain on the boat next to us. We
remembered that he said he had problems getting some parts shipped here from the
states. We wanted to find out what his recommendation was. He said most of the
time the parts get stuck in Belize City and it takes days and even weeks to
track them down and sometimes you never find them. He didn’t advise sending a
$3000 part like the “brain” or at least, he said, don’t list that kind of value
on it when we send it or we’ll your never see it. Well, then, what do we do if
it’s lost for insurance claim?
We decided to go and talk to the Fed Ex office in Ambergris
directly and see what the deal was. We had a hard time making sense of anything
they said even though they spoke English. We couldn’t get a straight answer
from there except that “yes” things do get lost in Belize City. If on the good
side and we had the part shipped, it would be an additional 4 day delay because
they are closed on weekends. It was Friday, so we would loose this weekend, and
then they said it would take over 5 days, so then we’d lose 2 days at least on
the following weekend. This was adding up to a lot of waiting time (kind of
sounded like two weeks on the positive side.) We had good luck with DHL in Panama City. We got our part in two days. We asked if there was a DHL service in town. They said yes but “he” worked out of his house. We asked for his address but there was no address, you had to follow some vague verbal directions with no street names or numbers just descriptions of various landmarks to find his house. Those directions might get us to his neighborhood and then we would have to ask around once we got there. Now we starting to understand why things get lost or “stuck”. We decided it was too risky to have the part sent and may take several weeks. This was bad news because it meant that Knotty Dog would
have to get back to the US without stabilizers. With the seas as rough as they
had been and if they continue in the same way, it would be a very difficult ride
home. We were starting to get discouraged and now the thought of spending time
in Yucatan further north was not sounding so fun anymore. We wanted to get to
the states. We were getting tired of the difficulties and rough seas. After
all it had been four months and the US was getting close. It was only 5 more
solid days of cruising to get there. Five solid days of rough seas. We decided
to see Ambergris and look into excursions while we waited out these winds. We
were going to make the most of it. The weather’s got to let up a little.
TRADE WINDS The winds never stopped blowing the whole stay at Ambergris
Caye. I began to hate the Trade Winds. They were supposed to let up the end of
April and May but there was no rest for the terror they caused. The captain in
the boat next to us had been there two weeks prior to our arrival waiting on the
winds and it hadn’t stopped yet. We had originally planned to stay in Ambergris
two days and then head up the coast to Yucatan, but when our departure day came
it was too rough. Jim, with all his experience in the Caribbean, said it was
too rough and that we should stay and wait it out. So we did.
No boats came in the break in the reef the first week that
we were there. In fact we did not even see any boats go by. We watched from
our boat and would marvel at the raging seas outside.
One day I spotted a large sports fisher being thrown about
on the outside. We watched it as it slowly struggled going south. Larry hailed
them on the radio calling to “motor vessel passing the entrance to San Pedro”.
They called back. Larry asked if they came from Yucatan and if so, how were the
seas.(which seemed silly since we could see they were terrible). The captain
sounded very tired and said they came south all night from Isla Mujeres, Mexico
and the seas were bad. They were looking for a place to get out of it and rest
and asked about the entrance to San Pedro or if we knew how to enter south to
get to Belize City.
An hour later we saw them coming back and trying to get
into the entrance to San Pedro where we were. We saw a pilot race out to help
him get in. Once they got docked we talked with him and he said it was too
rough to continue on to Belize City.
Later that day, another boat came in. It didn’t hire a
pilot or didn’t know you could. They may not have known that the yellow buoy
was gone. Someone on a sailboat that was anchored inside the reef, saw them and
quickly got on his dinghy to try to help guide them in. The entrance was so
rough that it flipped the dinghy. The sailor almost drowned. I saw several
fast skiffs speeding out but didn’t know what was happening at the time. They
were able to salvage his dinghy but the motor was gone.
There were two women on board besides the captain and first mate. Once they were docked the two women literally crawled onto the dock and almost collapsed. The one woman looked like she had seen a ghost. I guess she must have been pretty sea sick. I was amazed now that the docks had filled to 6 boats. DECISION TO BYPASS LAYOVER IN YUCATAN TO GET TO THE USA Each day the winds kept blowing. Each day we looked out across the breakwater and saw the rough seas. Dan, the captain, next to us, said he was frustrated and sick of the weather. Many have commented on the unusually strong winds. They say that they lay down a little in April and May. We were getting sick of it. I can’t describe the effect this constant wind has on you. Each time you step outside the boat, your is blown in every direction. It’s whistling through your ears making the words from others seem like whispers. It gnaws on your nerves. The locals were complaining as it was not good for diving. Everyone was unhappy.
Knotty Dog left Ambergris as the seas were running 6-8-10
foot and it was rough. There was one attempt at shelter behind Cozumel for a
shorte reprieve from the seas and then on to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, the most
northern stop of Yucatan before the straight none stop shot to Key West. One
overnight at Isla Mujeres and some refueling was the extent of the stop there
and then Knotty Dog was off to tackle the 180 miles to Key West with a possible
stop in Cuba if the seas became too bad. The Knotty Dog had a rough ride
but held it’s own and finished it’s circle arriving in Key West at 00:30
(12:30am). A quiet arrival and ending to a five month adventure.
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Just a half mile east of the shore lies an 80 degree slope that is
a tropical divers paradise. The sea life is spectacular. The reef is 185 miles
long and drops off like a wall. Just a little south of us about 4 miles is the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. This is a collapsed sink hole and offers cave diving
to the more adventurous. Otherwise, it’s great snorkeling inside the reef and
great diving outside.
Of all the Cayes, Ambergris is the most developed but
nothing like a Cancun. There are no tall structures permitted. The hotels, if
you can call them that, are small scale and range from dive hotels to a couple
that are very up scale. The upscale ones are out of town and isolated. The
Caye consists of two Cayes. San Pedro is on the southern island and to get to
the northern, less populated part, you have ride on a hand-pulled ferry.
Besides using your own two feet or bicycles, the most popular mode of
transportation are golf carts. You think that sounds quaint, “look out” if you
are walking, they are crazy drivers, especially the Belizian women. 
The locals don’t seem to know the names of the streets, nor
does it seem important as the directions usually include “it’s behind this or
beyond that”. The streets are busy with the constant back and forth of golf
carts and bicycles. People walk freely, and all the while the sand from the
unpaved roads is flying in your face and eyes. We concluded that it was mostly
useless to take a shower because the minute you walk to town again you have
white dust all over you and all is for not. 
We were able to get our laundry done, even though the
machines broke while they were doing it. It took several days to get all the
laundry back. One day we would get the sheets back and then another the
underwear and so on. I began to forget what I gave them as time passed but who
cares? 
He picked us up at the dock one morning and we sped the 4
miles to the preserve. When we arrived he picked up a mooring ball that the
marine park provides so that you don’t drop anchor and damage the coral. We
were wondering why he began to put his wet suit though the water was very warm
though the water was in the 80’s. He said it was to protect him from the jelly
fish. He advised us to cover our bodies with as much sun guard as possible, not
to prevent sunburn, but to make our bodies slippery, so the microscopic jelly
fish would not be able to sting us. He said it can be very painful and
extremely itchy. 
So we lathered up hoping we covered every exposed square
inch of flesh and jumped in. Clive swam with us the whole time taking us to
different locations in the reef. The fish and plant life was spectacular. The
fish were abundant, colorful, huge, and friendly. He would dive down and gently
grab a sting ray and let it pull him like a chariot for a few moments. He would
point out all the fish and was excellent at finding the huge large black sting
rays. We would get so close to them that it was like we swam in unison with
them. We had a wonderful time and saw much more than we ever expected. He
pointed out huge brain coral, star fish, and rose corals and fields of sponges.
I wish I could name all the brilliantly colorful fish we saw. There were huge
grouper that followed us around. All the fish and sea life is protected here
and you can tell by the cocky attitude they have. It was an amazing site. 
We found the reservoir and drove around several dusty
trails that encircled the inlet but saw no alligators. We headed around to the
other side of the inlet and sat for awhile watching the sun going down. We
began to discuss what we should do with this chicken since we hadn’t found any
alligators to feed. A truck pulled up nearby with 4 workmen. They unloaded
some debri and then began washing up in the water of the inlet. We watched them
as we decided what to do and noticed that one of them pointed to the water right
next to us. We turned and looked but couldn’t see anything at first but then
realized that a thing in the water right next to us that looked like a discarded
piece of concrete was a huge alligator watching us!
We thought the food and service were mediocre. We all
ordered different entrees but they all tasted the same covered in the same
sauce. Why does everyone like this place? Besides the lack luster food, and
unfriendly, snobbish staff, we had to listen to a middle aged American woman
trying to play “music” on an electronic keyboard piano. It was so bad we had a
hard time refraining from giggling throughout our meal. It was a relief in more
ways than one to get out of there. So there you have it, the famous Elvi’s.
There was a large bar on the left with suspended high tech
lights. On the otherside of the room was a large recessed square in the wall
which housed a projector to flash a changing show of art on the blank wall
across the room. The menu was interesting and was meant to be a tapa menu. You
ordered several items and spent the evening whiling away your time, watching art
and eating. The food had a slight Italian slant and was delicious. As we were
enjoying are first few tapas, the people started flowing in and the before long
the place was packed. The young owner, worked the room like a pro. It turned
out to be a fun evening. 
One day we decided to go to Belize City on the taxi boat.
Each person we talked to told us a different departure time and different
estimates on the length of the trip. One said it would take an hour and fifteen
minutes another said 5 ½ hours! Some said it would be a nice day trip and
others said it wasn’t safe. Finally, after we heard more negative comments
about Belize City than positive, we decided to stay in Ambergris and forget it.
We were amazed though at all the different variations on the same information.
We told them they could get a pilot as we did to help
enter reef here for $100 or we could give them the way points to get in. (We
now have waypoints as Jim and the Captain next door went out one day on the
Captain’s dinghy and created waypoints to get in and out of the entrance
safely). He thanked us but said they thought they’d have an easier time getting
into the reef at Belize City.
We decided we just wanted to get to Florida. We had
decided not to have the expensive parts shipped to fix the stabilizers. Now
without stabilizers, the rest of the trip will be difficult. We were perhaps
4-5 days of steady cruising from the Florida Keys. To us, after the distance we
covered, it seemed like nothing. We decided we didn’t want to spend the time in
Cancun. It sounded overcrowded and touristy from the books after where we’ve
been and the anxiety to get home was overwhelming. With that in mind we made
preparations for Knotty Dog to leave no matter what the seas were.
