Lighthouse Reef

Friday, January 24, 2003

017-11.940 N
087-35.940 W

Ahoy from Lighthouse Reef in Belize. We're at another of the off-lying atolls that surround Belize. We made the 18 nm trip from Turneffe on Monday. For the most part we had a great sail over here with 15-20 kts on the beam. When we got about 4 miles from Lighthouse winds suddenly stopped and seas got very confused. Then the winds switched 90 degrees from the NW to the NE and we had winds on the nose. Amazing! We also saw some whales on the way over here. We were too far away to identify them, but they were definitely whales.

Entering Lighthouse is very tricky as the cut in the reef is very narrow. From there we followed 7 waypoints to get us around the island to the anchorage on the east side. Believe me, you drive the rhumb line *exactly* as there are patch reefs on both sides. The depth gets down to 7' in some areas, so it's a bit exciting. On one trip the wing keel bumped slightly when we were rocking due to waves. When we got here there were about 6 other boats already anchored, most of whom we knew from other trips. That was nice.

Guy & I headed out for a dive on some balls near Half Moon Cay. The dinghy ride there was very long, rough, and wet. We met 2 other dinghies from the anchorage there and dove on a spectacular wall. There was a strong current going over the wall and downward, and you had to crab your way along the wall and carefully watch your depth. I was very unhappy when we got out and I saw that some of the other divers had been spear fishing. These balls were inside of an underwater World Heritage Park and it was very obvious that the fish were used to divers and showed no fear of them. Believe me, there's plenty of fish outside of the park and there was no reason to be fishing there.

The next day we moved back around the island to the west side so that we could be close to the dive balls on that side. Guy & I did 2 dives and Sue did 1. All of the dives were great. I brought my spear gun and got 2 nice sized Hog fish, a red Grouper and a lobster, and yes, we were outside of the park. Not bad for my first time spear fishing! That evening we had the boats Kiwi and Que Linda over for drinks, and it turned into a dinner party where we cooked up all of the fish and had a great time.

The next day Sue, Guy and I did another dive on the west side and at one point we came upon an area where there was a very strong current against us. Everywhere you looked there were LARGE black groupers, and I mean large...probably 36+ inches long. Guy had the spear gun, but I would have been very afraid of shooting one as these were big fish and unless you killed it right away, it could have pulled you down the wall. And these are beautiful fish. When we returned to where the dinghies where, we found a series of little channels with grottos that were just beautiful. I spent probably 10 minutes just drifting through them. Spectacular!

By the time that we got back to BlueJacket the wind had picked up tremendously out of the west due to an approaching cold front, so we decided to move the boat back to the east side. During the night the front came through and we had strong winds from the N and cold rain. Some of the boaters are trying to arrange a dinghy appetizer party tonight, where we'll all make an appetizer and we'll meet in the middle of the anchorage where we'll tie them together and munch away. Personally I think that they're crazy as it's raining like crazy. But the front is moving rapidly away, and who knows, maybe it'll turn into a nice day!

Tomorrow we'll leave early and make a run back to Belize City as Guy has to fly out on Sunday. I hope that he's had a fun, relaxing trip. When we're in Moho Cay, we'll work on the generator. I just talked to Art on Margaritaville, who has the same Fischer Panda generator that I have, and his generator just "started running too fast." I knew exactly what his problem was as this was the first failure that I had on mine...the weights came off of the governor. I told Art to repeat my mantra "I Love my Fischer Panda..."

-- Geoff, Sue & Guy

Log ID: 334