Here’s the report I promised of our sail charter out of Placencia, Belize, with a word of warning though -- we did not take the typical sailing itinerary from Placencia, but I hope this report will, nonetheless, be helpful to someone.
Our plan would take us from Placencia to the Sapodilla Cayes at the southern end of the barrier reef, then across the Bay of Honduras to Guatemala and up the Rio Dulce. This is a river, 16 miles long, that first cuts through a spectacular limestone canyon, with steep walls lined with jungle vegetation and wildlife, and then widens into a small lake and then into the largest freshwater lake in Guatemala, Lake Izabal. At the confluence lies the town of Fronteras, a frontier outpost straight out of the wild wild west, with a Central American twist. The surrounding countryside is dotted with primitive Mayan villages. We took 3 days to get there in our 32-foot monohull. So except for a couple nights in the cayes, this wasn’t really a Caribbean trip. That’s why I didn’t think to post my original trip report here.
We flew to Placencia from Belize City on a small single-prop Cessna. The village lies at the very tip of a long, narrow peninsula, at the end of 22 miles of rough dirt road. They say it's possible to drive to Placencia from Belize City, but I drove a mere 4 miles of that road, and, based on that experience, I consider Placencia to be accessible only by air or boat. I think you’d have to be a masochist to believe otherwise.
As for Placencia vs San Pedro. Well, San Pedro is a resort town. Placencia Village is not. I think change is coming fast, but Placencia is still a relatively undeveloped Creole village that shows few signs of being a tourist destination. Locals outnumbered visitors in the bars, and the few tourists we saw looked like they had stepped off the beaten path long ago. I read a description somewhere that Placencia is an “end-of-the-road place full of end-of-the-road people”. I think it’s much more charming than that description would imply, but it does feel remote and isolated there. That’s not to say that Placencia is primitive, by any means, but you won’t find much in the way of North American-style tourist facilities or amenities or nightlife in the village, which suited us just fine. We, however, never felt lacking in enternment as the village itself is a fascinating experience.
If you need a place with a/c and swimming pool, I think there are upscale resorts farther up the peninsula, but I found they were not easily accessible from Placencia because of the poor condition of the road.
I personally think that Placencia is wonderful. The beach is lovely. No cruise ship crowds. The beach bars are fun (but not raucous) and the food is good. The people are interesting and exceptionally friendly and helpful. It is still a relatively untouched tropical paradise.
On the provisioning front, we were able to get nearly everything on my list in the local market. The biggest disappointment was in not being able to find any pineapple juice, but we found a suitable substitute, and fresh whole pineapple was plentiful. The local beer is pretty good. But it’s not cheap. Provisioning in Guatemala was cheaper. And the beer was equally good.
Andy and Louise at TMM worked hard to make this trip happen for us. They were outstanding in many ways. They also confirmed what we had heard but had a hard time believing -- that these waters are basically encharted. There are no official navigational charts, just a general sketch chart and book prepared by a sailor in the early 1990’s that is still the only cruising guide available. For the most part, the pre-GPS cruising guide is fairly accurate, but you will want to supplement it with your own research. GoogleEarth was our best resource for GPS coordinates. I have heard that the author of the cruising guide is working on an update that is scheduled for publication in Jan ‘07.
Once you set sail from Placencia, you will pretty much be on your own. We only saw one other charter boat, and that was the first night out. Farther south we briefly shared an anchorage with a Guatemalan charter, but they left before nightfall. On the 2-day trip back from the Rio Dulce, I don’t think we saw another boat until we reached Placencia.
When I say you’ll be on your own, I don’t mean just in terms of solitude. We had no radio communication with the mainland or cellphone reception in the southern reef. It wasn’t a problem for us, but I don’t think I would recommend this trip for someone who is new to sailing or chartering and feeling insecure, because help is not just a phone call away. Good navigational skills are a must. Good boat handling skills are a must. Needless to say, there were no opportunities to reprovision or even get ice or water after leaving Placencia (until we got to Guatemala). This is not the BVI (which is practically Disneyland by comparison). But it is entirely doable for any self-sufficient person with basic skills. You just can't be an idiot and expect to get away with it like you can some places.
Supposedly, there is a British military outpost in the southern reef that you can reach in case of an emergency.
However... if you’ve ever longed for a quiet night on the boat anchored off a spit of white sand lit by moonlight, caressed by a soothing tropical breeze, with not a soul in sight, or sound to break the silence save the slapping of the water against the hull, just you and your best pal, this is the place. Or ... this is the perfect place to play the music as loud as you want without offending anyone. We found spectacular beaches in the Sapodillas. The snorkeling right off the boat was eye-popping. Most of the cayes we sailed by appeared to be uninhabited; however, some were littered with the ruins of abandoned, storm-damaged resorts, cabins, and fishing camps, so not exactly pristine.
For a less remote sailing experience, one could sail north from Placencia. I don’t really know, but I imagine that would be similar to Eva’s experiences out of San Pedro.
Here are links to my trip report on the Rio Dulce, and the rest of the trip to inland Belize and Guatemala. By the way, it's the proximity to extraordinary cultural sites on the mainland that puts Belize way ahead of any of the other Caribbean island sailing venues in terms of the richness of the entire vacation experience.
The Rio Dulce Cayo and Tikal
