Placencia and Beyond
Our boat Arya!
Sometimes in life we are lucky enough to be invited, and treated, to a wonderful adventure and this recent one was no different. Peter Bailey is someone I used to work with back in my Studio/E days. He is one amazing person for whom I have much respect. He was celebrating his wife Tanya’s 50th birthday, so he decided to rent a 4 stateroom catamaran and sail the southern cayes of Belize, off the coastal town of Placencia. Peter had FB messaged me as he knew we now lived in Belize. I was so thrilled to hear from him and was hopeful his sailing journey would bring him to San Pedro.
Because of time restraints and navigational waters, it was not possible for him to captain his way north. So instead he said, “why don’t you and Mark join us on our adventure from Placencia. This sounded like a grand idea, so we purchased an open ended ticket on Maya Air to meet the the Bailey’s and their other friends. Peter, Tanya, Rebecca and Steve, greeted us at the Moorings pier, where we hopped aboard Arya, a beautiful 44 foot catamaran. Peter is a very cautious and a happy captain who entrusted all of us as his first mates. After getting our catamaran all geared up with food, beer, ice and water, we set sail for an adventure of a lifetime.
Our first stop was a 3 hour journey to Hatchet Caye, this beautiful little island resort was a bit under construction, but it did not stop the proud workers on the caye to offer us wonderful food, drinks and awesome customer service. Our first night was filled with grilled fresh Tuna on the catamaran, with nummy side dishes and rum (and beer!) to boot. It doesn’t take long to get to know one another being in close quarters, our new friends felt like we had known each other for years!
Day one, we woke up to take the little dingy boat and snorkel around Hatchet Caye, it was amazing, everywhere you swam, beautiful sea life and colorful coral. That evening we ventured to the Caye for a warm dinner at the lovely resort restaurant. With a waitstaff of one, and one cook, our meals of fresh lobster, shrimp bisque and warm home made bread, was the perfect ending to a great day aboard Arya. The next morning we woke up and set sail to some surrounding Caye’s to do a bit more snorkeling and diving. The waters were as Caribbean blue as you can imagine and a balmy 84 degrees. Or day ended with a bit of Liars Dice, a new game for our guests and tons of fun!
Our next stop was onto King Lewey’s Island. Let me paint the picture for you, this tiny island out in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, pulls you in with its quirky fun pirate setting. As you approach the island, you can see the buildings made up of the colors of the rainbow, you can’t miss it! Upon arrival, you feel like you have just landed on an episode of Pirates of the Caribbean. The whole island is in “costume”. We grabbed our trusty little dingy and landed ashore. This was Tanya’s 50th birthday night with a big celebration to boot! We kicked up the night with delicious food, merriment drinks, a birthday cake and a tons of giggles for all. We ended the night with another game of Liars Dice, the birthday girl won.
We enjoyed King Lewey’s for a couple nights until it was time to sail back to Placencia. The trip was coming to a close, the days of snorkeling were ending and it was time to sail back to reality! The trip back was a bit more quiet than on the way out. We were all reminiscing the moments of our adventure. As we approached the marina, our empty slip was awaiting our arrival.
We had one more night in the quaint little town of Placencia. Mark and I packed our bags, headed off to the Pur Hotel’s Caribbean Cabanas for our final night. Our friends were ending their last night on the boat, so we decided to meet for some homemade pizza for our meal together on this trip and to say good bye to our friends. Now it was my birthday celebration and a what a perfect night for my final evening together! Thanks to our smart, amazing captain and his wife. Our new found friends Rebecca and Steven. We will never forget the trip of a lifetime to Placencia.