You Better
In the pristine waters of
By
Terence Loose
|
M |
y yacht’s cockpit came
into view as I rounded the point of South Water Caye. My wife Gayl lay reading
in the shade of the 47-foot Moorings catamaran’s large bimini; near her our
three-year-old daughter Leila had her coloring books laid out on the big
cockpit floor. I was on the yacht’s sailboard, renewing my back-breaking love/hate
affair with windsurfing while the warm
Splash…
The sailboard scored
again as I pulled my patented head-over-boom wipeout, the crowd pleaser that
ends with me sucking water under the windsurfer’s sail and Leila cheering for
more.
I struggled to the
surface, fully expecting to pop up in my bedroom. My cold, dark bedroom.
But no, the sun still
blazed, the water was still warm: This was the vacation I hoped for when I
booked it from the confines of my paper-cluttered office. Hell, it was the
vacation Trump hopes for. But it was also the vacation I had never expected.
In my own defense, a
family vacation to an exotic, remote locale (read: third world and far from
decent medical care) can strike fear into the heart of the most adventurous
dad. For the less adventurous – i.e., me – it’s downright terrifying. The hours
spent hunting for a safe restaurant, keeping a toddler entertained, renting
equipment, and chasing away Barney-sized bugs and street vendors with the
tenacity of deranged seagulls can turn a family vacation into something more exhausting than the office Christmas party.
And I didn’t even mention the mountains of gear and toys to pack, the research
of best spots to visit, and, worst, the perpetual exchange rate calculations.
So when Gayl, Leila
and I signed up for a week in
By the second day of
the trip, however, it was obvious that I’d been dead wrong on just about every
score – as usual, really. While it was true that sailing among the hundreds of
cayes (pronounced keys) and reefs in
We were also members
of a relatively select few, for while the Caribbean’s more popular locales –
mainly the islands on the sea’s eastern perimeter – are overrun with tourists,
tourism is a very new industry in
The region just south
of the Yucatan Peninsula, known today as Belize, survived Spanish slave
traders, European diseases, cutthroat pirates, and more than a few wars. Not to
mention Catholic missionaries. It’s a story that’s been told a thousand times
about a thousand regions, but few waited so long for self rule.
All this makes the
fact that the new
The first day, we
sailed from
There is a down side,
however – aside from the pirates, I mean. Because of the reef and the shallow
coastal waters, much of the snorkeling off the mainland’s beach is poor, the
shallows plagued with algae. Tourists often must take expensive and
time-consuming boat trips from their resort to offshore cayes for decent
snorkeling. During the week, we saw their tired and sunburned faces often and
our decision to charter a Moorings yacht seemed better with every one. We were
usually just finishing a great snorkel or beach outing – or sailboard disaster
– a hundred yards or so from our boat. As they readied themselves for a wet
90-minute boat ride back to land, we saluted them with fresh sashimi and cold
Heineken and almost felt guilty. Almost.
In fact, we fell in
love with South Water Caye instantly. It’s privately owned and is only
three-quarters of a mile long and a quarter-mile wide at its widest point. But
there’s plenty there. The south end is home to the Pelican Beach Resort and
fronted by wondrous coral gardens that are actually the inside edge of the
It would have been
very journalistic to speak with these people. And each morning I woke up with
the strong intention of doing just that.
But then the wind
would fill and the sailboard would call. Next, Captain Allan would insist on
towing me around the large bay on the kneeboard (I think he had more fun than I
did since every ride ended in a high-speed rag doll wipeout). After that, Gayl
and Leila would convince me that a day at the beach was the kind of research I
should pursue – snorkeling soon followed.
“Good writing needs
first-hand experience, right?” Gayl said.
So I’d load up the
kayak, our new family wagon, and we’d paddle to the perfect family beach, with
calm shallows and soft sand. To break up the long, relaxing hours in the sun
(as an American, I can only handle so much down time), I’d take long,
investigational snorkels in the water, with my daughter tagging along in a tow
inner tube. Finally, the day would finish up with cocktails and perfect sunsets
in our yacht’s cockpit. I’d promise myself I’d talk to someone, anyone, mañana
and we’d toast to our good fortune. Then, the white linen and gourmet food
would start and I’d almost feel guilty. Almost.
If there was any doubt
that we had ventured far from the gloss of the OC, it disappeared on the fourth
day out when we passed a small disc of sand with a one-room shack on it. The
caye was so small, in fact, that the shack took up about 98% of the caye’s
landmass – sort of like a home in CdM, but worth about $4 million less. Captain
Allan steered us in for a closer look and, as I worried that our wake might
flood the sad little structure, he said, “I call it
“Who lives there?”
asked Gayl.
“A winner of the
The story goes that
about five years ago a huge load of plastic-wrapped kilos of cocaine washed up
on
“To this day, whenever
we take locals out for a day sail, all they do is watch the water,” said
Captain Allan.
In a young country
where the per capita income is $4,900 and 33% of the country lives below the
poverty line, it’s understandable why.
“It’s really sad,”
said Fenella, “I’ve heard stories about five-year-old kids walking down the
street with a bunch of kilos slung over their backs.”
“The smart ones sold
the stuff,” said Captain Allan. And the not-so-smart ones? “Well, they didn’t.”
He nodded toward the island.
I looked at the shack
on the island and couldn’t imagine anything worse than being hopped-up on
cocaine all alone on a humid, hot, 300-square-foot spit of sand.
We set
Predictably, the sea
was calm, the sun was out and the mood was festive. It hit me that, unlike most
other land-based vacations, I had already begun to unwind, a mere 24 hours
after leaving the bustling OC. Part of it I attributed to the destination –
Belize is almost subversive in it’s mellowing effect. But most of it was due to
the mode of travel: the yacht. Sure, I was being ferried and pampered on a
luxurious four-stateroom sled, but the age-old simple appeal of taking to the
sea and sailing for the clean horizon was still overwhelming. I suspect that,
secretly, Columbus didn’t risk all to prove that the world was round, but
sailed the ocean blue just to get away from the paperwork that came with all
his claims; he just had to get out of the damn office. If they had email and
cell phones in 1392, his grandfather would have discovered
Even Leila was leaving
the stress of preschool and her intensive finger-painting regimen behind. Five
minutes after stepping onto the boat, she shed all her clothes and declared she
would be the “happy naked pirate girl.” Thanks to the catamaran’s huge covered
cockpit and stability – the things are like floating condos, perfect for either
honeymooners or families with children – she got her wish.
But unlike any real
pirate, she had little fight left in her. We were all mesmerized by the palette
of calming blues, accompanied by the soothing soundtrack of wind and rushing
water.
“How about fresh fish
for lunch,” I said, and reached for the yacht’s fishing pole.
“Well, I was planning
on shrimp cocktail and–”
“No, no, we’re
underway,” I said. “We’ve gotta fish.” I had done a bit of talking to Captain
Allan about my fishing days, and saw the chance to prove myself.
“Shrimp sounds good,
though,” my wife said.
I ignored her and
clipped a lure onto the line.
Ten minutes later I
was still trying to untangle the bird’s nest I had created when I forgot to put
my thumb on the spool as I fed it out.
Captain Allan walked
over and assessed the situation. “I’ll get the shrimp out,” he said.
Luckily, all was
forgotten when we made our destination, Ranguana Caye, the sort of tiny island
hideaway that seems dreamed up for a Hollywood movie: the size of a few
football fields, and featuring a bar, a palapa with a hammock, a perfect beach
and coral garden, and few visitors. This would become our home for the next
three nights, much to the surprise and delight of Captain Allan. “Most guests
want to rush around, hitting at least two cayes a day,” he said. “They end up
seeing so much, they don’t see anything at all.” Ranguana Caye also held a
sentimental spot in his and Fenella’s heart. Located just a mile inside the
Belize Barrier Reef, this was the first bit of Belize they saw after sailing
across the Caribbean and Atlantic,
delivering a Moorings yacht from Europe. “We saw it and we thought, yes,
We echoed that
thought, and quickly fell into another routine of snorkeling, windsurfing and
beach-going like the days at South Water Caye.
Here, I had a few
extra adventures, however. The first was diving the Barrier Reef. Since we were
already anchored less than a mile from the wonder, I got to avoid the hour-plus
boat ride from land. I merely stepped from transom to transom, had barely
enough time to get my gear ready before we were at the dive site, and splashed
in. In fact, between dives, they motored me back to my yacht so I wouldn’t miss
Fenella’s lunch.
Thanks to an uncommon
conservation effort,
But I found true
adventure – or at least as close as a middle-aged family man can get – without
any guide. The sailboard had provided a few – the time I sailed far down wind
from the boat only to discover that wand and current were going to make it
impossible to get back before nightfall. After I struggled with the sail for 20
minutes, Allan showed up in the dinghy and towed me into the lee of a caye –
where I promptly sailed into a coral head and knocked the skeg off my board.
“You’ve done this
before, right?” he asked.
I took the fifth.
That afternoon, the
last we were to spend on the boat, was quiet. Gayl and Leila were relaxing in
the yacht’s hammock, Allan was practicing various cloth napkin folds – he
surprised my daughter with a different animal or flower every night – and
Fenella was, of course, preparing to cook.
“What’s for dinner,
Nella,” Allan asked.
“I think we’re down to
the chicken,” she said.
“No,” I broke in.
“We’ll have fish.”
“I wish we could but
we’re all out–”
“I’ll handle it.”
I went to the stern
and loaded my speargun, mask and fins in the kayak. Allan watched.
“How about snapper?” I
said. I had a feeling Captain Allan’s belief in my late-night stories of
spearing mahi mahi in the
I paddled off toward
where I had seen dozens of snapper and hog fish while snorkeling the day
before.
The first kink in my
plan was rounding the point of Ranguana Caye. Our boat was in the lee of the
island, to the south, while dinner was swimming in the waters to the north. The
day before, the winds were light, but now a strong trade had kicked up,
creating a wicked current that ripped around the point.
After 25 minutes of
tough, wet work, I got to a good place in the reef, however, about 20 feet
deep, with lots of life. Victory was virtually guaranteed. I swam down and tied
the kayak off to a coral head, then climbed back aboard to put my gear on.
Once in the water, I
swam up current a little ways, then went to load my speargun, which required
stretching two tight bands of surgical tubing back to a barb on the spear’s
shaft. I put the butt of the gun on my hip and pulled hard…
That’s when the gun
slipped off my hip and the barb tore through my trunks and ripped a two-inch
gash in my side. Blood oozed out, dark in the blue water. I thought of the
shark I had seen earlier, then shook it off: “So I’ll just get an appetizer and
get back.”
After only a few
moments I found a few decent-sized yellow-tailed snapper. I dove a few times on
them, trying to stay stealthy, despite the fact that I left a trail of blood
behind me anywhere I went.
Finally, I got near a
nice fish, and fired. This was it, finally I was going to get respect. I
envisioned the toast to hunter-gatherer dad over seared…wait a minute…
Was that my spear bent
and lodged under a rock? And where had dinner swum of to?
Back at the boat, my
wife and daughter were waiting for me.
“Daddy has a boo-boo,”
said Leila, pointing at my side and the bloody kayak.
Fenella heard and
brought out the First Aid Kit. Leila chose the yellow, smiley faced Band-Aide.
“Oh, that, well,
that’s nothing, really,“ I said. “Just a–”
Allan popped out. “So
what kind of fish are we having?” I handed my gear to him as he searched the
boat with his eyes.
“Well, it’s like
this,” I started. “There was a big–”
My daughter handed me
my smiley Band Aide.
“I’ll get the chicken
out,” Allan said.
“I’ll start the oven,”
Fenella said.
“Daddy, you’re funny,”
said Leila. I put the Band Aide on. At least I got my smile.
Sitting in the
But I was glad to have
them, because they were also reminders of the best family vacation I had ever
had, one where everything else went very right.
* * *
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Moorings Signature Vacations has
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call (888) 952-8420.