Getting out of the river and into the ocean we passed through a beautiful narrow gorge on the Rio Dulce. The limestone cliffs are 300’ high and covered with green foliage.  As I stood on the bow of the boat, in the bright sun, taking in the incredible scenery while listening to the water lap against the boat I instantly understood the love of sailing. I could do this and I understand why my friends are taking advantage of this opportunity.

Our first night we docked just across from the town of Livingston, Guatemala. It was a rough night, with waves as high as 4 feet, but in the sailboat it felt like a gentle roller coaster. There was no protection from the wind so we dealt with the sea head on. The most nerve racking for me was getting back to our boat after dining on a pot of spaghetti aboard Hydro-Max. The waves were a couple feet high and the dinghy on Kajaya is a small zodiac boat.  Ana Bianca spent the night dealing with the boat, making sure the anchor was safe and keeping an eye to make sure the wind didn’t drag us into another vessel or onto land. It was a windy night.

Thankfully that didn’t last long and the following night we found a much calmer place to drop the anchor. It had the perfect amount of wind . A gentle rocking of the boat which easily puts us passengers to sleep early. We were among a handful of sailboats anchored off Placencia, Belize. This small coastal town is very quaint. It is clean and has a few restaurants and stores, there’s nothing fancy and not an American chain in site. We stopped by John the Bakerman and bought some fresh hot bread and cinnamon rolls.  Our next stop the Tobacco Reef Cays, I can’t wait to see some marine life.