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| "Het jy al ingegooi - nee ek soek nog die glase!" sorry this cannot translate to another language |
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| Catching up on stories from Namibia. |
We weighed anchor at Livingston at 19h00, to cross the sand bar before high tide, about 20h00. Tension was running high on-board knowing the river is lower than normal and we have 2 extra persons, their luggage and extra provisions for a couple of weeks....(beer, rum, wine and yeah some food). Jaco stayed at the steering while the rest of us gathered on the bow to try and lift the keel. He saw 0 on the depth sounder at times crossing the bar, but we "plowed" through the soft mud and dropped anchor at Tres Puntas 2 hours later.
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| arrival at Ranguana, Belize. |
An unforeseen Westerly blew all night. Which caused a swell rolling in together with a agonizing chop picking up from across the bay. Then to top this, Jaco's back went into a spasm, luckily Anita was on-board to massage his back and Joep could assist me with the anchor, when our snubber broke from the chop.
Joep impressed us all, willing to prepared supper in this uncomfortable hop, skip and jump conditions. From now on we compare any anchorage to Tres Puntas! (Un Punta, Dos Puntas or Tres Puntas depedng on the comfort. )
The sail the following day to Ranguana (Belize) went uneventful, with moderate winds.
The only exception was mayhem when the reel screamed and Jaco caught a good size King Mackerel.
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| Hee hah....diving on the anchor in clear water again. |
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| King Mackerel catch of the day. |
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| Master fish processor. |
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| Mmm... sashimi and Carpaccio |
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| Delicious! |
Joep got for the first time acquainted with conch.
He helped diving for them;
then the slimy-gooey cleaning of it with is teeth;
and then of course feasting on it, served in various different forms from the galley.
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| Dolphins welcoming us at anchor. |
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| Strong rum cocktails at Ranguana, the smiles says it all... |
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| Best friends! Cheers to many more exotic destinations! |
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| Christelle was relieved for Joep's help to weigh anchor. |
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| Successfully checked in and "robbed"of a couple of 100 Dollars in Placencia! |
Jaco and I have a custom to celebrate a new country with sparkling wine.
Lobster head meat fried in garlic butter served with paw paw and crackers made for excellent snacks accompanying the sparkles for the celebration.
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| Home made Piña colada |
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| All smiles... |
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| Best ingredient for any recipe are eager consumers! |
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| Getting in the Christmas spirit when Songerie was transformed by colouful lights. |
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| This years hanging Christmas tree is made from driftwood, seashells from Venezuela and decorated with the lights. |
Next few days we slowly sailed North in the direction of Turneffe, with stop overs at Bluefield and Blueground range.
Joep caught a perfect size spanish mackerel and Jaco supplied the galley with a hog fish.
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| Catch of the day. |
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| And Joep got the biggest one!! |
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| Lobster served in butter white wine sauce. |
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| Hah, another catch of the day, baracuda panfried in lime and butter for breakfast |
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| Jaco filled the fridge with a wide selection of fish. Enough for the next few days! |
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| Never miss an opportunity to take a looong shower! |
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| Eyeballing when we motor through the reef . |
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| Getting decent for a Christmas dinner. |
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| Christmas wishes from the Dolphins at a perfect sunset. |
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| Pretty lady on-board. |
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| How beautiful they clean up!! |
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| Yeah ,even us clean up well. |
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| Roasted stuffed turkey, cooked according to a Portuguese recipe. |
The weather played along to add to a perfect memorable Christmas at Turneffe.
We had rain when clean up was needed and clear skies the rest of the time.
Jaco and Joep got ample food from the sea to ensure a festive time ahead!
We took the dogs for a walk and Anita for tressure hunt (collecting shells and old coral) at a tiny strip beach.
To reach the beach, one walk through shallow water and sharps coral. All had a quite a laugh when we ended up collecting old shoes for our soft feet!
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| Joep and Anita were at home in Songeries galley, preparing delisious breaksfast feasts. |
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| Fashionable shoes. |
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| struggle back to the dingy. |
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| Great sail to Tobacco Cay. |
We anchored at the various spots at Turneffe and when a cold front approached us, we sailed back to Tobacco cay's well protected anchorage, with a fridge full of fish, lobster and conch.
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| Dolphins playing on the bow. |
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| Collection of conch... we did not keep them all, chose the biggest ones. |
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| Another spanish mackerel catch by Joep. |
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| Happy smiles . |
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Nicaraguan Flor de Cana, Venezuelan Santa Teresa 3 different Cuban rums
were compared by 4 professional rum drinkers! |
When the cold front (rain ) reached us, Songerie was safely tucked behind mangroves and we all ready for a day of fish smoking and rum tasting!
(as well as water catching and doing essential laundry !)
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| wees net regverdig. |
Anita bought along from Namibia hair high-light tint and the foils from Peet, my hairdresser back home. She then tinted my hair, for a Christmas present.
In the mean time the men collected a bucket filled with small conch for supper.
Time was running out and we set sail back to Placencia in time for New Years Eve.
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| Bucket full of small type conch. (different species from the big ones) |
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| Canela can not withstand a opportunity to kiss Anita, sunbathing on the coach roof |
We were all hoping for a cobia catch... the one that up till now has evaded us.
Suddenly, about 10Nm from Placencia the reel screeched like a tortured banshee. Line ripped of the spool as the hooked cobia crisscrossed behind Songerie.
Mayhem on-board Songerie!
Joep got hold of the 'koeipoepol' (afrikaans for fishing rod holder), rod and slowly reeled the fish in, Jaco ready with gaff and speargun assisted Joep, I furled in the genoa to reduce speed and Anita took care of Coco and Canela. (whose performance matched the frenzied fish on the line)
When the cobia was alongside Songerie, Jaco shot it with the speargun and they landed this exquisite beauty.
A successful team effort!
The BBQed, mouthwatering steaks served with a pepper sauce and rice, a meal fit for a king.
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| An essential task on-board, is keeping the anchor-rum bottle full. |
Last day of 2017 has arrived. A pleasant day pub crawling, and playing this beach boules.
Just unwinding and hanging loose all day.
New Years Eve, Joep cooked a slow-chicken-Afrikaner-potjie and served it at 24h00.
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| pub crawling. |
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| Christelle relaxed at Tipsy Tuna |
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| The sail trip. |
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| We love fresh Coco water. |
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| Another tick on Joep's bucket lsit.. drinking coco water from the source. |
They left Songerie on the 2nd of January.
The boat is quiet, everybody, including the dogs, are down and depress for at least a week.
(We had to get moving towards Honduras, but just lacked any enthusiasm)
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| Its been absolutely fantastic, thank you Joep and Anita!! |
