Caribbean Sea Adventures

South Water Cay (16:48.929'N, 88:05.035'W)  This in the one place out on the reef that you can fill up your water tanks.  Mac at IZE can fix you right up.  While there, be sure to inquire about dinner.  They serve a family style dinner at very reasonable prices.  If you are spending the night (necessary if you are having dinner as travel after dark is verboten!), be sure to set your anchors in the patches of sand you can find amongst the turtle grass.  We rode out a fairly strong NW blow quite comfortably after digging in both our Delta and Fortress in a patch of sand.  A more protected anchorage is available near by at Twin Cay if you are not staying for dinner.  While ashore, be sure to check out all the displays and activities at IZE as well as chatting with the folks at the bar.  It is quite an interesting operation, bringing folks from all over for a variety of environmental oriented studies. For snorkeling, take your dinghy to the edge of the cut between S. Water and  Carrie Bow Cay.  Very healthy coral and lots of fish.  We speared several for dinner.  TOP

Carrie Bow Cay  You can take your dinghy across the cut to snorkel here, but we motored over and anchored just West of the cay in eight feet.  The snorkeling along the North was great.  Once again, the edge of the reef at the cut was the most vibrant, but the flats inside the reef had lots of soft coral and fish.  We also found a good supply of conch.  If you make it to S. Water Cay, don't fail to make the short trip over to Carrie Bow - you will not be disappointed!  TOP

Spruce Cay (16 43.393N, 88 09.507W)  What a find!  Getting here is not easy. (In fact, this area is off limits to charters without a captain.)  From Carrie Bow Cay, you need to wind your way around numerous patches of coral that rise from 60' to 4' or less!  In good weather the color changes make this easy, but don't attempt it if it is overcast!  Once you get to Spruce Cay, you wind your way around a full circle of coral into a beautiful lagoon.  It is quite deep inside (30' in places), but you can find shallower areas to anchor.  You will be well protected and totally surrounded with reef.  We found the best snorkeling to the West, but it all was fun.  And what a great place to be - in your very own tropical lagoon.  TOP

Cary Cay (16:31.064N, 88:11.733W) This was not one of our favorite cays, but that may be at least partly related to the fact that we dragged anchor here.  The holding on the south part of the cay is very poor in hard pack.  It is a bit better further North, but still not great if the weather isn't settled.  The cay, itself, is mostly a tangle of mangroves.  There is nice snorkeling off the southern tip, but we never cold find the elkhorn coral that the guide book talks about (and the main reason we came to the cay).  Whether it was a victum of a hurricane or we just missed it I cannot say for sure.  TOP

North Long Cocoa Cay  This is not an overnight anchorage, but one of the best day stops we had.    There is a tiny beach at the north end of the cay, about where the sun reflection is in the picture.  It suffered some hurricane damage, but has plenty or room to lay in the sand (you'll undoubtedly be alone) and is fun to explore around the tip of the cay.  The best snorkeling is near the southern end of the cay, as indicated on the sketch map in the Cruising Guide.  The depths are only 3'-12', but the patch reef is just incredible.  It has the most beautiful array of soft coral I have ever seen.  Better than anything else we have seen in Belize so far and better than anything in the BVI or Grand Turk.  There were also lots of fishes.  This is definitely an island not to miss if you enjoy snorkeling!  TOP

Rendezvos Cay (#2) (16:33.1'N, 88:06.2'W)  Only a short sail from North Long Cocoa, Rendezvous Cay (this is not the Rendezous Cay noted above, but another cay with the same name.) is a good overnight spot, but you will have to pick which side of the island to anchor on depending on the expected winds.  You will also have to sail out around the large shoal that separates the two.  It is easy to see, just don't think you can go over it.  The island is sort of dumbbell shaped with anchorages at the waist on either the north or south side.  The south side now has a rather imposing house which makes the north side more private.  The south also has a shallow (3'-4') reef blocking you from getting real close to shore.  We anchored on the north because at the time the wind was from the SE.  It shifted around to NE during the night, but we suffered no ill effects other than twisted anchor lines (we always set two anchors - a TMM policy).  On the north (that is the GPS coordinates given above) you can approach shore very closely and really get protection from all but north winds.  Just be sure to leave yourself enough room to swing without getting too close to what might become a lee shore.  Not much to snorkel here, but the pelicans put on a great show of coordinated diving as up to five of them hit the water at exactly the same time scooping up fish in close to shore.  TOP

Buttonwood Cay (16:32.349N, 88:03.183W) About as close to the 'badlands' as you want to get, this beautiful cay can safely be approached by sailing due North from the Queen Cays.  The water may be a bit choppy as it is open through the reef at Gladden Spitt.  Approaching on a northerly route, it is easy to avoid the scattered coral heads to both the East and West.  Anchor off the beach in 10-12' over a sandy bottom.  There is coral all around Buttonwood (except where you are anchored).  The best snorkeling is outside the reef.  If you have time, you will be well rewarded by snorkeling all the way around.  Depths range to 30', but the water is crystal clear and the coral beautiful and very healthy.  There is a fishcamp on shore by the beach, but when we visited in August, 2004, it was abandoned.  TOP

Little Water Cay (16:27.2'N, 88:05.7'W)  Sorry, no picture - next time!  This is a day stop, but definitely worth your time.  The entrance is a bit tricky, so you will definitely need good light.  The best spot to anchor is in the blue hole (no, not the blue hole - that is outside the reef) by the northeast end of the cay.  You will have to wend your way in watching for stray coral heads.  It shoals to 8'-9' with many heads too shallow to go over.  Once inside the hole, however, depths drop to 50'+.  Anchor on the edge of the hole in 15'-20' of water and be sure to allow room for swing.  The bottom is sand with good holding.  Unlike Belize's famous blue hole which is a diver's paradise, this blue hole is just sand; the good snorkeling is in and amongst the coral heads you dodged on the way in.  There is a huge area to snorkel.  Much of the coral appears to have been chopped off about 10' below the surface, presumably by hurricane Iris.  This damaged coral is now support exuberant growth of soft coral of every variety.  There are also many patches of new hard coral on sand with depths of 6'-20'.  Abundant sea life thrive in this beautiful area.  TOP

South Long Cocoa Cay (16:29.74'N, 88:12.727'W) was our first night anchorage as it offered more protection from the NE than Laughing Bird Cay, our original destination.  This island was the most changed from its description in the Cruising Guide. The guide describes an elevation of 80' at the south end of the cay.  The only thing over about 3' are the palms that are repopulating that end of the cay.  The anchorage described in the guide is still a good choice, but it is actually easier to get to than described as the gap in the reef is much wider.  There is still the 2' deep area separating the anchorage from a lagoon.  The other side of the lagoon now has a break in it not shown on the sketch chart.  There are fishing camps on both sides of the break.  The camp on the north looks quite permanent with cement block buildings and thatch roof.  The southern camp is more typical - branches and blue plastic tarp.  We were able to fake enough Spanish to communicate our desire for lobster (langusta) from a fisherman and enjoyed a delightful repast of bar-b-q lobster tail that night.  Snorkeling here offers a variety of venues.  You can snorkel the shallows and mangrove roots for a fascinating look at how islands are formed.  Closer to the anchorage there is lots of soft coral growing on parts of reef destroyed by the hurricane.  To the north of the anchorage there are scattered patch reefs with abundant life - hard and soft coral, and lots of fish. A couple of large gray angels were surprisingly tame and curious.  They just hung around looking us over as we did the same to them.  TOP

Laughing Bird Cay (16:26.7'N, 88:11.9'W)  This was the biggest disappointment of the trip.  Perhaps it is not fair as the major problem was that the mooring (there is only one - first come first served) is quite a ways from shore and poorly protected from anything but a true East wind.  The night we spent here had NE winds and we rocked enough that Deb was seasick.  Don't stay on the mooring in anything but an E wind.  You could try anchoring closer to shore, but a better bet is to snorkel here and scoot over to South Long Cocoa Cay or CC Cay for the night.  Since Laughing Bird is a National Park, you must pay $8.00Bz per person to visit.  The procedure is pretty laid back.  You go ashore and tell them how many in your party and pay the fee.  There is a nice thatched roof picnic area and grills on shore.  There are also floats to tie up your dinghy while snorkeling.  The snorkeling is definitely worth the visit!  We snorkeled almost 360° (skipping the northern tip).  Here we found the most abundant fishes of our trip.  Several good sized barracuda, a 5' reef shark, a 100+ pound tarpon, and lots of reef fish.  There were also lots of lobster - several in the 5-10 lb. range.  You can really tell this is a protected sight!  Unfortunately, the elkhorn and staghorn coral mentioned in the guidebook must have fallen victim to Iris as there were none to be found.  TOP

Pompion Cay (16:23.414N, 88:06.303W)  This gem of an island held two separate treats. First, when we took the dinghy around to the tiny lagoon that you can barely make out in the right side of the picture (South end of cay), we found a fisherman happy to sell us lobster.  Second, the 'white rock' located just to the Southwest of the cay (and abeam of our boat from which the picture was taken) was one of the best snorkeling spots in our trip.  Depths ranged to 30' but huge coral heads rose nearly to the surface.  With scuba or a hookah this would be a playground that could easily consume a day or two.  Even with just snorkel gear, it made a great afternoon as we swam all the way around 'the rock'.  TOP

Ranguana Cay (16:19.9'N, 88:09.1'W)  This was the only night of our trip where we had to share the anchorage with other boats.  Ranguana Cay is now an outpost for Robert's Grove, with a cluster of tiny cottages and a thatched roof dining area.  The local proprietor was not willing to sell us fish or lobster, but offered that we could join them for a fish dinner @ $25.00Bz.  We opted to eat on our boat, but the meals did look good.  With other boats to consider, we set two anchors 90° apart to limit swing.  The best anchoring is found by working your way around the coral and into a sandy area near shore about mid-island in 9' of water.  There is a $5.00Bz fee for using the beach, but if you just want to come ashore and look around, no seems to care.  The snorkeling here is best directly out from the sandbar.  Deep canyons of coral lead out towards the barrier reef.  We saw a spotted ray with a span of at least 6' and the biggest hog fish I have ever seen.  On a return trip in August, 2004, we found there were four mooring balls taking up much of the anchorage, but it was still possible to get in to anchor as above.   TOP

Tom Owen's Cay (16:11.288'N, 88:13.996'W)  East Tom Owen's Cay was virtually eliminated by Iris.  What's left is a tiny plot of land with one tangle of driftwood and a makeshift fishing camp.  Fortunately, the white tarp used on the fish camp makes a marker for heading in.  It is visible from a great distance and the perfect spot to head for when approaching from Victoria Channel.  The entrance is straight forward if you follow the chart and description from the guide book.  I'm not sure the shoal area between the cays still exists, but we just hugged the shore of West Tom Owen's Cay in case.  There is plenty of room to anchor off this cay which, strangely, seems to have had little or no damage!  Even though pretty much leveled, East Cay still provides great protection from the East and West Cay from the North making this a very nice overnight.  There is a large area to snorkel.  Starting off the West point of West Cay, you can circle around the anchorage about 180°.  The coral just to the SW of the tip of the island is particularly beautiful.  We also took out dinghy out to the barrier reef and anchored in a sandy patch with about 4' of water (by a break in the reef where the surf is not breaking).  There we were able to snorkel through canyons of coral quite different from the patch coral elsewhere.TOP                                                       

Northeast Sapodilla Cay (16:08.402'N, 88:15.310'W)  People we met at Ranguana told us that if we went to NE Sapodilla we would find a local captain who would not only sell us fish or lobster, but would also take us diving on the barrier reef for a very reasonable fee.  For these reasons we added this destination to our itinerary.  Well, neither was true (I think they probably meant Frank's Cay.), but NE Sapodilla is such an overwhelmingly beautiful anchorage that we didn't even mind - it would have been a shame to miss such a spot!  Following the sketch map and comments in the guidebook it was easy (if a bit nerve wracking for Deb) to wend our way in through the coral and into a nice sandy anchorage close to shore in 7' of water.  The water colors are unbelievable!  From dark blue to palest turquoise.  Photos just don't do it justice.  On shore we found some hurricane damage on the south end, but heavy palm forest on the rest of the island mostly unscathed.  The beaches are a combination of sand and limestone with lots of conch piles.  If you walk around the East side of the cay, you can actually walk out onto the barrier reef, wading in 2'-3' of water.  There really isn't much to snorkel on NE Sapodilla unless you want to try going out through the cut in the barrier reef with your dinghy and snorkeling the outside (we didn't), but it is an easy dinghy ride over the beautiful turquoise shallows (too shallow in places even for the dinghy!) to Frank's Cay where we found some very nice snorkeling.                                                                                                        TOP

Frank's Cay We didn't sail to Frank's Cay.  Actually you can't sail to Frank's Cay.  That lovely turquoise water you can just make out in the picture is only 2' deep and beyond it is coral.  To get from NE Sapodilla to Frank's, you need to go all the way back out to Victoria Channel and come back in.  Frank's Cay is quite developed with several rather fancy appearing cabanas on the beach and so we found NE Sapodilla a preferable anchorage and just used the dinghy to get over to the reefs off Frank's for snorkeling.  If you do sail to Frank's Cay, you might go ashore and see if you can find the captain who is not at NE Sapodilla.  The best snorkeling we found here is about 300 yards off the West point of Frank's Cay.  There is a drying (dead) reef that runs north-south, but just west of that are beautiful patches of living coral with lots of fish life in ~15' of water.  Spend some time in the dinghy to locate the spot and you will be well rewarded.  TOP