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Boat ride that we were all looking forward to, turned out to be the boat ride from hell...

Belize Travel Blog › entry 9 of 19 › view all entries

3 days in LA before heading to a week long TB meet up in Belize. Then back to LA and up to Big Bear with Wendy for a few days, before going to Las Vegas for the weekend and a mini TB meet up. Yeehaaw... let the party begin.. I'll be on my way today.. :o))

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Boat ride that we were all looking forward to, turned out to be the boat ride from hell...

October 28, 2009

getting picked up

Woke up around 6am this morning to the steady beat of rain. Wait? RAIN? Damn.. it can't be raining, we're gonna be picked up by boat and taken to Ambergris Caye in 2 hours! Those of us that were up got a little frantic trying to reach Jimmy, the housekeeper and captain of the boat picking us up. Mark got in touch with him and they were on their way and would be at the villa about 7.30am. Now if only the rain would let up... And wouldn't you know.. in true tropical style, it stopped around 6.45 and the sun came out again. YAY!!

By now most of the gang were up and getting ready to leave. We packed up all our stuff and carried it outside and awaited the boat. All of us were in good mood and were looking forward to the 4 hours ride to the house in Ambergris Caye.

bags are ready

If we had only known what faith had it store for us.. but had we known we would probably have flown and missed all the "action". LOL

Jimmy and Felix came to the house around 8am and loaded all our luggage and the whole gang into the boat. It wasn't the biggest boat, but it had room for everyone and everything.. and the weather was now awesome, so I didn't think much of it. I was just excited about this adventure. And it sure did get off on the positive side. Clear blue sky, great friends on a boat crossing the Caribbean Sea. It was simply a wonderful day.
We had to stop for some gas and then we were on our way again. For about.. say 2 hours.. everything was just like a fairytale.

Dalmia waiting to get out of here..

But like a bad dream it ended just as fast as it started. The engine broke down in the middle of the sea and Jimmy had to call for help, (thank goodness for cellphone reception) and were promised someone would come and tow us to land. In the mean while we still were in great mood and were cooling off by swimming and drinking rum and beer. It was good times, but as the time passed we were starting to wondering whether we'd be picked up or not. After another 2 hours wait, 2 guys from Dangriga came and towed us into town. That took another hour at least, and the rope broke 3 times.
We were actually still in good spirits when we got to Dangriga, thinking that the other boat from Ambergris Caye would be there shortly to pick us up. We went to a diner right by the harbor, got something to eat and just chilled. Some took a walk around the town and others just sat at the diner talking. As time passed, we got more annoyed and kept asking Jimmy and Felix when the boat was supposed to turn up.

Cory's getting ready

They were constantly on the phone, with the owner of the boat and the house we were renting and with the guys coming down from Ambergris Caye and they were just as frustrated as we were.

When you hang around at places like this and has really nothing to do, you tend to get in contact with the locals. Some of them a bit shady offering drugs and others that were pretty cool. The diners owner's daughter was so adorable and clung to first Marshall then me. She "adopted" me and told me she wanted to go the store. Hahahaa.. I just couldn't resist her and took her to the store. I had to go there and get some stuff anyway, so it was cool.
Later I was outside talking with the guy that had towed us and he was a nice guy.

Marshall carrying the drinks to the boat.. very important stuff. LOL

Very friendly and informative. Talked about the town and how some areas of Dangriga are named after famous places. Like where we were at was called the Gaza Strip. Not so sure how reassuring that was though.. LOL. He also told me about young boys with nothing better to do then to cause trouble at night and that they have their share of bad people. But most people in Dangriga however are good, decent folks.

Anyways; after about 4 hours the boat from Ambergris Caye FINALLY came, BUT.... and it really was a BIG BUT!! the boat was smaller then the one we originally had and it couldn't fit 15 people and all our luggage. So now what?? Jimmy called the decision to ask the guy who had towed us to come with in his boat, which he agreed to do... only problem with this was that this guys boat was a small fishing boat and had no seats, no cushions and was so not made for crossing the Caribbean Sea.

Felix

Especially not in the dark and with rough sea as it now was. They picked out some of us to sit in that boat to even out the weight. Lucky for me, I was NOT picked out. And from here, the boat ride really turned into a nightmare for most. The waves were really bad and with the speed we were going, we got pounded against the sea on each and every wave. My neck was totally killing me, but I had under the circumstances a "good" boat ride. I felt more sorry for Erin who was in the other boat and for Dalmia that sat at the bottom of the boat I was in, hanging on to my leg for dear life. I guess worrying about others, took my mind off worrying about me. Our boat had a little light that the other smaller boat had to locate us by. And their engine was smaller then ours, so they had a hard time keeping up. Had it not been for the full moon, I don't know how it could have ended.

We made an "emergency" stop at Caye Caulker, and everyone got to stretch their legs before we went back in the boats to finish off this boat ride from hell.

Almost ready for take off...

We arrived at the house in Ambergris Caye at 10.30pm, so the ride that was supposed to take 4 hours actually took 14 hours.. and Man, the last 4 was the WORST ever!

And as if the horrible boat trip wasn't enough, turned out that most of Erin and Brett's equipment were broken. Both their laptops, their Canon camera and some lenses. SHIT!! I felt so sorry for them.. not only were they beaten, but 1000 of dollars worth of equipment were destroyed.

needless to say, most of us took an early night and tried to recuperate. A good night sleep can cure most things

(turned out later that my computer took a hit too and even though it works, the screen is pretty messed up)

PS.

goodbye Decked out House

We learned the next day that the boat that I was in had hit something going back to Dangriga in the morning.. it cracked, took in water and almost sank, and the smaller fishing boat almost capsized and almost sank too. Geez.. we were all happy that that didn't happen on the way to Ambergris Caye the night before.