In between weather fronts, we managed a quick foray out to Southwater Cay, and I mean quick. Quick snorkel, an evening at the Island’s bar with other cruisers
appreciate a glorious sunset, admire the many friendly pelicans,
and then, guess what, yep, another weather front approached, so we once again made our way back to Placencia!
WELCOME VISIT FROM CLOSE FRIENDS
Encouraged by photos from our anchorage in Placencia, our close friends Chris & Barb Wood from home joined us for a week.
We did our best to show them the sights, Terry & Chris enjoyed sampling the local beers & rum, Barb & I enjoyed seeking out the local crafts! Think we fitted in a lot during their week with us, from the superb local food, to playing in our dinghy, coming onboard to see how we live, meeting our cruising friends & locals, to lazy times just chilling over beers enjoying the scenery.
One condiment that’s on everybody’s table is Marie Sharp’s hot sauce. These sauces are delicious & fire up any meal, ranging from tangy to blow your head off. It’s possible to visit her factory & see the sauces being produced from the locally grown jalapeno peppers & fruits. On the day we visited however, they were crushing the jalapeno’s. This requires full cover up gear for the workers, we were offered a quick look, but were warned we’d be left with streaming eyes, we declined & had a look round the shop & sampled the range of sauces!
Terry & I enjoyed being tourists for a week, visiting Dangriga
and a big highlight was celebrating the birth of Chris’s grand daughter Ivy, all too soon we were taking them to the airport, waving them goodbye, a week of tremendous fun, and a break from boat maintenance and routine jobs that are always there to be done.
After a few buggy days at the Reserve Marina, Sapodilla, sitting out the weather front passing through, we decide to head back the 17 nautical miles to Placencia. The bugs are seriously driving us mad, we can’t even sit out in the cockpit of an evening, we need cash and are running low on food, and beer. We reluctantly bade farewell, for the time being to Gail & Peter, s/v Pega and Francoise & Jon, s/v Helios. It’s been fun catching up with them, but such is the nature of sailing, we will meet up again in an anchorage somewhere, at some time!
With very light winds, (this season is proving to be very weather variable indeed), we sail slowly, averaging 2.5 knots! The bay was very busy, but we found a secure spot, had a brew whilst we waited to ensure our anchor was fast, hoisted the dinghy off the deck, lowered the outboard onto the dinghy, then dinghied into town. Then by happy co-incidence it was beer o’clock at Yoli’s bar where we caught up with friends Ann Hatfield & Harvey, plus their two guests who were onboard Harvey’s catamaran, Freestyle.
Placencia is a popular hidey hole when the regular weather fronts pass through and a fun chance to catch up with Tom & Sabrina, s/v Honey Ryder and Jeff & Di, s/v Canapesia and meet new friends Chris & Gary. This called for a night out, cheers!
Each year Placencia holds a beachfront Art Festival, showcasing all styles of local art, live music, children’s entertainment and is a lively event. On Friday we watch from Sisu as marquees are being erected on the beach and stalls being set up. We’re keeping our fingers crossed this latest front passes through for the Art Festival. Today, the weather is wild and blowing a hoolie. We don’t have wifi on board, so, after a quick scoot into town to check on emails, we return by mid afternoon to find three boats had already dragged! After our evening meal we set our anchor watch alarm app on the ipad. We’d rather be suddenly startled awake by a shrieking alarm than by dragging onto a nearby little island. During the dark evening, a tall square rigged ship approaches and anchors up in the bay, her tall masts lit up in the night sky, it’s the Polish training ship the Frederic Chopin. Stunning.
The Art Festival was amazing.
We wish we could take so much of the local art home. Stalls with a huge variety of brightly painted canvases, painted bird & animal life, people going about their trades & work, political messages expressed through the power of art, the glowing flower & plant life growing here, all caught glowing in oils, water colour, pastels and more. Smooth and sensuous to the touch wood turned bowls, wood sculptured sea life, so many types and colours of wood, richly coloured woven fabrics, everything is created with a passion and vibrancy. Local foods too, spicy, flavoursome and cooked with the same passion and creativity.
Turmeric is plentiful here, it has numerous health benefits and an enterprising lady has made incredibly flavoursome Turmeric paste. Made to go into stews, soups or simply onto crackers, it’s a full packed mouth punch! Best consumed wearing dark clothing or indeed bright turmeric yellow clothes, as once this paste splashes onto any clothing, it’s a food which you wear forever!
The whole weekend beat to so many rhythms, panga band, Garifuna rock and reggae, singing, Placencia certainly knows how to hold an event!
sisu journey 