The Bay of Chetumal was mostly a featureless green expanse of water with little to see until well into Belizean waters when numerous small cays began to appear. I landed on one to change up to my big sail in an effort to speed up and get to San Pedro before dark and I just made it to a dock minutes after sundown only an hour ago. Desesperado had a bit of a hard time in these shoal-infested waters; one minute we have two meters under us, the next nothing and at one point we bumped and banged and ground our way over about 300 meters of rocks, but that is what the extra-thick fiberglass on the keel is for. The rudders got banged a lot too. I was met on the dock by a pair of friendly tourists who gave me local information but the locals don’t seem much interested in Desesperado’s magnificence, or perhaps it was too dark. Really I demand a reception with flowers and hula girls.

San Pedro is very pleasant, a brightly painted semi-ramshackle town on a long flat sandy cay. The streets have been paved since I was here last six years ago. Tall, attractive people of all shades of brown, strong Caribbean accents, very laid back. Reggae, dreadlocks, tourists, bananas, golf carts, bicycles with rusty chains, the feeling very different from Mexico in intangible ways. Everybody seems friendly as far as that can ever be really genuine in a tourist haven and I already regret my slight upon the Belizean character in my last post.

When I was last here the cocktail of choice was the “panty ripper” and I am pleased to hear it is still around though it is an awful sweet coconutty thing. I am looking for a drink now myself and rum seems appropriate. It is nice to have such a worthy mission.