Jean & Dave's Website

Monday

The wind shifted to the west during the night, unusual.  Claudio was the first one up and cut a bunch of fruit for breakfast—a slight taste of the service to come.  Elias, Claudio’s sixteen year old son is ‘in training’ with Papa, so he had to do the dishes!!  Claudio then encouraged us to get underway about 7AM, as he expected the wind to die again late morning.   Through South Pass out into the ocean, a slow broad reach to the Turneffe Islands.

A dozen porpoises play along the motion of the boat for what seems like forever.

Turneffe is the largest of the three atolls (a coral ring of reefs and islands) outside the barrier reef.  As the barrier reef is the 2^nd largest in the world, the three atolls are the only ones in the Western Hemisphere. The coral ring is just below the surface and the bottom drops as a wall to hundreds of feet quickly, while the inside is relatively shallow with numerous coral heads.

 Kyle and Denise’s 20-30 foot test dive, on the leeward wall of Turneffe went to 40 feet.  Claudio and Elias lug around all the equipment.  Just step to the transom, put your arms in the sleeves and jump.   Upon your return, Elias grabs your tank before you climb the ladder and go find a beer.  I’m told this pampering does not happen on a normal dive tour.  As for the test dive-Denise freaks out and won’t go over the “wall” to the hole.  Later to find out it is only 90ft deep!  Claudio goes without her and comes back with a huge spotted grouper that he speared.  Yes, DINNER. 

The wind dies and the open ocean is a sheet of glass.  We crank up the “Iron Jenny” and it’s off to Lighthouse Reef.  On this trip, we get our first strikes on the three fishing lines we are trolling.  One barracuda and one hogfish snapper.  Two more than the last sailing trip!

Jean and Denise learn quickly to disappear fast when they land a barracuda.  With their sharp teeth, they must get whacked, literally, with a few blows to the head.  Muddy Joe’s new name was born--“Mafia Muddy Joe”. 

Lighthouse reef is the farthest atoll from the barrier reef.  No VHF, no cell phone reception, no FM radio reception.  Claudio encourages Kyle and Denise to swim around in 20 feet of water to get more comfortable-The Blue Hole is two days away.  Claudio and Elias get fish and conch. 

Denise learns the local delicacy of eating the “snot” of the Conch.  

Conch Ceviche for an appetizer, fish on the grill for dinner, who needs provisions? 

Claudio starts the generator and we have air conditioning.  Noisy is better than hot.  Even Claudio needs a blanket by morning. Also, generator means AC power for the blender!   The fruit won’t last, so let’s make drinks.  And yes, we had some bananas!  Elias joins the nightly Uno game.