Unexpectedly yesterday, a few of the fellas that work at the Belize Port Authority stopped their boat at our neighbors dock and came by to visit Aquaboy.
When Belizeans sit around a seaside veranda for an afternoon with whisky, wine and a few seasoned veterans of the sea, descendants of pirates; men who have spent their entire life making a living off the waters in and around Belize, those who know every isle North to South of the length of the Country and their surrounding corals in detail....then the real life sea survivor stories can be comically entertaining....and that's just how my afternoon went yesterday.
Well, I wrote about Mr. Carl Cabral before, the lighthouse keeper for the past 40 years at English Caye, a tiny half acre island a few miles off the city skyline, on the edge of a deep main channel, big ship entry into the Belize City port. Mr. Cabral also is a fisherman who knows the waters surrounding the small island, like he knows his own palm.
As we were talking about Mr. Cabral and his knowledge of the underwater area, one of my guests mentioned that when he would go to spend an overnight at the caye, the Lighthouse keeper would tell him where he can find a nice big fish to shoot and cook for the night. He said the hunt was always quick and successful.
Mr. Cabral (lighthouse keeper): "Just go out 2o ft to the wall and turn right, then drop to about 30 ft., past three big elk horn corals and you will see a small patch of coral below with a hole, a 15lb (insert fish name here) is right there - catch that one"
At this point, another veteran of the sea, once a pirate, now a legit part of the Belize Port Authority recounted a story of his youth, when he lived and fished for a living and spent up to six months at a time away from the mainland, on one of the most Southern Cayes in Belize - HUNTING CAYE.
At that time he says, he use to fish that area with his Uncle and sell the products to Puerto Cortez on the Honduran side which is where the piracy part of the story comes in. He says that Puerto Cortez, Livingston and Puerto Barrios are all almost exactly the same distance away from that point, which now makes it an ideal lookout station for Coast Guards who were scarce in his youth.
Hunting Caye and Lime Caye and several of the small islands at the Southern most tip of Belize - that's "where the Reef turns back" he says....also where the rich Guatemalans and Hondurans play during the Lent season and Easter time. They flock there in their big boats that were hauled up in the Rio Dulce most of the year and bring their own entertainment he says - dancing girls, big speakers, coolers full of ice and drinks to last days, their own lighting and generators!
Back in the days when they were pirating marine products to our neighbor countries down South, he says that although the crossing of the Gulf was short, the waves can be tremendous especially if your mode of transportation is a small wooden Dory with a 30 horsepower.
He recounted the time that he nearly drowned on one such trip. He said, this is when he learned that you need to have nerves of steel on the water, no fear, particularly in an emergency situation, and that knowledge thought to him by his Uncle on that fateful trip is what has made him a success in the Mariner's world of Belize up until today - decades later.
"If you panic, you drown!!"
"The Dory won't sink!" he says,
When Belizeans sit around a seaside veranda for an afternoon with whisky, wine and a few seasoned veterans of the sea, descendants of pirates; men who have spent their entire life making a living off the waters in and around Belize, those who know every isle North to South of the length of the Country and their surrounding corals in detail....then the real life sea survivor stories can be comically entertaining....and that's just how my afternoon went yesterday.
Well, I wrote about Mr. Carl Cabral before, the lighthouse keeper for the past 40 years at English Caye, a tiny half acre island a few miles off the city skyline, on the edge of a deep main channel, big ship entry into the Belize City port. Mr. Cabral also is a fisherman who knows the waters surrounding the small island, like he knows his own palm.
As we were talking about Mr. Cabral and his knowledge of the underwater area, one of my guests mentioned that when he would go to spend an overnight at the caye, the Lighthouse keeper would tell him where he can find a nice big fish to shoot and cook for the night. He said the hunt was always quick and successful.
Mr. Cabral (lighthouse keeper): "Just go out 2o ft to the wall and turn right, then drop to about 30 ft., past three big elk horn corals and you will see a small patch of coral below with a hole, a 15lb (insert fish name here) is right there - catch that one"
At this point, another veteran of the sea, once a pirate, now a legit part of the Belize Port Authority recounted a story of his youth, when he lived and fished for a living and spent up to six months at a time away from the mainland, on one of the most Southern Cayes in Belize - HUNTING CAYE.
At that time he says, he use to fish that area with his Uncle and sell the products to Puerto Cortez on the Honduran side which is where the piracy part of the story comes in. He says that Puerto Cortez, Livingston and Puerto Barrios are all almost exactly the same distance away from that point, which now makes it an ideal lookout station for Coast Guards who were scarce in his youth.
Hunting Caye and Lime Caye and several of the small islands at the Southern most tip of Belize - that's "where the Reef turns back" he says....also where the rich Guatemalans and Hondurans play during the Lent season and Easter time. They flock there in their big boats that were hauled up in the Rio Dulce most of the year and bring their own entertainment he says - dancing girls, big speakers, coolers full of ice and drinks to last days, their own lighting and generators!
Back in the days when they were pirating marine products to our neighbor countries down South, he says that although the crossing of the Gulf was short, the waves can be tremendous especially if your mode of transportation is a small wooden Dory with a 30 horsepower.
He recounted the time that he nearly drowned on one such trip. He said, this is when he learned that you need to have nerves of steel on the water, no fear, particularly in an emergency situation, and that knowledge thought to him by his Uncle on that fateful trip is what has made him a success in the Mariner's world of Belize up until today - decades later.
"If you panic, you drown!!"
"The Dory won't sink!" he says,
"and I didn't know that then.......which almost cost me my life!"
On this particular evening, he said they set off late from Puerto Cortez back to Hunting Caye.
Just shortly after take off from shore in the Dory, the skies darkened.
On this particular evening, he said they set off late from Puerto Cortez back to Hunting Caye.
Just shortly after take off from shore in the Dory, the skies darkened.
They knew that a NORTH (Cold Front) was coming in, but he says he figured wrong that it would be a GUANA NORTH, as they call it down Southern Belize - meaning that the strong winds and cold weather will come without the wetness of rain.
HE: "The seas swelled up and I would be the one driving the boat, my Uncle gave me that control even as a teenager.
The rain started pouring, filling up the small Dory, the cooler of ice which we were taking back to the island to store more fish was accelerating the speed of submerging and Uncle said to throw it overboard. Being the cocky stupid inexperienced teenager, I told him NO WAY we will lose that precious cargo of frozen water."
"I bailed the boat none-stop, one stroke after another, just bailed and bailed and bailed for hours until my arm ached and still no island in sight, and by now, it is already dark at night, cold, rough and wet."
Me: "Thats crazy scary"
HE: "the Dory kept moving forward into the big waves even though we were almost completely submerged. Then the unthinkable, we hit a rogue wave which just engulfed us with water from both sides. This time, instead of the Dory sides being a few inches above water, the wooden Dory was now a few inches under water and I panicked and jumped overboard intending to swim to someplace I would have never arrived at."
"My uncle yelled at me - WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!! GET BACK IN THE DORY!!!!!!" I grabbed back on to the sides and swam back in to my plank for seat, still inches under water.
By now my Uncle was bailing the dory furiously and I joined him and suddenly the dory was back up floating and we continued until we reached Hunting Caye later into that night"
"Don't panic, don't abandon your vessel - two important things to remember at sea and if it wasn't for my Uncle's smarts, I would be dead."
I learned a good lesson today!
HE: "The seas swelled up and I would be the one driving the boat, my Uncle gave me that control even as a teenager.
The rain started pouring, filling up the small Dory, the cooler of ice which we were taking back to the island to store more fish was accelerating the speed of submerging and Uncle said to throw it overboard. Being the cocky stupid inexperienced teenager, I told him NO WAY we will lose that precious cargo of frozen water."
"I bailed the boat none-stop, one stroke after another, just bailed and bailed and bailed for hours until my arm ached and still no island in sight, and by now, it is already dark at night, cold, rough and wet."
Me: "Thats crazy scary"
HE: "the Dory kept moving forward into the big waves even though we were almost completely submerged. Then the unthinkable, we hit a rogue wave which just engulfed us with water from both sides. This time, instead of the Dory sides being a few inches above water, the wooden Dory was now a few inches under water and I panicked and jumped overboard intending to swim to someplace I would have never arrived at."
"My uncle yelled at me - WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!! GET BACK IN THE DORY!!!!!!" I grabbed back on to the sides and swam back in to my plank for seat, still inches under water.
By now my Uncle was bailing the dory furiously and I joined him and suddenly the dory was back up floating and we continued until we reached Hunting Caye later into that night"
"Don't panic, don't abandon your vessel - two important things to remember at sea and if it wasn't for my Uncle's smarts, I would be dead."
I learned a good lesson today!
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