Originally Posted by BadNick

I'll post back for where I'm headed next, after giving that a little more thought.



Otherwise, I hope to take you up on the offer whenever I get down there again. Friday I'll have a beer at Tony's and pretend I'm with you guys and we're toasting for good luck to stay off the reefs and out of jail. As I was trying to find where you are, I came upon this travel log A Newsletter about cruising & living aboard a sailboat. and on the right side column just before sailing south to Belize, they were running up on sandbars and reported:

Later, as I uploaded our position report, Joe re-checked our coordinates and showed me a tiny shoal area on the map. "I don't know why, but I'm sure that's where we ran aground. We're anchored southeast of it now, but we have enough room to swing," he added. Our anchorage was N 19°22.49, W 87°29.71. Later, as we discussed the waypoints and the anchorage, Joe said, "Calder couldn't make it behind Isla Chal, either." Quite frankly, if you are cruising the Northwest Caribbean, you cannot have too many reference books and charts, and Calder's 1991 Cruising Guide to the Northwest Caribbean is still a necessary nautical reference book for those of us following Calder's paths.

Another anchorage that receives much discussion and one we decided to bypass is Cayo Norte on Banco Chinchorro. We were told by several cruisers that this anchorage is no longer available to cruisers and "the Mexican Navy will run you off." We were told by other cruisers that the anchorage is still available, and if the Navy approaches you, simply tell them you are anchoring for the night and there will be no problem. My guess would be that the latter is correct; it's fine for an overnight stopover, but don't plan an extended stay at Banco Chinchorro. I never asked why the Mexican Navy is policing this particular site more than in previous years, but didn't really care. I grew up in a home where "Mr. Policeman is your friend" (and when it came to the Sheriffs' Department, he was my Dad), so if the Mexican Navy says "no squatters," my boat won't be a-squattin'. We were getting a bit reef-challenged anyway.