A FEW SECONDS OF NATURE: Frigatebirds

The cold winter, snow and unplowed boatyard have been preventing me from checking on the boat this past week. Trying to keep warm thoughts and hoping spring is on the way in the meantime. Came across some video taken in Belize a few years ago when I was in warmer latitudes:

JUST A REMINDER!

I took this shot of a sign in Placencia, Belize a few years ago. Always a good reminder for sailors and landlubbers alike no matter where they are.

LIGHTHOUSE: Baron Bliss, Belize City

As a sailor I have an affinity for Lighthouses. They are structures whose comfort radiates outward to us sailors. So since I was staying at the Radisson Fort George Hotel in Belize City just a few minutes walk from Fort Point as the sailors call it. A visit to the Baron Bliss Lighthouse was in order.

The structure actually serves two purposes. It's a Lighthouse and a memorial to a fellow named Baron Henry Edward Ernest Victor Bliss. You can see his tomb at the base of the light off to the right in the photo below:

Bliss was an engineer by trade who made a fortune in oil futures. But, in a karmic twist of fate he became paralyzed at the age of 42. But, that did not stop Bliss from enjoying life. He moved aboard a yacht for the rest of his life and went fishing. After fishing his way through the Bahamas and Mexico. He and his yacht eventually ended up off the coast of Belize. Though he never set foot on the Belize mainland but, was still touched by the generosity of the Belize people.
When his health took a turn for the worse at age 57 he decided to donate a large part of his fortune to the people of Belize.

Bliss died soon after aboard his yacht, on March 9, 1926. The country erected this lighthouse/memorial to him and celebrate Baron Bliss Day every year in March.

New Years Day/Winterhelm

Things were cold and fuzzy on New Years Day. Still the 15 degree temperture did not stop me from going down to the boat and check up on things.

As you can see by the snow piled up by the hatch BIANKA was suffering from a little winterhelm. The only way to correct that is to pull some summer gear off the boat. And head south to a place like this:

Which I plan to do in a few weeks as it is the only fix for winterhelm that I know of.

A vacation escape?

Well after finishing up with getting the engine out of the boat my girlfriend had arranged a vacation for us. We would be chartering a 47 foot Lagoon catamaran out of Belize City. After a summer on spent on the mooring and a November in the boatyard I was ready for some warm water sailing. As we got settled into our cabin I noticed this hatch. It is not for scenic viewing it is an escape hatch in case the boat flips over. Watch the video and you can almost feel the rage of the sea trying to get into the cabin and you will understand why I like monohulls.