Getting Kate to Belize
When our daughter, Kate, decided recently that she wanted to come sailing with us, after spending the better part of a nasty winter in New England, we began to ponder the logistics of getting her here. Of course she could have flown from Portland, Maine, to Boston to Miami to Belize City—a fairly straightforward string of flights (provided they’re on time) all in the same day--maybe. But that kind of itinerary is for people who plan ahead and are willing to pay platinum airfares …and aren’t nearly as resourceful as we are in utilizing almost every conceivable form of transportation known to humans to get her here. Here’s how it all evolved:
Being frugal travelers (especially George), fairly familiar with the way things work in this part of the world, we had recently heard of some incredulously low fares on a maverick airline called Spirit. We were stunned to find a one-way fare for the jaw-dropping price of $150 (including taxes!) from Boston to Guatemala City. (Spirit doesn’t fly to Belize—yet.) Or she could have flown to Managua, Nicaragua for $29 and then spent days on a variety of buses just to get to Guatemala. Not a good option.
One of the reasons Spirit Airlines can offer these silly airfares is that they really want to break in to the Central American market ~and many of their flights depart at god awful times like 1a.m. But if you’re young and resilient –like Kate—it’s irrelevant.
If Kate had been a naive traveler we would never have considered subjecting her to the”Amazing Race” game plan we were hatching. When we told some cruising friends that she was coming they were impressed with her fearlessness as we explained the circuitous route she would take to ultimately get to Déjà Vu which is anchored off the coastal village of Placencia, Belize.
The only leg of this trip that was written in stone was the flight from Boston to Guatemala. Everything else was improvised. Let the games begin.
Day 1: Kate drives to Boston, spends the night with a good friend and departs Logan at 5:30 a.m with touch down in Guatemala City at 11:30 a.m. (Central Standard Time). She clears customs (a very uncomplicated affair), can’t find an ATM that works, borrows quetzals from a fellow traveler and hails a taxi ($9) to the bus station. She pays the $6 fare and endures a 6 hour wild ride through the mountains of eastern Guatemala to the frontier town of Rio Dulce in the steamy jungle. She calls Mario’s Marina on her cell phone (everyone has one down here) as she’s approaching the bus stop and marvelous Marco, the manager of Mario’s Marina meets her in town, carries her bag to the lancha at the dock then delivers her safely ($5) 2 miles downriver to the marina where she arrives in time for a cheeseburger in paradise ($4) and a good night’s sleep in the new casita. ($30)
Day 2: Kate boards the sailing vessel SeaYeti, owned by friend and marina owner, Jim, who coincidentally is about to sail to Belize. In company with Jim’s partner, brother and Shadow the Wonder Dog, she cruises downriver 2 ½ hours to Cayo Quemada (aka Texan Bay) where she dines on Mike and Sherry’s chicken fried steak ($8) and spends the night on board in a tranquil freshwater lagoon.
Day 3: SeaYeti gets off to an early morning start, motors down to the mouth of the Rio Dulce, clears customs ($20) at Livingston, Guatemala and sails to Punta Gorda, Belize, four hours to the north. After Captain Jim clears his crew in to Belize, Kate is dropped off at the town landing where she buys a ticket on the Tropic Air flight to Placencia, takes a taxi ($3) to the tiny landing strip and, with minutes to spare, boards the last flight of the day for the twenty minute trip. She lands safely, hails yet another taxi ($6) and drives to the Placencia dinghy dock (10 minutes) where she is met with huge hugs from her anxious and overwhelmingly happy parents.
Total travel expense: approximately $290
True cost of getting Kate to Déjà Vu: Priceless
We send out our thanks to everyone who had a part in getting here safely ~ Chris Williams, Victor, Marco, Inez, Jim, Una, John and all those pilots, bus and taxi drivers.
When our daughter, Kate, decided recently that she wanted to come sailing with us, after spending the better part of a nasty winter in New England, we began to ponder the logistics of getting her here. Of course she could have flown from Portland, Maine, to Boston to Miami to Belize City—a fairly straightforward string of flights (provided they’re on time) all in the same day--maybe. But that kind of itinerary is for people who plan ahead and are willing to pay platinum airfares …and aren’t nearly as resourceful as we are in utilizing almost every conceivable form of transportation known to humans to get her here. Here’s how it all evolved:
Being frugal travelers (especially George), fairly familiar with the way things work in this part of the world, we had recently heard of some incredulously low fares on a maverick airline called Spirit. We were stunned to find a one-way fare for the jaw-dropping price of $150 (including taxes!) from Boston to Guatemala City. (Spirit doesn’t fly to Belize—yet.) Or she could have flown to Managua, Nicaragua for $29 and then spent days on a variety of buses just to get to Guatemala. Not a good option.
One of the reasons Spirit Airlines can offer these silly airfares is that they really want to break in to the Central American market ~and many of their flights depart at god awful times like 1a.m. But if you’re young and resilient –like Kate—it’s irrelevant.
If Kate had been a naive traveler we would never have considered subjecting her to the”Amazing Race” game plan we were hatching. When we told some cruising friends that she was coming they were impressed with her fearlessness as we explained the circuitous route she would take to ultimately get to Déjà Vu which is anchored off the coastal village of Placencia, Belize.
The only leg of this trip that was written in stone was the flight from Boston to Guatemala. Everything else was improvised. Let the games begin.
Day 1: Kate drives to Boston, spends the night with a good friend and departs Logan at 5:30 a.m with touch down in Guatemala City at 11:30 a.m. (Central Standard Time). She clears customs (a very uncomplicated affair), can’t find an ATM that works, borrows quetzals from a fellow traveler and hails a taxi ($9) to the bus station. She pays the $6 fare and endures a 6 hour wild ride through the mountains of eastern Guatemala to the frontier town of Rio Dulce in the steamy jungle. She calls Mario’s Marina on her cell phone (everyone has one down here) as she’s approaching the bus stop and marvelous Marco, the manager of Mario’s Marina meets her in town, carries her bag to the lancha at the dock then delivers her safely ($5) 2 miles downriver to the marina where she arrives in time for a cheeseburger in paradise ($4) and a good night’s sleep in the new casita. ($30)
Day 2: Kate boards the sailing vessel SeaYeti, owned by friend and marina owner, Jim, who coincidentally is about to sail to Belize. In company with Jim’s partner, brother and Shadow the Wonder Dog, she cruises downriver 2 ½ hours to Cayo Quemada (aka Texan Bay) where she dines on Mike and Sherry’s chicken fried steak ($8) and spends the night on board in a tranquil freshwater lagoon.
Day 3: SeaYeti gets off to an early morning start, motors down to the mouth of the Rio Dulce, clears customs ($20) at Livingston, Guatemala and sails to Punta Gorda, Belize, four hours to the north. After Captain Jim clears his crew in to Belize, Kate is dropped off at the town landing where she buys a ticket on the Tropic Air flight to Placencia, takes a taxi ($3) to the tiny landing strip and, with minutes to spare, boards the last flight of the day for the twenty minute trip. She lands safely, hails yet another taxi ($6) and drives to the Placencia dinghy dock (10 minutes) where she is met with huge hugs from her anxious and overwhelmingly happy parents.
Total travel expense: approximately $290
True cost of getting Kate to Déjà Vu: Priceless
We send out our thanks to everyone who had a part in getting here safely ~ Chris Williams, Victor, Marco, Inez, Jim, Una, John and all those pilots, bus and taxi drivers.
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3 comments:
You're looking very "Bond Girl" in that picture Kate. Glad to hear you made it and with only minor mishaps. Blizzards to Bikinis... great work if you can get it. Have fun! see you soon.
BTW... I washed the car because everytime I brushed by it I came up looking like Pig Pen from Snoopy.
Cheers!
Chris
Kate, What an incredible travel experience. I was very impressed and wished I was doing it as well. Your family blog is so much fun to read. I can't believe all of your fun adventures. You will have to write a book about the adventures of Deja Vu.
Love to you all,
Diva Mary
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