Fair Warning:
Before you get too far into this, it has been a loooooong time since we sailed in Belize. In fact, as soon as we sail somewhere else, we will probably take this review off the site. Not that we didn’t love Belize, but well, there are many beautiful places on the planet, and Belize is now checked off the bucket list.
The main reason the trip is notable is because it’s kind of a good story. Or at least the story is more entertaining than the review is informative.
We had already sailed with Captain Kaz once before in French Polynesia. Again, better story than it is a review. As you can read on the French Polynesia section, you will see it was a very eventful/memorable/etc.
Early in my sailing career, my wife refused to sail with me as a captain because she felt I didn’t have enough experience to manage a yacht by myself. The ASA, the Moorings and my credit card company disagreed with her, but in retrospect, she was probably right. So when we got an email that Kaz was looking for cabins to fill on a trip to Belize, we thought seriously about it.
Kaz is a remarkable captain, teacher and advocate of sailing. Mostly, she made us feel safe sailing with her, and another week under her tutelage made a lot of sense for my rightly nervous wife.
At the time, Kaz had a practice of renting back-to-back weeks. One week was usually with couples and the other was always an all women crew. She is passionate about getting more women into sailing. All female crews were one way to do it. We admire this about Kaz, even though it cut down on our ability to sail with her since one of us is … well … not female.
After a couple of days of back and forth, we decided we were up for another adventure with Captain Kaz. Unfortunately, we waited too long. When I emailed to say we were in, I got a quick response saying Kaz was bummed, but the couples’ trip was full. Sorry. Next time.
After a week of going on with our lives, Kaz called me.If we were still interested, she had room, but there was a catch.“Would you be willing to go if you were the only guy on this trip?” Without the slightest hesitation, I said, “Actually, I would prefer that.”
When you (and your wife) are going on a sailing trip in the Caribbean with all women, word gets out fast. Especially when you are talking about it to everyone who will listen.
At the time I worked at a very large, very conservative multinational corporation. Corporate culture was not to go on a yacht with your wife and a bunch of single women – and definitely not to brag about it to your co-workers. People would bring it up in meetings as a way to embarrass me. Occasionally I would get the silent head nod, thumbs up, “…dude!…” when no one was looking. More frequently I got the disapproving sigh as they whispered “…pervert…” under their breath.
One afternoon before the trip I found myself sitting on a corporate jet with the CEO and a bunch of other senior vice presidents. I was definitively the lowest person on the stock option totem pole. My boss’ boss blurted out to the CEO, “Ask George where he’s going on vacation???” I told him we were going sailing in Belize, like it was no big deal. She then prodded further, “Ask George who he’s going with???” I told him sheepishly, my wife and six other women I don’t know.
The CEO thought about it for a second and then said, “That’s probably not going to be as much fun as you think it’s going to be.” And that’s why they paid him $20 million in reported compensation per year (estimated). The guy was spot on accurate. The trip was life changing, even though being on a boat with seven beautiful women does not go down exactly like teenage boys dream about.
A few nights we played cards and got drunk. Most nights we talked about our relationships – even those of us who weren’t ready to use the word “Boyfriend” yet. I got a real education in the many things men just don’t get about women. And they were very insightful. I learned a lot.
All of the women were fascinating, each in their own way. And in many ways I learned things about my own wife I never would have found out had I not been with her on this girls’ trip.
Don’t get me wrong. The movie about this trip is not entirely set for the Lifetime Network. One day we had a naked cannonball contest. I came in fourth. We had a 90-minute conversation about our vibrators. I didn’t have much contribute on the subject, but listened attentively.
The sailing was, as our five-year-old might say ‘thumbs middle’. Not thumbs up or down, but kind of so-so. The days there was wind, which were few, it seemed to be blowing in the wrong direction. I was there to get sailing experience, and there was no sailing to be had. This was far more frustrating than the ratio of X to Y chromosomes.
Aside from the lack of reliable wind, Belize is shallow. They week before we sailed, the yacht we chartered got hung up on a reef and sank. The charter company (which I believe is no longer in business) got us moved over to the Moorings, but we started in Ambergris Cay and had to sail that boat to Placencia. Then change to another yacht, which was nice, and big, but older. And since we didn’t want to hang ANOTHER boat up on the reef, we placed two crew members on the bow spotting coral the entire trip. That is not relaxing.
That said, the snorkeling was very above average. The history of the Mayans in the country is remarkable. We motored to several stunning deserted islands that we had all to ourselves. The Belizean people were fantastic, and we accidentally met the President as we were checking into our hotel.
Kaz was a consummate professional and ran a very tight ship (as always). While I didn’t get much sailing experience, I got a ton of experience anchoring, navigating and generally managing a week-long charter. Mostly, what made the trip a huge thumbs up was the friendships we made on the trip with the six women we had not previously met. Many of which we still connect with today. And for us, that is what sailing is all about.