Full moon party at Denny's Beach

Activities may include a sailboat race, horseback riding, nature hiking, frisbee tossing, horseshoe competition (if Denny can find another horseshoe), volleyball (if he has any air in his volleyball), kayak racing, philosophising, dancing around the bonfire and most likely some picking and grinning.

Activities start at noon Friday with a sailboat race from Castillo de San Felipe to Denny's Beach starting on the Lake Izabal side of El Castillo.

Gene Mack with ice berg

By Roy McNett
Editor
Gene Mack of s/v Aurora and Isla Xalaja here in the Rio Dulce recently discovered this rather large ice berg floating somewhat north of the Sapodillas Cayes in Belize.

Ok, ok .. much farther north. Actually, this month he's floating around near the top of the world.

Gene is operations manager for an offshore seismographic company which sends him all over the world. One month might find him off the coast of Africa while the next month he'll be off the coast of Norway, Asia, the Americas or any place in the world where there might be oil underneath an ocean.

And occasionally he gets some time off to spend with his wife Valeria and son Joaquin in the Rio Dulce and Guatemala City.

Seismograph ship in the background

Gene wrote:
"Today when the thick mist of heavy fog cleared, the radar blip we were tracking for hours became visible. There it was -- an iceberg bigger than most Caribbean islands I've been to. No white sand beaches, only white ice. 

The site was surreal: a huge mountainous island of bright white floating in the ocean with the peak more than 100m tall. When the sun strikes the ice there are beautiful sun burst reflections cast from the crystals.

From a distance it literally sparkles. The blue of the glacial ice glows like something you have never seen. I feel very lucky to see something as magnificent as an iceberg up close and personal.

Up close, they are even more surreal looking with the way the glacial blue glows in the sun. Some wild stuff indeed. "

You can read more about Gene and Valeria Here

Click Read More below to see more ice berg photos..

Cruising in Belize - Part 2

Harvest Caye

By Dennis Gulck
Contibuting Editor
Another nice anchorage on your way up the coast of Belize is Harvest Caye. 

If you have spent a few nights in the Placencia anchorage you were possibly rocked to sleep as this anchorage can be rough.  It is also extremely exposed to a south wind, locally called Bayamas, that can occur in the next two months or so.  50 knots is not unheard of. 

This weather phenomenon starts at the southwest end of Lake Izabal and usually dies out north of Placencia.  I was tied to the co-op dock one evening and had a hard time getting off and through the cut to the lee of the Placencia peninsula. Click Here for larger image.

These storms are not as strong as they used to be.  I remember getting on the radio and calling Bayama alerts to the marinas in the Rio Dulce so that they could tighten up a bit on their moorings.  It was a scary sight as this dark cloud moved in front of the beach and moved toward the river.

I would still urge caution in the days ahead as September is the high time for Bayamas.

Nubya -- Las Mexicanas manager

Happy Hour will be from 4 to 7 p.m.

A buffet will be served with antojitos mexicanos, pozole, pambazos, tostadas, and quezadillas, sopes. One free cuba libre will be served to each customer.

There will be mariachi music and a raffle for 2 bottles of tequila 

Free lancha service will be available.