We were underway a couple of hours before dawn as I wanted to arrive at the atoll before noon. We needed the sun high and behind us as we attempt to enter the narrow reef pass into the lagoon, then navigate to the far side through the maze of reefs, bommies and shallows. We intended to anchor off of Half Moon Caye, a national marine park in which the Great Blue hole resides.

As we departed the Turneffe Atoll, it was a beautiful. The air was warm, clear, and smelled of a beach at low tide. Above lay the moonless heavens, splashed with the twinkling lights of stars and distant constellations. You haven’t truly seen the cosmos unless you have been to sea.

A fresh breeze of 10 to 12 knots out of the south-east promised a nice sail on a tight starboard reach. As we motored clear of the abandoned lighthouse and sweeping sand banks, I was expectant of a grand day of  stress free blue water sailing, but as we were about to learn, stress free it would be not be!

Turneef Atoll to Lighthouse Reef

 Not 20 minutes after pulling anchor, the engine overheat alarm sounded causing the engine to be shut down. As we drifted about uncomfortably close to the sand banks, I conducted a quick inspection at which time I discovered that the riotous raw water pump had once again eaten the pulley key. The belt was still intact but the pulley wobbled about as it spun freely on the pump’s shaft.

Easton yelled down below, “What Now?” as he sat at the helm, vainly attempting to keep us on course. It was a good question.  I was relatively sure I could fix the pump as I had done so many other times, but the question was where? I had three good options, one was to attempt to repair the pump while we drifted about and hope I could get the engine running before we were blown upon the reef. I quickly ruled this out as I did not know if it would take me 30 minutes or 3 hours to repair the pump.  The next option was to hoist sail and return to the anchorage we just left. The wind was in our favor and I could easily follow our out bound GPS track back in, but after daylight. Turning around was probably the smartest and safest bet, but I have not always chosen the most logical or safest course.

“OK Easton this is what we are going to do,” I said while bounding back into the cockpit. “Let’s raise the mainsail and pop the headsail. We are going to continue on to Lighthouse atoll and sail through the pass into the lagoon and anchor, there we will fix the engine.” It was a bold plan but doable if the wind held true, and we did not pile up on a reef or bommies that the charts failed to indicate (which was common)  A common label upon the charts for this region is  “Numerous uncharted coral heads” . A good bow watch is essential with the sun behind you.

Approaching Lighthouse Reef.

Once clear of the hazards of Turneffe Atoll, we altered course for southern most pass of Lighthouse reef which lay adjacent to a large island called Long Caye. The channel is perhaps a thousand yards wide but it is unmarked and shallow, only 3 meters in places which leaves little for error if you happen to choose the wrong spot to enter.

We had a great sail over to the Atoll but as we approach it became obvious that the 15 knots of wind was blowing straight out the pass, which would necessitate two or three tack within the confined waters to get through. It was going to be fun.

We carried on beyond the pass until we located the barrier reef, we then tacked putting the boat on a parallel, beam reach next to the reef, which was now very obvious on out port side at less 30 meters away.

 After covering about half a mile I spotted the break in the reef that we were looking for. We hardened up to sail close hauled to the wind into the pass. The water quickly shallowed and at one point it was only 2 meters deep under the keel. We made a quick series of tacks into the wind until the chart said we were in clear water.  Once inside the water grew deeper settling out at 7 meters.

Off to our right lay Long Caye which boasted a dock and a diving resort. I had a plan so we headed towards the resort, approaching as close as we could before anchor in 3 meters of water on a beautiful sand bottom off the resort.

With the anchor set, we had moment to take in the sights. The tranquil waters were crystal clear, so much so that one could count the ripples in the sand beneath the Maiatla. The lagoon was azure, almost a sapphire blue bordered by three palm-fringed islands and off in the distance, the sea broke white as the waves relentlessly pounded the barrier reefs. It was magical, spell binding sight but I did not want to gawk for too long as we had work to do.

The pump need repairing and I was tired of working on this pump and this time I was going to make sure that it could not eat another key, but to do that I need an electrical outlet supplying 120 volts and I was fairly sure I would fine that power at the dive resort on Long Caye.

We launched the dink and headed to the deserted dock, we would later learn that all the dive boats were out with guests so the resort was like a ghost town. There were many one and two story wood building and palapas. We found the open-aired dining hall where in the back I located the kitchen where a lone worker, a lady was prepping the evening meals.

I told her that we had just arrived on the boat anchored off the beach, then asked to see the manager but she told us that he was out diving and would not be back for a few hours. She then asked if we were going to stay for dinner and if we were, we would have to tell her now as she only makes enough for their guests. The cost was reasonable, I thanked her but declined. I asked if there was a maintenance man around. “He’s filling tanks over at the compressor building.”

After paying for a couple of cold beers we followed our ears to the compressor building. Manual greeted us warmly but he was busy filling dozens of scuba tanks. I quickly explained that I wanted to repair a pump and need electricity and a place to work. 

Manual lead me around the corner to an outside deck where he pointed to a table at a corner. The deck was expansive while claiming a magnificent view of the lagoon, but like the rest of the resort, the deck had seen a better day. Many of the planks under foot were rotting forcing us to tread lightly. There were also a couple of missing boards so care was need not to drop the two meters to the sand below.

I placed my bag of tools on the table as Manual disappeared back in to the building, only to return moments later with a long extension cord. I was set. I would later see that much of the aging resort was in similar condition with rotting timbers and cottages in desperate need of a coat of paint. Despite its “Rustic” appearance, the resort was popular and after the return of four dive charter boat, the place was busy.

Easton took his beer and went exploring as I got to work dismantling the pump. I had concluded that the reason the pump kept falling apart was due to the left-hand threaded nut that holds the pulley in place, despite lock washers, it would loosen up over time, permitting the pull to back off and the key to be chewed up and spit out.

I dismantled the pump, replaced the impeller as I had a new spare, and then fashioned a new key out of a pair of coins using a mini-grinder. An hour later I threaded the left-handed nut back on to hold the pulley assemble in place. To make sure the nut would never back off again, I plugged in the mini welder that I carry aboard Maiatla for just such an occasion. After a quick tack weld, the nut was forever bonded to the shaft. It would have to be cut off if I ever wanted to take the pump apart.

Once done, I thanked Manual for his help and tipped him while saying “buy yourself a case of beer”. He seemed pleased and shook my hand.

For the following year,  the pump operate as intended until it was finally replace with a new and complete raw water pump assembly with the old pump being relegated to the bilge as a spare. The general rule on a boat is that if you have a spare part, you were unlikely to need it. With the engine back up and running, tomorrow we would begin to explore the atoll and make our way out to the Blue Hole which lay only a few miles away. But for now, it was time for more beers while logging onto the resort’s Wi-Fi to check emails.