In my experience, every charter has a kind of a theme to it, often encapsulated in a single moment. For me, during a recent weeklong charter off the coast of Belize that moment came toward the end of our first day out.
We’d left the Sunsail base (sunsail.com), located part way up the isthmus that is the beachside community of Placencia, around mid-morning. After that, the trip down Placencia Lagoon had taken the better part of an hour, after which we’d tacked round just shy of Potts Shoal and started reaching north along the Inner Channel—an area of relatively deep water between the mainland and the islands offshore, leaving Placencia to port. With around 15 knots apparent coming in over the starboard bows and a light chop, Hamako, our Sunsail 404 catamaran, was in her element, chewing up the miles. The day couldn’t have been a better one—that is until it came time for us to make the final approach to our destination, the Pelican Cays.