Anchorage· Cayos Limones (East & West Lemmons)· Other Caribbean

West Lemmon Cays Anchorage

9° 32.7′ N · 78° 54.0′ W · approximate

The western half of the Lemmons, around the island of Naguarchirdup: deep sand inside a fringing reef with laid moorings, very good outer-reef snorkelling and, historically, a cruiser bar that sold internet time and refilled gas bottles.

Belize Barrier Reef

Practical

Coordinate is approximate. SY Balvenie's report prints 09°37.719'N 078°54.028'W for their 9 m sand anchorage, but that latitude lies north of the Lemmons group (Wikipedia places Cayos Limones at 9.5525, -78.8872); the earlier reading of 09°33.7'N put the point about 1 km north of the islands in open water, so the point now used is a derived spot in the water about 95 m SSW of Naguarchirdup (Nugarachuerdup in OpenStreetMap, 9.547, -78.8988) inside the group; check it against your chart before use. Balvenie came in around the bottom of the reef through a 2.5 m entrance between the islands, confirmed a 2 m shallow ledge between the two West Lemmon anchorages ('spot on' on the Bauhaus charts and hard to reverse off), found over 20 m in much of the anchorage with shallows only near the three islands, and noted many laid moorings, all occupied. They exited via the deeper pass to the north. Best coral of their trip on the outside southern reef. In 2012 Naguarchirdup had a 'shacky' bar (no power or lights) selling internet at $3 per hour and cold beer at $1.50, filled a 9 kg LPG bottle the same day for $16, and ran pangas to Carti for the road to Panama City; all of this is likely to have changed, so verify locally. Digicel reported to work well in the W. Lemmons/Chichime area.

Best for

Deeper, roomier water and the best reef snorkelling in the western group

Nearby