{
  "id": "belize",
  "destination": "belize",
  "name": "Belize",
  "route_label": "from Placencia",
  "kind": "classic",
  "question": "What is a good 7-day sailing itinerary in Belize from Placencia?",
  "answer": "A classic 7-day sailing itinerary in Belize from Placencia starts and ends in Placencia and goes Placencia → Laughing Bird Caye National Park → Ranguana Caye → South Water Caye → Tobacco Caye → Placencia: 5 legs and about 81 nautical miles in straight lines between the stops (our calculation; you will sail further). By our rules the best months for it are December, January and May, when the mean wind at Placencia is 9 knots (our calculation from NASA POWER data), outside the hurricane season; the route falls in the Atlantic hurricane season from June to November (NOAA), and we could not verify the park fees on it.",
  "answer_markdown": "A classic 7-day sailing itinerary in Belize from Placencia starts and ends in Placencia and goes Placencia → Laughing Bird Caye National Park → Ranguana Caye → South Water Caye → Tobacco Caye → Placencia: 5 legs and about 81 nautical miles in straight lines between the stops (our calculation; you will sail further). By our rules the best months for it are December, January and May, when the mean wind at Placencia is 9 knots (our calculation from NASA POWER data ([NASA POWER](https://power.larc.nasa.gov/docs/services/api/temporal/monthly/), checked 28 Oct 2026)), outside the hurricane season ([NOAA National Hurricane Center](https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/), checked 29 Oct 2026); the route falls in the Atlantic hurricane season from June to November (NOAA), and we could not verify the park fees on it ([NOAA National Hurricane Center](https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/), checked 29 Oct 2026).",
  "canonical_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/itineraries/belize/",
  "markdown_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/itineraries/belize.md",
  "api_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/api/itineraries/belize.json",
  "destination_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/belize/",
  "best_time_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/best-time/belize/",
  "true_cost_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/true-cost/belize/",
  "licence_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/licence-by-country/belize/",
  "book_url": "https://catamaranindex.com/go/samboat?dest=belize&pos=api",
  "checked": "2026-10-29",
  "basis": {
    "status": "editorial",
    "note": "Reef navigation in good light only; your base will brief you on passes.",
    "sources": []
  },
  "stops": [
    {
      "index": 0,
      "name": "Placencia",
      "lat": 16.5156,
      "lon": -88.3672,
      "kind": "not_verified",
      "kind_sources": [],
      "rules": [],
      "fees": []
    },
    {
      "index": 1,
      "name": "Laughing Bird Caye National Park",
      "lat": 16.4438,
      "lon": -88.1964,
      "kind": "not_verified",
      "kind_sources": [],
      "rules": [],
      "fees": []
    },
    {
      "index": 2,
      "name": "Ranguana Caye",
      "lat": 16.3327,
      "lon": -88.1513,
      "kind": "not_verified",
      "kind_sources": [],
      "rules": [],
      "fees": []
    },
    {
      "index": 3,
      "name": "South Water Caye",
      "lat": 16.8159,
      "lon": -88.082,
      "kind": "not_verified",
      "kind_sources": [],
      "rules": [],
      "fees": []
    },
    {
      "index": 4,
      "name": "Tobacco Caye",
      "lat": 16.8983,
      "lon": -88.0617,
      "kind": "not_verified",
      "kind_sources": [],
      "rules": [],
      "fees": []
    }
  ],
  "legs": [
    {
      "day": 1,
      "from": "Placencia",
      "to": "Laughing Bird Caye National Park",
      "distance_nm": 10.7
    },
    {
      "day": 2,
      "from": "Laughing Bird Caye National Park",
      "to": "Ranguana Caye",
      "distance_nm": 7.2
    },
    {
      "day": 3,
      "from": "Ranguana Caye",
      "to": "South Water Caye",
      "distance_nm": 29.3
    },
    {
      "day": 4,
      "from": "South Water Caye",
      "to": "Tobacco Caye",
      "distance_nm": 5.1
    },
    {
      "day": 5,
      "from": "Tobacco Caye",
      "to": "Placencia",
      "distance_nm": 28.9
    }
  ],
  "total_distance_nm": 81.2,
  "distance_method": "Great-circle distance between OpenStreetMap (Nominatim) coordinates, Earth radius 6,371.0088 km, 1 nm = 1.852 km. Straight lines: the sailed distance is longer.",
  "weather": {
    "reference_point": {
      "place": "Placencia",
      "lat": 16.514,
      "lon": -88.367,
      "elevation_m": 6.85
    },
    "months": [
      {
        "month": 1,
        "name": "January",
        "mean_temp_c": 25.7,
        "mean_wind_kn": 9.3
      },
      {
        "month": 2,
        "name": "February",
        "mean_temp_c": 26,
        "mean_wind_kn": 10
      },
      {
        "month": 3,
        "name": "March",
        "mean_temp_c": 26.7,
        "mean_wind_kn": 9.8
      },
      {
        "month": 4,
        "name": "April",
        "mean_temp_c": 27.6,
        "mean_wind_kn": 9.6
      },
      {
        "month": 5,
        "name": "May",
        "mean_temp_c": 28.5,
        "mean_wind_kn": 9.4
      },
      {
        "month": 6,
        "name": "June",
        "mean_temp_c": 28.7,
        "mean_wind_kn": 9.8
      },
      {
        "month": 7,
        "name": "July",
        "mean_temp_c": 28.6,
        "mean_wind_kn": 10.7
      },
      {
        "month": 8,
        "name": "August",
        "mean_temp_c": 28.9,
        "mean_wind_kn": 9.2
      },
      {
        "month": 9,
        "name": "September",
        "mean_temp_c": 29,
        "mean_wind_kn": 8.1
      },
      {
        "month": 10,
        "name": "October",
        "mean_temp_c": 28.4,
        "mean_wind_kn": 7.8
      },
      {
        "month": 11,
        "name": "November",
        "mean_temp_c": 27.1,
        "mean_wind_kn": 8.7
      },
      {
        "month": 12,
        "name": "December",
        "mean_temp_c": 26.3,
        "mean_wind_kn": 9.4
      }
    ],
    "source": "NASA POWER monthly, 2016–2025 means (our calculation)"
  },
  "best_months": {
    "best_weather": [
      "January",
      "February",
      "March",
      "April",
      "May",
      "December"
    ],
    "sweet_spot": [
      "January",
      "May",
      "December"
    ],
    "families": [
      "January",
      "May",
      "December"
    ],
    "windiest": [
      "February",
      "March",
      "July"
    ],
    "rules": {
      "best_weather": "Warm (≥ 20 °C) and outside the Atlantic hurricane season (1 June–30 November, NOAA) or Tahiti's wet season (November–April, Tahiti Tourisme). Not given where we have no season or rainfall source.",
      "sweet_spot": "Best-weather months that are not among the 3 priciest months (our rule).",
      "families": "The calmest best-weather months by mean wind (our suggestion; mean wind is not gusts or sea state).",
      "wind": "The windiest months by mean wind speed at our reference point (our ranking)."
    }
  },
  "marina_examples": [],
  "rules": [],
  "fees": [],
  "not_verified": [
    "Laughing Bird Caye National Park and South Water Caye Marine Reserve fees and rules."
  ],
  "status_legend": {
    "official": "Read in an official text: government, park or port authority, or an operator's own published price list.",
    "secondary": "From a newspaper, NGO, guide, charter company or community map; not official.",
    "not_verified": "We could not confirm it. We leave it open rather than guess, and never add it to a total."
  },
  "source_counts": {
    "official": 0,
    "secondary": 1
  },
  "derived": "distance_nm, total_distance_nm, catamaran_eur_by_month and best_months are our calculation; weather means are our calculation from NASA POWER data.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "it_osm_nominatim",
      "name": "OpenStreetMap (Nominatim geocoder)",
      "title": "Nominatim search API: coordinates of each itinerary stop",
      "url": "https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/",
      "checked": "2026-10-29",
      "note": "Coordinates © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright). One query per stop, run by scripts/fetch-stop-coords.mjs; the queries are in src/data/itinerary-stops.json. Community map data, not an official gazetteer.",
      "tier": "secondary"
    },
    {
      "id": "nasa_power_monthly",
      "name": "NASA POWER",
      "title": "Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resources: Monthly API (T2M, WS10M)",
      "url": "https://power.larc.nasa.gov/docs/services/api/temporal/monthly/",
      "checked": "2026-10-28",
      "note": "Monthly point data for 2016–2025 pulled on 28 Oct 2026 with scripts/fetch-weather.mjs (API v2.10.0, community RE, parameters T2M = temperature at 2 m in °C and WS10M = wind speed at 10 m in m/s; meteorological grid ½° × ⅝° per https://power.larc.nasa.gov/docs/methodology/). One request per reference point, in the form https://power.larc.nasa.gov/api/temporal/monthly/point?parameters=T2M,WS10M&community=RE&longitude=<lon>&latitude=<lat>&start=2016&end=2025&format=JSON (coordinates in src/data/weather.ts). Route points for the Dubrovnik and Cyclades itineraries are in src/data/weather-routes.ts (scripts/fetch-route-weather.mjs, pulled 29 Oct 2026). Credit: https://power.larc.nasa.gov/docs/referencing/ . The pages we opened did not state a licence; NASA data is described to us as free for any use. Palma (Mallorca) reference point for the Mallorca vs Ibiza comparison in src/data/weather-routes.ts (scripts/fetch-route-weather.mjs, pulled 29 Oct 2026)."
    },
    {
      "id": "k12_belize",
      "name": "12 Knots",
      "title": "Catamaran charter in Belize",
      "url": "https://12knots.com/en/yacht-charter/destinations/central-america/belize/catamaran-charter/",
      "checked": "2026-10-27",
      "note": "Page states \"Updated October 2026\"."
    },
    {
      "id": "noaa_season",
      "name": "NOAA National Hurricane Center",
      "title": "Tropical cyclone climatology",
      "url": "https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/",
      "checked": "2026-10-29",
      "note": "No page date. Season 1 June–30 November; peak 10 September; most activity mid-August to mid-October; average season 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes, 3 major hurricanes (1991–2020).",
      "tier": "official"
    }
  ],
  "attribution": "Cite \"Catamaran Index\" with a link to the canonical_url of the page the figure comes from, and name the original source listed with it.",
  "coordinates_licence": "Coordinates © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL (https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright).",
  "affiliate_note": "book_url links go through /go/samboat, an affiliate link: Catamaran Index may earn a commission on bookings, at no extra cost to the traveller. It never changes the data."
}