We had set out from Punta Gorda , a town in the south of Belize , in the Long Gone , a thirty-foot sailboat captained , crewed , and slopped by Mark Leslie , a charming Belizean who put me in mind of the young Giancarlo Giannini -- handsome and muscular , but English- and Creole-speaking , with a soft spot for the yearning ballads of classic rock .