This says it all!

 

Lazy morning reading and watching the sunrise from our balcony. We set off to town around mid-morning and found a small local restaurant in the front room of a house that promised waffles. They were actually very good, and one of the few waffle irons on the island I’d bet. We took a little extra time riding around town, even down a few streets we had never been on. Although the town is tiny, there seems to be always something new to see if you’re looking closely enough. There are some lovely cottages in sometimes unexpected places. Many Americans and Canadians who live here have 1 or more rentals on their properties that create a source of income from tourists. And for the tourists it creates some unique, quaint places to stay. We spent some time today sitting on the pier at the split just looking out over the incredibly blue water. The split is a perfect place to see at least 4 or 5 shades of blue in the ocean from a royal blue to a bright turquoise color to a translucent green the color of a thick piece of glass. We didn’t talk much but just sat with our thoughts, there didn’t seem much to say. Our incredible trip that we’ve planned for so long is coming to an end. While we are anxious to get back to Mallory and Olivia, there is also a sense of melancholy, knowing that no matter how we try we won’t be able to really bring the serene attitude of the culture here back home. We had dinner at what had become our favorite restaurant, Maggie’s sunset kitchen. The Belizean authenticity of this cafe beneath Maggie’s home combined with breathtaking water views with the sun dipping below the horizon right in front of us make this place seem like the essence of the islands charm. We stopped in a few shops after dinner and finally stopped at the French cafe for desert. A very young and very French couple opened this creperie about a year ago and the desert crepes were fabulous. We have begun making a mental list of things we’d like to do on our next visit that we didn’t get to this time. Back to the hotel to pack and turn in early. We’ll have a long day tomorrow beginning with a golf cart taxi to a water taxi to a cab to the airport and flights to Atlanta then Jackson. We are thrilled with our choice of Belize for this incredible trip, and we know for sure it won’t be our last visit here

As it gets closer to the day we leave, we find ourselves slowing down and doing less instead of what I had anticipated, that we would try to stuff lots of activities into the last few days. We cooked breakfast in our room this morning to take advantage of the fresh tortillas we had bought. Then we decided to hang out on the pier for a while and read and I even got in the water with my mask for a look at all the fish who live underneath. Because there are few traditional beaches here, and mostly sea walls, piers are popular places for lounge chairs and you can enter the water through the steps at the end of the pier. Our hotel has a pier that is about 200 feet out over the water with a palapa on the end and numerous lounge chairs. It’s such a great place to watch the morning sun glitter off the water and to soak in as much of the beauty of the Caribbean as I can. We talked with an interesting  older couple from Italy on the pier this morning who try out a new tropical location each year. We finally went in after noon and dressed to “go to town”. We ate at a restaurant also on a pier over the water. Restaurants such as this are not plentiful here, with most places being on one of 3 Main Streets in town. We walked along front street for a while after lunch and stopped in at Raggamuffin tours to see if we could get on the sunset cruise today. We paid our deposit and were told to return in a few hours. It was a perfect cloudless days with just enough breeze to keep you from being hot. When the appointed time came, we boarded a small sailboat with about 12 other passengers, a captain, and a couple of crew. We sailed around to the west side of the island for the best view of the sunset, and it didn’t disappoint. Even after the sun disappeared below the horizon we sailed in the  orange glow that is left long after sunset. We sat on the bow of the boat with a couple from Alaska, and 2 sisters from Seattle. Eric, from Alaska, is actually a recruiter for the university of Alaska. To me, that sounds like a pretty challenging job, and he admitted that most of their students are in-state, they get a few from the northwest, but not a lot of teenagers not raised in Alaska choose it for their college career. The sisters from Seattle had been roommates since college (they were in their late 20’s). They reminded me of the friendship that Mallory and Olivia have, that warms my heart beyond words. We were later joined up front by a couple in their 50’s originally from Liverpool, England. They are now living off the coast of Canada on a small island with only solar and wind to provide utilities. Everyday we  have met fascinating people from so many places around the world. It’s amazing the diversity of people attracted to this place. We finished up the night at the sports bar in town. Tuesday night is “open mic” night, and there were comedians, singers, and musicians performing. For such a tiny place, there always seems to be something going on. Unless you prefer to relax, in which case there are places with nothing going on. The funniest questions we get pretty often from people from Canada and even the northern United States is,”why are you down here? Isn’t it just as warm in Mississippi right now?” They are usually surprised to hear that it does actually fall below freezing in Mississippi and stays pretty chilly. We don’t have ice and snow for 6 months of the year like some of the Canadians, but we do have a winter. Meeting so many people from such cold climates does certainly make me appreciate Mississippi more. I wouldn’t have guessed that a visit to a tropical place could result in my appreciation of the South more, but there have been many unexpected things about this trip. Somehow I can’t keep myself from forming expectations about things I’ve yet to experience, although I alost expect they will probably be wrong. Of course, that’s actually what makes doing new things so much fun, and it’s been the unexpected parts of this trip that have turned out to be some of my favorites.

The day dawned chilly again (relatively speaking). We made toast in our room and took our time getting ready for the day. Our plan today was to rent a clear bottom kayak and go into the split and around each end of the island a little. The place with the kayaks was supposed open at 9:00, but at 10:15 we were still just sitting on the pier waiting. We always have to remember we are on island time here, and 9:00 may mean noon somedays.  We decided to leave our bikes and take a walk through town. We made a few stops as we wandered among the shops, hotels, and restaurants. Around 11:30 we picked up some lunch and then headed back to the split. We paid the $10 USD to rent the kayak and started out. The wind was strong today and we encountered some choppy water. But after paddling through the split to the west side of the island, we were a little more protected from the wind. We eventually ended up back on the east side of the island and found a few starfish in the sea grass. We drifted and /or paddled lazily until Christian spotted a dark shadow moving through the water. As we followed it, we discovered we had happened upon a large eagle ray. I stuck my waterproof camera underwater several times trying to capture it, it was very fast and graceful as it glided away. It actually came back into the shallow water several times and we were able to get pretty close. After a couple of hours we returned the kayak and headed back to our room. We stopped to pick up laundry we had earlier dropped off and stopped at the house that makes fresh bread to sell. A wam loaf of cinnamon bread cost us $1 USD. We went back and ate it warm spread with butter. We had previously scheduled a sunset cruise tonight, but the arrival of clouds on the horizon made us glad it was canceled- maybe tomorrow. We biked once again to Meldy’s. The breakfast was great, now to try the dinner. We had to wait a few minutes until one of the 5 tables was vacated, so as we stood outside we couldn’t help but notice the little fruit stand across the street was still open. We had noticed a sign that said homemade tortillas so we walked across to ask. The owner said yes, she did have tortillas she had just made! Tortillas were plentiful in San Pedro and Placencia and we learned quickly to love them,especially freshly made ones. But they don’t seem to be as popular on Caye Caulker. We ordered 10 of the small tortillas and she put them straight from the pan into a plastic bag. Most things are not wrapped individually here, but that may be a USA thing, even when I was in Europe I noticed they don’t wrap things like we do either. One of the picnic tables was soon ready for us on Meldy’s small deck. Christian got a steamed lobster, it was one of the bigger lobsters I’ve ever seen and it was cooked to perfection served with melted butter and mashed potatoes. And all for $20 USD! And it no doubt came straight off one of the small boats the fisherman take out to free dive for lobster and conch. I had a shrimp burrito bigger than my head, seriously, I can’t understand why this burrito was so huge! You may think we were stuffed from dinner (and you would be right) but the spicy burrito (which Christian helped with also) left us wanting something cool, so we rode up to front street to share a scoop of ice cream. We sat on the curb and talked to people we saw that we had already met as well as met people walking by. No one is in a hurry. There’s always time to talk. And it’s not just because we are all on vacation, we have had some really interesting conversations with local residents who may be working, but still make time to visit for a few minutes. It’s beginning to dawn on me that we will be leaving this magical place in a few days. I really miss family and friends back home, but I hate the idea of cold weather, rushing from place to place and not being able to ride my bike everywhere now that I’ve discovered the joy of a bike again.  I can’t imagine the island’s motto of “Go Slow” working back home, but perhaps I can bring a little bit of that attitude back to my own life.

We got up this morning ready to go try a new place for breakfast, we had found a local place that held the promise of banana pancakes! We dressed and walked outside and were a little surprised at the slight chill in the early morning breeze. I turned around and got my rain jacket to serve as a wind breaker on our bike ride. We noticed there were many local residents who were dressed in winter clothes. The wind chill may have even dropped below 70 degrees this morning! We reached Meldy’s kitchen quickly. We walked into the small front room and the teenage boy (probably Meldy’s son) manning the counter asked if we’d like to sit inside or outside. There was one small table in the stuffy front room, so we chose to sit outside. He led us onto a small side patio with 4 small brightly colored picnic tables. After sitting down, he brought us each a binder that contained menus. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drink menus were all contained in order in plastic sheet protectors. The breakfast menu looked great, she was obviously trying to cater to the Gringo palette. Bagels and cream cheese, banana pancakes, omelettes and fresh fruit plates. We ordered an omelette and banana pancakes with fresh squeezed orange juice. We had a small rooster in the yard beside us and a cat to sit in our laps for entertainment. The food was very good. After breakfast we biked back to our cabin and ran into John on the way. He informed us that the pool party we had been invited to (at the home of another couple living on the island we had met through John ) had been postponed due to cold weather. After all, it may not even get much past 80 degrees today. Bbrrrrrrr! 😉 we had to pack up everything after we returned because we would be moving to a one bedroom room closer to the beach since it was now only the 2 of us again. After packing we decided to go hang out on the hotels pier. The day had indeed warmed up to almost 80 and with the remaining breeze it was a spectacular day to outside. We sat out over the sparkling blue water and read and napped (and I wrote in my blog) until it was time to change rooms. The hotel sent a taxi golf cart to the cabin to collect our bags and bring them to the hotel. Easiest move ever. We finally decided we may want some lunch about mid afternoon, (time doesn’t seem to mean that much here). We stopped by John’s to say goodbye (he was leaving for the states Monday) and we ate at Maggie’s again. We went to the split to see what was going on and returned to our room. Somehow we still had not completely recovered from the dive trip so we picked up fried rice for dinner and watched CSI. Just another relaxing day in paradise….

Kim and Mike were leaving today. It seemed they had only arrived a couple days before. It had been a busy but at the same time relaxing week. Most of all we’d had an incredibly fun week. We had done and seen a lot but not as much as I would have liked. Unfortunately, I don’t think I will ever look at a weeks vacation the same way again. A week is so short! I woke up earlier than everyone else so I got dressed and decided to go get breakfast. I biked to the fruit stand and had a fresh pineapple cut up and got a couple of bottles of fresh squeezed juice. Then to the fry jack stand just next to the fruit stand. I ordered a couple different fry jacks, stuffed with eggs, cheese,  beans and ham. The bakery was not yet open, but when it did open I was there to get cinnamon rolls, donuts, and bread pudding bars (something new to me). Everyone was up when I returned and we spread out our feast. I spent a total of $15 USD on all of this. Everything was great. We chatted about the trip, especially about our dive trip yesterday. Eventually it was time for Mike and Kim to pack up. We rode our bikes to the water taxi pier with Mike and Christian carrying their luggage (an advantage to packing in backpacks). Kim and I checked luggage and bought tickets as the guys returned their bikes. We met on the beach so they could have one last look at the turquoise water before returning to the frozen Midwest. We ran into John on the way back to the water taxi (it’s amazing how often you run into people on this tiny island). It was a good chance to say goodbye. We made our way out to the end of the water taxi’s pier. We gathered with other passengers into something that crudely resembled a line. At the last minute, the employees yelled that Belize City passengers were actually boarding on the other side of the pier. Ok, that would’ve been good information for everyone to have had earlier, but we ARE in Belize. They crossed to the other side and after our hugs and final pictures, they got in line for the smallest water taxi I’ve ever seen. And on top of that it looked to already be filled to capacity before they even got to the front. Somehow every single person in line was crowded onto the boat. Oh no! They had an hour long ride to get into the city! I was saying a prayer for them, I certainly didn’t want this to leave a poor impression of their trip. The diving yesterday had ruled out the possibility of taking the small tropic air airplane to Belize City because there is recommended 24 hour no fly window after diving for safety. After leaving the water taxi pier we decided to walk down Front Street. We soon came to a small booth set up with puppies! And we definitely can’t resist puppies! It was the Caye Caulker Animal Shelter. They actually are looking for homes in the US or Canada to take the puppies, where they’re able to have the puppies flown to the nearest airport very inexpensively. We held and looked at the puppies and listened to them talk about the shelter. They also want people on the island to take their adult dogs out for walks for a little while. Sure! We like dogs! We had seen people everyday walking these cute, well behaved dogs through town with little “adopt me” vests on. That would be fun! We followed the director back through the yard to the pet play area they were building. They’re really trying to help the overpopulation of dogs and cats here on the island. Most of the dogs were already out on walks. But there were two left, Blackie and Sophia. Christian was assigned to Blackie because he neeeded a man to walk him because he’s a strong dog. (We should’ve caught on to that clue). Blackie also needed a harness instead of a collar because he liked to pull (uh oh). And Sophia had to have a chain leash because she chews up everything. We were also instructed not to go toward the split because Blackie doesn’t always like other dogs. (What?!) So we started out, going AWAY from the split, and things were ok for the first few minutes. Several local Belizeans thanked us for what we were doing. We took a few pictures and walked a little further. Blackie saw something he wanted and began to literally pull Christian down the street. Sophia, not wanting to be left behind, also began to pull on her leash. What Blackie wanted was to play in the ocean (which they said would be ok) so Christian took off his leash and let him go. Sophia, again not wanting to be left behind, pulled her leash right out of my hand and went in after him. We watched and laughed for a few minutes until we began to wonder if they were just going to keep swimming out and we may not be able to get them back. The next 20 minutes was spent wading into the water trying to get dogs, getting ourselves covered in sand and water in the meantime. When we finally got them under control, we decided we had had enough. We returned the dogs in their wet and dirty vests, and promised to donate some dog food. Ok, that was a disaster. It was time for a rest day. After yesterday and then the dog fiasco, I was worn out. The rest of the day was spent laying on the lounge chairs by the pool outside our cabins. We read, napped, I wrote some in my blog. It was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon. We had dinner at Pizza Caulker. I know, I know, we are in the Caribbean. And we had actually resisted having things like pizza and hamburgers at first. But really they are very common here, there is a lot of what we think of as American food everywhere we go. But we were glad we went to Pizza Caulker. Greg, the owner originally from Canada, came out to greet us and sat with us for a little while. He was an interesting character to say the least. And the pizza was fabulous! Good ending to a day that started a little sad (to see Kim and Mike go) and then became disastrous (with the dogs). Things tend to work out if you just keep moving forward…

 

Our alarms were set for 4am but you know how it is when you know you have to be up super early to get somewhere, you wake every hour and a panicked thought of “I’ve overslept!” Runs through you head until you see it’s only 1:15. So I think we were all awake before our alarms even went off. We had no trouble getting our backpacks ready and making sure we had everything in time to take off on our bikes by 5 am. There are very few people on Caye Caulker awake so early (and most of them are probably also go diving). Our biggest problem was negotiating bumps in the road in between the sporadic street lights. (#islandprobs, right?) we made it to the dive shop by the appointed time of 5:15 and left our bikes in the bike racks. We were not the first to arrive, there was already a room full of sleepy divers swarming the breakfast buffet the dive shop had prepared for us. After coffee, bagels, yogurt, fruit, and scrambled eggs, we were ready to board the boat. 20 divers and a crew of divemasters all found spots easily on the large, state of the art, dive boat. The divemasters showed us each where our equipment would be waiting for us and we did tests and retests to assure everything was working. After a short briefing the boat headed around to the east side of the island to begin the 2 1/2 hour trip to Blue Hole National Park. The Blue Hole is like an inverted cave under the water measuring about 1000 feet across and 400 feet deep. The Belize reef system in general (and the Blue Hole in particular) is one of the 7 underwater wonders of the world, and our dive would take us 125 feet down into the mouth of this famous cave. The mood was light and everyone seemed to be looking forward to the day. It took us about 15 minutes to get to the barrier reef system protecting Cay Caulker. We were treated to a spectacular sunrise on the horizon in front of us. As soon as we crossed the reef the roughness of the seas increased dramatically. For the first few minutes I thought maybe we would get to calmer seas after we were well outside the reef, but I couldn’t hold on to that hope for very long. The waves were bigger than I have ever personally seen! Oddly enough, it was a beautiful sunny day, the wind wasn’t even howling. The crew later told us we had been in 12 foot seas much of the trip. The boat would climb a wave feeling like we were at least on a 45 degree incline, but the wave would end and the boat would smash down roughly onto the next trough. Each time I would think “ok, I’m going to hold on tighter this time and not move”, but the crash was always a little unexpected in its severity and suddenness. When the boat slammed down, there was no way to avoid being lifted several inches off your seat, only to be abruptly thrown back down. I imagined I could feel the vertebrae in my spine compressing with each hit. It was only by hanging onto stationary objects around me that kept me from completely falling off my seat. It wasn’t long before one of the divemasters came and got me. He was concerned I was sitting too far forward in the boat where it was even rougher. I left myself grasp a spark of hope that maybe the ride a little further back would not be so terrifying, but after I sat down next to Kim I realized I couldn’t really feel any difference. When I chanced a look over at the side window of the boat, I was alarmed to see a wall of water just outside the window. The same window which sits probably 15 feet over the water in dock. The boat rocked violently not only forward and back but also side to side. I will admit that our little group (Mike, Kim, John, Christian, and I) were actually among the lucky ones. About half of the passengers on the boat were terribly sea sick. I’m not sure when I’ve seen people so many shades of a pasty greenish white color. I felt so sorry for them. The worst part was probably that it seemed like it would never end. My watch seemed to have stopped as I kept checking it and finding we had well over an hour left to endure this. I had probably been on roller coasters that were no more (but no less) terrifying than this boat ride, but the difference is they may only last a minute or two instead of a couple of hours. When we finally got close to the Blue Hole, the seas calmed down. They had told us this would be the case, although I have no idea why. All the sick passengers slowly began to regain their color and we all began to regain a little of the excitement we had felt earlier about seeing the Blue Hole. A thought occurred to me that this situation compared to a woman after childbirth, she’s just gone through a horrible experience, but that is forgotten as soon as she sees what it was all for. Ariel views of the Blue Hole show a large sapphire circle in the middle of the ocean. That was not quite the view from where we were. We could see the rim ahead of us and we were in the more deeply blue water. As soon as a dive boat stops, previously relaxed or resting crew and divers jump up and scurry around like ants, each with their own mission and the whole scene being one of controlled chaos. We each reported to our previously assigned locations to begin the process of gearing up for the dive. The very process of struggling into a heavy, sticky wetsuit alone would not be worth the trouble if we did not know what an incredible world we were about to see underwater. One of the divemasters briefed us on what to expect in this dive and divided us into groups, each with a different divemaster. We had an awesome divemaster, Eugene, and the smallest group consisting of just us 5 (thanks for that John, definately a case of who you know and not what you know). Our group was the second group in to the water and we immediately began quickly descending. We had only just begun our descent when we saw a large silhouette emerge from the darkness below. The gray reef shark only swam close enough for a spooky view of his outline, almost as if it was planned. Of course, not everyone saw him (sorry Mike) but the day was still young. In order to have adequate time to see everything at such a great depth, we had to go down rather quickly. I knew immediately this was not like any other dive I had ever done. We were descending along a sheer cave wall, it quickly became dim and Eugene turned on his flashlight. I looked at my gauge and saw I was already at 123 feet. Just ahead of me were stalactites that were at least twice as tall as I am and probably 20 feet in diameter. The whole scene took on a little bit of an eerie feel, being in an underwater cave, swimming through these massive stalactites. After swimming though the network of stalactites, we began our ascension. Bottom time is very limited at these depths for safety reasons. This is also where an experienced divemaster is absolutely essential. Once we were within the stalactites I don’t know if I could’ve figured out which way was out, or up. When we emerged and struggled (at least it’s a struggle for me) back on the boat with our heavy tanks and equipment, out excitement level had only increased. Everyone chatted about all that we had seen, except Mike who didn’t see the shark. (Not that he was bitter 😉 ). After everyone was back onboard and accounted for, we headed for Half Moon Caye, which would be our 2nd dive. It was only about 30 minutes away. The water had improved dramatically and after that horrendous boat ride earlier, the 6 foot waves we encountered seemed like we were gliding over a polished glass surface. The sun was quickly heating us up inside our heavy wetsuits, so we were anxious to begin the next dive. I discarded my thick wetsuit and opted for only a skinsuit for the more more shallow dives in the warm turquoise water. The divemaster briefed us on the next dive, 60 foot max depth with a much longer bottom time. This dive was called Half Moon Caye Wall and in addition to prolific coral we could expect to see a wide variety of marine life. Our dive group was in first this time. I was the first in the group to slide over to the entry deck on the back of the boat in my fins and gear. I had my underwater camera strap secured on my right hand while I held my mask and regulator in place with my left. The boat was rocking a little so I held on to the rail with my right hand as I took one giant step out to enter the water. I immediately felt a jerk on my right arm and I realized right away that my camera strap had gotten wrapped around the rail I was holding onto. My first thought was that I would be jerked back onto the boat by my right arm, possibly hitting my head on the tank strapped on my back. I heard a loud snap and the tension on my right arm was released as I fell into the water. My camera! I felt a little panicked when I thought of the card inside my camera with more than a thousand pictures from our trip. I quickly stuck my face in the water to see if I saw the camera falling to the bottom. I couldn’t find it! I looked back on the boat and Eugene was holding it up to show me he had it. I was simultaneously relieved and frustrated. My camera was fine, but with the strap broken there would be no pictures of this dive. Ok, one dive without pictures, how much was I really going to miss? The rest of the group stepped into the water one by one. Eugene, who had not even had his gear on when I got in, was suddenly in the water as well. He was like Houdini getting his equipment on and getting in the water quickly. We had not been down but a few minutes when the first Blacktip Caribbean shark showed up. It was a bit unnerving to see such a large shark so close. This shark did not seem to be as shy as the sharks we had seen before. He swam right toward us to get a closer look at us and then turned and disappeared as quickly as he had shown up. Wow! Most dives don’t see sharks come that close, it was exciting and a little scary at the same time. We swam along the coral wall and saw a few other fish when the next Blacktip showed up. We rounded a small turn in the coral wall and the 7 foot shark (Eugene’s estimation) was within about 20 feet of us but swimming in our direction. I really thought he would turn around when he saw us, but that didn’t happen. Eugene was at the front of the group and I was directly to his left. As the shark came closer I swam right behind Eugene and wedged myself between him and the coral wall. I figured he must have learned in divemaster school what to do when a shark approaches you, right? John was right behind me, then Christian, Kim, and Mike (Mike couldn’t miss this one) and still the shark approached. John later told us that he has his fist ready to bump him in the snout if he had come closer. I’m sure the Nat Geo shows are correct in saying to do that, but I wouldn’t want to be around when someone started a fight with that huge fish. He finally turned as he came within a couple of feet of us and glided off. Eugene actually turned around and pumped his arms up and down with the “rock on” signs showing on both hands. It is reassuring to know that your divemaster is comfortable and even excited during these moments. He’s been down here hundreds of times and he would know if there was any cause for concern. I, however, had not ever been to this spot and I was a little concerned. But the excitement was over. I looked at my gauge to see how much air I had sucked up and was surprised to see that I still had most of my tank left. We swam and saw fish and coral and the occasional eel. It was a beautiful place, and I was relaxing and enjoying it. Until the next Blacktip showed up. He also seemed interested in us but did not come as close as the one before him. In all we saw black-tips at least 10 times. Of course we may have been seeing some of the same shark multiple times. A few were a little smaller (maybe 4 feet- per Eugene) and some were longer and significantly broader. Our total dive lasted close to an hour because we stayed between 40 and 60 feet. This is one of the few dives I’ve ever done without a camera and it sounds like a big fish tale. Luckily, Christian had his gopro the entire time and when we return he can edit and hopefully share some of his footage. We got back on the boat even more excited this time. We headed for the island of Half Moon Caye (pronounced key) for lunch. The island is maybe 3 or 4 acres in size and is uninhabited except for 1 park ranger and 1 local who makes homemade Coconut Oil to sell to the divers who visit. It is the eastern most land mark of Belize. The island is the quintessential tropical island that you see in pictures. Just breathtaking, and par for the course in this magical day. There is a picnic area with tables where the crew laid out our food. Traditional stew chicken (they do not say stewed), rice and beans, coleslaw and fantas (pineapple is the best). It was good to be on dry land for a little while, although I still felt like I was swaying. After lunch we followed one of the divemasters down a trail that led a little more inland through the trees. On our way we saw lots of hermit crabs in their beautiful shells. Actually, whenever we would hear something moving over the dry leaves on the forest floor it was almost always a hermit crab. There were also iguanas, but they are not as plentiful as the hermit crabs. We came to a tall observation deck. The island is heavily inhabited with 2 main types of birds. The red-footed booby and the frigit- who has a bright red throat that puffs up as his mating call. When we reached the platform we saw that a booby had built her nest about 10 feet away in the canopy. She didn’t seem to mind our presence, and she gave us some good poses. The frigits swooped overhead and were a little more difficult to get pictures of. After a short rest on the island, we were off to our 3rd dive. Lighthouse aquarium was the site for this dive, obviously not an actual aquarium, but called that because of the vast amount and variety of marine life there. It was similar to our 2nd dive in depth and time. I had my camera this time, ready to snap pictures of all the Sharks. When we got underwater it was apparent why this place was called aquarium, this is what large salt water tanks are modeled after. Beautiful coral formations and all shapes and colors of fish. Large parrot fish swam all around us, their colors spectacular against the sapphire blue of the water. Seeing no sharks could have made this dive feel like a let down, but the rest of the marine life made up for it. An exotically patterned grouper that looked large enough to feed our entire dive boat followed us as we let the current push us along the reef. After about 50 minutes Eugene raised the orange inflatable marker he had in his jacket so the boat could find us. Drift dives (which both our 2nd and 3rd one were) will spoil you with their ease. Almost no kicking or swimming is required as you float on the gentle underwater currents past amazing scenery. When we surfaced we floated around and laughed and talked as we waited for the boat to come pluck us out of the water. Boarding the boat for the last time today was bitter sweet. I were exhausted from our long days adventures, but I was also a little sad that such a magical day had to come to an end. The boat ride back was a little rough, but after what we had endured on the ride out there, it felt like being in a porch swing as opposed to the worlds scariest thrill ride. As if the ocean was determined not to let the magic end too soon, a large group of Dolphins swam beside our boat. They were jumping the waves and trying to keep up with us. The captain circled around once to give us a better view, and then we pulled away from them. The sun dropped low over the horizon as we rode through the split. All the sunbathers and swimmers near the docks waved at us and I felt a little like they were congratulating me on an awesome day. Of course I know that’s nonsense, but we smiled and waved all the same, we conquered the Blue Hole and returned! After docking at the dive shop on the west side of the island we decided to hang around and watch the sunset. It’s awesome over the water on that side of the island. Key West may proclaim themselves the home of the sunset, but this one was just as spectacular. While we we on the pier watching the sunset, we noticed a couple of other people looking into the water off the pier. We asked them what they saw and they pointed out the tiniest little seahorse clinging to the root of a mangrove tree. We watched and took pictures, the fascination of sea life really is everywhere. Now 13 hours since we had arrived at the dive shop this morning, we left exhausted but still excited from a perfect day. The bike ride toward the dinner restaurant we had chosen was briefly interrupted by a mishap on the bike for Kim. But she was a good sport about it, as she always is, and it wasn’t long before her little wreck became nothing more than a funny part of the day. We stopped at Maggie’s sunset kitchen to eat, a quant little place set up underneath a concrete house built on tall pilings. It’s right on the water on the west side of the island and although the sun was down, it had left splendid colors behind. The food was fantastic. We biked home slowly after dinner. We managed to keep our eyes open long enough to shower and fall into bed. Life does not not hold many days so completely full of new wonders. This would be a day to remember always, inside a month Christian and I will never forget.

Today would be the only full day with Kim and Mike to see the island. It was hard to know where to start, there is so much here to see and do. The weather was perfect in the morning with just a touch of coolness, so we decided to start the day with a long bicycle ride to see the island after breakfast at Glenda’s. John had told us about a bike trail near the beach that goes around the perimeter of the island so we figured that would be a good place to start. There were certainly beautiful views the whole way. Some of the trail was right on the beach with the water literally only a few feet away. But then other parts ventured 50 – 100 feet inland and were cut through dense forest. We joked about this being the closest we would ever come to actually biking through a jungle. We made it down the bottom half of the island and around the southern tip when we began to encounter water. At first it was just a few puddles, but then we got to a point where we couldn’t see any more dry land. We decided we had reached our limit on adventure as far as this trail was concerned. On the way home, we stopped to see the tiny Caye Caulker airport and Christian and Mike stood at the end of a runway to watch the plane go right overhead (I think there’s some little boy in all men). We returned to the cabin to change and headed to the split for some snorkeling, swimming, and just relaxing. We were not the only ones with that idea but we found a place to squeeze onto the pier. We snorkeled over a spot some bridge rubble had been sunk to make a sort of artificial reef. I don’t expect too much from snorkeling around a pier, but we were surprised to see a lion fish, a starfish, and a good number of various tropical fish. Most of all we were just enjoying the water and the sun. Lunch took Kim and I to Errolyn’s house of fry jacks and the guys to a street side grill where they were grilling fresh lobster and shrimp. We also made our way to the dive shop to check in for the next days dive. After lunch we decided to go relax on the pier under the palapa. Dinner took us to town to Cubana. They slow roast a pig in a pit right on main street all day to attract the diners, and it works,at least for us. After dinner we visited shops and the ice cream stand. The day had been perfect, the weather and the company. We were all so excited about our dive tomorrow! Since we had to be at the dive shop by 5:15 am we turned in early. Even relaxing days with no particular plan here are days in paradise with no particular plan.

Our flight to Corozal was scheduled for 7:30 am so we were up before the sun. Byron was right on time to pick us up and we were at the airport just before 7. I walked into the 500 square foot terminal and went to the desk to check in. The employee behind the desk politely informed me I was at the wrong desk, the checkin desk was to my left. Now the funny part is I took 2 steps sideways in the small terminal to the check in desk, and the same guy also took 2 steps sideways to work the desk. He acted like he had never seen me before and said, good morning, are you checking in? I suppressed a giggle and gave him the names on our reservation. After we had paid for our flight, he informed us the plane would be delayed because of fog in the area this morning. Since the terminal was approximately 500 square feet and the A/C unit made it feel like it was about 50 degrees in there, we chose to wait it out in baggage claim, which was the picnic table out front. The sun finally poked its head out from behind the clouds and began to burn off the fog about an hour and a half later. Our plane eventually got there and we boarded about 2 hours behind schedule. Mikes broad shoulders almost didn’t make it down the aisle, but he squeezed in somehow. The flight was a little cloudy but we still got some incredible views. We landed 20 minutes later in San Pedro. After collecting our backpacks we headed for the golf cart rental office a few blocks away. We rented a golf cart for a few hours and left our backpacks with the agent for safekeeping while we took a couple of hours to tour the island. We covered a lot of the island both going south and going north. We stopped at a bakery and got a snack since we hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. On the north end we walked out onto the beach to enjoy our treats. It’s hard to even think about what you’re eating when you have views like that. We continued our tour, stopping occasionally to take a closer look at anything that caught our interest. Perhaps Christian and I had already become a little accustomed to the sparkling turquoise water as a fixture in our day, but now we were seeing it new all again through someone’s eyes who had just arrived. After a few hours on the golf car we retuned it and collected our luggage. A quick lunch at an open air beach cafe near the water taxi and we were off. The water taxi was different from the ones we had been on before. This one was more like a 2 level dive boat, we made it on in time to sit up top. The ride to Cay Caulker was beautiful. There are so many different shades of blue in the water here it’s almost unbelievable. We made it to Cay Caulker and found our rental cabin. It’s the cutest little pink cabin in a small group of of 3 cabins (the others are yellow and pink). It has beautiful Belizean hardwood floors, ceiling, cabinets, doors and furniture. There’s a small kitchens and living room, a bedroom and bathroom downstairs, and one loft bedroom. It has a small front porch with Adirondack chairs. I couldn’t have dreamed up a better little cabin. Our first stop was by our friend John’s house, which was only about a block from the cabin we are renting. Kim and Mike got the tour of his beautiful property. Knowing someone living on the island has made our experience here even better. John has been so gracious and kind to help us out with whatever we need and answer every question. After our visit we went to rent bikes. It has been 3 years 11 months and 3 days since I’ve been on a bicycle. And my last experience on a bike was not a pleasant one to say the least. I was feeling a little nervous but the bikes here have higher handlebars so there would no leaning forward and bearing weight through my arm, and it also doesn’t matter that I can’t completely straighten my elbow. Christian was a little hesitant for me to ride a bike here because some of the streets are a little bumpy, but I was really excited to try. We got our bikes and left by the beach bike path to explore to town. It was amazing. Now I remember what I always loved about riding a bike. I felt so alive and energetic! After a little ride, we went to a pier to do a little snorkeling. There were several small barracudas and some tiny yellow and black striped fish like you’d see in an aquarium at home. We returned to our little pink cabin to get ready for dinner. We met John at a local restaurant and had so much fun! Its amazing how easy conversation flows when no one is stressed. We explored the town a little more on our bikes after dinner before calling it a night. Can’t wait to see what adventure tomorrow brings!

Today started with the awe inspiring sunrise and cooking breakfast. Byron picked us up at 9 and we headed for the village of Copper Bank. We weren’t too far from Corozal when we came to a river with no bridge. The answer to this is the hand cranked ferry. The ferry is a small barge that has planks that can fit 3 or 4 cars in a long row. A heavy cable is run from one bank to the other and strung through pulleys along one side of the barge. There is a hand operated crank that pulls the barge along the cable to the other side of the river. Christian and Mike thought it would be great fun to turn the crank so they asked if they could and the workers happily agreed. I got the feeling they don’t get a lot of help with the crank. Once across the river we continued on to a small village named Copper Bank. We stopped at a tiny supermarket to get a come and continued on to Cerros Mayan Ruins. Cerros is a 45 acre complex of Mayan Ruins that were discovered in the 70’s and much of it has yet to be excavated. One huge temple has been excavated and restored as has a ball court. Numerous other mounds can be seen with stone poking through the edges waiting to be uncovered. There are giant masks carved into the outer walls. The whole temple is right on Corozal Bay and its a beautiful setting. The major downfall is that the entire area seems to also be used as a mosquito breeding ground. From the moment we walked up we were swarmed by mosquitoes like I’ve never seen. At any one time there would be 20 or 30 mosquitoes on the back of your shirt and many more swooping in to take a bite of an arm or leg. We were all waking while flailing our arms and legs around trying to discourage the mosquitoes from landing. Unfortunately we had not brought any bug repellent with us. Another guide with a Canadian couple we met had a can of OFF! We would’ve paid her to use it, but she offered it to is freely. What a lifesaver! After we were sprayed down, the mosquitoes continued to swarm us and were buzzing their high pitched squeal in our ears but they didn’t seem to be able to bite us. Thank goodness! We were still doing a fair amount of flailing but only because of the buzzing and the nuisance of their presence and not because of the pain of being bitten. We followed a long trail to ruins and emerged in a large complex of humongous mounds. Most were yet to be excavated, the one that had been completely excavated and restored was awesome. THe large  masks that were carved on each side of the temple had amazing detail, we climbed to the top up the steep concrete steps where we had a great view of the bay. Corozal town was directly across from us. We explored the ruins grounds a little more but the relentless clouds of mosquitoes were hard to ignore. We perused the small visitors center to see pictures of other ruins and learn a little about the Mayan. It was all fascinating, but the mosquitoes finally ran us off. After leaving Cerros we made our way to a local resort to eat lunch. Orchid Bay is an isolated resort/development that has a small restaurant overlooking the bay. It’s a beautiful place. After lunch we explored the grounds a little, even taking advantage of the pier and 2 level palapa. We left and made our way back to the first of the 2 hand crank ferries. Christian wanted to try some of the endless acres of sugar cane we were seeing, so Byron pulled over and stood guard while Christian cut some cane. After we got through the first hand crank ferry we were driving through more sugar cane fields. In the distance we saw a small animal and we quickly assumed it was an anteater (we had been wanting to see one ever since some other tourists had told us about one they had seen). But as we got closer we discovered it was actually a fox. Which was almost as good really. We made it through the next hand cranked ferry after waiting in line for a while. Once home we did our usual afternoon activity of sitting down by the water. Dinner was at a small restaurant just down the road, which we had only discovered this morning. We had a long conversation with the owner from Florida. There are so many interesting people to meet and talk to everywhere we’ve been, that’s been a bonus we never expected. Tomorrow we leave for the islands. Corozal has turned out to be a nice little town, different from the the other places we’ve been but with its own charm. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds for us.