Since I woke up early I decided to ride my bike down to the beach to see the sunrise. The horizon was cloudless and the entire sky was streaked with yellows, pinks, and oranges in anticipation of the coming dawn. It was a beautiful sight and I found a pier to settle on and watch the sun peek out over the water. Although the sky was brilliant, the wind was not light, it blew the trees furiously and whipped the water into small foamy whitecaps before lapping ashore. The wind did not show signs of stopping, and this doesn’t make for a good diving day.
Bert confirmed this later in the morning, it was definitely too windy to go out. And the wind did not let up the next day either. So we had a couple of days of island time. There was plenty to keep us busy since John had received his container a few days before. We spent time hanging curtains, tv wall mounts, putting together a golf cart trailer, bikes, bed frames and generally just helping to finish some unpacking.
We still found time for an afternoon swim and several visits to town. It’s so easy to find an easy rhythm here. Riding our bikes into town to the market or to see what’s going on at Bert’s dive shop. Nothing feels hurried or worrisome. Although we’ve got just over a week left, I’m beginning to feel like our time is running out! My mind is beginning to wander back to Mississippi at times, to all the things I’ll have waiting for me there. But I’m determined not to let a day go by here preoccupied with other thoughts. The relaxed feeling I have here is not something I can usually achieve at home and something I intend to enjoy every moment I’m here.
Hopefully tomorrow will bring less wind and another day of diving. Either way, no worries…..
heres a link to a video of the sunrise https://youtu.be/-eDQ2bC3nW0
Can I really compare a Caribbean island in Belize to the island of Manhattan? Maybe it’s not such a stretch….
We set out early on Sunday morning on our bikes to catch the water taxi. We would spend the day on the neighboring island of Ambergris Caye. For $16 each (USD) each way the water taxi would deposit us in San Pedro, the islands town. Once to San Pedro we walked through town and found a golf cart to rent for the day.
After being on Caye Caulker, San Pedro seems very large and extremely busy. It’s similar to the feeling I get when I take a trip from Brandon to Manhattan, so great is the difference. We rode around for a time, just re-familiarizing ourselves with the town. We headed south of town since that’s where the church we wanted to attend was located. The roads were a lot rougher than I remembered. I wondered several times how the golf carts here held together, and several passed us at (what seemed to me) an unreasonable and dangerous rate of speed on these roads although it couldn’t have been more than 20 mph.
We finally arrived at church about 20 minutes later and pulled our golf cart into the tiny parking lot. The road leading to the church may have been the bumpiest road I had ever been on in my life, so everyone here must be fully committed. The crowd was pretty diverse. At least 75% were Belizean with the rest being either tourists or resident Americans or Canadians. The church itself was nice, with A/C, plush chairs, and a large stage. The service was not so different from a service in the U.S. with some touches that are decidedly more Belizean.
After church we found some BBQ near the beach for lunch and then continued our ride around the island for a couple more hours. We stopped a few times along the way, but mostly we just rode. Ambergris Caye is a large island, and a busy one. It’s beautiful in its own way and there is certainly always something going on. Many people prefer it to Caye Caulker, but after spending time on Caye Caulker I now have the same thing to say about this busier island as I do about the busy island of Manhattan. It’s a nice place to visit but….
link to the video of the day https://youtu.be/WqM88yYzxSE
February 18th…. now with memories of the magical on top of the horrific
Saturday had a dive scheduled but that wasn’t making me feel any better. I always think that this date is not going to affect me anymore, it’s just a number! Of course for a while just saying the date brought tears to my eyes, so at least I’m beyond that. I’ve never thought there was so much sentimentality in me about anniversaries. But the anniversary of the hardest and most painful day of my life seems different. I can’t help replaying in my mind images of my twisted arm with bone pieces coming out or that terrifying emergency room scene that I can remember clearly but still can’t put down in words. Don’t get me wrong, God had been faithful and I honestly feel I’ve gotten more good than bad from the whole experience, but this day marks the beginning and the very worst part.
But I tried to put on a good face and get ready for the day. I’m not sure how successful I was, Christian of course didn’t comment on my mood anyway.
We boarded the dive boat under a warm, sunny sky. Today we were joined by a couple from Wisconsin and I was distracted from my grim thoughts as they told us stories of their travels in Indonesia and Thailand.
On the way out I was mostly trying to stay quiet wit’s most of my talking being in my head in the form of prayer. But the warm wind and turquoise water were already softening my mood. As Bert guided the boat into a small cut through of an uninhabited island, he slowed the motors and suddenly 2 dolphins appeared. We were all excited (especially me I think) but they didn’t hang around too long. But before we even resumed the trip Mike spotted 2 manatees. We kept seeing the sandy trail they were leaving on the shallow bottom but were unable to glimpse the animals themselves. They finally emerged briefly, a mom and a baby, which explained the shyness as she protects her calf. Somehow I could feel this day getting better already. I was hopeful that the dive may also bring more excitement.
As soon as we dropped down on our first dive we saw lionfish lined up under ledges as if they were waiting for us. By the time Bert got down with the zookeeper, Christian had killed 4 lionfish. And it didn’t stop there. The guys were shooting lionfish as fast as they could while I enjoyed the underwater landscape and looked for something out of the ordinary to video (something I didn’t already have hours of footage of anyway). More than halfway through the dive, Bert signaled that he saw a ray resting in the sand. Sure enough, a small sting ray was just below us, but that’s not really out of the ordinary. But then Bert motioned that he saw another ray, this time in front of us, which usually means an eagle ray. Bert can spot things no one else seems to be able to and I even often have trouble finding what he’s pointing out. I finally saw the beautiful ray gliding through the water in the distance. We see eagle rays fairly often, but are rarely able to catch much more than a glimpse since they are generally very skittish around divers. But that didn’t keep me from trying. I swam forward with the GoPro to see if maybe I could see him well enough to get a shot. I swam toward him and to my surprise he only glided in a slow, graceful arc toward my left. I followed very closely and he seemed to almost slow down, making it possible for me to keep up. I was so excited I could hardly stand it, I ended taking almost 2 minutes of video of this exquisite creature.
The dive was over shortly and we spent the surface interval talking about the success of the dive and eating lionfish ceviche. The second dive would prove even more exciting than the first. The lionfish were again there, but we also came across a large sea turtle that literally swam in circles around me while I videoed. Then there was the hungry, free-swimming eel (they are usually hiding) who fought to pull a lionfish of a spear, and the longest trumpet fish I had ever seen! I thought it couldn’t get better until Bert spotted another eagle ray just before we surfaced and I was able to also able to get close enough to video this one!
Wow!
The boat ride back seemed to be as magical as the rest of the day with the ocean displaying more varied shades of blue than I would think possible, and after we returned home and showered, John treated us to dinner at the loveliest restaurant on the island, which we had never visited.
I intend to remember this day when the next February 18th rolls around. The other memories will always be there as well, but now those memories will be tempered with thoughts of the charmed day I’ve had, and just when I needed it. God is still faithful!
link to video for the day https://youtu.be/xmtwABf_2oU
February 13-17
Monday brought another day of diving under the cloudiest skies we’ve seen since being here this time. Our dive group was large (for our boat) and included a family from Sweden, an older gentleman from Denmark, and another man from Great Britain. Quite an international group today and since everyone spoke excellent English, we had a great time finding out a little more about them all.
Wind and clouds can make diving a little less spectacular, but still with visibility being over a hundred feet, we really can’t complain. We visited the spectacular coral canyons of Esmeralda again today with the surface interval just inside the reef at a great spot with shallow water coral and sea life which made for good snorkeling between dives.
Valentine’s Day (Tuesday) was warm and bright and beautiful. We spent some time that morning kayaking in incredibly blue and amazingly calm water. We had a double date planned for that night. The sports bar was having a special valentines meal- filet and shrimp. We arrived early and we weren’t sorry – it was really delicious.
It was not to be a quiet night since I awoke shortly after midnight with a stomach virus. The next day and a half were lost to me as I recovered.
Thursday evening John and Susan’s container finally made its appearance. The first load didn’t arrive to the house until after 9 p.m. Seven strong (non-English speaking) men spent the better part of the next 3 hours brings boxes, furniture, appliances and anything else you can think of into the new building on the property. The bottom floor will be a pool house and the top floor will be an apartment to rent. I finally made it to sleep around 2 am. It was actually a pretty fun evening, exciting anyway.
Friday was spent putting things together and unpacki g boxes, not an unwelcome change to our normal routine here.
Tomorrow will bring another dive! We had to cancel our dive Wednesday because I was sick, so I’m ready to get back into the water
Re-lax-a-tion
Noun
1. The state of being free from tension and anxiety. Synonyms : calm, tranquil, peaceful, loosening up, unwinding
2. In Physics- the restoration of equilibrium following disturbance
I haven’t always considered relaxation an “art”. As a teenager I could lay around for hours on end reading or watching T.V. (We didn’t have Netflix then). But somewhere in the middle of job-marriage-children, I no longer believed I should have any down time. My self-worth became dangerously entangled with busyness. It’s a common trap in our hurried culture (at least for adults/parents, teenagers don’t seem affected) that we must be always accomplishing something. Even on vacation I always had a plan. When my children were young and we took a trip to Disneyworld, I had every moment planned so we could get the most out of our vacation (6 year olds don’t need a nap anyway do they?) Now I can’t say I regret any of it, we did have a lot of fun and saw a lot of stuff, but fun and relaxation aren’t the same thing. Even now I tend to think we need a goal for every day of vacation. It could be diving or sightseeing but unwinding somehow does not seem a worthy goal for any day. So with this in mind, we decided to spend several days “relaxing”. The question is “How do we even do that?” I’m not looking to be bored, I just need to remind myself how to get away from schedules and busyness for a few days. It’s amazing that it could be so hard, but it’s worth a try.
The first day without a plan I kept thinking, “ok, it’s __ o’clock and what have we done today?” I hate the idea of wasting time, but is relaxing wasting time? While a few years ago I would’ve said YES without hesitation, now I don’t really think so. I think the rest of my life will go more smoothly (i.e. my attitude will be better) if I learn to relax. So I decided I was not going to even look at the clock or think about what time it was (we do have the luxury of that here).
This is not to say we layed around and watched Netflix for 4 days. Even just to have something to eat here requires biking, which I really enjoy and definitely counts as relaxing to me. So during our 4 days of relaxation we
-spent time on the beach/pool deck/sofa reading
-biked through town numerous times
-visited the Belize Estuary
-had dinner with new friends on their spectacular rooftop deck
-shopped and cooked
-spent an afternoon “swimming” in the ocean (it was really just floating in the water) -sat on a dock to watch the sunset in the evening -edited some video
-watched a few movies
-visited with John and Susan
So our relaxation was a success! (It seems I still can’t stop judging the “success” of a day). But I do feel more “chill” and tomorrow we will dive again….
here’s a link to the video of the Belize Estuary https://youtu.be/AQLLcsOo3RI
When I was growing up, there were days with nothing planned that my Mom called “lazy days” and we loved them. But lazy day takes on a whole new meaning here. While unplanned and relaxed, lazy doesn’t mean no activity. A good deal of biking is involved in every day here, which is actually one of my favorite parts. I love the freedom of a bike, and it’s not something I feel comfortable doing at home anymore since my accident so I always look forward to that here.
We actually had found one cafe that offered gluten-free options and so we decided to have brunch at Caribbean Colors art cafe on front street. When they set an enormous plate of breakfast nachos in front of me it seemed a little overwhelming, but with Christian’s help (and since it was delicious) we finished most of it off.
The afternoon mostly involved sitting by the pool and some swimming while visiting with John and some neighbors who stopped by. Sher, a lady who moved here from Hawaii for a lower cost of living (still in a tropical paradise) shared her story with us. She had brought along her sister Jane, who happened to have been here last February as well and was on our team in the Lionfish Derby.
It was during this quiet afternoon that one of the coconuts from the tree behind the pool decided to let go and plummet the 30+ feet to the ground just behind Christian’s head with a loud crack. These green coconuts about the size of a… of a…. well of a coconut, are hard as a brick and can do serious damage to anyone or anything underneath the tree. We knew that, but probably didn’t take it too seriously that its such a real danger. I was a little more on edge than I wanted to be for the rest of the day and we certainly are more careful about sitting under coconut palms now.
Wednesday brought another spectacular day and another dive. We headed out to Spanish Bay again with Jessica from Nashville (although her entire family happens to be from the same small town in north Mississippi as a branch of my extended family) and Dave who is from Ocean Springs, Mississippi but now lives on Caye Caulker with his wife Carla. Together they own Pura Vida, a gorgeous little beach hotel where Jessica happens to be staying (ssoooo many coincidences for one day). The 45 minute ride to Spanish Bay was rough today, bone-jarring may actually be a good way to describe it. But the blue sky and turquoise water made us forget the rough water as soon as we were ready to roll into the water for our dive.
There seem to be an endless variety of coral formations since there is always something new to see. Just because we are back at Spanish Bay doesn’t mean we are in the same exact spot, and even within this area the underway landscape is varied.
In the course of our dives today we spotted turtles, eels, trumpet fish, hog fish, tiny drum fish, lots of lobsters, giant crabs, and the absolute biggest nurse shark I’ve ever seen. I wasn’t aware that nurse sharks could get nearly so big, he was lying in a valley between coral formations and as I hovered above him with the GoPro I saw he was more than twice as long as me.
Of course Lionfish were the main objective for the guys, and while they got a few on the first dive, it was the second dive when they seemed to be under every other ledge. Burt, the dive master/guide can spot sea life (including Lionfish) like no one I’ve ever seen. Even after pointing to something he sees we often still can’t see it for ourselves until we swim very close. Dives with Burt take on a whole new excitement because when he points, you know something is there you would’ve missed otherwise.
Dave invited us to his home for a dinner of Lionfish tacos. It was a windy but beautiful night and on the way to dinner we picked up the corn tortillas from a small restaurant for 5 for .50 cents, they had just been made and were so hot we could hardly hold them. I also brought along a version of a corn dip I make at home with whatever similar ingredients I was able to find at the market.
Dinner was on the expansive rooftop deck at Pura Vida with grilled Lionfish and all the fixings for delicious tacos. While dinner was indeed phenomenal, what I love is getting to know new people and learning something about them. Everyone has a story.
Everyday brings something new, and it’s exciting whether it’s diving or just sitting and visiting. I only wish I could transplant some family and friends down here to experience it with me.
Sunday is definitely a day off in Belize- tourists or no tourists. There are a few restaurants open and lots of BBQ-ing on the beach going on (much of which is for sale), but generally it’s a low key day. No diving, just relaxing. We rode our bikes around the south end of the island. It’s much less developed with houses here and there that all have their solar panels, wind turbines, and water catchment systems thanks to being totally off the grid. Once around the south end we came back to the airport and into Bahia, the neighborhood where many local Belizeans live and a few ex-pats.
Seeing the way different people live always interests me (also one reason I like home health). Very few locals seem to have air conditioning, which is hard to imagine in this climate, and leave doors open and spend time outdoors (esp on a Sunday). Some houses leave me with the feeling that’s there’s a strong sense of community, but the houses in poor condition and often with trash in the yard are a little sad and seem to be surrounded by a cloud of hopelessness. Of course I think the same thing about homes I sometimes see (or visit) in rural Mississippi during a workday.
The Super Bowl was the big event for the evening, so we went and got pork chops and chicken from one of the guys who grill down on front street (what we jokingly refer to as beach meat). The game was, of course, exciting. But we were probably more excited about our day tomorrow, we seem to have a little different perspective here.
Monday morning was maybe the most beautiful one yet. Clear skies, warm air and a slight breeze greeted us as we rode our bikes to the dive shop. We “parked” our bikes in the little lot and stood around talking to Burt before we headed for the pier. Out dive spot today is a spot just south of the island but is not frequented by many divers for some reason. The short boat ride took us to what looked to me like the same spot of water as we’d been before (of course the short ride told me differently). I wonder how in the world Burt and Mike can tell one piece of gorgeous water from another, but they say they’ve been doing it so many years it comes easy- guess I’ll just have to take their word for it.
The dives were once again spectacular! Much the same but also completely different. Different types of coral formations but an abundance of every kind of tropical fish imaginable along with Lionfish, eels, turtles, rays and more. In between dives as the guys were making Lionfish ceviche, I couldn’t help but jump back into the crystal turquoise water with mask and snorkel. Not in any hurry but just floating around. We stop inside the reef for the interval because the water is calmer, and there is a largely white sand bottom with small rock formations covered in coral with colorful fish around them. Sting rays tend to glide along these sandy bottoms and a large one hung around the boat eating the Lionfish scraps as they were thrown back into the water.
After returning to the island we took a bike ride around town and down side streets just to explore. We stopped by our favorite fruit stand for some freshly squeezed orange juice and went by the market before returning home. These days can be very tiring and dinner in the guest house and a Netflix movie ended the night perfectly. I wonder if it would even be possible to tire of this…
Strong rain woke me around 5 a.m. and of course my first thought was our scheduled dive today, but the shower ended quickly and the sun brought only a few clouds and gusty winds. Once at the dive shop Bert assured us the water looked good and the winds would die down (and of course he turned out to be right). We headed out to Spanish Bay for the day. The 45 minute boat ride south of the island took us past countless uninhabited (and a few inhabited) small islands surrounded by impossibly turquoise water. Today would be primarily about Lionfish. Since this spot is not heavily frequented by most dive shops, there are plenty of the beautiful fish around. Lionfish are an invasive species in the Caribbean with no natural predators. They reproduce quickly and can eat large amounts of reef fish. Because of this, they are the only fish that Belize allows to be speared while scuba diving (all other fish can be taken while snorkeling, free-diving or fishing traditionally only) and there is no limit and no license required. Lionfish are beautiful to see in the water with numerous colorful spines waving all around them, but they are venomous to the touch. Since they have no natural predators, they do not typically flee when you get close to them. They do like to hide under ledges and indentations in the coral, so you have to do a little searching. The dive group today was me and 5 men, so I gladly took my usual job of videoing while they “hunted.”
Although Lionfish were the goal of the dive, there were also spectacular coral formations in the form of huge fans waving in the current hiding every color and description of tropical fish. We also spotted a giant stingray burying itself in the sand, a spotted moray eel, huge crabs and lobsters, and graceful sea turtles and spotted rays. The visibility seemed even better than usual and from 80 feet you could clearly see the boat on the surface and the large schools of blue wrasse in the distance.
We came up with a large catch and the crew made us Lionfish ceviche during our surface interval. This is always one of my favorite parts of these days, sitting on the boat in this beautiful water with no land in sight, getting to know the other divers and crew a little better and eating the best ceviche I’ve ever had. Today’s divers included Mike from Steamboat Springs, Colorado and Jack from Australia who is backpacking through Central America by himself for a month during his summer break from University in Melbourne. Everyone has a story, whether it’s Jack from Australia or one of the crew who have lived in Belize their entire lives- and hearing them is one of the things I love about traveling.
Our 2nd dive was a huge success as well and all to soon we were headed home. We sped into the wind with choppier water but the same gorgeous views. We took some Lionfish home for dinner at John’s and were joined by his other renters from Canada for the evening (yet more stories to listen to). Lionfish are so unbelievably mild and flaky with the most delicate flavor that cooking them is simple.
Days spent with friends (old and new) and doing something you love in such a beautiful setting is something I could never tire of and I don’t take a minute of it for granted.
The day dawned clear and bright and with a sense of anticipation. Today was our first day of diving for this trip. We gathered our gear into various bags and backpacks and loaded them into our bike baskets for the 5 minute ride to the dive shop. Scuba Sensation must be the most quaint dive shop in the world. Right on the Caribbean and underneath huge palm trees it is one room of about 75 square feet. Painted with bright colors and surrounded by a small wooden fence about 10 feet from the building that defines the bike parking lot for the day. Bert, the owner and guide, is outgoing and friendly with a quick laugh and a clever comment ready for anyone who enters.
Today would take us to Esmeralda, a dive spot near the island of Ambergris Caye with huge coral canyons and an abundance of nurse sharks and marine life. Christian, John and I were joined on the dive by Asia and Wren from Canada. Asia is a commercial diver in the cold waters of Canada and fascinated us with stories of her occupation. The dives were fantastic. Amazingly clear, blue water as the backdrop to huge coral formations and sea life never disappoints. After both dives we stopped by San Pedro (the town on Ambergris Caye) for lunch. When you’ve been on Caye Caulker, San Pedro is like going to the big city. In reality Ambergris Caye is a small island, 25 miles long and a mile wide at its widest point. Much of the island has yet to be developed and its only “city” of San Pedro boasts about 10,000, with the island’s total population somewhere being around 20,000. So after being on an island with less than 2,000 people, this does qualify as “going to town” as my grandparents used to say. We ate lunch at a small restaurant called My Secret Deli, which struck me as odd since the place is not a secret (it’s on a busy street) and it’s not even a deli. But the one room restaurant with a kitchen in the back separated from the 4 tables up front with a counter, is a great little place with authentic Belizean food. After dining on grilled chicken and rice and beans (not to be confused with beans and rice which is a different dish), we took a few minutes to walk the narrow streets of San Pedro. The culture here is more similar to the Yucatán Peninsula than to other places in Belize (even than its close neighbor Caye Caulker), and since I’m endlessly fascinated by other cultures, I love everything about it.
The return boat ride was uneventful but always beautiful. Bert, Mike, and Garret from the dive shop make everything easy for us and will willingly take charge of all our gear for the duration of the trip, keeping everything clean and ready to go.
We decided a quiet evening at home after our busy day sounded just right. Cooking up some things we got at the produce stand and relaxing with a good book. Tomorrow promises another exciting day, but those seem to happen often here.
When I began packing for our trip to Belize last week I must admit that my heart wasn’t in it. I was almost too embarrassed by that to even include it here, I mean why wouldn’t my heart be in a great vacation to a place I love? With all that’s going on with our family right now (wedding planning, college, etc, etc), it just felt somehow wrong to take this time out to do something just for us. A trip can take me out of my comfort zone and leave me feeling unsettled until I get settle in, but this was somehow more than that.
Even after we arrived in Houston and sat at the airport waiting for our plane to Belize I thought, I am going to be able to enjoy this? And even wondered why we were going when so much as home seems to need our attention. At the lowest point of self-defeating thoughts I wondered if I still liked Belize, and tried in vain to count the reasons I’ve loved it on past trips.
Because we were late landing in Belize, my mind upon arrival was initially consumed with the question of how we would ever have time to make it to the island tonight (because planes and water taxis stop running before dark).
After making our way through immigration, baggage claim, and customs we raced outside to get a cab to hopefully make it to the water taxi pier before the last boat left. Our driver was about 75 years old and couldn’t have weighed much more than 75 lbs, but he immediately took our request seriously and although he didn’t think we had time to make it he was happy to try.
We tore out of the airport parking lot on 2 wheels and my first thought was, he’s gonna kill us on the way to the pier! My second thought as I looked at the surrounding countryside was, now I remember why I love Belize! I tried but couldn’t conjure up a concrete reason in my head, but instead I could only sense this intangible quality to the sticky warmth of the air, the palms that seem to be almost taking over the small homes we passed in various states of disrepair, and even to our friendly cab driver who didn’t find it too hard to chat amiably while he drove 80 mph and swerved around any cars in our way.
While I was busy philosophizing (in my head) about the beauty of Belize, we came upon a road block. A road block! The police were checking license and insurance right in the middle of our race to the pier. And although cabs do not have to stop at roadblocks here, we did have to wait in the long line of cars. Our driver was visibly upset! So much so that we begin to reassure him that it would be ok and we appreciated him trying his best, but we were obviously going to be too late now. We had made a reservation at a hotel in the city just in case his happened, so he drove us there instead. We would stay the night and catch the water taxi in he morning.
By the time we were onboard the 9 a.m. water taxi, the excitement of seeing the turquoise water was undeniable. Our friend John, at whose property we would be staying, was waiting for us on the pier. The feeling was a little surreal. The sparkling water and the spectacular beauty of the small island made me wonder how I could’ve ever doubted my love of this place. How fickle our minds can be! Luckily I’ve learned over the years not to always trust my thoughts, they can lead me astray if I believe them too quickly!
After unpacking we set out on our bikes (no cars are allowed on the tiny island) to re-familiarize ourselves with the quaint town and to pick up some supplies at the fruit stand and market. We spent the afternoon relaxing, reading and visiting with John on the pool deck before biking to the dive shop to confirm our dive for tomorrow. Dinner at Chef Juan’s small restaurant completed the night before we turned in early.
Now that I’m here I see the truth. It’s ok to take out a little time for ourselves, life will go on as planned even if I take a little time out. The beauty and laid back vibe of the island are just what I need to relax. Let the fun begin ??☀️