Lazy mornings with no alarm are always fun. Time spent sitting on the balcony watching the beachfront come to life and boats zigzagging across the sparkling blue water. We get to cook breakfast now with a kitchen and then we dressed for church. We’d seen a charming little church we wanted to attend this morning. Most everything here seems to be Catholic, and there is a lovely cathedral in the middle of town. We have also seen Mormon churches and a Spanish speaking 7th day Adventist church. Besides those, there are no denominations here, just community churches. So when we found one, we decided to give it a try.

We felt so completely welcome at the church, although most of the churchgoers were locals there were a couple of other tourists attending and at least a couple of expats who are regulars. The music was great and the pastor introduced himself to us and preached from Psalm 100 on joy. After church nobody runs out of the sanctuary but almost everyone stood around for a while and talked.

After church we took a short walk on the beach (really we were looking for a herd of iguanas we had seen from the road) and we found a cute caved palm tree perfect for sitting (and for pictures). Next stop was a roadside barbecue stand to get some lunch to take back. Sundays (and Saturdays too) bring out grills on every street corner at small makeshift stands so that the smell of barbecue really permeates the town. We ate our pork chops, rice and beans, and homemade tortillas on our balcony and then spent some time reading and relaxing. After a while we could hardly stand looking at the calm water and not being in it, so we headed down to rent a kayak at a nearby pier. We paddled up and down the beachfront and saw several starfish, but the really exciting moment came when we saw a beautiful spotted eagle Ray just a few feet from our kayak. I stuck my waterproof camera in the water and came up with the greatest picture! I was so excited, I love these majestic rays.

As we paddled past another pier we noticed a large group of local teenagers hanging out. They were in and out of the water and looked to be having a lot of fun. One boy decided he’d do some stunt riding off the end of the pier on his bicycle, trying to impress the girls no doubt. I loved seeing them out here doing what is only natural for them but is a rare experience for us, enjoying the crystal water and perfect weather on a Carribean island.

After kayaking we walked along the pier for a little while. Even just looking into the water we saw a variety of tropical fish. Parrot fish, box fish, ballyhoo, Sargent Majors, and on and on. Even 15 yards from shore they hide around the pillars of the dock. A couple of young boys had found a large sea slug and were examining it on the sea wall. It was enormous slug at about the size and shape of a cucumber.

Back to the patio for the rest of the day, sandwiches in the condo completed our peaceful and very restful day. Tomorrow we have plans to return to Caye Caulker one more time to dive and spear some Lionfish with scuba sensation. The last few days are passing all too quickly…