Manatees, Dolphins, Reefs, Sharks & Rays Oh My!

Friday, July 30th - we head home tomorrow, so we went out on an all day excursion today!

SEAduced picked us up in a high speed boat from our pier this morning at about 8:45. There were 8 other people on the boat. We made one more stop, picked up another couple and one more crew member and we were off. Giovanni and Enrique were our captain and guide. They were a comedic duo and kept us laughing all day. They spoke English, Spanish, and the local Creole, which I find very hard to understand. The creole is equivalent to our ghetto slang, but it sounds like it's intended to be light hearted.

After about a 1 hour ride south at high speed, we arrived at the Manatee grounds. Part of this tour included a look at the manatees - we couldn't swim with them because some Texans had been trying to rope and ride them last summer - since they are protected, the authorities put an end to that! We looked for at least 30 minutes before we found them. Everyone was getting hot and we all were beginning to think we weren't going to see them when we spotted a family of 3, momma, daddy, and baby. They were feeding, and though there wasn't alot of action, it was fun to see these gentle giants. Hopefully you can spot them in the photo.

We could see rain all around us on the boat ride, and as we left the manatees, it found us. Luckily it was scattered and we ran out from under it into extremely smooth water on the leeward side of some mangrove islands. Next thing you know, there are three Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins right in front of us, so we stop to watch them. The water was extremely clear and we could see the whole animal from the boat.


From there, we headed to Goff's Caye - an islet of ~ .25 acres with a pier, covered palapa, picnic tables, palm trees, nice swimming, great snorkeling, and locked bathrooms. The water around the islet was every shade from clear to dark blue. We swam for a while as our guide & captain prepared lunch. Then we geared up and Enrique took us snorkeling out over a ledge that dropped off to over 45 feet. The coral were large, Staghorn, Elkhorn, black coral, all sorts of soft corals, and loads of fish. We paddled against the current on the way out and enjoyed an easy swim back to the beach. I would have liked more time on the reef, but lunch was ready and we were starving.

Lunch consisted of rice, savory fish stew (very good), pasta salad (also quite tasty), spicey sliced potatoes, sweet pineapple slices, and tortillas, plus a variety of sodas, water, and Belikin beer. Captain Giovanni had cooked it all up on the bbq pit while we were snorkeling. Rayne even went back for seconds!

After lunch, we packed it all back up, jumped back into the boat and headed for Shark/Ray Alley. This was a different area than we visted on Wednesday. We ran into some rain, waited for it to pass, picked up a mooring ball, and everyone jumped in. There at least 10 large rays - some were 3 feet across. There was only one or two nurse sharks. They all swarmed around the boat and we weren't even chumming. The rays would come in a squadron formation of about 6 to 8 rays. We were in about 4 or 5 feet of water - so we were really close to them.

We got back in the boat and took off for Caye Caulker. On the way we ran into a heavy rain which made us slow down to avoid the needle like projectiles! Once on the Caye, Rayne got some ice cream, of course, and we headed to the split to meet up with our boat. When we got to the boat, the crew had picked up a couple of sea horses and put them in a bucket for us to see. They live in the mangrove and were about 3 to 4 inches long - a real treat to see!

We made the 30 minute run back to San Pedro at high (read: bone jarring) speed and were dropped at our pier at about 5:15 pm. It was a great last day and we're all tuckered, eating pizza (from the Pirate place) and watching WNBA Basketball, again...

Breakfast tomorrow at Estelle's and we'll catch the water taxi at 11:30 to Belize City to catch our plane at 3:25 pm

Thursday in San Pedro

We started today with breakfast at Estelle's. Scott Swenson had recommended it and get's the award for hot tip of the day! A few blocks walk down the beach, right on the water, sand on the floors, deeply shaded and great food! If you visit San Pedro, you've got to eat at Estelle's!

As we made our way back to our condo, we ran into a group of French speakers who's guide was cleaning some fish on the pier and three large rays came in for the feast. We stood and watched them cruise through the ankle deep water and petted them as they came by our feet.

We changed into our swim suits and headed out to the pier which has nice steps for getting into and out of the water. As we walked up, we saw another large ray cruising the area - as we had no fish to feed him, he went looking elsewhere.

We snorkeled around the pier, checking out all of the tiny versions of the fish we saw out on the reef yesterday. An hour later we headed up to the pool. We swam, read, and visited with some people who arrived here yesterday and our friends from the sailboat yesterday. Rayne got tired and went inside to watch WNBA basketball. She later brought us PB&J sandwiches. By 6:00 pm we were done and headed in, hit the showers, and relaxed some more.

Tomorrow is our last full day on San Pedro. We have made a reservation to go out on a motor boat to see Manatees, snorkel a couple of reefs, and have a BBQ on the beach on a small caye. Full report tomorrow, if I'm not too tired...

Sailing, Snorkeling & Caye Caulker

Wednesday, July 28th - This morning at 8:30, we walked next door to the Blue Tang Hotel and picked up our gear for a day on the Sirena Azul - a wooden, gaff-rigged sail boat - about 40 feet long with a 14 foot beam. It used bamboo for the masts and booms/spars. They say it will take up to 20 passengers plus the crew of 3 - today there were 9 passengers and that was plenty! Our captain, Pablo, looked like the main character from Hemmingway's 'Old Man and the Sea' - or maybe he'd just been on a 3 day bender...

You've got to love a country where there is no fear of lawsuits. We haven't signed one waiver for any of these tours we've taken!

We sailed out to the reef about 45 minutes and grabbed a mooring ball at Hol Chan. This is a popular diving and snorkeling site. We had Rayne practice snorkeling in the pool last night. She was a bit anxious on our way out but once she got in the water, she was a natural. We jumped into about 8 feet of water with a sand & turtle grass bottom and swam over to the reef. Waves were breaking on the other side of the reef, but it was nice where we were. We immediately saw a 2 foot barracuda, lots of corals and TONS of fish. There were divers down below us and we had fun swimming through their bubbles. We snorkeled about 45 minutes here. Rayne got really good with her surface diving and didn't want to leave.

Next stop was Shark/Ray Alley. Our guide had caught a Bar Jack on the way out and now used it as chum. Several 4 foot nurse sharks and a few smaller ones and a bunch of Horse-eyed Jacks began to swarm. We quickly geared up and jumped into ~ 7 feet of water. Next thing I know, our guide has grabbed a 4 foot nurse shark and we all take turns petting it! Meanwhile, a couple of rays about 2.5 feet across have shown up. There were other boats out there chumming as well - so the sharks were making the rounds and then they'd come back. I've never felt more comfortable in the water with sharks! Once again, Rayne didn't want to leave...

Back on board we settled in for the run to Caye Caulker. Beers & soft drinks were available and later our guide, David, whipped up some lobster ceviche that was wonderfully tasty!

About an hour later we arrived at Caye Caulker, San Pedro's little rasta brother! This place is very laid back and you can buy all the weed you want. We went right into the Rainbow Restaurant and ordered lunch - nachos and fajitas. Lunch finished, we headed off down the main steet to swim at "The Cut" which is next to the Lazy Lizard - a popular hangout/bar/joint. A hurricane had opened the cut and made a nice swimming area. Steve & I felt at least 20 years older than most of the people there. We took a nice swim and then headed back into town. Past the pier where our boat was moored, we found an ice cream shop. I think Rayne has decided to try Oreo ice cream throughout Belize. We ambled back to the pier as it was time to sail back to San Pedro. About 2.5 hours and a lot of Rum Punch later, we arrived back where we had started.

On the sail back, we got to visiting with Rod, one of the guys we'd met at the pool yesterday, and learned that he was a retired pastor. After visiting with he & Dave some more, Steve learned that they too were Pilgrims from Walk to Emmaus. As Rod so aptly put it - it's not a small world, it's a Designed World - AMEN!

Food

Tuesday morning, ok - it was 11:00 am - we wandered down the beach to Estelle's for some breakfast. We arrived to find that sadly, they are closed on Tuesdays. Being ever flexible, we kept walking and found that Celi's had just opened for lunch and went there instead. The floor was covered in sand that had recently been raked and it felt really nice and cool on our feet. Rayne had a cheeseburger (in paradise), Steve had burritos, and I deciding to try whatever was recommended or special, the Tuesday Special - Salbutes. Everything was good!

We strolled around town 'til we were hot & sweaty and then stopped in for ice cream at Manelli's. Locals were in there watching television and there were about 8 little boys noisily playing the video games.

By that time the weather cleared up and we were able to get out to the pool. The wind was still blowing and the water at the end of the pier was still stirred up. We hung at the pool which has a swim-up bar, but no bartender - very sad. We had purchased a gigantic can of beer AKA a mini-keg and were running back to the room for re-fills. Rayne would then jump behind the bar and hand me my drink as I sat at one of the bar stools. While she did a great job at it, we're hoping she'll set her career sights a little higher!

As usual, we visited with everyone at the pool. There were two couples from N. Carolina - Rod & Jackie and Dave & Brenda. They were going out on a sail boat the next day to snorkel and visit Caye Caulker - we decided to tag along and Rod walked Steve over to make our reservation - we were set!

That night for dinner, Fish Johnson, a local guy who offered to cook us dinner came over and made us a lobster feast! Fish has 6 children - some in Mexico, some in Corozol, in Northern Belize, and some elsewhere. He had to take a break every now and then to check on things at the vegetable stand just outside the gate - we thought he likely needed another hit off a doobie.

He prepared 8 lobster tails with tomoatoes, limes, cilantro, garlic salt and not just a little bit of butter. He wrapped them in several layers of foil and put them on the grill. He also prepared thinly sliced potatoes and spiced them similarly, wrapped them in foil, and plopped them on the grill, too.

WOW! That was a great meal! We invited Fish to eat with us, as there was too much there for the 3 of us. He joined us, but explained that lobster isn't his favorite - he much prefers fish - go figure!

After dinner, Fish cleaned all the dishes and hauled out the trash while we lazed around with full bellies!

San Pedro - Day One

I woke this morning to the sound of a huge thunderstorm - and it has continued all day! We finally donned our ponchos and ventured out around 1:30 because we were starving!

We made our way to Carambas for lobster quesadillas (hot tip from Tom & Marge) - delicious! Rayne had shrimp in garlic butter, beans & rice (cooked in one dish), cole slaw and a fried plantain - also very good!

We had Manelli's ice cream on the way home - I had their world famous Coconut - super yummy!

We hired 'Fish' Johnson to BBQ some lobster tails for us tomorrow evening. He then went with us to the grocery store to pickup a few odds and ends for that meal and to stock our shelves for the rest of the week. The store is about 1/2 a block away from our gate - very handy!

Steve and Rayne went swimming in the pool in the rain while I worked on our blog.

It rained all day today and is suppose to rain tomorrow, too. We're hoping it might clear off tomorrow afternoon so we can get out.

Cave Branch Zip Line & Cave Tubing

Sunday, July 25th - This day is bitter sweet. Today we leave for San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. We've been looking forward to visiting the coast, snokeling, eating seafood, and exploring another area of this beautiful country. BUT, we are sad to leave the Jungle and our new friends Tom & Marge Gallagher. The plan was to have Tom drive us to the Marine Terminal to catch the ferry and stop at the Cave Branch Zipline/Cave Tubing Operation - Tom would wait while we did these activities. They decided they would both come and do the activities with us - which made us very happy - more time with Tom & Marge! If you've ever met someone you instantly liked, trusted, admired and respected and then had to part company, not knowing when you'll see each other again, then you'll know how we were feeling.

We packed our belongings, Marge packed a lunch, we piled into the pickup and headed for Cave Branch. Tom invited Rayne to ride in the back of the truck with him where they set up on the edge and hung on as we bumped down the dirt road to Georgeville. They got inside when we reached the Western Highway. That was a real treat for Rayne, as kids can't do that in the states! Upon arrival we paid, signed NO waivers, and walked down to get geared up to do the Zip Line.

Edwin and Cesar were our guides - they showed us how to do it - challenging us to zip upside down, as they did! Seven Zips later, we were done all too fast! The zips were through thick jungle and it was beautiful and exhilerating! After zipping, we stopped at the picnic tables under the jungle trees and ate the nice lunch Marge had packed for us - fresh fruit, fresh made bread, cooked shredded chicken, slices of avacado, tomotoes & onions, coffee cake and brownies - very good!

We changed into our swim suits and Tom got us a guide, Fernando, and he took us off to tube the caves. We hiked for ~45 minutes while Fernando pointed out all of the flora and rock formations - I must admit, because we had had guides on our other tours, we felt we already knew what he was telling us - he was doing a good job and had a sweet sense of humor! We got into the river just above the first cave, formed a chain, and Fernando paddled and guided us through. The cave was huge and so long that you needed your headlamp to light your way. There were some formations we silently floated passed - a little eerie! We came out of that cave and went over a small rapid. Fernando did all the navigating and made it a really easy float! We went through another cave that had a large hole in the side it where another creek flowed out of the Crytal Cave into the river we were on. It was all very pretty. No pictures of this, yet!

We got out and rushed to change clothes and get on the road to make the 4:30 pm Water Taxi (we had missed the 3:00 departure we were suppose to make). We made it there at 4:20 - rushed in, bought tickets and hopped on the Ferry. It made for a quick goodbye with Tom & Marge - that made it easier for me! It was a very quiet ferry ride for the Joneses...

San Ignacio Town

Saturday morning, our last full day, and we had no planned activities. My knees were so tired from the ATM Cave and Caracol (we climbed to the top of the tallest building in the country!) that a day off sounded great! By this time Tom & Marge had decided we could be trusted. That morning they gave us their car to drive down to the Green Mountain Butterfly Farm. Ruth gave us our tour and it was interesting, but the butterflies were mesmerizing. Great big Blue Morphos and 14 other species flitted all around. Each day they harvest all of the eggs for each type of butterfly. Luckily they are easily identified as each species lays their eggs on a particular type of plant.



We returned to the lodge and Marge & Tom and the 3 of us piled into the truck and headed in to San Ignacio. We were going to hit the Saturday market and have lunch. On the way we stopped at their German neighbors and Marge purchased fresh yard eggs. Steve needed a pair of Crocs, we found some knock-offs and deemed them Sapos (frogs in Spanish - yes, it's an English speaking country, but Spanish is very prevalent). Tom had a pair and Steve, wanting to be just like Tom, had to have some! Shoes bought, we wandered the market for another 15 minutes looking at all the beautiful produce, got something to drink, found Tom & Marge, and got out of there.







Marge & Tom took us to Erva's Restaurant for lunch. We had a wonderful meal. As a special, they were making a drink, Payito, from the tuna of a Prickly Pear Cactus. Tom & Marge ordered it - it was a beautiful purple color and we all tasted it - yummmmm! Steve & I stuck with Belikin beer. The food was great. I had a huge chicken burrito, wet, Rayne had shrimp stir fried rice and Tom, Steve & Marge all had fish sandwiches, which were tasty! We started with an order of conch ceviche and shrimp ceviche. Both were delicious - Rayne decided she like the shrimp version!


After lunch we stopped at a little shop and bought souvenirs. Out on the street, Tom & Marge ran into friends and we visited while Rayne got ice cream.

Next stop was the slate carvers place. The artisan showed us his works and let Rayne & me take a turn at carving the slate and lime stone. Slate is much softer. Then, in Disney-esque fashion, we exited through the gift shop where we bought a cool Mayan calendar carved from slate.

We traveled back to the lodge via the Chiquibil Rd. We saw a pretty village and nice homes and more open fields, as opposed to dense jungle.

After that large lunch, we had dinner a little later that night - Marge made a London Broil that was delicious! We stayed up late visiting and fell straight to sleep once we laid down!