Stingrays !

Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Another wonderful day and it started off with a hurried moment to decide how to adjust the lounge chairs on the beach.  The girls settled into a nice slow morning with their kindles and the sun.  Our man, Dan, gave the rods another testing and JT found some shade and and hunkered down for a leisurely morning.
Late morning we decided to make a mini supply run to town.  We needed some fresh fruit and had not yet been to the bakery.  So we saddled up and headed for town.  Now, Wednesday was boy day, so the girls were responsible for catering to our needs and as such Shannon was the DD.  For those of you who don't know Shannon's automotive side, she is, lets say, a tad aggressive!  Leaving the house Brenda told her to cut it tight!  This resulted in running over a humongous log!  We almost got high centered and perished in the heat!  We did make it into town without incident, more or less, but Dan did note that rather slow for the dips and bumps the girls would merely call out "Bump!" and take at max throttle!
We opted to go to the Wild Mango for lunch.  It was a great choice!  It is right on the beach and the food was awesome.  We met our Rider kin there again.  Already we are seeing how small this place really is, as we often bump into travelers and locals that we have seen before.
When we left the Wild Mango, which is ride across the road from a middle school, the kids were still out for lunch.  We watched a rousing game of dodge ball played with soccer balls being kicked at whoever wasn't paying attention.  It appeared that if a noggin was beaned you got maximum points!  Munchkin even got a shot a one and she aimed for the littlest one there (I guess because she is the little one in our group?) fortunately for the intended target he stood still and Munchkin's blistering strike sailed harmlessly by!
With Shannon behind the wheel we headed off to pick up our needed essentials.  A couple of stops at a grocer and fruit stand then on to the bakery.  The bakery is pretty darn good!  Unfortunately they do not dispose of day olds in a dumpster out back, much to Dan's disappointment!
During the ride back over the bridge and down the super highway home, Dan attempted to educate Shannon about the local etiquette regarding right of ways etc, such as full size taxi's are usually given way to when they catch up behind you.  Shannon's take on that was simply move slightly to the right and speed up!
We got home and Dan walked out on the pier with his tackle for some therapy.  We all ended up joining him.  So we spend the afternoon taking in the cool Caribbean Sea breeze lazing, reading, fishing, cannon-balling, oh, ya, I did that.  It was unexpected and resulted in a couple of the party getting a bit splashed.  I think that both Dan and Brenda should actually thank me for cooling them off.  My little feat also must have stirred up the underwater denizens for while Dan was wiping off his sunglasses* there was a tremendous hit on his rod!  We then had the rare opportunity to witness a classic struggle between man and beast!  We saw a skillful angler at work!  With his fishing knowledge, tactful skill, and true raw talent, Dan was able to bring the monster to the pier.  He had hooked a stingray!  Now to quote JT, a mere mortal may not have been able to achieve such a feat, but our Dan did!  Being the true skilled sportsman that he is, Dan was able to hook the great winged beast ever-so gently on the upper lip, causing the least amount of damage to it.  We did require the assistance of a neighbour who had fortunately just come in from fishing himself.  He came over with pliers to release the ray.  When doing so he instructed us to hold a stick out to prevent a tail lash as the ray had a very formidable spike on its tail and our neighbour said that getting stung may not be fatal but it  would definitely end your holiday!
After the excitement of the ray, a decision was made to head back into town and hit the Crazy Canuck's for dinner.  The Canuck's is south of town, past Ramon's.  We got there and ended up going to the restaurant above the bar.  Rico's is not on our list to return to.  The food was okay, but not great.
On our way home, we did make a stop at the Pirates for a night cap.  Then on to home.
I didn't yet mention my own little hiccup for this day.  It must have been something I et, as I could not stray far from the biffy  for most of the morning.  Did not have much of an appetite this day.  Fortunately only one end was affected and some meds to help the bowels helped greatly!
*These sunglasses are loaners, my Repellas, complete with idiot strings as Dan's shades ended up in the briny during his first day of fishing!
Right now it is early Friday morning and we are getting set for our charter out to snorkel and visit Caye Caulker, so I will be posting pics and more later.
I'll sign off saying things are fantastic!