All Good Things.........

Thursday, February 13, 2014

We awoke to another bright and sunny morning with a cooling breeze to make it almost feel a bit brisk (almost!).  Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and our wonderful friends, Shannon, JT and Dan, had to depart for points north today.

We had a final cup of joe, then loaded up "big blue" made the final trek to town as the "Fab Five".  Florenzio greeted us as we headed out for one last farewell to Shannon, JT and Dan.  We hit the airport about an hour ahead of the dragon fly's scheduled time of departure and we spent that last hour enjoying each other's company for one last time here on Ambergris.  Thank you again, Shannon, JT and Dan, for your friendship, company, and the laughs that we shared!  Will see you back home in March!
Once the trio were on the plane, Munchkin and I headed for home, our island home that is!  When passing the Pirates Treasure, Brenda cheered out her salute as per usual.  It sounded a bit lonelier with just the two of us on board big blue!
We had ordered some more lobsters and some crab from Florenzio's fishermen and they did not disappoint!  We got another 9 nice sized lobsters and a passel of crab in anticipation of the "kids" arrival.  Gracyn will be arriving Sunday afternoon, oh ya, she is bring her mom and dad too I think. Our baby boy arrives on Wednesday afternoon.  We are excited about having the new crew here with us!
We spent the rest of the day lounging in the sun, playing some cards, catching up on some reading and blogging. It was a very quiet evening!

Last Day for the Crew!

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

This was our last full day as the Caribbean Crew!  Shannon, JT and Dan would be jetting north B&E (bright and early) on Thursday.  We did keep the routine of the morning intact; coffee brewing, waiting for all to arise and greet another fabulous morning.  This morning Brenda made us a breakfast of eggs benny, with sausages, toast and back bacon.

We did break a bit from the daily grind of lounging on the beach for the a quick trip into town to pick up a couple of things.  It turned out to be a bountiful event for Dan.  He was eyeing a hand carved limestone mayan mask and had given his price to the vendor last week.  Each time he went back the vendor came down a bit, but not to Dan's price.  Dan told the guy this was his last day so the offer still stood.  Well the vendor caved and Dan got his price!
We returned to the Pelicano to await the delivery of fresh lobster and the catch of the day!  Dan, JT and Shannon had made arrangements with Florenzio for a local fisherman he knew to bring by their catch.  Florenzio said these fisherman only fished to order, so they would only bring what you ordered.  Sure enough they pulled up to the pier and delivered 5 live lobster and a grouper.  The fishermen tailed the lobster and filleted the grouper for us right there on the pier.
We spent the afternoon watching the briquettes heat up, well we checked the progress off and on, the girls got some sun time on the beach loungers, Dan dropped a line or two hoping for the ever elusive big strike!  JT sat in the shade reading and turning as brown as the locals!  This always amazes me, JT spends the least amount of time in the sun than the rest of us and gets the darkest tan of us all in the shortest period of time!  Myself, my freckles grow and get darker the rest of my skin usually gets that reddish pink hue if I forget to lather on the SPF 3 billion!  The curse of the ginger I guess!
While lounging in the sun we heard a thump on the sand near us and looked over to see a coconut rolling

down the beach.  It had fallen from the palm right there in our yard.  I retrieved it and proceeded to do my rendition of the survivor show and peeled off the husk.  Using my Swiss Army knife I drilled out holes on the top and drained out the milk, it wasn't as good as I thought it would be, a bit bland.  Using the edge of the step I was able to break the coconut open to two almost perfect halves.  The meat inside was awesome!

That evening we had our "last supper" for our crew together here in Belize.  I must say, it was absolutely, positively, fantastic!











After a great dinner, a couple after meal cocktails, we all drifted off to our chambers to prepare for the inevitable "last day"!

Wing Night!

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

This was a bustling busy morning!  A bit outside of our normal routine of sloth and lazing about!  The evening before we had decided this was the complete the souvenirs day!  So by the crack of ten we were on the road headed for "Front Street", the tourist shopping mecca of San Pedro!  The town's set up is, Front Street (one way northbound), souvenir shops, beach side restaurants, snorkel/scuba and tour outfits.  Middle Street (one way south bound) businesses, restaurants, some residences above the shops.  Back Street (two way traffic), with supermarkets, soccer field, hardware stores.
We parked at the south end and walked north along Front Street.  We split up to cover more ground and agreed upon a rendezvous of noon at the Island Torch.  We scattered, with Munchkin and me headed for a local art gallery and the others to points unknown!

At our appointed hour we met up at the Island Torch and had a well deserved Belikin and a bite to eat.  At the torch we noticed a few school girls in their uniforms also enjoying there noon hour break.  When the girls started off for school Dan announced that he was going with them and began walking down the street with them!  The little girls howled with laughter and told him he could not come with them.  Dan responded that he could be their show and tell offering!  The girls giggled and laughed, but when Dan kept walking with them they almost believed he may be serious!  It was a very cute scene!

From the Torch we headed back to Big Blue for the drive home.  We did have to make a few more stops along the walk at a few shops that were apparently missed on the first foray!
The drive home was uneventful other than the usual salute at Pirates Treasure!
This being Tuesday, it was of course Wing Night!  So we planned to go to Fido's for the wings there.  On our previous visit to Fido's we had seen a plate of wings go by and they looked pretty good!  So that evening we tumbled into Big Blue and headed into town.  On our way in we stopped to give a local a ride.  She was a cute young lass and the only seat open was next to Dan.  He promptly told the young lady to keep her hands to herself!  As we approached the bridge a local fellow on a bike called out for a taxi and we said grab hold, which he did.  He held on for a tow for the entire trip into town, with the exception of passing by the police station where he let go and peddle beside us until out of sight of the police station where he again accepted a tow!  We let off our guests in the center of town and then went to Fido's.  We couldn't get our table on the beach side so ended up inside under the thatched roof.  Not much air movement inside so it was a bit stuffy.  This was Kelly McGuire night again and he started up with his monologue and his performance was a deja-vue of the Thursday night, right down to the jokes!
We ordered our wings, two orders of hot and one of sweet BBQ.  It was a bit different than the Crown and Tower in St. Albert on Tuesday Night Wings!  We get a dozen wings for about two bits a wing.  Here we got 5 wings for $9.00 USD!!  And to top it off, the wings were just okay!  We did enjoy our tradition of the Tuesday Wing Night and JT was able to snap a pic on his BB to send to the boys back home so that they would know we were thinking of them!
We opted to relocate after the wings as the music was load and a repeat, and poor Shannon was melting in the heat!  We sent Dan out on a recky to the Caprice Bar and Grill in the Holiday Hotel down the street he came back advising that he had secured a table on the beach side patio.  So we headed off to the Caprice for a bit of a repast.  It turned out to be a very good choice.  The food was very good the breeze kept Shannon comfortable and the service was again very good.  That is one thing that I can say about San Pedro.  The locals working in the service industry have all been awesome, always friendly and smiling.  That appears to be typical of the local people, most greet you with a smile and a wave when passing by.  Most are very polite and well mannered.  The other thing that we have noticed is that the souvenir vendors do not hound you and there are no beggars.  At the Caprice we ordered some Belikin, with instructions that my beer be colder than Dan's and Dan's colder than JT's!  Our waitress had a good laugh about this and assured us she would take care of it!
On our drive home our little Munchie again sung out her salute to the Pirate, but this time we pulled in for a night cap!  The owner's Jason and Marisia were the only ones there and Marisia said that she often could hear the Pirates cheer from back in their house behind the bar!
After the night cap we returned to the Pelicano, watched some Olympics updates and then hit the hay.  Another awesome day!.

Blue Water

Monday February 10, 2014

Being the early risers, Brenda and I decided to zip into town for a few needed supplies before the others were astir.  We picked up a few odds and ends and some smokies, italian sausage, bratwurst and plain old wieners (chicken wieners!).  On the way home, we made a quick stop at the bakery for buns and some pastries.  We also picked up some charcoal briquettes for the brand spanking new grill that was delivered earlier.
When we got back the crew was up and the coffee was flowing!  The morning was gorgeous.  Within a few minutes Banana and Bhuda were at our door greeting us and looking for their benefactor, Dan, who had picked up some kibble for them.  The dogs must believe only Dan can feed them.  If any body else attempts to they turn their noses away!  But when Dan offers kibble, one piece at a time from his hand, they will eat it!  Dan is our whisperer I guess!
Once breakfast was out of the way the girls settled into the lounge chairs to read, JT pulled up a stump in the shade to enjoy his book and Dan headed out to the pier with bait and rod in tow.  This morning I decided to join Dan and since there was only one fishing stick available we fashioned another like that used by some of the locals.  An empty water bottle with line wrapped around it and a weight and hook on the end!  This system works pretty darn good.  My first cast sailed out nearly as far as what the rod achieved and within 30 seconds I had a fish on!  I pulled in a little 6 inch snapper!

Dan, our master fisherman, was excited about the catch, although there may have been a bit of envy just below the surface!  It did not last long as Dan hooked another snapper shortly after.  Being the true sportsman that we are, we had released my catch (as it wasn't big enough for even a couple of fish fingers!).  Dan's catch did surpass mine, but not by much!  When he tossed this one back in, the little snapper remained near the surface kinda in a dozy state.  The next thing you know, splash!  I pelican dove in and the little snapper was breakfast!
The three fellas had to make a foray into town to replenish the Belikin supply, so we loaded up the 5 crates of 24 empties per crate and headed to the distributor on the south side of San Pedro.  We picked up a couple of crates and headed north.  We made a stop at Cholo's cart rentals to see if they had a replacement cart ready for us.  The rental company had requested we exchange carts after 10 days so they could do service on it.  Ol' 07's replacement was set and ready to roll, so after transferring our cargo to Big Blue, I zipped over to the pumps and filled up 07's gas tank.  We had used 3 1\2 gallons in the ten days, the cost was $19.00 USD.  With the exchange completed we headed home.
We put JT on the grill and he had to draw on ancient lore to recall how to use a BBQ that was not gas with an electronic igniter!  We did learn from this lunch that the coals need about 2 to 2 1/2 hours to reach the optimum cooking conditions.  We did up the brats, smokies, sausage and wieners.  Lunch was pretty darn good!  Brenda and Shannon had prepared all the fixin's and we dined on our gourmet "dogs"!
The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging, reading, fishing and generally contemplating life!  My time passes regardless of how you fill it!
That evening we decided to try the Blue Water Grill.  It was reported to be the "fancy shmancy" place on the island.  So decked out in our finery were made the journey.

The Blue Water Grill, is located right on the beach and does have a very nice atmosphere.  It does present more of a typical restaurant style, pretty normal for back home but the norm down here.  That being said, you could still feel comfortable in shorts and a golf shirt and would not be out of place!  The staff were friendly and attentive and the food was pretty good.  Although the consensus was it wasn't the best we had so far.
After the meal we strolled back to Big Blue and lit a shuck for home.  And as per usual, as we passed the Pirates Treasure, our little Munchie offered her cheer!
We finished off the evening with a little night cap, caught up on the Olympic results and retired to our chambers, sate, and satisfied!

Northern Trek

Sunday, February 9, 2014

I have notice a routine develope since our arrival here on Ambergris Caye.  The mornings start early for some.  Munchkin and I are usually first up, between 6am to 6:30am.  Brenda goes and puts the coffee on.  That intoxicating aroma of fresh coffee is soon filling the room, aaaaah, what a great smell to wake up to!  Within the hour, the rest of the crew emerges from the comfort of the sleeping chambers and we all spend the next hour or so enjoying a liesurely morning with our coffee in hand.  Eventually we call to order the morning meeting to determine the plan of action for the day.  It is fairly formal proceeding, quite structured and full of pomp and ceremony.  The appointed chair brings the room to attention with a few thumps on the table with a flip flop and the floor is then opened to proposed itinerys for the day.  Translated this means we ask the girls what they want to do and then endeavor to fufill their desires!  The term "Happy Wife, Happy Life" comes to mind.  JT  and I have the advantage here, we only have one each to contend with, Dan, however, has two island women to deal with.  The girls have been over heard telling some of the locals that they are sister wives of Dan!  Double trouble for our Daniel!
This day we decided to jump in ol' 07 and head north.  The road apparently goes north about 4 miles from where we are.  So we headed north.  About a 1/2 mile out we discovered where the grader stopped!  There is only one road north and it is not so bad as long as you go slow and avoid the really big pot holes!  We had missed the rain of the morning, but there were a few puddles to contend with.  We stopped at a little shack on the side of the road that looked like a mini gift shop combo home of a german lady.  We ordered some Belikin and asked if they were cold.  She said that they were so cold you could not drink them!  Well to quote a wise man I know, "Liar liar, pants on fire!"

Along the road we were witness to a couple of the local dragons "gettin' busy!".  Well he wanted to and she was playing hard to get.  There are lots of  iguana all over the place.  Dan was doing his version of the Crocidile Hunter and attempted to pin the big male's tail.  Dan was not successful, but did come back with all of his appendages intact!

We did come upon a few of the resort condo complexes up north.  You definitely want to take the water taxi to reach them.  There were a couple of fairly nice looking places.  We also saw some that were, lets say, not five star!
Once we hit the T at the road's end (you could continue on the trail if you wanted to experience some true 4x4ing!) and turned around and headed back south.
It was a nice little trip and can be taken off the bucket list!  Yeah, I know, not a very adventerous list, but what do you expect from some old Canucks on vacation!
This evening we headed into town and decided to eat where ever looked good.  We got into town about 7:30 and discovered Sunday night in San Pedro is busy!  There were not too many places that weren't full.  We ended up at Hurricanes.  A place built on a pier over the water.  It was a small place, but had great food and Nelson, our server was great.  The meal turned out to be one of the best we have had so far!
After dinner we headed home, with Brenda's pirate cheer announcing our passing at the Pirate's Treasure.  We all believe that we are going to have to stop there again one of these trips so the owner doesn't think we are just taunting him!
This was another awesome day and after a night cap everyone drifted off to bed to rest up for tomorrow

Dan's Takes a Bullet for JT & Johnny!

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Today was the day Dan took one for the team, as he says.  He stayed with the girls while JT and I went out to scuba.
The Scuba:
The boat from Ramon's picked us up at our dock and we zipped over to the dive shop to join 4 other divers that would be on this outing.  Once equipped, we headed out to our first dive site, "Borderline".  We were there within 15 minutes.  We were just out side the reef.  The ride out was smooth and easy.  The weather was great, no much swell and just a cool breeze.  We got our dive instruction from our Dive Master, Will and geared up for the first tank dive.  We did a back roll into the water from the boats edge, a first for me, never done this type of entry before.  Once all were in we submerged to about 80' and began a slow, easy, drift dive.  The reef we were diving was pretty good and we did see quite a few denizens of the deep cruising about, although the flora and fauna paled in comparison to our snorkel trip!  Will found a lion fish, which are not native to these waters and are an invasive species.  They are open game and this one met its maker on the end of a Hawaiian sling!  Its carcass was made short work of by the reef fish!  Of the six divers, JT and I were the rookies, we are seeing our 19th dive, while the others we were with were talking over a hundred plus!
We completed this dive and went back in to the dive shop for our top time interval then head back out for our second tank dive.  This time we went to "B & D" it was about 45' for this dive.  There were only three of us this time around.  A fourth could not overcome some anxiety when he first entered the water and had to abort.  He had joined us for the second dive.  The three of us waiting on the bottom for Will to come done.  While we were hanging out there a 6' nurse shark came by and spent the next 10 or 15 minutes cruising around and under us!  Just kept telling my self, its a bottom feeder, so just stay off the bottom!  When Will came down we did another slow and easy dive.  It was very relaxing.  We finished up the dive and headed home.  The dive boat dropped us off on our dock at about 1:30pm and we were greeted by Dan and the girls.  Dan was over joyed with our return!
Dan's Day:
When JT and I left for our scuba trip, Dan, Shannon and Brenda, headed into town.  Dan was on a mission to locate some hooks and tackle for the new rod that Florenzio had dropped off.  The girls were interested in seeing some more shops and just exploring a bit.  Now our Dan has been single for a long time now and I guess having two wives for the day was almost more than he could handle!  But being the trooper he is he preserved and toughed it out!  Not to say that Shannon and Brenda are high maintenance, they are just focused and know what they are after!  The trio found a great little grocery store near the bakery and picked up some needs there.  They also visited Hardy at Fido's to say hi!
When JT and I rolled in, it was apparent that they had a pretty good day!  Brenda announced that they had invented a new drink that was very good!  Couldn't argue with the results I guess.
Brenda and Shannon whipped up a great pasta for lunch and we had a wonderful afternoon of telling our stories of the days adventures.

We headed into town for dinner and decided to try Pinocchio's.  This is the only Italian joint in San Pedro and it is not on the main drives!  We had a bit of an adventure just finding the place.  It was worth it though.  The owner has his own brick oven and does the forno style cooking.  Shannon and I had pizza and it was very good!  Dan had a shrimp pasta special that he said was very good.  Munchie and JT had the lasagna and it was also very good.

Our drive home was a hoot as always.  Every time we venture out in ol' 07 its a lark in itself!  The return trip was no exception.  I do readily admit that I did miss seeing a speed bump and hit it at full throttle!  Well poor old Dan, who was perched in his usual spot at the back of the bus, almost ended up on the pavement!  Sorry Dan, my bad!
We got home, with the usual pirates cheer as we passed the Pirates Treasure, and watched a bit of the Olympics then called it a day!
No formal plans for Sunday, so we will be playing it by ear.  We were informed though, that there was a scheduled power outage for Sunday, from 7am to 11am.  So coffee will be late!

Snorkeling & Caye Caulker

Friday, February 7, 2014

We awoke to a beautiful, calm morning, perfect for our planned snorkeling trip.  There was a bustle of activity as we all prepared for the coming event!  We were out on the dock waiting for our boat at the appointed time.  Florenzio was there waiting as well.  At nine am the appointed pick up time, no boat had arrived.  Florenzio got the gears from the crew about what kind of charter did he hook us up with.  He made a call and said the boat should be here shortly.  Within minutes we could see "Lil Alfonse" approaching. The captain, Alfonse, pulled up in his 26' boat c/w bimminy for shade.
Alfonse, the skipper of the vessel, is an islander and family man and as he says he and the bank own his tour boats!  He has two boats, the other being crewed by his nephew and his cousin who helps him out.
Alfonse introduced himself and described the itinery for the days charter.  He is a well spoken and passionate about the conservation of the country's marine habitat.  Our first leg of the ride took us about fifteen minutes from our dock to Hol Chan Marine Park.  This park was pioneered by local fisherman, Alfonse's father being one of them, who recognized forty years ago that something had to be done to preserve the reefs and the ecosystem for future generations.  Alfonse has been on these waters all of his life and at aged 11, got his first boat.  He said that often he would get dressed in his school uniform and tell his mom he off to school, but as soon as he was out of her sight he would quit the school uniform and head off in his boat.  He loved being on the water, and in the water, as we were soon to witness!
We pulled up to the park ranger's boats upon our arrival and once the formality of the permits were completed we tied up to one of the other boats that were there.  Alfonse gave us detailed instructions on both the technical aspects of snorkeling and the rules of the park.  Basically, keep your hands to yourselves!  This is pretty much comman sense as what you may go poking at may have sharp teeth!  Also the coral is a living organism and can be quite fragile.
Munchkin volunteered to stand guard on the boat while we snorkeled.  Alfonse said that was not necessary but Brenda told him she was not getting her face wet and would not be getting in the water!  Her explanation of why she was not going to snorkel was a bit more colourful than I have described!
The snorkeling was fantastic!  There was marine live eveywhere.  The number of species we saw phenominal.  Alfonse's gave a continious monologue of various types of fish we saw.  He showed us a live conch and many other fasinating creatures.  Now Alfonse must be part fish himself for he appeared to as much at home under the water as on dry land!
At one point he located a large green moray eel in its lair of coral.  He tried to lure it out with a vacant conch shell.  This attracted a little nurse shark that also wanted to see what Alfonse had!  The eel did venture out a bit, but only about a foot or so.  What a formidable looking creature!  When Alfonse dropped the conch shell the nurse shark was on it like ugly on an ape!  You could hear its teeth grate on the shell and a sucking sound.  This all took place about 6' below the surface with us floating above watching!  We also got to see a fair sized grouper up close as well.  I would not describe the grouper with adjectives like, pretty, or nice, it is one ugly looking fish!  They sure taste good though!  We also got to see a turtle having lunch in the seaweed.  As we approached it, it began to move away, but Alfonse quickly circled around it and it slowly moved back towards us.  It settled back down on the bottom right below us and continued with its snack!
Upon our return to the boat Brenda told us that she had to repel boarders!  She said a sailor from another boat jumped aboard and began tugging at our bow line!  She challenged him with cutlas in hand and he begged quarter, explaining he was merely attempting to adjust the mooring lines to prevent the boats from bumping each other.  Satisfied that his intentions were genuine, Brenda allowed him access to the line to complete his task.  Alfonse was impressed by her loyalty to the "Lil Alfonse"!  We climbed aboard and lit out for our next snorkeling spot, Shark Alley.  Now this is aptly named!  The moment we pulled up and tied to the mooring bouy, we could see numerous nurse sharks and rays all around us!  Alfonse tossed a bit of chum in and we witnessed a school of jack in a frenzie after the morsels!  Alfonse had a perforated tube that he filled with fish pieces and tossed in.  This sank to the bottom and a number of large nurse sharks began pushing it around trying to get at the tasty bits inside.  Once in the water we were right amongst the sharks, rays and jacks!  This was soooo coooolll!  We then witnessed Alfonse interacting with both the rays and sharks.

He grabbed a ray and brought it over for us to pet.  It was quite docile in his hands.  The top of the ray felt like a portebella mushroom and the undeside was smooth like silk!  Alfonse wrangled a 4' nusre shark and brought over for us all to hold!  This was a pretty awesome experience!  The sharks hide was like emery!  Alfonse then brought over another ray and offered it to me to hold.  I was a bit reluctant at firts as I had seen the teeth of the one that Dan had hooked, and the one that Alfonse had was a tad bigger!  Well I caved to the peer pressure and Alfonse gently drapped the ray across my arms!  It sat there peacefully the whole time it was being handled.

We watched as Alfonse wrangled a number of rays and sharks.  One ray was huge!  It came to Alfonse when he called it!  He handled it and even wore in on his head like a hat!  Alfonse also had a routine with some of the sharks he caught.  This was again so cool to witness.
After the snorkeling we headed to Caye Caulker for lunch and a walk-about.  On the way from Shark Alley to Caulker Alfonse explained that his interaction with the sharks and rays has been developed over a number of years and the sharks and rays that frequent the area know him and are used to him.  He showed us the scars of nips and bites from these animals that he obtained getting them used to him handling them. He did caution us that this was not something he would recommend a novice attempt!
We ate lunch at the Rainbow Restaurant on Caye Caulker and then went for a stroll to check it out.  It was not a very long stroll!  The place is very quiet compared to san Pedro and appears to attract more of your hostel/backpacker types.  It was a very beautiful and hot sunny day and after an icecream cone at one of the local vendors we headed back for home.
Alfonse dropped us safe, sound and satisfied back at our Ambergris home.  It was an absolutely wonderful day!