Heather
January 3: Back to the sun! It was a rather uneventful flight down. The 3 strip searches at the airport security were the highlight. Many thanks to Shawn for driving me down to SeaTac for my 12:30am flight as well as the kind gentleman who shared his $300 pull-tab winnings with us to buy the bar a round of drinks. James, Ally, Clark, Mace and Marth were at the Belize City International Airport to pick me up. We skirted the outside of the city and headed east towards the small town of Succotz for the night. We landed at a beautiful and very clean campground called the Trek Stop. John, the owner keeps the grounds very well kept and manicured with wonderful composting toilets and solar showers. After a great spaghetti dinner, I managed to put away a few of the local beers called Belikin. For only $1.25US I think the Belikins will do me well here in Belize.
Thanks to the modern technology of bug spray and the conditioning I've already hand in the Virgin Islands, the bugs so far don't seem to bother me. However, Marth and Mace seem to be attracting most of them, so maybe I'll stick close to them in the morning and evening.
For those curious as to my return date back to sunny Seattle, the plan is to be home on the 1st of February. I have no idea what day of the week that is, but if anyone is around I'd love to see you for the homecoming.
January 4: After a restful night's sleep on the bus under the protection of my mosquito net, we decided to try our luck rafting on the Mopan River. With a little coaching from John at the Trek Stop, we set off to conquer the Mopan. It was a beautiful, sunny day with warm water. The river turned out to be very tame with just a couple of patches of white water - nothing a tube and a cooler of beer couldn't handle. As we floated by huge fig trees we had a good time spotting the orange and green iguanas sunning themselves on the branches hanging over the river. The iguanas are huge - over 2 feet long and occasionally misjudged there footing resulting in a huge splash in the water.
After nearly 4.5 hours of floating we reached the take out. About 20ft from the take out, the raft came to almost to a jarring halt, resulting in a late afternoon swim for everyone on the right side of the raft, including our fearless guide, James. A piece of rebar from an old bridge had attacked the raft and tore a 5 inch hole in it. On the bright side - no one was hurt and we had reached the take out. One raft down, one to go.
January 5: This morning we had a slow start and enjoyed our morning coffee. Ally, James and I took a walk up to the Mayan ruins of Xunantunich. To get there we had to cross the Mopan River by ferry which is hand cranked by a young man with what I assume to be very large arms. One the ferry we met up with a 3 guys from Estonia who drove us the mile up the road to the ruins. It was exciting to see my first Mayan ruins - they were truly spectacular. Many archeologists went to a lot of trouble to help uncover the site.
By 2pm we said our goodbyes to John, and headed out to Sittee River for the night to Sharon's. Bright and early tomorrow morning Marth, James, Ally and myself will head out to Glover's Reef, and Clark, Mace and Sharon are heading out to Caye Caulker. It was a tough decision to choose between the 2 cayes, but after hearing that Glover's Reef has the best snorkeling and diving in the Caribbean, I had to check it out. It's a 4 hour sailboat ride out to the atoll and will return next Saturday to come pick us up. Thanks to the last hurricane, the one "resort" out there is not looking too good. We will be bringing the 2 double kayaks, snorkeling gear, cooking stuff, swimsuits, food and water to get us through the week. It's very remote out there, we could very well be the only people on the Caye, but we will most definitely have the best snorkeling yet! With no electricity, it's needless to say that my journal reports won't be picking up until after next Saturday. Wish us good weather next week because I don't think these cayes stand very tall!
January 6: At 5:30am we awoke, flicked the switch on Mr. Coffee, and began loading our gear into Sharon's Toyota for the short drive up stream to the sailboat. There were about 18 others headed out to Northeast Caye in Glover's Reef as well - none nearly as bag and kayak laden as the 4 of us however. Gil, the thickly French accented captain, is the grandfather and owner of the 'resort.' He motored us down river and out into the open ocean for the 4 and a half hour trip out to Glover's. We passed by a few small mangrove islands and at times questioned Gil's steering (a full 360 degree turn was executed??), but over all it was a sunny, beautiful motor out. We got a hold of a copy of the island 'rules' which was photocopied on 2 double-sided legal sized sheets. James had heard the rumor that the family who owns the island has similar traits to the Adam's Family which didn't seem to be a far stretch after reading the rules. A fleeting moment of doubt may have crossed my mind as I thought of a full week out on a remotes island.
As our approach to the atoll neared we could see an incredible difference in the water color and the breaking waves on the endless reef. There was one small break in the reef that we crossed to enter the atoll that couldn't have been more than 15 feet deep. At first approach I thought we were heading towards a tourist version of Gilligan's Island with palm thatched buildings and hundreds of coconut trees. The resort is definitely low key, but seems to have everything we will need for the week including miles of one of the world's best reefs.
After a cocktail hour of rum punch drinks, Marth and I headed towards the west side of the island to catch the sunset, however clouds had rolled in obscuring our view. Foreboding? Maybe.
We cooked a nice dinner of rice, beans and tortillas, and shortly there after went to bed for a peaceful night's sleep. Squalls. I have heard of squalls, but have never personally encountered one. Late that night the wind seemed to pick up instantly out of nowhere. Our tent was shaking and vibrating, and I had to keep reminding myself that this isn't hurricane season. Surely the winds must have been around 30 to 40 mph, however I am no meteorologist and have the knack in these instances to overestimate. After camping in the Virgin Islands I learned that a campsite closer to the water, outside of any foliage is important to catching breezes which keep you cool at night and help in keeping the bugs away. Well, we certainly were cool and had no worries about sand fleas flying in 30 mph winds. When Marth took Benjamin out for a bathroom break in the midst of the storm, I was left to anchor the tent down by myself. The wind gusted and instantly my feet, legs and bottom of the tent were thrown up into the air. Needless to say, it was a long time before sleep came to us.
January 7: After the previous night and judging from the wind and lack of sunshine, I decided to sleep in. Wrapped as tightly as possible in my sheet, I was actually cold. I spent the day in 2 long sleeve thermal tops and pants, reading and relaxing. Hopefully tomorrow it will be warm enough to go snorkeling.
January 11: The weather continually got better. The sun eventually came back out, the winds died and the water got warmer again - though not necessarily in that order or all at the same time. By the time we leave, I will have read 3 books and started a 4th. The week has definitely been low key, quiet and relaxing.
Yesterday James, Ally and myself took the kayaks out for a short jaunt around the other 3 cayes - approximately 12 miles round trip. It was bright and sunny with clear blue water. Usually we were no more than 16 feet away from the ocean floor which gave us the chance to see almost everything in the water without having to snorkel. Along the way we scared countless rays which darted off right under our kayaks. As we headed home Ally screamed "Sharks!" And sure enough there were 2 small nurse sharks swimming away from us. They were only about 3 feet in length, but I'm sure if I had been snorkeling you could have seen me running across the top of the water in escape.
Sometimes I do look forward to getting back to civilization - with the noises of people and traffic, flushing toilets, email, and of course cold beer (or anything cold for that matter). However I look back on the luxuries of this week and think when is the next time I'll be able to do this? When will I be able to find hundreds of fresh coconuts just off the tree to eat at my every whim? When will I be able to drag my lawn chair out into the ocean to sun bathe in 80 degree turquoise water? Or write in my journal as I watch a stampede of hermit crabs materialize out of the darkness to feast on our dinner scraps? Or lay in a hammock gently rocked by the Caribbean trade winds? As anxious as I am to see my friends and family back in Washington, I am truly going to miss my long days here at Glover's Reef. Tomorrow is my last full day here and I intend to fill it with snorkeling, kayaking and of course, reading.
Today I attempted to do much of the same. I ventured out snorkeling away from shore this morning, but returned in a burst of speed when a rather large and intimidating barracuda got a little too close for my comfort. I didn't like these fish in the Virgin Islands and I certainly don't like them here in Belize either. Becky, the daughter's owner at the 'resort,' claims that if you swim at them waving your arms, they will swim away. I however, have no desire to play chicken and charge a barracuda with larger teeth than me.
After that I decided that I would watch the sea life from the safety of a kayak, but got distracted when I saw Pearl, another camper, sun bathing on her lounge chair out in the middle of the water. Deciding that that looked pretty good too and not wanting to exert too much energy all in one day, I camped out in my chair with my book to work on my tan.
January 14: We had a nice ride back to Sittee Village with Gil - another 4 and a half hour motor ride, enough though he did actually put the main sail up this time. About half back a dolphin jumped out the water right near the boat. We all stood around in amazement waiting for more dolphins to appear, however we never saw any more. We didn't get back to Sharon's house until after dark, but when we did she had planned a going away party for us complete, of course with cold beer. We had wonderful barbequed chicken, chips and salsa, potato salad, fresh homemade tortillas, and did I mention cold beer?
Sharon had a few errands in Dangriga, the closest 'town' for the village of Sittee, so I decided to ride with her. There wasn't too much there, but I did have a good time exploring. Tomorrow we are heading up to the Belize Zoo. We will camp there over night and then head off to the airport to meet up with the last of the group. After 10am on the 16th, we begin our trek back to the states. I believe this time we are planning to hug the eastern shore of Mexico up to Texas and then home to Seattle. Tomorrow is my last email contact, for who knows what we will find in Mexico.