THE GREAT ESCAPE

Sea Fox & I sat there contemplating at the Catamaran Bar, over One Barrel and Belikin's.
Where to have a quick get-a-away?
Naturally one of my favorite Caribbean islands, Roatan, came up on the suggestion list and since Sea Fox had never been, I was excited to show him around my other Caribbean playground.

With Maya Island, the local Belizean airline announcing new direct flights from Savannah, Southern Belize & price being reasonable we could not really find an excuse as to why not to go.

The flight time with Maya direct from Savannah to Roatan is considerably a shorter trip than the previous Honduran airline that serviced this route, Atlantic Air, which would turn an easy 45 min direct flight distance into an all day travel experience with wait time at the San Pedro Sula airport and La Ceiba airport for up to 8 hours at times, of unintentional misery. Atlantic Air just does not have their shit together and people leaving San Pedro Sula, Honduras to Roatan, Honduras would sometimes have a much longer travel day than someone coming from Houston to Roatan for example.




As I waited with much anticipation and excitement, the little Maya Airvan flew down to the Caye Caulker runway carrying SeaFox on his way to pick up his Sirena, like an Osprey after a fat juicy tarpon in the shallows.


After leaving Belize City, Municipal airport, the little plane rattled skywards and the clouds in the sky opened up so that we can view the rugged largely undeveloped coastline of Belize before flying over vast citrus fields and small coastal villages with several stops on small landing strips scattered around the outskirts of towns.

In Savannah, we had a minor delay waiting for the Immigration (Policeman in Policeman uniform trained to handle immigration) which I found unusual.
Once in Roatan, all the flavors, sights & sounds came alive and we soaked in the spectacular lush hilly landscape and numerous beaches, coves & bights.

SOME OF MY FAVORITE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD

SOME CAYE CAULKER PEOPLE ARE HARD EARS

Local island boy, I & I , goes past the beach slowly on the golfcart while Prince back from First World, his friend, islandgirl, childbride & I are sitting around the upper level deck at my mother's house. Island girl screams at I&I, only a few feet away, he doesn't flinch and keeps driving and looking straight ahead. I scream even louder his name, the whole neighborhood hears me, he still doesn't turn to look.

Islandgirl: "He's deaf, you would have to jump in front of the golfcart to get his attention"

Me: "True, I forgot he couldn't hear in one ear & hardly in the other. All those years diving conch and lobster at the reef when he was a teenager is the cause. He burst his eardrums just like so many of the young men on the island who free dive regularly and sometimes don't equalize properly."

Islandgirl: "Revelation! That is why, when people say that Caye Caulker people are HARD EARS" (figure of speech to imply stubborn, won't listen or ignorant),
"THEY REALLY ARE hard ears & don't hear a damn thing.

BELIZE NO LONGER A BANANA REPUBLIC

I was told Belize is no longer a Banana Republic & that I should change the name of my blog from

"Life in a Banana Republic"

to

"Life in Belize Telemedia Limited Republic"

cause them owners allegedly want to run the country.

CAYE CAULKER IDLE

First World has "American Idol" and Caye Caulker has the "Caye Caulker Idle"

Caye Conversations

Black Entertainment Television (BET) was visiting various parts of the country recently fliming interesting tid-bits. They came to Caye Caulker to film on Ras Creeks, Heritage Cruise.

ME: "So how did the BET Television filming of your tour go?"

RAS: "Not as well as I had wanted"

ME: "Why?"

RAS: "they said they were going to come at 2:00 pm, then they showed up at 10:00 am and I was not ready. I have to go dive the conch when I'm out at the reef to make the ceviche fresh, you know that. So they showed up early and started filming immediately. While I was busy assisting with that, they kept asking, where is the ceviche?

I guess they expected miracles and I could just say
"LET THERE BE CEVICHE!"
I didn't even have time to get wet yet, do my show with the sharks, much less find the conch and cut up the vegetables......and all the while, the guy in charge of the film crew kept looking at me tapping on his watch...."

OVERHEARD

"When I married her we pledged till death do us part, but hell, I didn't realize it was going to be a competition"

"CHILL MON at TINAS HOSTEL on CAYE CAULKER"

A new friend I made on this day sailing, Amy Christy from New York, now back home, just sent me this photo. We had spent a good half hour on the boat laughing and making up slogans that would reflect Tina's Hostel laid back vibe. We decided we liked this photo as the Logo and well, neither of us could remember all the crazy slogans we had come up with at the time.

FUN & SUN VIDEO

BELIZE to BELIZEANS can still feel like a great place to vacation

I am feeling healthy, strong, it won't last long, I will gain the pot belly back in no time flat, I know, it always happens when I have get out of the house. After the hermit/recluse days comes the bingeing. I start socializing, drinking the Belikins, eating too much food after spending more energy in a day sailing, sunning, sipping, swimming etc. than I have in the past year and a half. Sooooo....I'm taking tons of photos now to preserve the "41 look" which was developed over the past year & a half where I failed to adequately nourish myself.

My Mom turned 77 today and looks marvelous in her "hot shorts" which she still wears. Not one wrinkle or cellulite on her legs after all these years and she still accepts compliments with a broad smile, from younger men, on those 77 year old legs. I told her today, I pray I have her spunk & good looks at that age and she assured me that I was spawned from the finest of genes which put my mind immediately at ease after a year of fretting about old age and feeling like I am going to die an old spinster who scares everybody and sleeps with tiny dogs.

I am not trying to rub anything in -no salt in wounds or anything like that - I just can't resist gushing or gloating right now about HAPPINESS! I love everything about Belize right now, even the petty thieves who often make me dream of buying a shot-gun and hiding in the head of a tall coconut tree picking away at them as they try to climb in an un-invited window. The Caribbeans best kept secret, the mosquito's are far and few in-between these days since the rainy season is at it's tail-end and the best weather to be found in Belize is now & the next few months. You can count on clear blue Sky's, cool trade winds, happy tanned people & lots of margaritas, frozen AND on the rocks. The Mojito has become my new favorite drink for 2009.


There is that small window of a few months, in the Caribbean, when everything seems to flow perfectly.
The seas calm down one day and swell up the next, satisfying the windsurfers and the water skiers or divers on their way across the deep blue to the world famous Blue Hole.
The sky is usually very clear at this time of year & if you find yourself in San Ignacio like we were this week, you actually hear birds chirping when you wake up in your little fixer upper in the little abandoned sub-division at nowhereville.

If you play on the sea often, you are bound to see dolphins in pairs swim along side each other in total harmony. What makes you feel like you have to get out everyday these days, besides the good weather, is the fact that the hurricane season is just beyond, in the not so distant horizon & everything as you know it today, could be changed in a few months time should mother nature decide to send its wrath our way. This makes us realize how precious everything we have now is, since we sit in Hurricane Alley. Hurricane Alley is an area of warm water in the Atlantic ocean stretching from the west coast of northern Africa to the east coast of central America and Gulf Coast of the southern United States.


We didn't go to play golf, just to drink at the pool bar. It was closed, they had no guests, so they lent us a golf cart instead and we circled the island enjoying the beautiful landscaped scenery & 18 hole golf course, just a half mile within the second largest Barrier Reef in the World.

Before long, we would find ourselves back on Caye Caulker, usually now-a-days for me, passing through on my way to San Pedro. Island hopping is becoming the norm and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Yesterday, as we cruised on the dirt bike across the toll bridge to the Northern side of Ambergris Caye so I can look at the new development taking place over there, we came across a place called Las Terrazas www.lasterrazasbelize.com Resort & Residences.

I liked the Mediterranean look, so I asked to stop in. Sweets & I lounged by the pool and drank expensive margaritas, and I swear, for a brief moment I didn't even realize I was in the country of Belize, the look and feel of the place transported me to a past life when I use to enjoy such luxurious hotels along the Indian Ocean and I was on a far-away vacation, in Belize.

Belize is beautiful, make no mistake, not one doubt in my mind, I have seen a lot of it. It's got it's ugly side too, but I choose to not see it. If you have not been here yet, you should start thinking about visiting, this Doctor prescribes it.

B.T.W. (by the way) I have a PhD. in Caribbean Living, no University can educate you as much as being present and doing the
practical work. Oh yeah! I specialize in Talk Rass too.