The misconception of Belize is that we do not experience Seasons like the USA for example. Some people think its all-year-round sun, fun & cool breeze on these magnificent little dotted mangroved & palmed, sand isles off the coast of our beloved nation.
I was just thinking of the Seasons we experience in Belize, this morning, as I watched mesmerized once again at another perfect sunrise.
This is the best Season to be in Belize, this is TRADE WINDS Season.
This season runs from the beginning of March up until late May. It is when sailors flock in their boats and sail away silhouetted into the sunsets;
when the kids fly their kites;
when the rain is getting scarce and the breeze a constant cool that you don't even have to turn on the air-condition.
The diving is perfect except for a few "chop, chop to choppy or something like that from the radio forcaster....10-15 knots" most days, which only adds to the adrenaline part of the tour, by allowing our guests to surf the waves by boat, to and from their dive site.
The windsurfers and kite-boarders are all down for this season and the front of the island is alive with colorful sails and kites diving & soaring in the sky like a Pelican.
Let-me-tell-you. Around here the rides and sites to see are much better than Disneyland!
Just before Trade Winds Season, we had the COLD-FRONT Season.
This season runs from late November to the end of February. A lot of tourists come here this time of year, fleeing their snowed in home, cars and sidewalk. The problem is that tricklets of the bad weather they are escaping, tends to follow them down to the tropics.
So the weather is nice still, but every other week a "cold front" which is the moist cool air currents that flow lower to the South from monstrous Snow storms North which hover over then invade and contaminate our warm tropical air. This is when the weather drops into the super cool 60's and the locals have to pull out our thickest sweaters, scarves and socks to be able to sit on the verandah and watch the tourists flock by in their bikinis on their way to swim in the icy cool sea, most commenting how warm it is compared to where they just left. We think they are just plain mad.
Perception is everything.
The Season before the Cold Front Season and the one that carries some wetness into the Cold Season is the RAIN, HURRICANE & BUG SEASON.
This is our longest Season and a time others might call Summer & Fall.
This Season runs from June to mid November.
Well, honestly, I love and hate this season like I do a good dose of medicine tasting mouthwash.
This is when everything goes calm and the colors are pronounced by the pressure wash of the regular rains, dust free and glistening in the bright summer skies.
The water is flat like glass that when you skim above it, you can see all the big fishes, rays and corals below.
We adjust to a wakeboard, water skis, mask & fins, dive tank - spend as much time as we could in the water. There is a good reason for this, it is hot and humid and the bugs are out & pestering. The bugs have a harder time getting you when you are submerged to your neck.
The sandflies and mosquitos come out in full force after a hard rain which wakes them from the sand, the mosquitos especially love singing and the constant tune in one's ear is so shrilling, that it tends to make you slap yourself silly in the head which leaves one disoriented for the most part. Summer is when you see a lot of people walking around this way, if they are holding a belikin in their hand, that is only because the locals already know that alcohol eases the sting of mosquitos and sandflies. Its an old island remedy.
Well, we haven't even discussed dodgeing hurricanes! This all comes in this most exciting season besides the other exciting times of Lobster & Conch Season which is something else.
Last year, just to give us bored locals a little extra excitement, there was not just one, but two hurricanes, swirling towards us simultaneously. Now that could have been the perfect storm if the Gods weren't looking out for us. Time to board-up and un-board-up your house, like a regular drill. Some times if the hurricane passes by us, far enough away to hit Jamaica or Cuba instead of us, we might still get some of the wave action in the form of 'recaladas' or big surf pounding our sea-level shoreline.
Summer is fun, the kids are out of school and surfing the storm waves on plank boards or running around tearing up our gardens. We love them, like we love our sour lime. This is what my childhood was like - finding a way to may lemonade our of even our lemon seasons. Blessed!
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