Day 13 - Wednesday July 11th

Day 13 - Wednesday

Lincoln went diving today. We had to move to the Sunset Suite today for our last 2 nights so I packed up our things and did that. Then I went and had breakfast at Tropical Paradise. I ran into a gal we had met at the Happy Lobster and talked to her while I ate. I then had a leisurely day in the A/C room until about 2pm when I walked back to the dive shop. Unfortunately I found out that they wouldn't be back until 4pm. I ate some wings (it was Wing Wednesday) and had a couple of drinks. At about 3pm I walked down to the travel agency to buy our tickets for the TEENY WEENY plane back to Belize City on Friday. :-(

Another of our new friends, Christina was on the dive with him. He met her last week on a dive. She and her husband Walter live on the island. They are from Canada. They are really cool people. They own the Macaw Apartments . A neat place to come for either a short time or long term rentals.

Christina hunted/speared a bunch of Lionfish which are not native to the Caribbean sea and are killing the reef & other fish.

Christina spearing a Lion Fish

One of the many Lionfish Lincoln saw during this dive

During most dives he saw quite a few.

Tonight Christina and Walter had us over to their apartment for dinner. Their neighbor Dianna joined us as well. We had brought good Silver Tequila, Triple Sec, Amaretto Di Saronno & Lincoln's homemade Limoncello with us in Smuggler Packs so we took these to share.

Linc, Christina, Dianna & Walter 

Cocktail Hour on the patio at Christina & Walter's @ Macaw Apartments

Lincoln made everyone Margaritas. Christina brought out warm Tortillas with garlic butter stuff & spinach dip that was really good. Then we had some Limoncello and the main course was served, Lionfish on garlic toast.  WOW, sooooo good! The food just kept coming and I just kept eating...even after Lincoln stopped. OMG! Its a good thing that Lionfish are so good to eat, it will help to reduce their population.

                        The dinner Christina made - Lionfish on Toast

After dinner, we went to play trivia with Barry & Lindsay at the Sports Bar. We tried to get Christina and Walter to go but they declined this time because they said they sucked at trivia.

Up until the last round our team was in 1st place. At the end of the game aka the BONUS round, we were in 4th...oh well, we had a blast. We knew people on another team so there was smack talk going on which is always fun.

                               The team with folks we knew (waving)

After the game was over we hung out and talked and continued to drink. At midnight when they close, we were part of the the small group they had to ask to vacate :-). At one point I lost my reading glasses, fortunately Jamal the bartender found them which he rewarded richly with a kiss on the cheek!

Barry & Lindsay own a Golf Cart so they drove us back to our room which was AWESOME! We were both a bit inebriated so this was a good thing!

It was a beautiful night so we went up on the roof to watch the clouds and the stars.

Day 9 - Saturday July 7th

Day 9 - Saturday - Low Key Day

Lincoln is diving today. We get up and head out for breakfast. I suggest we try this "shack" place I saw that sells Fry Jacks (a patty of dough that is fried and puffs up into a pocket and then is filled with whatever they have) with all different choices of fillings. Their prices are cheap and there is a fruit stand next door where we can get juice and fresh fruit. Eat more like locals! Lincoln gets an Egg, Ham & Cheese Fry Jack and I get just a Ham & Cheese Fry Jack. BZE$2.50each. They are much bigger than I expect. A tad on the greasy side but really tasty. We get orange juice which is freshly squeezed and poured into reused small water bottles (yes the germa-phobe in me stayed in the USA). BZE$3 each. Plus 2 bananas for BZE$0.25 each. Total for breakfast a whopping BZE$11.50 or USD$5.75 for BOTH of us! We are both full when we are done.

                                                          Fry Jacks, Banana & Juice

Fruit & Juice Stand

We continue our walk to Belize Diving Services. We know that Camille & her daughter Catherine (the people who caught the fish that we ate last night) will be diving today, it will be nice to see them. I also am excited to get to meet John. He was Linc's dive buddy the last dive. He has moved to the island in the last year and is loving it.

               Alison, Catherine, Me, John & Camille hanging out under a huge Palapa before they go diving with 6 others (Lincoln took the photo)

The Dive boat and boarding area

After a bit I say goodbye and head back to the hotel. They are gonna be back around 1pm and I plan on coming back to greet them.

John tells me about his massage therapist, Chriss, and how wonderful he is. I decide that I'm gonna get a massage. I go back to the room and check out the Coco Plum website. The place looks amazing and I chose the 90 minute massage and that I'll make an appointment via email for tomorrow when Linc is diving again.

I hang out in the room and work on my blog. This blog has turned into a job...it takes a lot more time than I expect. That's ok, I'm sitting in front of a window looking at the sea and Coconut Palm trees and the best part is the room is air conditioned AND I'm not at work. Life is good!

The gals come to clean so I take my book and go up on the roof to sit in the hammock. I don't read, I doze off instead. After a bit it starts to rain so I head down to our porch. They aren't done so I lie on the lounger and drift back to sleep until they finish.

The rain comes and goes. I had planned to start walking back to the dive shop (which is at the other end of town) at about 12:45pm....its pouring at that time so I wait. Finally at 1:30pm it lets up enough that I start walking that way. I figured I may run into Lincoln. The dive shop isn't on the main drag so I wonder which of the side streets I should take to go up the two blocks up that I need to, to zig zag over to the Dive shop. I pick one and cross my fingers. I don't see him during my 10 minute walk and get to the dive shop and don't see anyone except Renesha behind the bar. I'm hot so I figure I'll grab a drink before heading back to the hotel. I glance towards the water and see that the boat is just now pulling up. Ahhh, CC time...GO SLOW! Its about 1:45 and they are just getting back. I had perfect timing! YAY!

Lincoln and I sit at the bar and order some yummy tacos and the Shrimp & Bacon Quesadilla - just think how good bacon wrapped shrimp would taste! Alison sits down next to us and I get to know her. She's 25 (looks much younger), just graduated from University in Toronto and is traveling alone. She's taking the Advanced Diver Course here. She's very sweet.

After awhile we walk back to the room to shower. I start working on my blog again and I realize Lincoln is sleeping. I lay down with him, its about 4:15. The next thing I know its 7pm. We get up and we are hungry so we dress and go into town to eat. We walk almost to the Split to a place called "Wish Willy's".

Wish Willy's is restaurant set up in Willy's yard. Its a long table under a cover and is really cool. His food is good. We shared a Jerk Chicken plate. Lincoln had never had Jamaican Jerked anything and now whenever he thinks about it his mouth begins to water. I have a feeling we will be eating there again before we leave! We got two large pieces of Chicken with a huge portion of white rice and the best grilled vegetables I think I've ever had! Linc gets a Belikin (beer) and I get a Sprite. Bill is BZE$28.

I didn't take any photos, I will post some of the place in a future post!

We walk slowly through town, seeing folks we know which is cool. Its amazing that after just one short week we seem to know a lot of people. The shop/restaurant owners and a lot of the locals recognize us and say hi and we stop and chat as we walk --- as well as fellow tourists. We've made friends with a handful of ex-pats - folks who live here now that are from other countries.

We run into one lady, I ask her where she's from. She says Colorado. I say where? She says Lafayette (where I lived for 10 years and still own a townhome). I say OMG...where? She says "Indian Peaks", which is one "block" over from where I lived. SMALL WORLD! She's in a hurry, the restaurant she was at ran out of  Tofu (she said they cooked it great) so she offered to go up to the convenience store to get more. So we say goodbye and I figure we'll probably run into her again anyway.

By this time its raining and I want to get back to the room. We spend an hour or so researching places to stay the next time we come here to visit...as there will be a next time. We really like it here. I'd like to come in May, I hear the weather is much nice then (not as hot & humid).

Goodnight Caye Caulker!