A Barrier Reef Adventure

Saturday, January 29

25 Jan, Tues

Tues, 25 Jan ok, this is my last day at Madi's in Caye Caulker. my work is done here, ....well, it COULD go on forever, but i have managed to plug all the 'escape routes' (i hope!), and make repairs to the 'immediate emergencies'; and it's time to move on. i've lined up my assignments for Feb and Mar in Honduras. i am uncertain as to 'how' i'm going to get there, and it is frustrating me. so i've decided the best thing, is to just GO and figure it out as i go. i wanted to make a small door in the fence, so Madi can let the cats out of the new area that i've made. so i finished this in the morning. Darrel showed up from San Pedro, with his bags packed on his way to the mainland. so i took the afternoon off with him and we hung out at The Split for my last afternoon. so, tonight was 'my' last night and we were all going out. the 2 new girls, Shelly and the other Stephanie joined us. i got to choose, and i picked Wish Willy's again .... seemed fitting. so after chores, we all headed out. i mentioned before that Wish Willy is really Maurice, the 'world class chef' ... he reluctantly agreed to a 'celebrity photo shoot' ...

Wish Willy's didn't disappoint, we all had a great time.

and Maurice even sent over a pitcher of his new 'green punch' ..... which did have quite a punch, .... like we needed it.

then we headed back to the I&I, for more drinks and fun on the swings

it was a great 'going away get together' .... i'm going to miss them all !

24 Jan, Mon

Mon, 24 Jan i'm thinking it's time to go. i still need to do one project that i initially planned to do, that i have not yet done. i want to divide one cat area into two. i need to build a structure that will support a piece of chain link fence. i've been hoping to get some 'man-power' to help, but so far i've not been successful. so i'll attempt this on my own today .... it's now or never! as it turned out, it actually wasn't as difficult as i had anticipated. due mostly to the fact that Walter bought us a new phillips-head screw driver bit! with a bit that actually worked, i could construct what i needed. by the end of the morning the structure was finished. just needed help putting up the fencing. Ishie and i went to The Split to snorkel for the afternoon. the tide was going out, but wasn't too strong, so we headed out. we were snorkeling and minding our own business, when i looked up to find the side of a boat right in my face! i pushed it away and looked at Ishie, who was holding her forehead; ...the boat had bumped her! some guy in a boat with 2 girls, wasn't watching where he was going! we were both ok, but decided to call it a day from snorkeling. we had a rum and coke at the bar and headed back to finished up for the day. i recruited everyone, including Ronnie, and we strung the chain link fence onto the structure, secured it, and we were done! what a sense of accomplishment! before:

after: ok, i forgot to take the 'after' photo :( if i get one later i'll send it. the 'show' must go on! Stephanie and i went out to find some dinner, we were starving! We choose the Enjoy Restaurant. Being from New Brunswick, Canada, Stephanie has only eaten Maine Lobster and didn't care for it. she tried the grilled Reef Lobster here and has decided she likes it, .... a lot. so she had the lobster

and i had Hogfish. i had it last year, and it was wonderful .... and it was just as wonderful this year! and the fish looks remarkably like the swimming fish:

23 Jan, Sun

Sun, 23 Jan On Friday, Madi and her mom went on a mini vacation to Chetumal, Mexico. they hadn't been away for a long time. we had things under control enough that she trusted us to leave. they returned late afternoon today. they had a wonderful long-deserved get-away weekend. took a few photos of this Green Heron. Funny, he could be the same one that visits Sherman Lake in the summer time :)

that evening, Stephanie and i ate at Jeremiah's, then to the internet and called it a day.

22 Jan, Sat

Sat, 22 Jan i finished up another fence repair job today. inside corner before:

after:

outside corner before:

after:

and swept up all the debris that has been bothering me since i got here. inside corridor before:

after:

in the afternoon 2 new girls arrived. Shelly and Stephanie. they are both travellers and met in Asia somewhere and have now planned this trip together, through Central America and then down to South America. Stephanie has been 'on the road' for one year and 4 months now .... i guess i have something to strive for :) Ishie was 'spinning fire' with her friends tonight, so Stephanie and i walked down the street and found them at the Bamboo Grill and watched them perform. afterwards we ran into Ronnie again. Ronnie is a retired Marine from Nashville that Darren had met a few days ago. we decided it was a good night to get a bottle of rum and some cokes and sit on the dock and enjoy the nice warm night.

Ishie joined us when she finished spinning fire

it was another great night full of laughs and giggles, and resident dogs.

Friday, January 28

21 Jan, Fri -Darren's Last Night

Fri, 21 Jan a hot humid summer day ... without a cloud in the sky. first day since i've been here that has happened. i took a break from snorkeling today ... savoring the experience of yesterday. snorkeling The Split after that will be disappointing. i did some sewing-mending of my backpack today, then started working on another fence-mending project again ... but it was way too hot. by the time i realized it was too hot, my clothes were soaked. i did laundry and hung out on the porch for awhile. evening came with thunder and this sky:

then the storm came ... it rained cats and dogs ... Madi's family has doubled ... just kidding :) us girls were sitting in our room having a drink waiting for the storm to pass. Darren's room is just on the other side of the door .... we saw him, looking like a 'lost cat' wanting to come in ... it was pretty funny, well, you had to be there ... with some rum :)

this is Darren's last night here and we planned to go back to Wish Willy's again .... the rain finally quit and we dodged huge puddles in the street and headed to Wish Willy's. here is a photo of one of the puddles in the shape of a heart ... .awhhhhhhhhh

dinner at Wish Willy's was eventful as usual. our 'group' of 4 have really 'bonded', we always have fun when we're together.

Darren isn't a very big guy, but eats a lot, and often. tonight, he ordered TWO complete dinners

after dinner we headed to the I&I, the popular Reggae Bar, it is kind of like a 'tree house' with swings and steps and landings that just go up and up, fun place. here is a pic of a sign at the bar. i don't think you have to had been there to get this one.

Sunday, January 23

20 Jan - Part 3-Lobster Grill

Thurs, 20 Jan .... continued .... on the way back to Madi's, we stopped an pulled up some lobster traps .... :))))))))) when we got back to the dock, we fed the cats, we took showers and got changed, ... while Bernardo grilled our lobsters. those were the best lobsters ... so moist ... and he only used some 'complete seasoning salt' ... no butter .... i couldn't believe how good they were!

Bernardo, Darren, and me:

i went to the Chinese 'restaurant' down the street and got some of that wonderful fried rice. what a GREAT day ! Wilbur, Starla, Steph, Ishie:

20 Jan - Part 2

Thurs, 20 Jan ....continued .... we then cruised into San Pedro, the 'town' on the island of Ambergris Caye for a 2 hr stop to have lunch. being the 'experienced' member of the group, they asked me to choose a place to eat. we went to Fido's ..... pronounced Feed - Doze ... had a good lunch. walked through town and ran into Darrel and Milo, my friends from last year. then headed back to the boat and Wilbur took us snorkeling for the 3rd time, to Hol Chan; which is the Marine Reserve on the reef. we had a great snorkeling experience; and a lot of new snorkeling 'converts' ..... it's so peaceful while snorkeling. we saw lots of great fish ..... a better pic of the Lionfish: