San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize 2006
I just spent 8 glorious days in some country that most people aren't really sure where it is located. Belize. Some say central America, some say western Caribbean. Anyway, it is just south of the Yucatan penninsula of Mexico. Actually, Ambergris Caye, the island I stayed on is geographically part of the Yucatan but the Mayans dug a trench hundreds of years ago to separate it from Mexico so now it is kind of a man-made island, and is in the northern part of this small country.
I went to visit a friend that I worked with on Little Cayman - you will see many pics of her below. More than she will care for actually but that is not my problem.
Here are a few pics that I took on the trip. Unfortunately for me it poured rain most of the time I was there, but at least it was warm and the mozzies were few. The diving was very nice out at the atolls, not so good off of Ambergris Caye, but any dive is a good dive as far as I am concerned!
The pic below was taken on my last night at BC's, the beach bar that I met Nicole at the day I arrived, and the bar I spent many a rainy afternoon at, and the bar that Stacey and I went to after our last dinner together. Carlo, Oscar, Ernie. Thanks for the Belikins!!!
Just a couple of shots at Stacey's house. Note the dog is very very dangerous and rips off limbs at will. At least that is Stacey's story to those who will listen. She is actually quite sedentary (and greasy, yuck) and had to learn to like the Beggin Strips I brought down to keep her from biting me. What kind of dog doesn't immediately devour a Beggin Strip?? Darby (real name is Darcy but my other friend Stacie from Grand Cayman will understand the mispronunciation!)
The other shot is a view from the back deck of the house.
Stacey's wild and cracy friend Nicole overlapped with my stay for a few days, and we went to a great tapas restaurant, Casa Picasso, to celebrate Nicole's
final departure. So, here we are before dinner enjoying a few martinis perfected by Duane. I am sure that was his most fun night in a very long time!
This Christmas tree, adorned by a an octopus and various other tropical stuffed animals was assembled by Stacey, obviously rather last moment and in a rush - just kidding. The diving video in the background is played 24-7 (at least when the office is open) and Stacey knows which individual scene is being played by the background music now that she has been listening to it for almost 2 months!
Hello, may I help you? Taxi, excursion, towels?
Oh, sorry, I am taking off to Monkey Bites for lunch. Bye-bye now. And I do mean now.
Here's a shot for Marc and Sabine - your sister resort in downtown San Pedro! What you see is what you get!
Here are a couple shots of San Pedro's main drag - this was at the beginning of my trip... As the week went on and it rarely stopped raining, the mostly sand roads became more pot-holed, water covered and made a taxi, bike, or golf-cart ride a VERY slow process. It was faster to walk barefoot and cleaner as the flip-flops didn't deposit as much sand and mud on the back of the legs and shorts that way!!
Belize Underwater Shots
Indigo hamlets were everywhere at Turneffe atoll! I only saw a few in 4.5 years on Little Cayman...
A colony of sea rod basket stars! I only ever saw one at Lea Lea's Lookout on LC although I scoured the reef for another for years. This was the first thing I found on my first dive as soon as I got to the wall at Turneffe atoll.
This appears to be a mollusc encrusted by a sponge clinging to a soft coral?!?
A porkfish! I never saw these on LC although a couple of dive guests claimed they did.. (but I have my doubts!)
Here are a couple of shots of a nurse-shark feed that our divemaster conducted off of Ambergris Caye - there were 8 sharks partaking in the 'fun' and afterward we held them and scratched their full bellies...
These are my favorite sponges - they look like small stalagmites, or even tastier ice-cream treats!
