I’m about to start my journey northeastward to visit family and friends in Orlando for Christmas and New Years (not the “holiday season”…sorry if I’m being politically incorrect) and am getting excited. It’s been over 6 months since I’ve been back to the land of plenty and my “must eat” list is getting longer every day. While I do miss many of my favorite foods I don’t miss the stress of living there. But that’s the price I pay for living on the beach in Belize. It’s well worth it! Plus, it gives me something to look forward to when I go back to the states.
I was excited about being able to take the Mexican 1st class bus (reclining seats, a/c, and a movie in Spanish) from Belize City this year but yesterday I found out that it’s been cancelled. They did a 90 day test and I guess the ridership wasn’t there so it got cancelled. My options, as always, are the 3 Belize chicken buses to the MX bus in Chetumal or taking a three 12 passenger puddle jumper flights to Corozal BZ and 1 chicken bus to Chetumal and and the MX bus to Cancun. My problem is the cost. Taking the buses will only cost me US$100 (round trip) versus the planes at US$247 (also round trip) but saving about 7 hours of chicken bus time. Taking the planes will cut the money I save by flying out of Cancun instead of Belize City(this trip the airfare difference is about US$600) by about 1/3. Still a significant savings but I’m on a budget now that I'm retired and don't have an income. So I’m careful with my pennies, except when it comes to fishing! Either way I have to spend a night in a hotel (US$60 each) both ways because of the bus schedules. So I’m in a quandary about which way to travel. Comfort versus cost. I DO love to fly and the 3 plane hops will last only about and hour instead of the 7 hour stop and start, crowded, bus ride. Hmmm, sounds like I’m talking myself into flying doesn’t it??? One benefit of having a plane ticket in Belize is that I should have an easier time getting out of the U.S. without a return ticket to the states. The requirement when traveling back to Belize via Mexico is that you have a Belize Retiree Citizenship Card, or own property, or have an itinerary showing travel out of the country you land in. The bad thing about bus travel is that you pay on the bus in Belize so there is no way to have a ticket that shows you are boarding in Chetumal MX and going to Belize. Actually you need the same things if you land in Belize too. I do have a fake property tax document that shows I own property in Stann Creek District (where Hopkins is) plus the Customs duty doc for my trailer and a passport full if monthly Visa stamps. So far I haven’t had any trouble but you never know.
Our friends Matt and Angie came to stay with us for a week and left 2 weeks ago. Conan, Mark, and I were just headed out in the boat to see if Conan’s repair of the throttle worked when we spotted them walking up to the shore from the inn. The 3 of us waved for him to join us and, at first, he waved us off. But common sense prevailed and he quickly dumped his pockets and ran into the water to catch up with us (the boat is anchored out so you always have to get wet to get on board). I hadn’t planned on him coming so I only brought 1 fishing pole with me (if we’re in the boat we fish!) so when we anchored a couple hundred yards off Kismet I handed him my rod. Me, I get in tons of fishing but Matt doesn’t so I didn’t mind. They were fishing bottom with shrimp and nothing but bait stealers were around…UNTIL…off swam Matt’s line! Since we normally catch small stuff off the beach I’d brought a freshwater bass rod (not really suitable for saltwater fishing for those of you not familiar with fishing) with a #2 hook (small) and a wire leader. It bent in half! Whatever it was stayed deep and made some pretty hard runs all around the starboard side and bow of the boat. We were hoping that it wasn’t going to swim around the anchor line and break off but luckily, or because of Matt’s fishing expertise, it didn’t. By the way it was fighting I thought it might be a big stingray because we’d seen locals catching them nearby on previous outings. Matt would horse it toward the boat and it would change it’s mind and direction to stay away. He was worried about breaking my rod but I told him not to. I’d bought it in Houston for $3 at Academy Sports so I sure wasn’t worried about another one snapping in half (I had a barracuda do it to me out on the reef once). So he fought whatever it was for a good 15 minutes, winning and losing line. He was sitting on the bow the entire time until the fish turned to run down the starboard side (OK if you haven’t figured it out yet that’s the right side of the boat) causing him to have to adjust his position and plunging him right off the bow onto his butt and and into a precarious sitting/leaning backward with his feet up position. We all burst out laughing watching him keep a tight hold of the rod and try to stop himself from falling over. It was just too darn funny watching him! To his credit he held on tight and the fish stayed on the hook and kept swimming. I put a hand on the rod until he could stand again. Another 5 minutes of fighting and he finally got it to come up closer to the surface. We saw a large white patch under the water and thought for sure we were seeing the belly of a ray. Off it ran again and back he pulled it. He finally got it close to the boat and we saw that it was a BIG Sea Jack Tuna! Finally up it came, close to the side of the boat, and I gaffed it and got it into the boat. It weighed almost 14 pounds (although it grew exponentially with each telling and Facebook posting of the story. We were all VERY impressed! When I filleted it I dug the hook out of its belly. The hook was bent almost straight. Thankfully it swallowed it and an inch or so of the leader or it would have gotten away. Not sure how you feel about others catching the big one and not you but I was so happy that it was Matt, that he hooked it within 30 minutes of coming to see us, and with my rod. I don’t care who catches a big one because I get as much pleasure out of watching someone else catch one, and the joy in their face when they get it into the boat or onshore. We relived it quite a few times in conversations over the course of their weeklong stay. What a way to start his holiday!!! And, it fed 11 people that night plus a bit left over.
Matt was anxious to dive when he came to visit and Conan wanted to oblige him. We headed out to Tobacco Caye for an overnighter, hoping to be able to rent tanks out there. It wasn’t to be though but we did spend the 2 days relaxing, snorkeling, fishing on the boat and on the dock, and just having a great time. The inn where we stayed was an all-inclusive and the meals were great. My favorite was the deep fried conch. We caught, and speared, quite a few fish to bring back with us and the restaurant (?) let us keep the 1st days catch in their freezer since we didn’t have a chance to get ice before we left. Angie kept her fish catching streak alive too after snorkeling, fishing bottom outside the reef while Matt and Conan snorkeled some more. A great time was had by all!
Matt and Angie brought Tricia, Conan, and me an early Christmas. Tricia got her much needed water filter cartridge replacement. Conan got dive gear and new dive booties, and equipment bags. For me it was a bait net to replace the one that was stolen, a bottle of 10 year old Bushmills Irish Whiskey, fishing tackle and equipment bags, plus 40 cigars that I bought online and had shipped to their home. They also brought a bottle of 10 year old Jameson Irish for our friends Oli and Denise (mainly Oli), who are owners of the Driftwood Beach Bar and Pizza Shack. We pulled the cork on my bottle right quick and toasted each other straight from the bottle. No need for silly glasses because it’s alcohol. After all and what do you use to clean infections and such? ALCOHOL!!! LOL! Too soon it was time for them to leave but the sadness was tempered by the fact that they are coming back in April and bringing their daughter Kelia.
We celebrated Thanksgiving here at Kismet, something which isn’t celebrated in this country, with a 20lb bird, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, mixed veggies, gravy, and an apple crisp for desert. We also had a bottle of red and a bottle of white. I missed having the pumpkin pie but was overly full without it. We had such a wonderful group and a great time.
About a month or so ago Gaston and a male friend (who lives in Mexico) came to visit us here on their way from Gaston’s sailboat anchored in Guatemala to the friend's home in Mexico. He’d asked if the water offshore was deep enough for a sailboat and we told him where he could anchor without a problem. That was the last we thought about it. Two weeks ago who walked into Kismet but Gaston with his lovely wife Britt. They're from Holland. They’d sailed their 43 foot steel hulled sailboat up from Guatemala and were now on holiday, wanting to visit the Cayes and do some diving and snorkeling. We all spent a couple of hours on the boat one afternoon chatting and having a good ol' time. A few days later they invited Tricia, Elvis, and Conan on an overnighter to Bread&Butter Caye. We figured that because it’s so shallow around B&B they wouldn’t be able to anchor for the night so they ended up a few miles away at Southwater Caye (a big touristy island). They cruised around a bit, Conan got to dive and spear fish for dinner with Elvis getting a few lobster and conch. They ended up staying out for 2 nights while Mark ran Kismet. I got to relax. Gaston and Brit are a really pleasant and fun couple.
I mentioned a couple of blogs ago that we have another long term guest living with us. Mark was here last April and has moved to Kismet for a year to have a go at a simpler life. He’s settled in quite nicely but hasn’t learned to procrastinate like we do yet. That will come with time. And, Conan and I are great teachers! He does know how to nap though. And he brought a lot of fishing gear with him so we’re all thick as thieves when it comes to that. He’s living in the room next to Conan and they share a bathroom. He’s a French trained chef so we get some pretty good meals out of him too.
Tourist season has started now and Tricia has had a few nights full to capacity but it’s still pretty slow as yet. The global economic problems seem to be keeping people home. She always manifests guests when she needs money though so I’m sure we’ll be seeing more guests soon.
The update on Conan and Tricia’s arrest and trial is that there is no update. Things still stand the same with their discovery hearing in the Dangriga court on January 9, 2012 when we hope that it will be clear to the prosecutor that there was no theft and is no case. Keep your fingers crossed!
And so, life goes on for the Fatboy in Belize… As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
