Belize Day 2: Swims With Fishes

Which would you choose?

The next morning, I was totally refreshed.   Amy and I got up and had breakfast we procured from Marina's grocery down the street.  There was fresh orange juice (Belize's main export being citrus) toast and New Zealand butter (it's cheap - the economics are beyond me though), Special K and "Hospitality" Raisin Bran.  Yes, the "Hospitality" is the brand name and it's in quotes.  I tasted it.  It's the kind of hospitality that says, "I don't want to kill you, necessarily, but I don't want you staying at my house either."

At Coral Bay Villas you get free use of their bikes.  And bikes are standard equipment here in San Pedro. They all have one speed with a rusty chain (why bother keeping them oiled in this humidity?).  The alternative is a golf cart, which is slow and expensive and a real hassle to park - of course I would never go that route.  As much as I love bicycles, I didn't think I would like this homely red one with broken pedals.  But it got us around.

We mistakenly pedalled into town, and immediately got accosted by golf carts.  The Belizeans knew how to drive them, but not the Americans.  Amy was weaving in and out, trying to get used to the bike, and we ended up doing a U-Turn and headed back out of town.

Has someone ever molested a crocodile? Seriously?  

Once we got past the tourist zone, everything was right with the world.  The road was a bumpy sand, gravel mixture with pot holes full of water. But we dodged them handily and took our time.  Really, you don't need pavement out here in San Pedro.  Everything's fine white sand mixed with water, and it's just naturally hard.  As you get out of town further, the houses are more plush but further spread out.  The resorts are the ones you have to take a water taxi to get to (if you tried a golf cart, the first bump would send your luggage all over the road).  But it was green and lovely.

Then we went snorkelling - a first for me!  It was a mixed bag.  I put the tube in my mouth, ducked underwater and got a mouthful of sea water, and couldn't breathe. This tends to make snorkelling a bit uncomfortable.  I tried it three times, with the same results each time.  Our guide said just to ditch the tube, go underwater for a bit and come back up again when I need some air.  This is when all my adolescent training of swimming for long periods underwater really came in handy.  Good thing I quit smoking.

Underwater is a different kind of gorgeous.  It's colorful, yes, but mainland Belize is colorful.  (Unfortunately I have no pictures - my cell phone isn't exactly waterproof.)   Underwater, it's more about the motion. Schools of fish moving this way, and turning on a dime.  They are afraid of nothing.  They'll swim right for you, or bob around you.  There are traffic patterns, but they look like they'd take a lifetime to master, and the fish seem infinitely flexible about it.  They've seen it all.  There were groupers, some of whom we'd eat later.  (I like to think we picked, say, the organized crime elements of groupers, thus leaving the rest to lead a quieter, more free life).  There were lots of fish and coral, all of which I've forgotten the name of.

Then we headed for Shark-Ray alley, and Amy lent me her equipment there.  Much better!  We quickly jumped over the side to find ... big surprise ... sharks and rays!  The sharks were not Jaws, or anything close.  They were small, ugly sharks, sort of like bulldogs.  They didn't come up to you, but they didn't go too far out of their way.  They were not interested in eating anybody.  I saw one ray, who glided over the bottom like a sea bird gliding over the surface of the water, kicking up a little sand along the way.

Stunning!  The water was clear and crisp just like the air above it.  The plants undulated in a group like people doing Tai Chi. I can see why people get hooked on this.  They come to Belize, stay in the cheap hotels north of the city, and spend all their money going straight to the diving sites.  It is what hiking in the Adrirondacks is to me and Amy.  But after a few mouthfuls or salt water, and the nausea that comes with, I decided that I'm really not cut out for that life.  Aquaman I will never be.

We dried out in our hammocks.  Amy said, "The hammock is the best invention since velcro."  And then ... snap!  It came to me!  Velcro hammocks!  You stick yourself in one, and you can swing as high as you want, even loop-the-loop, and never fall out!  My plan now is to market this idea, make a ton of money, come back to Belize with Amy and live the quiet life.  I'm sure I'm the first one who ever had this plan.

Walking along the beach, a couple of nice gentleman offered us spliffs.  They don't really hide it here.  Amy doesn't like the smell of pot, so I declined gracefully.

We made it to El Patio for dinner, where I had my first ever Rum Punch.  It's free with your meal there, and it tasted like something I needed a non-free version of.  I had coconut fish, Thai  inspired fare, and Amy had blackened grouper.  It was pretty good - certainly better than any seafood than we could get in Ithaca.  But it was kind of let down from Lily's the night before.

But here, where everything is so gorgeously blue I've already become spoiled.  And I don't want to be.