4-29-2015 Dinner with David and Julie at Chef Rob's

Everybody that comes to visit HAS to go to Chef Rob's for the experience, so it was David and Julie's turn.
Here Sabrina, Julie and Cara are dressed up for the dining extravaganza.

It was an unusually still night, which is beautiful, but the bugs were bad.

Outside the restaurant there is a window into the kitchen, where you can watch Chef Rob in action.

Garlic hummus appetizers

Creamy seafood soup

Chilled curried tomato soup - phenomenal!

Refreshing watermelon salad with cilantro

Cara's delicious vegan dish (Rob always creates something unique and amazing for me!)

Eric's pan fried snapper filet with spicy coconut sauce

Pecan and dates cake with ice cream

4-27-2015 Dinner at Palmento Grove

Eric and I had made plans to have dinner with James and Tina this Monday night, though we hadn't settled on a restaurant.  I mentioned a couple of places we haven't tried yet, and James and Tina were out and about, so they stopped by the places to see if they would be open. Palmento Grove said they weren't officially open yet, but they would be happy to open up for us.  How cool is that!?

Mark and Sabrina, and two of their friends who are visiting (Dave and Julie) also joined us.  This was a really fun group - we
were all laughing all night long.

Some of us were drinking Mango Daquiris.  We were thrilled to see Eugene, the owner, cut fresh mangoes from the tree to
make our delicious drinks.

Eric's grilled fish (Cobia) with salad, fried plantains, and yampi (a local root vegetable similar to a potato or yam).

Cara's vegetarian plate with vegetable, salad, beans and rice, fried plantains, and yampi.  Everyone agreed that everything
was delicious!  We also received sweet potato pone for dessert (yummy), though we forgot to take a picture of it.

This is actually the same place where we went to the all night concert before Easter.  Eugene put our table upon the stage to
help maximize our breeze and minimize the bugs.  It was a truly lovely dinner experience.  Palmento Grove really treated us
right!  We will definitely be back.

After dinner we went back to Mark and Sabrina's and continued our fun evening. Most of us went to bed at a relatively decent hour, but Mark, Dave and Julie stayed up all night talking, saw the sun rise, then went to bed.

4-19 to 4-26-2015 A little of this, a little of that

Eric, Mark and Terry went in together to buy this sailboat from Ed.  Eric and Cara went over on a Sunday for a lesson from
Ed on how to set it up.

Attaching the main sheets (the ropes).

We got her all set up, but we didn't take her out sailing until Wednesday, when we got another
lesson from Ed and sailed the boat down to our place.

Tuesday night we went to Driftwood for live music with Tina and James, and a couple visiting from Canada (Ned and
Lauren).  James actually got up there and drummed for a bit.  (He's sitting down in the blue and white striped shirt.)

Thursday we went into Dangriga for errands.  We were ready to leave when we found our battery to be totally dead.  So, we
had to borrow Mark and Sabrina's van.  However, when we were in town the only key broke off in the ignition.  We were able
to turn the key with pliers and start the car, but it meant Eric had to make a trip to Belmopan the next day to get new keys.

On Friday Eric did get new keys (one for each of us), but he also had to replace a tire.

Friday we went to Windschief Bar and Eric got to play more foosball with Trevor, who had won the 2014 foosball tournament.

Another iguana siting on Sunday morning.

4-12-2015 boating with some friends in the afternoon.

On Friday the idea of a boat trip came up for Sunday.  We tried several options to get a boat and then on Saturday at about 9:30 at night Pam, a local friend, called her dad and arranged a trip to leave at noon on Sunday.  Pam, her dad, Guido, Terry, Eric and Cara headed out for a day on the water.

We met for lunch at the Curve Bar which is right on the Sittee River Marina and we met the boat there.

We boarded the boat and headed down the river

We went about 2 miles on the river and then you hit the sea

That is Terry and he is from Winnipeg and he has a teak farm down here.  He visits regularly.

After we hit the sea we boated for about five miles to this nice island.  It is called Bread and Butter Caye and is owned by a
farmer from Minnesota who stays here in the winter.  He invites boats to come and hang out.

This is another view of the island.  There are 2 primitive cabins to stay in if you wanted to.

A lot of the boats fish and then they clean and cook the fish here for lunch.  It is a popular spot.

Terry is on the left and is from Canada and Guido is on the right and he is from Rome

There are a lot of Hermit Crabs on the island and we caught one

They built this path in the Mangroves by pounding sticks into the ground then filling with sand in between

It is a very relaxing place

One of the best parts of the island is Rudy who is the big resident puppy

This boat is a typical skiff

We made our way over to a really big sand bar in the open sea

The water was perfect for relaxing.

The main reef is still several miles out to sea, but we are about 7 miles away from land at this point.

this is an odd 360 panarama

Terry landed Pam's fish and thought it was very amusing to get this picture

 We ended the day going over to Pam's restaurant and she cooked up the fish.  It was a nice day.

4-8-2015 Lindsey leaves

We ended up having some time in Dangriga before Lindsey's flight, so we walked around town a little.

Lindsey flew home safely, though she returned to cold.  :(

Cara found this guy sunning himself by the garage.

Cara loves lizards and couldn't help following him for a bit.

See you later...

4-7-2015 Sailing to the Cayes

Three of us (Eric, Cara and Lindsey) went out on the Brujula sailboat with Brian, the owner.

It was another beautiful day in Belize.

Almost to open water...

Eric enjoyed steering for a bit.

The view from below deck

We made one tack almost to Dangriga before turning and heading to the cayes.

Our first stop was at Victoria Island.

We stopped in to talk to the owner, Willow, but she wasn't around.

Only the volunteers were hanging out in the big palapa, which has a small bar, kitchen, and a pool table (although it appeared
to be somebody's bed for the night).

We sailed on to Bread and Butter Caye for lunch and some snorkeling.  While snorkeling we saw huge schools of fish
undulating through the water around us, barracuda, coral, and at least a dozen starfish.

Rudy, the island dog, napped at our table while we ate.

 

We have seen dolphins every time we have been out on the water, and this day was no exception.

The skies were dramatic on the way home.

We got back just in time for a gorgeous sunset.