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Published: January 3rd 2013
Hello all. Greetings from Caye Caulker and happy new year. I will say it is always nice to spend the new year abroad. Feels like I'm already started with my new year's resolution of more travel! The day of the 31st was spent at The Split, a bar which has the only "beach" on the island. Beach is in quotations because it is simply a platform deck that has sand on it with a jump off point into the water. I met two traveling friends and we hung out all day here. I participated in my first flash mob to Gangnam. It was quite fun with everyone on the beach getting involved. Later that night we rang in the new year in the same place with just about everyone else on the island. There were fireworks and a gentle rain that started right as the new year did. I felt very hopeful.
I've been on the caye for a few days now, starting to get my groove here. It is tiny and full of tourists. It used to be, every place I traveled I wanted to move to right away. I think I am starting to become more discerning. Compared to Puerto Rico last year, on Vieques, this is not the best. But it is still a tropical island and I am not complaining.
It is all English speaking here and for some reason this really throws me. As facinated as I am by laguages, I find it odd that these Belizeans speak English as well as I do. It is as though the simple fact that they are foreign should mean they should speak a more broken English. I don't think this way with Brits or Canadians. Perhaps it is because I wish I were speaking Spanish here. They do speak a Kriol here, but I cannot get anyone to speak it long enough for me to really hear it.
I've vacillated between thinking two weeks is not enough time and too much time. I wanted this trip to be largely about diving and writing. And now that I am finally writing today I feel two weeks with again be not enough time.
Yesterday I went on my first dives. A two tank dive right inside the reef. As soon as we descended we were surrounded by nurse sharks. They followed us around most of the dive. It is amazing the things you can get used to. We also saw an awesome giant sea turtle, various colorful fish and a few lobsters. The dive was good, as any dive is, but I was not too impressed after all the hype. I do believe the BayIslands, so far, are just as good, if not better than here.
I will dive the blue hole in a few days. I am both nervous and excited about this. I went back through a life list that I made and found ‘diving the blue hole’ on it. I am now very excited to check this off the list. As a traveler here put it, ‘coming to Belize and not diving the Blue Hole, is like coming to Colorado and not skiing.” He has a point.
I am writing and it feels good. I will say goodbye now and will write at you later. Take care and fill your new year with new dreams and hope. I think hope with be the theme of this year for me.
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anonymous
non-member comment
Happy New Year!
Not sure I would have been very calm seeing sharks that I wasn't expecting (shark dive in Roatan is different because I was EXPECTING them!) Definitely jealous of the Blue Hole dive. It's on my list and one day I shall get there too! Can't wait to read about it!