Advertisement
Published: January 22nd 2007
Edit Blog Post
Placencia - Omar's Place
Saturday morning we were up bright and early. Broke down camp (and wasn't at all sad to be rid of the smallest, leakiest tent ever) and packed everything onto the boat. We had spent the evening drinking rum punch and watching the moon rise. So great. We had breakfast on the boat and set off for our first snorkel spot out on the reef. It was quite beautiful - shallow patchy reef formations teeming with fish. I could have stayed there all day. Lunch was on the boat - fruit and bologna sandwiches. Then we struggled to make good time to Tobacco Caye. Along the way we were quite successful with fishing, including two enormous barracudas. There was no shortage of food for the night and we were looking forward to barracuda steaks for dinner.
Once we docked at Tobacco Caye most of the group stopped for beer while John, Tammy and I immediately went out to snorkel the reef. Tammy headed back in after we saw a spotted eagle ray, but John and I were more adventurous. Most of the reef was dead, however, and it was not particularly spectacular. After getting caught in some
significantly large waves breaking on the reef I was ready to head in for a few belekins. Once the whole group was back we played a few games of beach volleyball with some of the other tourists and a few locals.
Dinner was barracuda steaks, potato salad and mashed potatoes on the dock. Matt and I managed to secure a huge 4 man tent this time. But it was already starting to rain, so, with the exception of a brief stop to shower, I spend most of the night drinking (and one sad attempt at dancing prompted by Jamie) at the bar. Especially since Ramsey (our boatmaster) kept buying rounds. Also met his friend Johnny (the Belizean Ron Jeremy) who desperately tried to pick me up, but I wasn't interested.
It poured all night. Thank goodness our tent didn't leak this time! :-)
We all overslept a bit yesterday and had to break down camp in the rain and then rush to breakfast on the dock. Only one snorkel stop - a short one in the morning. And lunch was on the late side. The bulk of the day was spent sailing to Placencia. The highlight was our encounter with
3 dolphins. Then the group split up at the dock and I joined Matt, Jamie, Philip, Richard and Thomas at Omar's Place. Right off the "sidewalk" and lots of fun. We hit the Internet cafe, run by a creepy guy who just played loud computer games the whole time and walked up the beach. Showered and changed, then off to Wendy's for reef chicken and belekins. Back to Omar's to sit in the hammocks and talk and then off to sleep.
We're all catching the 10 am ferry this morning and then splitting up. I've talked Matt into joining me in San Ignacio.
San Ignacio - Casa Blanca Hotel
After packing this morning I joined Jamie and Philip (and eventually Matt) at the internet cafe for bagels and coffee. True to the Cambridge/Oxford background, and almost as a continuation of the previous night's dinner conversation, the topic at hand was politics. I feel like I've now had a crash course in the corruption of the British government and their relations with the rest of the European Union. Of course, by the time we finished talking we had to rush to leve Omar's and make the Hokey Pokey Water
Taxi to Independence (Mango Creek). Jame and Philip nearly came to blows over Jamie making everyone late - especially when he discovered that he had walked off with the key to Omar's. Then in Independence we had to catch the Belize City bus, which was really crowded. We actually got stuck standing for the first part of the trip. By Dangriga though we all had seats.
In Belmopan Matt and I said our goodbyes to Jamie and Philip (heading back to Caye Caulker to meet friends) and we caught the bus to San Ignacio.
Once in San Ignacio we were stopped by Max (of Max's Place) offering us a room and a trip to Tikal. After booking a nice private room at Casa Blanca Hotel we shopped around for Tikal tours and ended up back at Max's. Then I dragged Matt quite a ways uphill to Cahal Pech Mayan ruins. As far as ruins go, they didn't seem overly impressive, but we enjoyed them nonetheless.
By the time we walked back we were dying from fatigue and hunger - the chicken sandwiches we got at the bus station for lunch just weren't cutting it. Water and skittles helped. :-) After
Mmm...dinner
One of the barracudas we caught en route to Tobacco Caye. a short rest at the hotel we went across the street for dinner at Hanna's (yummy curry chicken) then Cayo Cafe for internet and now just relaxation until bed.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.149s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 17; qc: 81; dbt: 0.1007s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb