December 20 and 21st

---

Yesterday was a full day, but full of what we are still trying to decide. Note to anyone traveling to Ambergris Caye. If two nice young men in a golf cart stop you on the street and ask if you would like to have a free breakfast and participate in a drawing for a prize tell them NO. The second day we were here, Jim and I were on our daily walk when a golf cart with two nice young men stopped to talk to us. So of course to not be rude to the locals we listened, nodded and somehow I drew a ticket worth $100 of "stuff" at Captain Morgan's Retreat (fancy name for a resort). Well that meant a free breakfast and of course the preverbial hitch it's a timeshare pitch. Our friends Donna and Dave had left the day before so we figured what the heck we'll go have a free breakfast on the "Captain". BTW - for those of you who are fond of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum, this resort has nothing to do with him or the rum. Captain Morgan was a real pirate who plundered the English freighters. He knew exactly where the openings in the reef were so he would steal their booty and then slide back through the openings in the reef and hide his treasure in the canyons on the sea floor. Legend is, there is still treasure hidden in the Belize Barrier Reef. Anyway...........the water taxi picked us up and took us to the resort, we had our free breakfast which was very good, but then had a 3 hour tour and sales pitch to buy a timeshare. I'm sure the salesman thought we were ready to sign on the dotted line, and he couldn't believe when we told him we weren't intersted. He gave us our $100 certificate which of course we had to spend at Captain Morgan's but on what? There is a casino but neither Jim or I are big gamblers, so he talked us into coming back last night for their Belizian Buffet special and wine and cheese party. He promised us no hard sale, just meet some of the timeshare owners, etc. Well we found it very interesting that one of the tiimeshare owners at the wine and cheese gala was a NASCAR mechanic for Kevin Harvick, and anyone that knows Jim know's he loves anything that races. One of the timeshare owners had a PGA golf shirt on, and anyone that knows me knows I love golf. This guy had to tell me all about his golf trip to Chapel Island which is very close to Ambergris and is owned by Larry Flynt (Hustler Magazine). The entire island is an 18 hole golf course, private marina and landing strip, that was suppose to be a high end housing development. He never sold any lots so now it's just a golf course in the middle of the ocean. But even with all the "accidental" guests at the wine and cheese gala, Jim and I still told him NO, so he finally left us alone. We went on to enjoy a wonderful dinner, and still had $60 left to gamble which I promptly lost at blackjack in about 15 minutes. Today we were going to dive at 11:00 so after we took a walk this morning we came back and geared up. When we got to the dive dock they said it was too rough, they were going to go out at 2:00 instead. We went back at 2:00 and there were 7 divers (includiing us) ready to go. First dive was very nice, I was on the lionfish hunt again, so went off with the owner of the dive shop. All of a sudden he tapped his tank to get my attention and when I looked up right in front of us was a huge Reef Shark. A reef shark is not your typical nice nurse shark who likes to be petted on his belly. It looked like a torpedo in the water and can be as deadly, so I was happy when it swam on by and left us alone. Ched did kill a lionfish though and the whole time we were diving there was a nurse shark following him like a puppy on a leash. The minute he killed that lionfish, he put his spear down in the water and the nurse shark pulled it off the spear and immediately ran it into some coral to make sure it was good and dead before he devoured it. Was really cool to watch nature in it's most primal form. When it's as windy as it has been it stirs up the bottom so visibility wasn't very good, but Jim still got some great shots. It's tough to surface and to have to bob around when you have 5' waves crashing over your head, and getting in the boat is like trying to climb a ladder that is moving up and down 1' to 5' every 10 seconds. Honestly, after the first dive I was thinking might not be a bad idea to skip the second. Always go with your gut feeling. We didn't skip and went back out and even though the winds had calmed on land, once we got past the reef the waves were just as bad if not worse. One in particular came over the bow of the boat, and as the divemaster likes to say "allowed us to test the water temperature before we got in". Anyone who knows me knows I hate boats..............so I couldn't wait to get in. Well the surge was worse than the first dive, you would fin forward two feet and then get pushed back three feet. Tough dive, we stayed shallow and that made the dive even worse. By the time we got on the boat to come home we were both tired from finning so hard, cold because the sun had started to go down, and our stomachs were really upset. So we came home and took a hot shower, and as I am typing today's blog, Jim is sleeping soundly next to me. But all in all a hard dive in paradise still beats the best day behind a desk!

---

Photos

Queen Angel
This is my favorite fish so Jim usually tries to snap them whenever he sees them. They are very camera shy though and it's hard to get a full on shot.

Trumpet fish
These guys usually sit vertical in the water and only go horizontal when they move. They hide in in the sea rods and blend in perfectly with their environment.

Victoria Canyon
I was on the hunt for lionfish again. Did shoot one but it didn't stay on the end of my spear.

Glassy Sponge
These look very rigid but they do sway a little with the current.

Spotted Eel
The closest you will find to a snake in ocean. For some reason I'm not afraid of these guys.

Seafood Buffet
Jim was taking a picture of the lobster, but when we downloaded we noticed a crab right behind the lobster.

Reef Lobster
This is not your garden variety lobster, like a Maine lobster. However they are important to local fishmerman.