LuRue got serenaded at breakfast with "Happy Birthday". The day was off to a good start.
Our taxi was here at 7:45 to whisk us through Belize City to the water taxi. After buying round trip tickets to Caye Caulker, we boarded the ferry...it took about 45 minutes to get there. EZ Boy was waiting for us. We had our own masks & snorkels, but got some fins from them. A group of six joined us on the boat & we took off to the reefs. There were three major stops. During the first one boat driver Harry took us on a tour around a bunch of coral. He picked up a couple of things from the ocean floor...a conch & a sea anemone, which Montana held.
The next stop was Shark Alley. The area was as advertised--full of sharks and sting rays, but with four other boats there, the main creatures we saw and came into contact with were rear ends of homo sapiens...LOTS of them, too! But we did have lots of opportunities to see the sea creatures as they swam beneath us. Harry fed sardines to some sting rays until he was able to hold one long enough for us to feel the smooth skin.
The third major stop was called the Coral Garden. It wasn't much of a garden compared to Bonaire, but there was still lots to see.
Back to Caye Caulker and one more round of Happy Birthday to LuRue before we said goodbye to our 6 snorkeling partners and Harry.
A lady at EZ Boy pointed us in the direction of the Rainbow Restaurant. Montana and LuRue both had shrimp meals, complete with garlic butter, baked potato, and cole slaw (hmmm...why did Montana's plate still have cole slaw left on it?) Oh, yes, we also celebrated with a banana daiquiri and a pina colada--both virgins.
What is a birthday meal without ice cream? So we went in search of a place & finally found one after circling the same stores about three times. We were beginning to think that ice cream doesn't exist in Belize. Montana bought a birthday cone for LuRue (and herself, too, of course!)
Then it was time for the 3:30 water taxi back to Belize City. We found a nice taxi driver to take us back. He insisted on taking us to the grocery store, waiting for us, then driving us back to the B&B.
Montana immediately arranged the mirrors on the closet to look at her back. Her bare back looked like she still had on her bathing suit. Slathering on some body lotion helped. She's now wishing she could sleep on a bed of ice (cream)!
Once again the day ended on the promise of our mouth-watering ice cream bars. What could salvage these pathetic lumps of goo? Montana nuked hers in the microwave, then spread it on Ritz crackers. LuRue also nuked hers, but spread a thin layer on a saucer to go back into the freezer. Montana's description of what it looked like won't be mentioned here. Needless to say, we're still on the hunt for some good ice cream in Belize.
Ouch, Montana. Your back looks very painful. I guess you will have to stay out of the sun a couple of days. Wear a T-shirt next time with snorkeling, I guess. Hope it gets better soon. A couple of ibuprofen will help and drink plenty of water, also.
ReplyDeleteHoly smokes! It looks like a skin-colored bathing suit! Youch.
ReplyDeleteAnd holy smokes, I forgot your birthday, Mom! Happy Belated Birthday! My electronic calendars do all that reminding for me, but I don't have birthdays on my laptop. Better put Montana's on mine now!
A word of warning: Beware those homo sapiens. I hear they are extremely dangerous. Especially if they smell ice cream on your breath.
Eric
Great to have just read your blog for June 13th, now 5 days ago. I got waylaid in my correspondence by my laziness. Loved the shot of the urchin--you know me, anything from the sea is always fascinating--did some research for fun:
ReplyDelete"There are nearly 200 different species of recognized sea urchin,... The red sea urchin is the longest living creature on earth, with some living more than 200 years...are omnivorous animals…feed on algae on the coral and rocks, along with decomposing matter such as dead fish, mussels, sponges and barnacles... main predators: crabs, large fish, sea otters, eels, birds and humans. In some countries, certain species of the sea urchin are hunted and served as a delicacy…."
As a footnote, when we were living in Western Samoa in the PC we observed many locals buying Coca-Cola bottles full of the slimy inside bodies of these creatures--yuck--we never were even tempted to try it- ---LuRue, did you or any of your family try it when you visited there??----Japanese call it "uni-a type of sushi made from the gonads (which produces the roe) of a sea urchin. To be sure, uni is not something everyone "gets" the first time they try sushi.
Look forward to the continuing saga of " mouth-watering ice cream bars" (See above)