90. Clear, Blue Water - Part 1

Week 90  3/22/17

Time to go to --- Belize!

Our long-awaited and lovingly-planned trip is finally here. We and our friends Andy and Charlie awoke at 2:00 AM in Medway to begin our adventure.

After arrival in Belize City, we took a 20-minute hop via a Tropic Air prop plane to San Pedro on the island of Ambergris Caye. We were met by an El Pescador representative with van that took us to a waterside open air bar. We were offered a rum drink or local beer to sip on our boat ride, first through a canal.

After following the eastern coast for a couple of miles, we came to our final destination of El Pescador fishing resort where we were greeted at the dock by the two managers and the hospitality staff. Then we ate lunch under the pavilion and caught our breath after the long trip. (It involved a luggage snafu.)

Our rooms on the ground floor of the main lodge were just right, including a fishing rod rack and lots of room for hanging wet clothing.

 

This place is a cross between an adult summer camp and an all-inclusive resort. It was fun to meet the other guests during the post-fishing cocktail hours and at the group tables during meals. We met some posh world-travelers, some experienced adventurers, some repeat visitors (one couple on their 19th annual visit) and people who saved for a few years to come here.

The food was extra good and plentiful - full breakfast, lunch, cocktail and hors d'oeuvres hour and dinner.  And of course there were the rum drinks and beer.

The first night, Charlie and Paul had a fly fishing refresher lesson on the dock with the head guide. Then all four of us listened to the fly fishing orientation. Our fishing guide is Cinoeh.

All guests seem to go off to bed around 9:00, even though the lodge will keep the bar open until midnight if anyone is still up. Fishing begins early. Many groups set off at 5:00 or even earlier. Regular breakfast begins at 5:30 and we were up before sunrise every day. With the 2-hour time difference, this wasn't hard to adjust to. 

The first fishing day was begun with a bit of equipment adjustment.

The resort staff brings supplies to the dock for each fishing party in the morning - lunch and drinks, bait and so forth. (Fly fisherman don't need the bait, but Paul did some spin rod fishing, so the guide brought along shrimp.)

Paul, Charlie and Cinoeh left on their first day out -- happy campers all.

Andy and I hung around El Pescador all morning, taking a dip in one of the pools, reading in the beach chairs, and meeting with the hospitality staff to plan our next three days. The last two days of the trip, each of us would taking a turn fishing with our husband, or at least going along for the ride.

In the afternoon, we took a cab to San Pedro, where golf carts are the most common vehicle. They are licensed like cars. We could also have rented bikes or taken a water taxi.

We visited a chocolate "factory" (kitchen) and bought some to taste, then to a few shops, a park, and a church. Andy spent a long time looking at some beautiful work by a jeweler, but in the end, didn't buy anything.

We wandered into this interesting restaurant and almost bought a snack or drink, but decided to head back to the lodge, since Paul and Charlie would soon be returning from fishing.

The first day was a success. Many bonefish for Charlie and several bonefish and permit for Paul. Charlie proved to be the bonefish champ. One day he caught a bonefish on every other cast! Throughout the week, both caught a variety of other fish as well, such as jack fish, snapper and barracuda. Alas neither Charlie nor Paul caught a tarpon. The resident tarpon are smaller, but very few were caught this week. One 50-pound tarpon, however, was caught by a University of Colorado student on spring break. The larger, migratory tarpon will arrive in a few weeks. Some are over 100 pounds. 

Paul's 3-foot long 12-pound barracuda.

This place at the end of the long dock was one of our favorite places to sit, especially at the beginning and end of the day. There had been a thatched shelter here until last year, but the entire dock was rebuilt after a hurricane took it down.

The tide is only about one foot. and the water is very shallow with miles of flats. There is a barrier reef about 1/2 mile east, and running parallel to the coastline. Sargassum seaweed constantly washes up to the beach and on some days builds up, making swimming from the shore not very pleasant. To avoid the seaweed, we could swim off the end of the dock. Several staff people were employed to rake up the seaweed and pile it behind the buildings where it decomposes. The sand coming out of the decomposed weeds is shoveled back onto the beach.

 This is the where fishing rods can be dried. Craftspeople sold wares on the beach here.