The thing I love about travel, its fun to go but great to get home. Today, it is hard to leave paradise. For my last day,  I rented a gold cart to explore around,

wanted to eat grilled lobster tail, go to the beach, and find some local  reggee music for my radio show.  A neighbor, Brenda,  where I was staying, told me of  a club DJ sells CDs of local music, She knew him, he was trustworthy.

A rastaman, with grey dreadlocks came up to my golfcart and said he heard I was looking for local CDs. He had some at his shop on the beach. Got 6 CDs  and a few other souvineers. He is a good salesman. I thought I was giving him a ride down the road, when I discovered that we were going to Maya beach. OK? We went through a Mayan village, and picked up people walking down the road, just hop on the back of the gold cart, which is the custom.  Maya beach was on the windy side, the water was stirred up.  On the way back, the Rasta guy started coming on to me. Saying that Belizeans liked girls like me, with meat on their bones, not skinny girls. He said he does massages on the beach, and how he would love to rub coconut oil all over my body. I said OK, stop it. I thought about what Randy said, ” you are too friendly to strangers, you can get yourself into dicey situations” But my big strong guy is no longer on this earth.  With a stern look the rastaman backed off.  Shortly got back into town, I just wanted to get out of the sun. He asked me to meet him for a drink at happy hour at the Tipsy Tuna. I said I would consider it, but thought “no way”. I will be packing and getting ready for home. Back at my room, I thought, this is your last night. don’t be so uptight. Go have a drink. Its just a drink.

Snorkel or dive, Snorkel or dive, Snorkel or dive, that is the question? Having a difficult time to decide? If I dive, might see bigger sea life, but gotta go early and get my BC and weights. Feeling a bit lazy, planned to photo, snorkel it is. Did not want to go to the touristy inner reef. Wanted go to Glover’s Reef , one of the remote Cayes, (has a rustic resort with cabanas over the water, just to check out for reference) and a really unspoiled reef. The downside is a 2 hr boat ride. However the dive shop Splash, ( Polly’s recommendation) needed 6 to sign up, there was only me. The plan is go to the outter reef, Salt Caye.

Splash picked me up at my hotel. Drove to the dive shop and boat dock. Upon boarding the boat, it was WOW! A state of the art boat, had a deck in the back, so you could enter the water with a giant stride off the back, favorite entry. The boat had electronic stairs into the water off the back, fresh water tanks, and a fresh water hose that you could rinse yourself and gear. All the while, wishing I had gone diving instead. It was about an hour boat ride, very smooth.  Got to the very small beautiful and picturesque caye, dropped off the snorklers and then took the divers a short distance. In our snorkel group, there was a guide and 2 older ladies with little experience, I helped them some. We swam to 2 different parts of the reef. Got a few good pictures.

Saw a really large nurse shark. The many nurse sharks that I saw are 3-4 ft, this one was sleeping on a sand bottom at a cleaning station, fish eating bits from the skin of the shark. Swam back to the little caye. They prepared a lunch, barbeque chicken, slaw, potatoes and baked beans. Ate lunch, and talked to the divers.  After lunch, snorkeled to another part of the reef. Back on the boat and went to see the sea turtles and rays. Few minute boat ride to a sea grass area. As soon as the boat stopped, we could see the turtle swimming toward the boat. Divemaster said “go” and jumped in on snorkel. So mesmerized by this graceful creature, I kept snapping pictures, the turtle seemed to have chemistry too because it swam right toward me. Kept snapping pictures, the dive master had to intervene, because the turtle was getting really close. The turtle did bite one girl in the but or bum, as the British girl said, she thought it was the dive master! There was only a red mark though. Saw 4 manta rays, but they were deeper and pics not so good. As the turtle frolicked in the sea, he was joined by 2, slightly smaller turtles. Time to go…

Up early, with plans to catch a 9 am bus to Placencia, Belize to relax and take it easy for a few days, before returning to my life.  Felt intimidated about the Belizian bus on this hot dusty morning. Others said they were crowded with standing room only, and a travel book said that luggage went in the back and you had to watch your luggage because people would exit the back and could take your suitcase. The buses of Belize are old yellow school buses, that were painted bright colors, the air con (a/c), that us Texans think they cannot live without,was what my father called “4 and 40” air conditioning, 4 windows down and 40 miles an hour. The bus rolled down the smooth roads, blazing ahead, cool breezes from the windows, past lush jungles, all the while, blaring reggae music. A surprisingly pleasant experience. Gave me the idea to play Bob Marley for my next radio show. I should find some local reggae music!

The final part of the journey was catching the “Hokey Pokey Water Taxi” to Placencia.

So glad I went to Placencia, it is the prettiest town that I have visited in Belize. Lovely little colorful houses and buildings. Good restaurants, nice beach. Staying at One World, nice room with air con, but have not chose to use it, preferring the breeze from the windows and fan. Has a kitchenette with fridge, bonus for my water bottles. A pretty little garden outside my room with comfortable chairs, met some friendly Canadian retirees. One,Brenda, a dog groomer, is thinking about ,moving here, as there is no dog groomer in town.

Today I had a fabulous breakfast at Wendy’s (not the US chain) had. Scrambled eggs with fresh salsa, hash brown and jacks,( a fluffy fried bread like sopapillas) a delicious take on my favorite breakfast taco. Looking in the shops for local reggae music, mostly finding Punta music (drumming). Strolling around, checking things out. Whatever I want to do.

Ate lunch at the Purple Space Monkey.

Ran into Rich and Lizzie from the Island. Planned to have dinner at Rumfish together. Rec. by Polly, she supplies Lion Fish to them sometimes.

Finished the night with a drink, watched a tree frog devour a stinging caterpillar twice its size. Said goodbye to new friends, they are returning to PG and the Island.
Will book a snorkel or trip for tomorrow for one of the outer caye’s. Must be ready at 8:15 am. Definitely coming back.

All good things do end. Woke up early, anticipating the last dive. I spent spare time snorkeling around the island, practicing with my underwater camera. Was beginning to not fumble so much. Underwater photography is so much more difficult than taking terrestrial photos. Steven planned to help me. Much to my disappointment, the wind was blowing so hard that the dive was cancelled. This morning we pack up and leave.  With a bit of a heavy heart, we wave goodbye to the island and start to head back to the real world and our lives.

The boat ride was rough but nothing compared to our island arrival. The plan is to stay in Punta Gorda for the night, have a farewell dinner, and all go our separate ways in the morning. Checked into the St Charles Hotel, charming, very clean, comfortable, right downtown ( had a/c that I did not use) and only $20.00 a night. We met at Asher’s Culture Kitchen, the same place I had my first dinner in Belize. Afterward we walked around town, looking for a bar to have a drink, most were closed at 10:00 pm on Friday night (??). Of note, we ran into Adrian one of the chefs on the island, she said to me, she liked my stand up, learned so much and she told her sister, cousin and her friend standing next to her. Adrian’s friend smiled and nodded. I loved it. After finding the last bar in Punta Gorda open, got the opportunity to talk to Simon, head dive master, was impressed on his knowledge of British history and how he had traveled to Africa and India. We teased him and Tracy about bringing Simon to visit her red neck family in North Carolina. We said our goodbyes to all,  as some were leaving Belize, heading home, others returning to the island on Monday, and some going to other parts of Belize, solo, like me. As I said goodbye to Haley, young British girl, she said you are an inspiration for me. Reminds me of another story. Ahhh.

Morning started with a dive,  woke up with my ears feeling congested. This afternoon we were to do “Coral Watch”, assess the coral for bleaching. Had a class on Coral Health. The coral reef has a very narrow temperature range to thrive, approx 72-85 degrees F. With the sea temperature rising due to climate change. Other risk factors such as  pollution and land run off, combined the reefs around the world are dying.  When coral is threatened, it spits out the algae, that helps it feed, then begins to die and turn white, called “bleaching”. Today we will dive with underwater writing slates to assess the bleaching on certain coral indicator species.

For me, I was also busy today planning for tonight. I dropped bits of my standup throughout the week, and they laughed. Tonight, our last night on the Island, I was to try my stand up. I am unsure if you can make it educational and still funny enough?  Instead of being the ham, I wanted to include everyone. I organized the first in the history of Reef CI, “TALENT NIGHT”. I hit up all staff and guests for their artistic abilities.  Several said, “I have no talent”. I made suggestions and help them find one. Polly, Director of Reef CI, started by thanking everyone and gave her favorite quotes about the beauty of the ocean. Some just gave their favorite quote, read a poem, Tracy made drinks for her talent.

Ben was the emcee, “Master of Ceremonies”, as the Brits say, “Brilliant”.

The ladies from the kitchen, sang and danced. One girl juggled fire, Poi.

Another juggled and others did magic tricks. Only one person, I could not get to participate, not a bad average, all things considered.

Guess I was the headliner, the last.
I talked about erectile dysfunction, mainly geared to older men, but told the younger ones this is what they have to look forward to. I had re written much of the material, after my Professor Donnie let me practice in my audio production class. It was so helpful to see which jokes bombed or flew. This was my first time to actually present to a group. I got laughs, even on jokes, I was not sure about. After talking about men, it only seemed fair to discuss women. After a disclaimer about the graphic nature of discussing women’s issues and anatomy, I proceeded just off the cuff.  Begin with the startling statistic that a third of women had never had an orgasm, ever. Men would never put up with that. How women got screwed with the location of our anatomy, etc. Went over very well. Hope I can remember it all to write it down.

We did the verbal talent inside because the wind was blowing hard and loud. We moved outside for the final acts. Capt Roland, for his talent, built a huge bonfire.  Adrian and Brittany the chefs, sang and danced. Sami did fire juggling, and Haley did some contortionist moves.

The night was a great success. Everyone had fun and it created more camaraderie in the group. I felt love/lust in the air after my sexual comedy, plus the aphrodisiac nature of diving, but not for me. Just the fond memories of those “long naps” after diving with Randy.  In other ways, it was a perfect night, a roaring fire under a palm tree canopy,  feeling the cool breezes, the sound of the ocean, bright stars above and music playing in the background. I tried to imprint that moment on my mind forever.

Tonight is the night dive. Have not done so many because Randy, my dive buddy, did not like them. He said,” the predators come out at night”.  It reminds me of when we were last in Belize, Ambergris Caye, with all 3 kids, we took Tomy also. Randy and I went diving and also snorkeling with the boys. Tim our oldest son wanted to go on a night snorkel. Tim age, 10, Chris, age 7 and I went. We left at sundown in a boat. When  we arrived at the site, it was cloudy, no visible moon, the water looked like ink and the sky was black. It frightened me that I had brought those 2 little boys out to this seemingly dangerous situation with no light. However, snorkeling we saw lobsters running across the ocean floor with glowing red eyes, and sea urchins swimming instead of hiding in holes.  The anxiety left as soon as we got into the water.

Tonight, for the night dive, I had a good underwater light, wanted to use it. We are to dive from the shore and there was a moon. It was the time to see the “string of pearls. The briefing plan is that in the middle of the dive, we go to the ocean floor in a sandy area, turn off our lights and watch for the luminescence of the string of pearls. At that time, we turned off our lights. It was so black, I got a little claustrophobic. Got the feeling that everyone left me and the uncomfortable notion of being alone in complete darkness. All I thought of is an escape plan..turn on the light, check air gage, inflate my BC, surface. See where the island and plan to swim. It was relief when all the lights came on, and finished our dive.

Over the years, I worked with many groups, there is always a Diva, an Ass and a Complainer. But not this group, both the staff and the guests were kind, helpful,friendly, pleasant and many were very funny. I hope I was one of  the funny ones.

THE STAFF

The staff is led by Polly, British, Managing director and founder of the non profit Reef Conservation International. She is married to Captain Roland. Capt Roland, whale shark spotter and can back out the boat from the narrowest crevice. I especially appreciate him. When returning into the boat after a dive, the younger divers, can walk up the ladder with their tanks, Bcs, and weights still on. My little arm strength makes it difficult for me. So before I got on the ladder to exit the water, I would unhook my BC in the water, Capt. Roland would reach down and pull my equipment up into the boat. Sure made it easy for me.

The head diver master, Simon, British, seems serious, but very knowledgeable and very kind. His girlfriend dive master, Tracy, from North Carolina, they met when working at Reef CI,  so sweet.

The other main dive master, Steven, from Belgium and his girlfriend, Kaylee, a dive instructor from Great Britain, they met while working for a dive shop in Egypt diving the Red Sea. Steven and I got to be friends because we had things in common, I went to Belgium a few years ago, and he was a DJ before a dive master.

Then another new dive master, Sami. Sami is Canadian and travels all over Central America solo, working at dive shops to support her travels.  I admired her very adventurous spirit.The other staff was the chefs, two sweet Belizean ladies and very good cooks.

Angel, from Belize did general work, like refilling the dive air tanks.

Additionally, There were Capt Roland 2 boys, Byron age 11 and Anderson age 7, really sweet boys that ran, played and laughed all day, visiting for the holiday.

Finally, the dog,SPOT, a shelter dog, part pit bull, and took his dog’s responsibility of being ready to save all the humans, very seriously.

THE GUESTS

Our group were all interesting, 3 couples and 4 singles. Maria and Rick, baby boomers like me, newlyweds after meeting on line. Maria encouraged me go try on line dating and she offered to help me write a profile. I digress to say that I am afraid of on line dating, seems there are weirdo’s out there  and have no idea who they might be, after all the effort to get to know them.  On the other hand, its been over a year and half, since Randy died, sure miss having a man in my life.

Noa and Manny, darling newlyweds on their 3 month honeymoon, are from Israel but live in Sidney, Australia. He is from a religious family and she from an Atheist one.    I never got to discuss that issue directly, but I did give them unsolicited marital advice.

Rich and Lizzie (Elizabeth) British, childhood sweethearts, from the cold country on the north sea and are oysters farmers, aquaculture. They were funny and  really sweet couple. They did free diving to the depths. It was scary and fascinating to listen to them tell of their free diving adventures. They are well traveled and spending a month at Reef CI doing an internship.

The singles were Ben, young and British, had a sparkling personality and great sense of humor. Ben is a dive master and recently traveling over Belize and central America. One night when I retired, Ben was sitting, with three cute girls his age, fawning all over him and laughing at each witticism. In the morning, I said,  “with those 3 girls hanging on your every word, I thought to myself last night, I would have been too bad, if you were gay”, got a big laugh. Ariel, American, in college studying geology and works at the Smithsonian in Washington DC. She is getting her Rescue Diver Certification while here. Think she and Ben have chemistry.

Haley, a pretty British girl, and very sweet. She is getting her diver certification.

And me, Ann. We all spent time talking about what we do at home, why we are here, how we all converged at this exact place and time, where we like to travel. Everyone has a bit of wanderlust and desire to experience the world. I shared with them my bucket list…want to be a DJ, check…work on reef conservation…check. Want to try stand up comedy that is educational, see if it works? Told them I was writing and working on 3 topics….why I was called the Viagra Nurse, my experiences of being a businesswoman in Japan, and my personal experience of why I think confession is porno for priests. The only one complete is the Viagra nurse. They encouraged me to do it for practice with this group on the last night, I agreed, thinking if I bomb, I’ll never see these people again.

This morning was up at 6:30 am for coffee. Had a dive briefing at 7 and on the boat at 7:30.  Did our usual coral reef dive. Today is was on a wall. Nice dive and uneventful.  Was told upon arrival here that whale shark sighing trumps everything.  It is early to see whale sharks, but all the divers are hopeful. Back on the boat after our dive the captain announced that he saw a whale shark.  It is easy to find them, just look for all the commotion on top of the water.  The water is turbulent, there are swooping birds, fish jumping about, and reef sharks following scooping up the remains.  Captain Roland zoomed the boat to the sight. When you see the whale shark close to the surface, jump in quickly on snorkel.  It was a bit intimidating to see the dorsel fins of the reef sharks on the surface. I jumped in anyway.  The whale shark was coming right toward me!  It looked me right in the eye and smiled!  Then proceeded on swimming right under my feet.  I could see its spots and the full length of its 40ft or so body, seemed close enough to touch it. WOW! What an  experience! Too bad I did not have my camera for that perfect moment.  We went back to the island, gathered some of the islands diving staff that are monitoring, tagging, photographing and logging each sighting.  An expedition was quickly organized, to go back out try to see the whale shark again.  Some of the guest went and some of the staff. I went and took my camera.  Capt. Roland found the spot, waited for it to come near the surface. He called it, “NOW”, we all jumped in on snorkel, doing backwards rolls into the water,,. I was about 10 ft away to see it swim by, got pics this time. This whale shark was a little smaller, maybe 15- 20 ft or so. Then the whale shark took a a dive straight down into the ocean depths.  Got back in the boat. Captain followed the water commotion, pulled alongside, NOW!, all jumped in. This time I only saw the tail. Next time, I was one of the last and missed it, that was it, could not find them after much searching. It was such an exciting day, the highlight of my trip.