Laying in a hammock, on my veranda, under the stars, swaying palm trees, the moonlight kissing and dancing over the silhouettes of the beach, as breezes blow across my body. Its luxury bordering on decadence.

“Reggae, Reggae, everywhere,but none to drink”. As the last visit, everywhere there was reggae music, but difficult to find CDs of local music. I went in search for music for my radio show.
One of the main reasons I came at this time is for Lobsterfest, a big beach festival for the opening of Lobster season. There are 5 bands playing. I emailed them, and heard back from 3. I arranged to meet them, do an interview, and hopefully purchase their CD, or record their music, with permission of course.
One of the bands, Paranda Ambassadors, was playing tonight at Tipsy Tuna. Plan to go hear them and meet the band. They play punta rock, a fast booty shaking music with fast african drums as the back.
I met them, they played Reggae and other similiar music. They were very nice and I liked the music. The lead, Silas Sabal, owns a music recording studio in the next village. We made arrangements to get together with the band to record.
The second band is a steel drum band, The Panerrifix. The third is a band called the Persuaders, a local band that plays reggae and old rock and roll, combined. They will be playing at Lobsterfest.

Sitting in a beach chair, feet wiggling in the sand, in the shade of a coconut tree, feeling the strong breezes, if there is a heaven, hope this is what it looks like.

I am fascinated with a group of pelicans that perch on old posts, remnants of a pier.  They fly in in the afternoon, when sunny, and land on a post. They sun, preen and  groom themselves. Sea gulls fly over looking for a vacancy. When a pelican comes, the sea gull has to abdicate their place.  Pelicans fly in, if there is no open space, they float in the water, until a space becomes available.  In the morning, they fly around and dive into the ocean for breakfast. In the evening, they feed again. When the wind is strong, they float and glide in the breeze.  At this moment, they are sunning, and seem to be going Zen at the sound and movement of the waves.

Sitting here on my comfortable bed, looking out of the window of my cabana, watching a storm come it. The wind is blowing hard. In the normally calm bay, the waves are getting bigger and rolling in. Its a good day to stay in, all day. Listened to music that I brought.

Now that I am settled, on to what I really came here for music for my radio show and diving.
Did my first dive today at Laughing Bird Caye. Signed with with Splash Divers, the same one I went with last time. They picked me up at 8am, was concerned about the weather. It rained earlier, and the skies were still cloudy and grey. Grabbed my gear anyway, headed out of my hotel to wait for Splash pick up. Got fitted with BC, regulator, and weight belt, everything else I carried my own gear. My divemaster Brian, said the weather would be fine. My last dive with Splash, I bragged about their state of the art boat, with hydraulic life laddred and back diving platform, where you can easily take a “giant stride” jump off the back, instead of a backwards roll of the side, which can be a bit disorientating when you enter the water. However, our group was small, 4 divers, so we took the small skiff with none of those amenities. All gear in board, we headed out to Laughing Bird Caye, an underwater national park. The boat trip took about 45 min. on the way, it was getting darker, by the time we got there it was pouring rain, we huddled in the boat under a small canopy, while watching another dive boat at the reef, as it was blown around and the end came up out of the water about 10 ft. Didn’t look good for us. But the rain stopped, we went to the dive site on the other side of the island. The wind was really strong, the waves were high. I sat on the side of the boat, in full dive gear, waiting for the captain to call “go”, so we could plunge into the water, between waves. It is some of the worse weather I have gone diving in. With only a few minutes, I plunged backwards into the rolling ocean. But underneath the waves, it was all calm. The fish seemed to know the weather was bad, they hid in the holes and did not seem to be as active. Took lots of underwater pictures, Saw some giant lobsters. Chased the big fish like the papparazzi for pics. Surfaced when my air got to 500 psi. The waves were huge and we all had some trouble getting back into the boat. Went to the island for lunch. Chatted with my fellow divers, as usual for me it was, “me and the boys”. Did a second dive. Back to Placencia.
Got back to my cabana, showered, relaxed. That night ate at dinner of fish and rice and salad on the porch of my cabana. Under the night sky and the sound of waves as background music.

This morning I got up, had Belizian coffee in a treehouse. Then moved to the cabana. It is so lovely. Just mesmerized by watching the ocean, just about 20 ft from my door.
Avoided Antonio, the Rastaman, today. Tonight, went to Rumfish for dinner, alone. Its an upscale place with prices to match. Had grilled snapper, not really thrilled with the food. Went back to my cabana to watch the ocean in the moonlight.

Thinking about the perfect place, I imagined a cabana on the beach. Today I looked around for an hotel to move to. First I had to search out Antonio one more time. I went to his beach shop. It was closed, my heart sank a little, time to give my my search. Was walking away and someone called to me, It was Antonio. We chatted and he told me of some places to check. I walked around, it was really hot. At the end of town, near the new pier, a place called Tradewinds Hotel. It consisted of colorful cabanas on the beach. It is referred to by the locals as “JBirds Place”, is owned by a lady named Janice. She offered me a cabana for $450.00 for the remaining 2 weeks, (actually 16 days). That’s less than $225.00 a week. I did check a few other places but nothing compared. Was due to move tomorrow. Felt a sense of relief, to have than all settled.
That night I had dinner with Antonio, looked forward to with anticipation. We went to the Purple Space Monkey, a really nice restaurant. We had shrimp pasta. It was beautifully served. He stuck his bare fingers into the sauce, grabbed a shrimp, and attacked it like a hungry pirate, Arrrrr! Throughout dinner his table manners were getting worse, I couldn’t even look at him. After eating, I got out my computer, he wanted to look up Rastaman stuff, as I helped. At first it was fun to see his delight finding information. then he started reading to me some of the “propaganda” as I saw it. for the back struggle, Malcome X (for voilence to solve the problem) is more revered than Martin Luthter King ( for non violence). Antonio told me that the “gays” had killed Malcome X. The “gays” were responsible for most of the problems in the world. I told him my theory of people that are radical homophobic, they are gay themselves. He took offense to that. He said that gay was a choice, of which I do not agree. I asked “just how many gay people do you know”, he said with pride “none”.
The romance was over before it began.
He walked me back to my cabana, expecting to stay. Told him I was tired, would see him later. Realizing he still had one foot in the jungle. Alas, the fantasy is so much better than the reality.

My Cabana

I am staying at the same hotel I stayed last time, right in the middle of the village. Its good location is a plus and has a/c, which really comes in handy in the hot afternoon,when the breezes are not blowing. The guests sit around outside and visit with each other. Whenever I left, they all asked, where are you going, what are you doing? I am sure trying to be friendly, but there are times I don’t what to say. Like to tonight, I am going in search of the Rastaman.
The last time I saw Antonio, the Rastaman, we were standing on the moonlight, his long dredlocks tailing down his back, soft light glazing across his dark skin and muscles, while Bob Marley’s voice sang, “in my single bed” and Antonio whispered in my ear, “I want to rub coconut oil all over your body”. After leaving Belize, I thought about that moment, fantasized it. My first night I went in search of him. Whet to his beach shop. It was closed. Went to Tipsy Tuna, the popular bar.
Instead of Antonio, I encountered some local guys, and all tried to hit on me. My last visit, I might have been unsettled by it all. But this time, I joked and messed with their heads a little. They told me that the guys in Belize have really big penis’. is that supposed to impress me? They said the largest is 12 “, and you have to have at least 10” to even be in the running.
Knowing how homophobic they are, I said do you measure each others? No! they emphatically said. We don’t use rulers, we put one hand around it, the other on top, to have a 2 fisted grasp, the measure what is left sticking up at the top of the fists. You do that to each other? No! well how do you know if they are telling the truth about the size? They changed the subject. I thought it was funny. I knew the deal though, they are looking for a sugar mama, and they will keep you company. Not interested.

Arrived into Belize City. Caught a small plane to Placencia my final destination. Uneventful travel, just the way I like it. Its nice to revisit Placencia, a certain feeling of comfort to return to a familiar place.