Our slow pace of retired life has been temporarily thrown aside as we try our hand at Captain & 1st Mate positions with Tradewind's Cruise Club. We were introduced to them back in 2008 when we came aboard as guests through RCI and kept the idea in our minds of doing this work should the notion grab us later. Well a chance meeting with Tradewind's staff in St Maartin put it all in motion.

After a weeks classroom training in St. Maartin we had one hour to pack and we were off on a flight to Belize for 'a few weeks' to fill in for missing crew. We have agreed to these position as 'stand by' crew so that we can continue travels of our own. When Tradewinds needs to fill a gap they will contact us and if available they will then fly us to wherever they need us and currently it's on to Belize.

We arrive in Placencia, Bze on a Saturday and immediately meet the one crew remaining for their fleet of three boats. Captain Dave and Patric. Dave is a native of Belize and Patric is Canadian and we hit it off right from the start. We will start as a semi 'guest' aboard their boat to learn the ropes and we soon see that we are learning from the best. During our week along the outer reef islands Dave proves to be a very capable captain, maneuvering his boat around the numerous shallow reefs that seem to pop up out of nowhere. He's also a gracious host and gives us the history of the area and introduces us to all the locals living on the numerous tiny remote islands. Patric is a wizard in the kitchen and is constantly giving Donna time saving tips for the enormous task of preparing meals for the 8-10 guests that we can expect each week. By the end of the week Donna and I feel we are ready for our solo debut.

Armed with the chart-plotter tracks that I plotted the week earlier we navigate the shallows and find the safe anchorage spots. The weather is different this week. Far more unpredictable with flat calms turning to crazy lightning storms out in the distance at night. It was two anchors for most of the week in order to sleep soundly. We found ourselves looking forward to our stops where we meet our new friends on the small islands such as on Nicolas Cay where Irvin and when school breaks his wife Palouva and their 4 boys enjoy the island life with dad. During this second week we were not expecting to see the kids since we thought they would be back in school since easter week was over however as we dropped anchor it was clear that there was some playing hooky going on here. Extra Coke's for the kids are in order as we stack the cooler to go ashore.

By the end of the week we're very tired as a result of the crazy full on 16hr days but as soon as the guests leave at 9:00am we are preparing the boat for the next group of guests that arrive at 5:00pm. During the day a small army of staff are on board changing out refrigerator parts, cleaning, refueling, and doing al the general maintenance that is required to keep these boats functioning week after week. From time to time I see a blur that looks a lot like Donna as she is unloading crate after crate of fresh vegetables and fruits and general provisions that she will need to feed the number of guests we have coming on and right on cue at 5:00pm sharp we are in our fresh blue Tradewind's uniforms greeting our guests at the dock and off we go again.

Our second week we find ourselves becoming more familiar with the agenda as we deal with the guests which we find have the complete opposite personalities from the group the week before. We need to learn their particular likes and dislikes quickly and get a feel for how adventurous they are so we can shape the weeks activities to their liking. As their hosts we find we are genuinely interested in seeing that they have the most fun they can have during their weeks vacation. By weeks end we have become like close friends and as we say our goodbyes over Saturday mornings breakfast we are presented with hand written letters of appreciation that touch us deeply. The night before we were treated to one 24yr old guest singing her childhood camp song about Captain Jack with everyone joining in.

Once again after all the guests leave at 9:00am our boat is turned over by the army of worker bees and we pitch in until finally at 5:00pm we are left at the dock waving goodbye to the new crew on our boat and Dave and Patric on their boat as they leave the harbour. We are so happy that after four weeks of being on we are staying back for a week off. We are informed today that they would like us to stay in Belize for 5 more weeks. We're okay with that since that will bring us to about mid June at which time we can get back to Kathrian and head her down to Grenada and the summer in Canada.

We take a nice hotel room for this week but unfortunately I need to get back to Kathrian to check on her and do a few things that I would have done earlier had we known we would be in Belize this long. So this one night belongs to us. We settle into the room, head out for a very nice dinner at one of the many great eateries in Placencia within walking distance from the hotel. For the first time we are on our own to take in the culture of Belize and are treated to a soccer game played under the lights right in front of the restaurant. We play shadow puppets on the building next door from the light coming through the restaurant and then later we walk back to the hotel with a bottle of wine bought from behind the bar stopping here and there to take in the music flowing out from the various restaurants along the way. We're tired but completely relaxed knowing we've done a good job during our introduction weeks and as the grueling hours of work seem to melt away with each sip of wine we appreciate where we are and look forward to the next 5 weeks of exploring this beautiful country that is Belize.