I figured I would write another blog entry just so I can go back to my favorite bar here to use the Internet. They are situated right on the beach, but you can sit inside in the shade at a breezy table looking out at the ocean. A sign on the wall says happy hour starts at 3pm and goes until "everybody's happy". We each had a "Panty Ripper" (a rum concoction of course!) and did our internet stuff in comfort. Plus they have great food. I don't know where they got their lettuce from since I couldn't find anything other than iceberg in the store but, it was a great salad.

Our cruising guide says that Cay Caulker is a funky, relaxed, barefoot kind of place where everyone is doing their own thing and that's just how it feels to us. Sandy paths zigzag across the island, there are no cars, only bikes and a few golf carts. The palms and flowers make the streets pretty as long as you don't look into the bushes and see the trash! The tourists are from all over the world and come here for a simple, peaceful vacation that mostly involves diving, reading and just hanging out. Everywhere you look, there are couples sitting by the water or at their little cottages with a book in their hands. A trail goes around the island and part of it has you walking down the runway at the airport- which was a first for me! You can take a ferry to nearby San Pedro which we plan to do tomorrow. That way, we can see San Pedro without having to be anchored there in that rolly harbor.

One thing about both Mexico and Belize is there are frigate birds everywhere. I can't wait to get a little farther South where there are islands that you can visit that have viewing areas for the nesting of frigates, man of war birds and brown boobies. I think we're going to time it just right since they lay in Jan, hatch in Feb, then are around the nests till April. The fishermen come into the dock to clean their catch and the frigate birds are like seagulls catching the scraps in the air. I had never seen them so close. I like the males with the big red necks.

I was reading the cruising guide last night trying to figure out the best plan for seeing Belize and also take into consideration that we can only be in the country for 90 days total and have to report back to immigration every 30 days to get another 30 day extension. This is a drag since there aren't that many towns that have immigration offices and most of the cruising grounds are at offshore islands. Everything I read says that the atolls, islands, diving, just about everything gets more and more beautiful as you go and I've marked a zillion places I want to anchor at so we need to get moving! It has been fun to just kick back here for a while and not push but I'm ready to move on and see something new. Lighthouse reef and the blue hole await! The next Cay I hope to stop at has manatees in the harbor. I wouldn't mind swimming with them again either- this time in tropical water!

Yesterday we went out diving again with a couple other boats who are chomping at the bit to get lobster (the season ends in 3 days). Once again, Jon speared 2 and no one else got any. In a fished out area like this, you have to practically climb in the coral holes to see lobster; they're not hanging out at the edges. We also wear a lot of weight so we can sink fast and easy. I think these are the reasons why no one else is finding any. The second one he got bothered me because he was so big. I think that those "daddy's" should stay alive so they can make more lobster. I've read that the older lobsters make a huge contribution to reproduction. Anyway, he was excited and speared it and we have lobster again for tonight's dinner. He is very good with the hawaiian sling already. In reality, I won't mind that the season is ending since then I won't have to deal with the emotional struggle of killing the darn things vs. eating them. While diving, I grabbed a couple of pretty conch and we had cracked conch last night for dinner (this is hard too, since they make such a gorgeous shell). This morning we'll have fish and eggs. I haven't tried spearing anything else since I think I'm all set right now with pan fish. When we get to more plentiful reefs with larger fish that can be filleted, then I'd be interested.

Yesterday afternoon we got our wind generator installed. Before we left Boston, we'd purchased a combination towable/wind generator that we could tow in the water off the stern while underway on passages, and then hang in the air as a wind generator while at anchor. Another boat in the harbor has one too and we got to see how he had it set up in the rigging for wind. It wasn't too hard to set up, and now we're making power, which we need. It's supposed to be windy now the next few days so we should get a good idea of what it can do for us. Since it's a quiet one, we'll give up some power, but not having it whizzing loudly overhead was really important to us.

Well I'm not sure when we'll get to internet after we leave here. I'm thinking we'll head out to the atolls. Hopefully get some good pictures and break out the scuba gear. I'm looking forward to that. Will update this as soon as we get somewhere with internet. We miss everyone and hope all is well with each of you!