Placencia, Stann Creek, BelizeIn the morning, Roger had no idea about my discussion with the neighbors the night before. HE had a good night of sleep... We had breakfast at DaTatch, a little beach bar type of place just up the beach from our place. It started out cloudy but by the time we were done, we had a gorgeous day to relax and enjoy the beach. We spent the morning in the ocean, sitting under a palm tree on the beach (really!), and chatting with our neighbor who had been to Belize over and over again for the past 25 years or so.
We walked to the dive center to talk about a snorkel trip and booked a tentative trip out to Glover's Reef - an atoll that's a 2 hour boat ride away. It's supposed to be some of the best snorkeling around. The weather forecast was iffy for the next day so we weren't sure how it would go. It was lunch time so we headed down the peninsula to find somewhere to eat. We ended up at the Tipsy Tuna - clearly a tourist bar based on the music playing. It was all 80s but completely irritating because they played about 1 minute of each song and then switched to another.
There was a group of guys sitting near us and a few others who came in from snorkeling to sit with them. Roger chatted with them about the snorkeling and we found out they were in the Navy and they had pulled into a port nearby to do some training. Must be nice! Anyway, they convinced Roger he should rent some gear just to check out what was off our own beach.
Roger drove a half mile or so out of town to the main office for the dive center to rent his gear cheap ($5). Unfortunately he also found out that the trip scheduled for Glover's the next day was actually going somewhere else - and it was similar to what we'd be seeing when we go out to Hatchet Caye later in the week. So, he came back with the gear and spent the next hour or two in the water. He saw a bunch of starfish and a few other things but nothing too exciting. The water started getting choppy so he quit and we jumped waves for a while.
We showered and went out to find dinner. There was a tapas restaurant down the street called De Barcelona that had live music so we decided to check it out. I was shocked that Roger was interested since he's not a fan of tapas but we had an amazing meal. Everything was great - the woman who seated us who was also the singer and the wife of the chef, the waiter who really knew the menu and the food, the sangria, the shrimp that Roger had (some of his best ever and that's saying something!). The music started as we were finishing our meal but we ended up staying almost another hour. She sang some American songs and some Spanish ones - I was absolutely blown away. I'm usually not like this but one of the Spanish songs just really moved me even though I had absolutely no idea what she was singing. It was a great night.
Unfortunately, the Tipsy Tuna and a few other local places had loud music playing until around 1:00 so despite the beautiful ocean sound, we closed all our windows and turned on the AC. I thought the coast was clear at around 2:00 when everything was quiet and opened the windows again but I didn't realize that the dog who lives in a fenced in yard down the street would be barking All. Night. Long. We closed the windows up again but it really didn't drown out his barking. Another tough night of sleep. We really can't win.
John
2013-03-12
Sounds like you're having a great trip, aside from the terrible sleeping conditions. Thanks for sharing.
Denise
2013-03-12
Wow, color me green with envy! Sounds like you are having a wonderful time! The adventure, some setbacks followed by amazing discoveries; great food, great stories; staying off the beaten path... Sounds like my kind of trip! Did I mention green-with-envy!?
Joy
2013-03-12
Grey, dismal and raining in Kenenbunk today....so green with envy doesn't really cover it :<)
Would love to see the sun for more than a day or so in a row!!!
The lack of sleep thing stinks - fortunately sounds like the rest of the trip has been fabulous.
Do I need to sign up for the Spring Hill Dinner or did you put us on the list?
Cheers
Connie
2013-03-16
Did the singing lady later switch into her Sidney Bristow wig?