WALK David... No, Only One Fish

After the craziness of the New Years crowd, we went out on charter with a great family - the Zellers. David and Eileen, 19-year-old twins Trevor & Kellen, 16-year-old Chelsea, and not forgetting the bundle of fun and energy that is 10-year-old David.

Sadly, in spite of the not-so-favorable weather, we had a load of fun... so much so that we don't seem to have any photographic evidence of that week with the family (Zeller's - we'd love to steal some of your pics for the blog!).

There was snorkelling... and fishing... swimming... and fishing... sailing... and fishing... diving... and fishing... of course, plenty of eating.... and fishing.... I think you're catching on - little David was by far the most avid, not to mention successful fisherman we've had on board. And no overcast skies, strong winds, rolling waves or absence of light (yes! night fishing!) could deter him... the only thing that seemed to slow his enthusiasm was the number of electronic fish that appeared on Tadd's fancy fishing watch that apparently tells you when the fish are eating in any part of the world by putting up between one and four little fish on the face.

We did the rounds and tried to forget the cool weather and dark clouds, while still enjoying the amazing sites of the outer Cays, as well as the taste of conch fritters and the many rounds of Uno and Taboo!

A jaunt back to the mainland allowed them to enjoy the wildlife Tadd and I had seen last fall in Monkey River.

And we still got in some great snorkeling and diving, including a snorkel on the old wreck off Hunting Cay.





What a fun, family week!

Champagne For All!!!!

Lindsay and I took out Stess and six guests for a charter during the New Years week. It was a mixed bag of guests and emotions as well. Two of our guests had a request for more champagne, so our manager, Melissa, sold them eight bottles. They were excited, and quite generous. They set a new record for us, and stayed up almost till midnight drinking wine on the first night aboard. (My oh my).

The Monahans

Four of our guests had been looking forward to their trip in Belize for almost a year. We had an absolute blast out there despite the occasional rain shower. We had some beautiful snorkeling areas where the sun came out just for us. I learned a new rum punch recipe and built a new playlist on my Ipod from the songs our guests chose.

Deb hanging out on the bow

We all donned party hats, poured the champagne and picked up kazoos to celebrate New Year's Day for London at five o'clock, and again in about four other time zones. (dear oh dear) At midnight, we had a front row seat near Hunting Cay for their fireworks display. The next day, as we returned to the dock in Placencia, the party hats were back on and the kazoos were blasting away to annoy all present. They set a new record of five cases of Belikin beer downed by Friday afternoon! Priceless.

Having too much fun?? Never!

p.s. AND! The guests were so nice they gave me my very own island for the new year!! Linz Cay!! Not too shabby - check it out! Great snorkeling and a small lean-to... if anyone wants to come and stay!

Lxoxo

A Pirate Walks Into A Bar...

Having survived our first couple of charters with TradeWinds, we were really lucky to get Christmas off to head up to Ambergris and catch up with my family and friends - we had planned the holiday long before Tadd & I found ourselves in Belize.

We jumped on the tiny plane up from Placencia to Belize International then onto Belize Municipal. Our connecting flight then took us back to Belize International, on to Cay Calker and finally off to San Pedro, Ambergris.



A quick stop in town for some essentials - Rum, cranberry, ginger ale, cereal, milk, coffee and more rum and we headed south of town, onto the dirt road and down to our home for the week.


We had hoped to be well settled into the hot tub with drinks underway when the others arrived... but sadly the hot tub was tepid and bubbleless so we just stuck to the drinks.

Of course, with the crowd that arrived... my brothers... step family and other whacky friends we had a great week!!

Tadd & I got in some diving with Robbie & Ian

While the others chilled by the pool at the condo

We went back to some of our old haunts for food

But sadly the service was as bad as ever....

Are those my tacos???

OK!! Where are my tacos!!!???

But we still had a great night gearing up for Christmas


and it even snowed!!!



...well, ok, so it wasn't snowing... I actually have no idea what caused this effect!


Of course there was some drunken games...


can anyone say Taboo!!



Tammie can... but only in a silly, unidentifiable foreign accent...
oooh.. and zen you must...


not to mention the serious competition between the Brits and the Yanks at Trivial Pursuits!


We did manage to squeeze in some snorkeling


although Tara seemed to be missing the infamous Alfonse!

And some of us went off to the mainland on Christmas day for a spot of cave tubing!!

The Tubing Crowd

Just the Start

Here we go!!

I Look Cool... right?!

Well the place was really cool! We trundled along the underground river popping out here and there before disappearing again into the bowels of the earth... not a bad way to spend Christmas!

And then we finally emerged

The End of the Road

Awwwww... now tell me he doesn't look hot in his tube!!