Journal Entry 39

March 7, 1977 / Belize City, Belize:

This was the weekend for the annual caye trip for the graduating St. Catherine's seniors, and the Fisheries Unit helped to make it a success.

Each year the girls' teacher invites them out to the family's caye for a weekend. This year I was invited along, too. Twenty-five girls, their teacher and I left Belize aboard a sailboat Friday afternoon and got out to the caye just in time to set up camp before dark.

There is only a small cabin on the caye which could not accommodate all the girls, so we brought along a large army tent for them. I organized a few of the girls to set up the tent while the others unpacked, set up the kitchen, etc. It was the kind of tent that I had used before, so it was only the 20-knot wind that made the job difficult. I got the tent up quickly, only suffering a few blisters from pounding the tent stakes with a crescent wrench. A night swim helped me recover sufficiently to eat some lobster casserole. After dinner, the girls sang Caribbean folk songs accompanied by guitar, clinking pint bottles, cheese grater, pots, etc.

The caye is quite nice, but it is small and not located on the reef, so there is a limited number of things to do there. Saturday morning, I was just thinking how the girls might soon get bored, when off in the distance I spotted the Fisheries Unit approaching and knew that now things would start to happen. With the teacher's permission I had persuaded David and Denton to come out to the caye for Saturday. We kept the girls entertained by taking them fishing, for boat rides, to a swimming beach, etc. Without the help of the Fisheries Unit the girls would not have been able to get out to the reef, either. They seemed to enjoy fishing the most but were not too good at it. They did catch enough fish for panadas the next day.

Just before dark, as David and Denton had to go back to Belize, we discovered that we needed some supplies and asked them if they would bring back some things for us Sunday morning. They said they would. That night we had barbecued chicken and salad and after dinner the girls started jamming again.

The Fisheries Unit arrived early Sunday morning and again proved to be of invaluable assistance. More fishing, cleaning fish, panadas, swimming, trip to the reef and it was nearly dark, time to go back to Belize. The trip back was lovely. We sailed on a large lighter (working sailboat) and got back about 9:00 p.m.

I just received a letter from the Smithsonian Institute inviting me to visit their research station on Carrie Bow Caye, one of the prettiest cayes in Belize -- right on the reef. I'll be flying down to Stann Creek 21 March and take a boat to the caye from there. I may be staying anywhere from 3 to 7 days there. It should be educational as well as enjoyable.

[Photo: Small caye with a cabin and dock near Gallow's Point Reef, 1977.]

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