Day 3: Today the boys get to go fishin'! Kathy heads to La Popular Bakery and grabs some breakfast for the gang while we down some of the best Orange Juice I have ever had in my life! DON"T MISS THE OJ! It is simply THE BEST!
Carol from Seven Seas had hooked us up with Jerry Ack and Rocque Caliz from Sol Caribe to take us out on an all day fishing/snorkeling/beach bbq trip. This is a trip not to be missed! We were picked up at our dock and headed north. Jerry was ably assisted by his 5 yr. old son, JJ, who we instantly fell in love with....and he loves to fish!!!
Just north of the cut, we go looking for sardines and see schools of them everywhere! Jerry stations himself on the bow with a net while Rocque steers us closer to the bait fish. Jerry flings the net into the water, and into the livewell go dozens of sardines. We repeat this process several times, until Jerry deems that we have an ample supply of bait (we'll soon find out why you need LOTS of bait!). We then head out closer to the reef and deeper water, set the sardines on the hook and put them out for trolling. BAM! A HIT! Bait's gone. BAM! Another hit! Bait's gone again! This goes on for quite some time. I feel like I'm at the aquarium feeding the fish! Oh well, a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work! The weather is beautiful, Kathy's talking up a storm with JJ and Rocque..and we've got a pole in our hands. We show Jerry and Rocque how to eat sunflower seeds...they've never had them before! We continue to munch seeds and feed the fish. Doug and I check the drag on the lines..DAMN! I can't even pull it! As we get into the lull of the sea and the drone of the motors...BAM! Doug's pole is bent and the sweet sound of drag going out can be heard! A silver bullet comes flying out of the water...it's a BARRACUDA!! Close to a 3 footer! Doug lands his fish, and Jerry puts it in the cooler...WHAT??? I didn't know you could eat barracuda! (We'll soon find out what we've been missing!) Out go the lines again...it's not long before BAM!! My pole is bent and the line is going out! YEE HAW! We're having fun now!!! These fish are strong!!! I land my fish, another big 'cuda! Doug catches one more small barracuda before we drop anchor and start to bottom fish. No sooner do we drop anchor, than Jerry grabs his snorkeling gear and speargun and disappears from sight. We bait our hooks and drop them in...instantly getting hits......BAM! JJ catches a real nice Yellowtail Jack! BAM! My pole almost comes outta my hands!! This sucker is huge! Line is screaming off the reel, then the line goes slack! I reel in what's left...musta been a BIG 'cuda because my line looks like its been cut with a knife! We continue to fish around the reef and begin pulling in a few snappers, and Doug hooks into a small grouper. All of a sudden, this HUGE, UGLY fish goes flying past my head and into the boat! Jerry's back! He speared a large Hog Snapper!
The fishing begins to slow down, and now it's getting HOT! Into the water we go! WOW! THIS IS COOL! Just like swimming in an aquarium! Rocque continues to fish while we snorkel. Now I know why we lose so much bait! Every time he throws bait into the water, SCHOOLS of fish attack it! Cool thing to watch underwater! Jerry signals for me to follow him. Off we go to deeper water away from the reef. The bottom is sandy and sprinkled with clusters of large rocks. We dive down to one of the rocks and Jerry spears a large lobster and hands it to me! We head back to the boat with our catch of 4 lobsters, pull up anchor and head to Basil Jones. While Jerry cleans our catch, we go for Belikins...man, this is the life!!!! Before long, Jerry is barbecuing our catch over a fire of coconut husks. We eat barracuda, snapper, grouper, and lobster.......MAN, THIS WAS THE BEST MEAL I'VE HAD IN MY LIFE!!!!! DELICIOUS!!! The bugs were really bad this far north, so I stood out in the water to eat my meal...no problem! Kathy says the snapper was her favorite, Doug favors the grouper, but I think the barracuda was the best damn tasting fish I've ever had! And then there's the lobster.....AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! We gorge ourselves to the point of bursting!!! We even feast on fresh coconut for desert!
After our meal we head out for more snorkeling and fishing. The fishing slowed waaaaay down but the snorkeling was fantastic...on a par with Hol Chan, but we're the only ones around for miles!!!! We reluctantly head back to Seven Seas, with JJ sound asleep in my arms. We clean up and head out. One problem....NOBODY'S hungry!!! We walk around a bit...Dockside bar is our destination (Lady's night), but we're much to early, so we head to BC's. I was told that Charlene reads the board and wanted to meet me when she heard I was coming to AC. We belly up to the bar where we are promptly greeted by Ernie (who later remembered our names and where we were from!). Charlene is running around like a chicken with her head cut off! I walk up behind her... "Excuse me, Charlene?" "Yes? May I help you?", she responds politely. "Uh, I'm the Pirate!" SCREAMS AND HUGS are exchanged! She introduces me to Bruce, and then I bring her over to introduce her to Kathy and Doug. We chat at length...I feel like I've known Charlene forever! Such a sweet lady who made us feel soooo welcome! She will be fondly remembered as our Palapa Godess!!!
We head to Dockside Bar where things have livened up considerably! We take a seat outside and watch an incredible lightning storm out at sea. Doug spies shooting stars. Pretty soon the place is packed tighter than a can of sardines! Mostly local lads fishing for tourist females, and having much luck from the looks of things. I find it difficult getting used to drinking with 18 yr olds. Hey...I AM an Over 40 Pirate...gimmee a break! We tire of the meat-market and decide to head back to BC's. We leave Dockside and immediately the wind gusts and the temp drops about 20 degrees! I look up. Where there had been a sky full of stars and shooting stars just minutes ago was just black sky. The wind gets more intense. "We better head back to the room...this is gonna be a big storm." Doug says if we're headed back for the room, he's going back into Dockside. Good luck! We are literally sandblasted by the time we get back to Seven Seas. Doug walked back into Dockside and sees that the outside crowd has all migrated indoors...he says "Screw this!" and has to run all the back! Soggy and covered with sand, we turn on the weather channel, only to see US weather! The storm is intense, and it's still raining when my head hits the pillow!
Tomorrow, we do Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley!
AmbergrisCaye.com 
