Belize Trip Report, 5-21-2003

Day 1

Saturday - My boyfriend Monte and I drove to the airport and check-in at Air Jamaica was relatively quick and smooth. We got breakfast and mimosas on that flight to Montego Bay. In Montego Bay, being big Parrotheads we were pretty darn happy to find a Margaritaville right across from our gate so went right in there for a couple of Red Stripes. Then it was time to board our next Air Jamaica flight to Belize City. Met some folks on the plane who were staying at Captain Morgan's so gave them some info on where to go bar and restaurant wise. At BZE we got through the maze of form completion and checked in for our Tropic Air flight and went straight in the departure lounge and to Jets little airport bar for "the best rum punch". Be sure to stop in there when you are in the airport. Jet's Bar is tucked back in a corner by the Continental Airlines Gate. If you are in the law enforcement profession, be sure to bring a patch or sticker or something to adorn Jet's collection on the back wall. Let us know if the little Conch Republic flag we gave him is still by the cash register too!

At Jets, we started talking to a couple from South Carolina who were also headed to AC. The guy was trashed already and insisted on buying us shots, I think that shot of Crown Royal was what did me in that day. We got to AC after a stop in Caye Caulker to drop off this girl Amy we were talking to on the flight. Then finally got to AC, hopped a Cab to Banana Beach. Checked in and found most of our group on the beach already. One of the gang was supposed to have come in today but had a problem with his passport. He is moving to St Louis after the trip and had taken most all of his stuff up there from Atlanta the weekend before. Unfortunately that included his passport! He didn't realize this until the night before he was supposed to fly to Belize, so had to run down to Atlanta airport, do major negotiations with the Continental Airlines desk to get his Belize flight pushed back a day without the $500 or so fee and fare difference_ then had to drive roundtrip from Atlanta to St Louis to retrieve his passport. Not a fun way to start his vacation!

Anyway, we unpacked and hung out for a bit on the beach, then after many drinks I decided to make Jello shots to take to BCs the next day but was somewhat drunk already so used the wrong rum_ namely the 151 versus the regular stuff we had bought! Oops_ ! Met Jackie and Islenutt (Jan) and they came to dinner with us at Casa Picasso. They had already met my friends Scott, Maria, Sassan and Dan who had arrived earlier than we had. Met Chris (Beachy) there and had a great dinner of tapas, pasta and drinks. After dinner some of us hit the Hideaway and then started our pubcrawl of a few of the more local bars like Juvenas, the Riverside where we ran into Sharlyn, our Mata Rocks bartender from last year, we were happy to find she remembered us all! After that it gets a bit fuzzy a night_ might have been the fall off the golf cart (provided a nice bruise the next day) but we made it down to Barefoot Iguana where they were having foam night. Problem is with all the foam you can't see the darn steps by the dance floor_. So I went splat a couple of times (additions to the bruise collection). It was fun dancing in the foam though. We eventually called it a night and a few of the gang jumped in our pool fully clothed to de-foam when we got back to the hotel.

Day 2

Sunday we got up real early, that sun just comes right in the room and is like a spotlight on your face! So it makes it hard to sleep in. So we got up and started the day at Mata Rocks bar_ as my friend Dan says.. Retox not Detox! Around noon-ish we filled up the golf carts and headed to BCs, Islenutt (Jan), O Jackie (Jackie), KathyMLT (Kathy) hopped rides there with us on our carts.. I had my cooler of deadly Jell-O shots so figured that was a good way to walk around and meet folks. We got into an already crowded BC's, placed our food orders and found an area to hang out in. I then walked around with my Jello shots to see what boarders were in the place. I met Captain Jeff and his young friend, Chucklebutt's group who really seemed to like the jello! Met Gene and also River Shark who talked diving with my boyfriend Monte, plus the famous (or is it infamous) Pedro (Peter). I was surprised to learn he was a Brit.. but then that explains the sarcastic humor of his postings which, since I am a fellow Brit born in Coventry (with no accent left though, been here since I was 15_) I appreciate that sense of humor! Met his gorgeous white dog Charlie as well. After another great meal at BC's we handed out the rest of the Jello then headed back to Banana Beach to see if our last two group members had arrived. We found Pam and Lyle sitting over at Mata Rocks bar so got them and hopped back on our golf carts to head up to the Palapa Bar. We partied the afternoon away at the Palapa bar which had moved since last year and was now out over the water. We had fun listening to Dennis Wolfe, singing along and dancing. Then as the band ended we took our carts back into town for dinner at Caliente. We sat outside on the beach and ate fabulous food in candlelight. After a delicious meal we were all pretty full and tired so headed back to Banana Beach. We actually made it an early night since we had started the day early and knew we had to be up early the next morning.

Day 3

Monday - Got up as the sun streamed in our room again, walked across the street to the little store to get some bread for toast and some water. Briefly met Becky who was sitting with Jan in Banana Beach's outside dining area. Then it was time to gather our things for the day and meet Seaduced at our dock. We had my group of 10, plus 9 folks from New Jersey who were staying at our hotel, and about 8 other poor souls who elected to take the trip that day. We started the boat ride with some folks getting wet due to the waves. This one girl from New Jersey started whining and crying about getting wet_.. gee princess, what did you think would happen when you are on a boat?!? The rest of us enjoyed the ride and the narrations by Elito as we passed the various islands on our way to Swallow Cay. Once we got there we rode around real slow so as not to disturb the manatees. Elito managed to spot some so we watched them go by in the water and occasionally surface for a breath. After that we motored south towards Goff's Caye, which was just beautiful. Belikens in hand we hopped off on the dock, put our bags in the palapa and headed to the water while the Seaduced guys unloaded the boat and started to get lunch cooking. Some folks went snorkeling while others just relaxed and enjoyed the water and a couple of the Jersey girls went out to one of the peninsulas for some topless sun bathing. Lunch was fantastic, they had fish or chicken (since I asked for chicken in advance as some of us don't eat fish), coconut rice, potatos with onions and spices, pesto pasta salad and brownies for dessert. Plus of course Marie Sharps hot sauce for those who wanted it. It was absolutely delicious, everything was just so tasty and heck, better than a lot of the restaurant meals I had!!

After lunch we headed back into the water. Some of us hung near the boats since that's where the Belikens were and just partied in the water. Elito tossed us a bottle of rum which folks passed around. They were making rum punch on the boat too. Eventually it was time to leave, though none of us really wanted to as that island was just beautiful. We motored off towards Caye Caulker with a snorkel stop en route at Shark Ray Alley. There definitely were less sharks there than last year but a few did come around. After that it was back on the boat with the rum punch flowing and we docked at Caye Caulker where the water taxis come in. They told us they would meet us down at the cut at a certain time so everyone went wondering around the island. We did a mini pub crawl starting at the Seaside Cabana's bar and continuing down the street towards the cut. Our friend Maria had consumed a few drinks and was walking round town with her snorkel and mask still on her head! We eventually made it down to the cut where the Lizard bar was located. Then it was time to get back on the boat and head back towards Ambergris. We started off fast and then slowed down and they cranked the dance music and folks got up and were dancing in the boat and on the bow. We didn't realize that they had actually run out of gas until we ran out of drinks as we were having too much fun to notice_.it was dark by then but a boat shortly showed up that they had radioed for and we were again on our way with gas in the tank. Back on the island everyone stumbled off the boat and back to their rooms to get cleaned up.

We decided to just do dinner at El Divino though I don't think some of my gang actually recalled dinner the next day. While my boyfriend was leading a sing-a-long with this older group of two couples at the next table I got the conch fritters and the pineapple chicken pizza, both of which were delicious. He eventually came back over to the table to scarf down the rest of the pizza (he being one of those who asked the next morning whether he had dinner, and was it any good..!). Most of our group crashed right after dinner, though a couple of them looked like they were going to fall asleep during it! 4 of us made it up to Crazy Canucks for the Punta Band but by about 11:30 I headed home to sleep after a long day.

Day 4

Tuesday - We hung out on the beach most of the morning. Some of the group had gotten up real early, having gone to bed so early the night before after dinner. Mid morning some of us decide to head into town to walk around and do a little shopping. The boys quickly give up on the shopping concept and head to Cholos for "the coldest beer on the island" which seemed true since my beer did come out with a chunk of ice attached to the bottle. We hang at Cholos for a bit playing foozball and pool and then start to get hungry so walk down the beach and into Fidos for lunch. Those who got the shrimp burgers raved about them. And the strawberry daquiris and other frozen drinks went down pretty well too. After lunch we walk around a little bit more then head back to the hotel. Some of us take naps while others head to the Squirrels Nest. After some drinks at the Squirrels next folks get cleaned up and we head into town to Sharks bar for the evening. We get there before the crowds and get a big long table for our group of 10 and 2 new adoptees from Arizona, Deedra and Darren. Be sure to try their stuffed jalapenos, different than the pre-packaged ones you usually get and with a good kick to them. After dinner the music kicks in and we take to the dance floor for most of the evening. The place gets pretty crowded by 10pm so it was nice to go out to the deck every now and then for a breather.

Day 5

Wednesday - Another day of mostly lazing on the beach, with periodic visits next door to the Squirrels Nest bar for some libations. Lunch for some of us was a short trek down the beach to Rico's. It was windy yet again, and one menu decided to take flight and nearly added to the bruise collection but was caught before it whacked someone in the head. The enchiladas were tasty and the fish burritos were a hit. So were the big pina coladas which were decadently creamy. We all went to get showered and cleaned up around 6, though your hair looks like crap within 10 minutes of leaving the room due to the wind. I don't think there is such a thing a a good hair day on AC!

We hopped on our golf carts to go to the Pier House for the world famous chicken drop. It was an interesting one for sure as the lady who volunteered to take the chicken out of the basket and blow on its butt, chose to do a little more than that and as the whole crowd cringed in disgust she declared herself to be a "canine proctologist". Needless to say I doubt I have to get any more descriptive on what she did to the poor chicken!!!!!! The lady from the Pier House was just as grossed out as the rest of us as that was the first time she'd seen that happen! I don't care if that woman was a vetinarian (though our friend Scott thought she said Vegetarian and promptly responded "you mean you don't eat meat?") but she should have kept her fingers to herself in public.. ok, maybe that doesn't sound right either..

Anyway, the first round the chicken splatted big time between 4 squares, none of which were ours (happily by the looks of the splat). Poor chicken was probably traumatized by the impromptu proctologist exam! Round 2 our friend Maria was the chicken dropper, and my friend Pam and I won when it hit between one of our squares and someone elses. I gave Pam the honor of cleaning it up since I'd done that last year though! Afterwards we went next door to Caliente for another great dinner. Love those flautas! Then we made the short trek down the beach to Wet Willies / Dockside for Ladies night. It was relatively quiet when we first got there but soon became pretty packed with folks dancing to the music. After a few hours of that we walked down the beach to Big Daddys, which was pretty dead that night, so after another drink and getting bottles of water for some rehydration we headed back home for the night.

Day 6

Thursday - Slept in after a late night, you have to put a pillow over your head to sleep past sunrise though as the light comes streaming in the room and its illuminated as bright as if you are outside. I wish there was a "do not disturb" sign I could use as the maid wakes me up for the third morning in a row and I have to trot over to the door to ask her to come back after 10. Eventually I give up, take the pillow off my head and get up to start another day of lazing on the beach. Since my boyfriend had gotten up at first light, he'd already eaten breakfast so I went to lunch with Sassan from our group at El Divino. It felt a bit odd sitting in my bathing suit, shorts and no shoes inside the somewhat formal restaurant. The food was good though, I tried the pot roast and he had the chicken sandwich and we both liked our meals. Service was a tad lacking as the waitress / snail didn't seem to get it that when a water glass is empty, refilling it would be a good idea! We've learned that at most restaurants on AC it's a good idea to ask for the check as soon as you get your meal, so that you can get back to the beach before dark. After lunch it was back to lazing on the beach until about 5, when the shade surpassed the beach space. So we decided it was our day to go and see Satan. For those who don't know, Satan is the massive Salt Water Crocodile that lives in the lagoon by the water tower. We went down there, and found several other golf carts of folks already there plus some locals. Some folks had brought raw chicken with them to feed the crocs. There was a little croc that they were feeding and then that one left when a much bigger croc appeared. We thought that one was Satan until we saw another big one coming from the distance. The two big crocs watched as one local threw an entire chicken to the waters edge. The new one seemed to be a bit larger and was obviously the more dominant one since he crawled part way out of the lagoon to consume the entire chicken. Show over, it was back to the hotel to get cleaned up and go to dinner.

We met in the El Divino bar to decide where to go. Being hungry 5 of us decided we didn't want to wait around for the rest of our group plus 6 others who wanted to go with us.. so we told them we'd meet at Jaguars if we didn't hook up at the same restaurant. We decided to try Elvis since we hadn't been there yet. Our friend Dan wasn't feeling too good so didn't enjoy his meal. The rest of us liked ours and were shocked that the service was actually fast! After dinner we went to Jaguars and found out the main bar wasn't open till 9:30 so we decided to hang at their outside bar until then. The bartender taught us this dice gambling game which was fun, maybe cause I won it 3 out of the 4 rounds we played. TexasBug (Debbie) and her husband and brother-in-law showed up with the rest of our group plus Jackie and our Arizona adoptees, Deedra and Darren. The main Jaguars opened and we went in. It seemed odd that they charged a cover charge for karaoke night. Paying to hear yourself sing just doesn't seem right! Some of our group signed up to sing, Sassan did Copacobana, Darren did Scorpions and Monte did Whip it (plus aided some tone deaf Canadians with Paradise by the Dashboard light). Monte and I did our usual "Love Shack" though I had lost most of my voice earlier that week. We decided to head out once it turned into disco night and the smothering fog machines came on. We thought we'd see if the Hideaway was still open but it wasn't so we continued home to Banana Beach for the night since we had to be up early to go with Seaduced again the next day.

Day 7

Friday – Got up early enough to have eggs benedict for breakfast at El Divino.. yum! Our hilarious waiter Sergio went the extra mile when he stood there to swat the flies away which suddenly appear as soon as your food does. After breakfast we gathered our things and waited on the beach for Seaduced to arrive. We had our group of 10 including Islenutt, plus TexasBug and her two guys, our adoptees from Arizona and two girls from New Jersey we’d met at Mata Rocks bar two days before and adopted as well. Seaduced was nice enough to give our group of 17 our own boat… actually after Monday they realized it was safer to just keep us separated from other folks!

Herman was running the boat instead of Elito, who was detained with construction problems with Seaduced’s new building. We motored up past San Pedro to our first snorkel stop at Mexico Rocks. We snorkeled there for a while and then it was time to head up to Robles point. The boats slowed the last part of the trip as the water was getting very shallow and so harder to maneuver through. Herman dropped anchor and we hopped off into the water which was about waist high, and carried our bags ashore. Some of the guys went to help unload the food from the boat. While the food was being prepared some folks went snorkeling while others just enjoyed the water and went back and forth to the boat as that’s where the cooler with the beer was. Fresh coconuts were knocked off the trees and cut open at the top so we could try the fresh coconut milk. Monte and Sassan decided the coconut milk was missing something so promptly grabbed a bottle of rum to kick it up a notch. Elito had showed up and some of the guys went to help unload the big cooler from his boat.

Eventually lunch was served and it was barbequed chicken, coconut rice, pesto pasta salad, the awesome grilled potatoes, coconut brownies and of course Marie Sharps hot sauce for those who wanted some spice. Plus there was the fresh coconut meat from the spiked coconuts. It was all absolutely delicious! After lunch some snorkeled again while the rest of us partied in the water and generally had a great time! Once back on the boat, we headed back towards San Pedro. Herman said there would be another snorkel stop. At this point a lot of the group had been drinking the past hours so I thought snorkeling might not be the best idea so suggested we stop at the Palapa Bar instead. We took a quick vote and Palapa Bar won hands down. So we docked there, went upstairs to the bar and started our own party! We had a fun time, dancing to the music and drinking down our Belikens. It was our friend Rob’s birthday and he’d been partying a lot already, and people buying him drinks just helped that along. On the boat ride from the Palapa back towards San Pedro he was hugging the cooler at the front of the boat. We stopped briefly in town for something, I forget what, so half of us jumped in the water for a pee break. Then it was back to Banana Beach where everyone stumbled off the boat and back to their rooms to get showered. I definitely recommend this Beach BBQ trip if you want less of a boat ride and more time in the water for snorkeling, swimming and such!

After getting cleaned up we rendezvoused at the Squirrels Nest. A few of us decided to go check on the birthday boy since his roommates had disappeared and since he’d had to be helped to his room after we got off the boat we wanted to make sure he was still breathing. Rob was passed out.. so someone, ok maybe it was me…. thought we could make him into a human birthday card for himelf. I got my sharpie pen, Deedra had the nail polish and with help from Jan, Sassan, Maria and Darren we decorated the passed out Rob. I left after writing Happy Birthday on his back, and went down to the Squirrels Nest. The others returned to the bar not long after that and said that Rob had woken up and stumbled into the bathroom. Maria and I went to check that he was ok and hadn’t fallen in the tub or something. He was passed out again on his back this time, and someone had drawn flowers around his nipples! Plus his nails were painted and the paint job was not good (guess they didn’t do well coloring between the lines as kids either), Drunks painting nails tend to get as much polish elsewhere as on the nail. Anyway, in case he wasn’t feeling good later we put a trash can next to him plus a bottle of water by the bed. Maria had the bright idea to wake him up and make him drink water but that didn’t go too well. He popped right up, started dancing and demanding to go out. We tried to fake him out by saying we’d just gotten home and it was 2am but he wasn’t falling for that. So I then told him it was 6pm and we were all going to take naps before dinner, at that he said “ok” and flopped back down on the bed. So we quickly left the room before the pop-up-drunk woke up again.

Scott, Maria, Monte and I took one cart and went into town and had dinner at Lagniappe. Unfortunately my other half was pretty trashed and after we had our delicious conch fritter appetizer, he wanted to know where the check was. We hadn’t got our entrees yet though, which he hadn’t realized, so after we ate we had Scott take him back to the hotel as he obviously needed to crash. Maria and I went towards Sharks and discovered Cannibals Bar and its hammock chairs on the beach, so we got a couple of Belikens and decided to hang there until Scott returned. Some more of our group appeared, they had gone to Jambels for dinner and really enjoyed it. Scott showed up so we decided to walk up the street and see what was going on. We stuck our heads in Fidos and found the rest of our gang so went in there. Pedro, Jackie and the some of the Jersey girls from our hotel were in there too so I chatted with them for a bit. After hanging at Fidos for a while, we decided to leave and go check out Sharks. It wasn’t too happening though. Our friend Dan was starving but the kitchen had closed. There were still hot dogs on the rotating heater though so he got one of those, and soon regretted it as the thing was nasty and looked like it had been on there way past its prime! We headed back to Banana Beach and found a couple of the Jersey girls sitting out front, all dressed up and waiting for some of their friends go to into town to Big Daddys as it was their last night. We chatted with them for a bit and then crashed.

Day 8 , Saturday

Slept in a bit. Monte told me that Rob was mad about our “artwork” from the prior night but seemed to be calming down a bit at least. Trying to redeem myself, I helped scrub the sharpie pen off Rob’s back. Luckily with all the sunscreen he’d had on the prior day it came off pretty easily. We’d gotten Rob a rum cake for his birthday and a card that the group all signed. So we had a little surprise birthday party by the small pool for him. Then Sassan had to leave to fly home, it was depressing to see one of our group go. Then there were 9. Monte, Pam and I decided to go into town to do a little shopping and get lunch. We went to Cocina Caramba for lunch and it was delicious. We had the conch ceviche and I had quesidillas and the others had fish sandwiches. The owner came over and greeted us and gave us coupons for dinner to get a free ceviche and rum punch. Definitely go check that little place out, it is on middle street a couple of blocks north of Elvis.

Lunch over, it was time to shop.. sort of anyway. I wanted to get a new outfit from La Isla Bonita Designs and while I was trying on stuff there, Monte and Pam headed to Cholos for cold Belikens. After buying a cute short set I went and met them there for a beer. Then we went to a couple more stores and then to Cannibals for a beer, then one more store and then headed back and stopped at Ramons Purple Parrot bar for a beer. Then it was back to the hotel and the Squirrels nest for a beer. Later on the group met at the Squirrels nest after everyone’s naps and showers were done. We then stopped in at El Divino to get some frozen drinks to go and hopped our golf carts downtown to find somewhere for dinner. The group wanted to try Cocina Caramba so I produced the coupons we’d gotten at lunch and we went there. Monte and Pam decided to go try Papis instead since they didn’t want to eat at the same place we went for lunch. I stayed with the rest of the gang and we got our free Conch Ceviche and Rum punch. We took the waiters advice and ordered the entrée’s he recommended, such as Tour Guide style dishes which were a hit. It was Darrens birthday this time so the waiter brought round upside down rum shots and a towel. Darren leaned back with the towel around his neck as the waiter poured the shot until he signaled stop. He then did that with anyone else at our table who wanted to try. Darren got a second round before we left the restaurant. It was a great dinner. We met up with the other two at the outside Jaguars bar. From there we headed to Hideaway as they have a band on Saturday nights. We met up with Texas Bug there as well and had fun dancing. After that three of the guys headed downtown and the rest of us went to the Barefoot Iguana for the Punta band. When the band said “we need a white girl” we pushed our friend Maria towards the stage. She got up there and they taught her to Punta. The band was good except the woman in the band cannot sing, she can dance great but her singing was awful. Four of us decided to head to bed around 1am, as we left we ran into the 3 guys coming back from downtown. We didn’t learn about the drama which ensued a short time later until the next morning. Turns out when the other golf cart was driven the short distance between the Hideaway and Iguanas, the one driving didn’t realize there was a lock for it and the others on the cart didn’t notice it wasn’t padlocked up. So it got stolen and was located a while later by the local police once it had been crashed into a tree. There were so many different story versions the next morning it was difficult to know what exactly happened. One story had it being stolen right in front of one of the guys who ran after it and tripped over the rope speed bump, another had a golf cart police chase going in.. so as usual, the real story was somewhere in the middle of all the ones we heard. Needless to say it cost $75 in damages and everyone made double sure their carts were properly locked no matter who was driving it from that point on!

Day 9, Sunday

A total lazy ass day where we spent most of it just lazing on the beach. Around 3pm we got folks moving and decided to go to Crazy Canucks for their beach party. The boys played horseshoes and the rest of us just hung out, took photos and listened to the band. After the band finished a few of us ran back to the hotel to get showered and then came back up to find the gang at the Pepperonis pizza place eating dinner. Not being in the mood for pizza 4 of us went downtown and decided to try Papis. It was really good, we all enjoyed our meals and the ceviche appetizer. We found the rest of our group back at Coconuts Lucifer bar. They raved about their pizzas so had also had good dinners. Coconuts was kind of mellow and we were all kind of in a mellow mood after 9 days straight of sun, fun and Belikens. So eventually we headed back to Banana Beach and got some drinks and tried to see if we could find the southern cross, but the sky was partly cloudy so didn’t cooperate. Oh well, we’ll see it another year then.

Day 10 , Monday

Went into town to have breakfast at Estels for the first time this week. Got their breakfast burrito, minus the refried beans (yuk) and had them put the potatos in there instead which was real tasty. The others had a fruit bowl and an omelet and really enjoyed those too. While waiting for our food Monte had gone over to the Dive shop to see if he could get a dive in that afternoon, since all the others he had tried for had been cancelled all week due to the winds. He came back with a smile so had one set for that afternoon. After breakfast we walked back to our golf cart and headed back to the hotel to catch the three members of our group that were leaving that morning. Rob, Lyle and Dan were leaving to go back home which was depressing. I expect Mata Rocks bar owner was as depressed as we were as his receipts would drop about 50% now. Monte stayed to wait for his 1pm dive while myself, Pam, Islenutt (Jan), Scott and Maria went into town to catch the 1pm ferry to Caye Caulker. Since we got there early we grabbed a Beliken from Sharks for the water taxi ride. There was an enormous yacht anchored off shore that we had watched come in earlier that morning. In passing it on the water taxi, it confirmed what we suspected, that it was Jimmy Buffett’s yacht. The Conch Republic Flag and the boat name of Savannah (his daughters name) was what gave it away to us. Figures, he comes to Belize when we are about to leave! Being big parrotheads it would have been fun to just have run into him casually at a bar on the island, just to say hi or buy him a Beliken to thank him for his music, nothing more. Anyway, we went through our one and only rainstorm on the water taxi. It wasn’t even a storm, just about a minute’s worth of rain drops and that was it in the entire 11 days. We docked at Caye Caulker by the Seaside Cabanas so stopped in their little bar for a fresh Beliken. Then we headed down the main street to Rasta Pasta for lunch. While waiting for our food I wondered out on the beach to take pictures and saw our favorite Seaduced boat pull up to the dock and offload their group for this day. I told Maria and Pam who promptly ran off to the boat to see if they could scam some rum punch. They came back with rum punch and Carlton who works on the boat. So we ended up essentially kidnapping Carlton since he missed his boat back and came back with us on the water taxi later that afternoon.

At Rasta Pasta their food was fabulous, we split some enormous conch fritters and some crab Rangoon appetizers, then some of us tried their Thai cocnut curry and the others had the coconut battered shrimp or chicken. Everything was delicious. Marilyn the owner came by to talk to us, she seems like a super lady. After lunch we did a bit of shopping. Jan led us to this store called Chocolats which had some beautiful batik sarongs, sundresses and jewelry. A nice dent in the credit card later and we headed back down towards the water taxi dock. Since we were early we went back to the Seaside Cabanas bar for some more cold Belikens and some of us went and waded in the water before taking the crowded last water taxi of the day. We told Carlton we’d be at Crazy Canucks that night and then headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up. For dinner that night we tried Elvi’s again. This time it was a mixed bag, the three of us got the shrimp special thought that was ok, but the others who got the carribean chicken had to ask for steak knives to cut it, it was so tough. Maybe that was a chicken drop gone bad! After a disappointing dinner we walked around town a bit and ran into our favorite bartender Sharlyn on her golf cart. We told her to come to Crazy Canucks later as well. At Canucks the punta band was playing that night and it was pretty crowded, Carlton, Sharlyn and our other local friend Manuel all showed up there. Some of us tried punta dancing with the locals. One guy was being a bit too persistent with one of our friends though which made her uncomfortable. We wound down our last night and headed back to the hotel to crash and do some packing.

Day 11 , Tuesday

We got up, finished our packing and while a couple of our group grabbed their last time on the beach, a few of us grabbed our last eggs benedict at El Divino. The golf cart was turned in, our tabs paid, tips left and had a quick mimosa while waiting to go and get our taxi. It was sad to leave yet again, we waved goodbye to Jan and Jackie who were still staying a few more days, and headed to the airport to catch our Tropic Air puddle jumper. In Belize airport we did a little shopping and used up the rest of our Belize money at Jet’s bar. Then when the final boarding calls were called, we got our flights back to reality, and for some of us, cold miserable weather in Atlanta. All in all it was another fantastic trip. We are looking at some various places since we like to discover new vacation spots. But we could always end up back on AC again next year, who knows! Its definitely a place I intend to return to, be it next year or beyond.

Click here for pictures of our trip!

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