Overview of Casa Brisa by the Sea. Solar panel array to the left.

The day began as the earlier evening had ended, although with coffee as the morning beverage. The screened gallery of our friends’ home is surrounded by palms and other trees, the water veiwed through the fronds. There are an amazing number of dragonflies, gheckos of course scampering about both inside and out. There is a lovely warbler that we haven’t seen since we lived in Puerto Rico, a “banana bird” that won’t stay still for a photo. And for you birders, check out http://ambergriscaye.com/birds/ if you are not already familiar with it. Since the lots around this area are undeveloped, my friends had a trail carved through the property, again, taking out as few trees/plants as possible and none of the palms. As we paused at one part with a small beach, the indention stretching across the sand was evidently from where the crocodile had passed from one side of the property to the other. In what is essentially a small nature preserve, the ocelot that was hanging about hasn’t been seen lately, the anteater and sloth make periodic appearances and I was told that the boa hasn’t been in the carport (that actually holds the windsurfing equipment) for a while.  The bulbous termite “nests” that are in the trees are fairly static, and apparently the wild pigs come around infrequently.

After our stroll, it was in to town to get the tickets for the water taxi for the return trip to Belize City, lunch at Palapa, a very casual open air bar and grill where we sat and watched our second stingray of the day glide by beneath us, as did several schools of fish. You could see the charter dive boats moored to the reef in the distance. Then it was on to Mexican Rocks, a closer set of patch reefs, where we spent an hour snorkeling. Our friend felt it wasn’t as good as the last time they’d been there, but anemones, a ray, rock beauties, a flounder, lots of parrotfish, a couple of flamingo tongues, tangs, yellow and orange coral, lavender sea fans, and other assorted reef fish gave us plenty to see. We opted for the slightly longer boat ride back to the house to see yet another part of the island, going past small inns, condos, a row of dive shops, and beachfront properties of various sizes. Like many such areas, Belize was hit with the real estate bust, the tourist industry dipping, but still holding as an important source of income. The Belizeans exude smiling warmth for those who come to visit.

A brown pelican just swooped across my view and one of the black and orange banana birds rested momentarily before flitting away. Ah, one of the warblers – oops gone again. Oh well, I shall have to be content with showing another view of the property as a photo. Anyway, in a few hours we head back to Belize City to catch the dive boat. We lose connectivity later today so I will maintain a daily log that I will use to post the rest of the trip once we re-gain connectivity. So long for now from http://casabrisabythesea.com/