The fireplace was roaring on a cold Saturday morning. I drank my coffee with the infinite mouth pleasure only weekend caffeine or that first big draught of beer can bring. I flipped through the paper, old school, and wondered how future generations would light their fires once newsprint disappeared. Evidently it was an idle sort of morning.
The above picture proves how advanced a diver I am. Cue the sarcasm beers.
I’m by no stretch of the imagination a master of scuba diving. I’ve been at it for a little bit, but I don’t dive as much as I would like (well who does?). Diving locally means cold green water with low viz and depressed fishes. It has some appeal, but it wears thin quickly. Scuba in the Caribbean has spoiled me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still getting the goose fat ready for my face for a short dive trip later this year, but given the choice? Less dry suit and more rash guard. Believe it or not, I’ve met some people who preferred the contrary. No accounting for tastes yeah?
You know those barely planned trips where everything falls into place just right? This was one of those. It went a little like this: wow there’s a great deal on airfare to Great Exuma, where’s Great Exuma? The Bahamas. This small beach house is available for rent, who wants to go? You? You? Pack your bags. Done.
The very name is exotic, Belize. The kind of place where you walk onto the baking hot runway after landing and you’re glad you wore a knitted silk tie for the journey. We all have our vices yeah? Let your freak flag fly.
It used to be called British Honduras and became independent in 1981, keeping English as its official language. Sandwiched between Guatemala and Mexico, it has a population of about 350 000 and quite a bit to offer, jungles, Mayan ruins, beaches, diving, as well as an interesting drinkskultur.
This trip had been in the works for about nine months. People opted out, other people opted in, the vendor changed a bunch of things, it was starting to feel a bit like a potential clusterfuck. The resort turned out ok, as usual the D&C crew proved fantastic, and we met some cool divers (hello Derek, Bob and Tiff).