Mexico/Belize Week 14

The ferry to Ambergris Cay leaves at seven so we were up early once again. The two hour ferry ride seemed to drag but once we arrived we were met by Javier from the hotel who loaded us and our bags onto a golf cart. Before he took us to the hotel, Javier drove us all around San Pedro, showing us the shops, supermarket and his favorite restaurants. Once at the hotel, we expected they would store our bags until afternoon when our room became available. We were surprised and delighted when they decided to put us in the better room which was already empty. This, as it turned out, was the $160 per night room we had passed up in favor of the $98 per night room. We walked into town and shopped for a while. Sandy found a beautiful onyx and leather necklace. We had lunch at Fido’s then slowly walked back to the hotel. It was hot in the early afternoon and walking along the road dodging taxis, golf carts and bicycles was tiresome. Once back at the hotel we changed into swim suits, grabbed our snorkel gear and headed to the end of the pier. The visibility was disappointing but the water was cool and refreshing. After some snorkeling and sunning, we relaxed on our veranda watching the Caribbean. We were both full of nostalgia, thinking of the ten years we spent vacationing and sailing in the Caribbean with Don & Sandy Shapiro. They would love this place. Sandy had read about “The Restaurant” in San Pedro and made reservations for all 12 caravaners. We had a delightful dinner while comparing notes on the various hotels we had checked into.

Determined to make the most of our time on Ambergris Caye, we were up early to go birding around the hotel where there is a bird sanctuary. We then wandered down the road to a nearby hotel that had a restaurant for breakfast. We then walked up the beach, back to our hotel, got our snorkel gear and met the boat at the end of the hotel pier for our snorkel trip. This was some of the best snorkeling we have ever experienced. First stop was Hol Chan Marine Reserve. A magnificent, unsoiled patch of shallow reef we saw dozens of different species of reef fish. In addition, we saw nurse sharks and tarpon and some people saw spotted eagle rays. The second stop was “Shark/Ray Alley” a grassy seven foot deep spot where sharks and sting rays have been fed for years. Once we were in the water, the captain threw in a plastic pipe full of fish food. Horse Eye Jacks came swarming in followed by five or six large Southern Stingrays. These guys were four feet across and tame as puppies. The captain picked one up and held it for people to pet. We could easily swim down and slide our hands along the smooth side of these curious creatures. They all had their stingers but as long as they are not threatened, they are docile and friendly. Quite an experience. As we left the area, we slowed to watch a medium sided (24 inches across) Loggerhead turtle. Our Captain identified this turtle as one of the “bad guys”. It seems that frequent feeding had made this turtle aggressive. He associated people with food and if they didn’t have any he would nip at their fingers, frequently drawing blood. “My passengers don’t swim here” he said.. Back at the hotel, we took advantage of more of the hotel’s accommodations. Although checkout time is 11 AM, they knew we were going on the snorkel trip that returned at noon. They let us keep the room until 1 PM so we could shower and pack our gear after the snorkeling. After leaving our room we walked up the beach to another restaurant for lunch then returned to our hotel to soak up some more sun before our departure to the ferry. Once back at the campground, we were invited to dinner at the home of the campgrounds owners. We sat around outside their home, eating and drinking and comparing experiences from the last two days.

We drove the RVs to San Ignatio in western central Belize today to be closer to some of the sites we will visit over the next week. It was an easy drive over generally good roads. We stopped mid morning at the Belize Zoo. It was a great display of Belizean wildlife including Jaguars, ocelots, Howler Monkeys and a Harpy Eagle. This eagle is so big, it feeds on Howler Monkeys! We settled into the campground and had another early dinner in anticipation of an early birding departure tomorrow.

We left at six to see the King Vultures and Orange Breasted Falcons at 1,000 foot Falls. It was a 90 minute drive over increasingly bad roads. Also increasingly bad was the visibility. As we climbed from 400 feet elevation to 2500 feet we ended up in the low overcast and visibility was about 50 feet. Since we couldn’t see the waterfall, the gate attendant did not charge us the entry fee. He said he would collect money if the weather cleared. After wandering aimlessly for close to an hour, we gave up and drove to Hidden Valley Inn where we will spend the night. What a delightful place, nestled in the mountains at the edge of the jungle. The Inn is situated on 7,200 acres of private property with 90 miles of hiking trails and eight waterfalls. For the less adventuresome, there is a pool, hot tub and library. The coffee, which is always available was grown and roasted on the property and ground four hours before the pot was brewed this morning. On our afternoon birding trip we drove to 1,000 foot falls and discovered that there was, indeed, a waterfall there. We also saw the Orange Breasted Falcon. Next stop was King Vulture Falls, another gorgeous spot looking across a valley with another 1,000 plus foot waterfall. Here we saw the King Vultures and the surprise bird. Judy Smith spotted a large black raptor in the distance below us. As more people spotted the bird and began describing it, we realized #1 that we were looking at two different birds and to our surprise and delight, we identified them as Solitary Eagles, a very rare and seldom seen eagle. As we were having a drink before dinner in the main lodge, the manager , Craig, came rushing in to announce he has seen a Stygian Owl. All 26 guests poured out into the yard to catch a glimpse of this owl seldom seen anywhere else. Perched on a nearby tree illuminated by two bright spotlights, this owl is a bit smaller than a Great Horned Owl and had two ear tufts close to the center of his head. After about ten mintes the owl tired of posing and flew off to hunt where it was darker! Dinner was delightful but we made an early night of it since we are leaving for the ruins at Caracol at 6:15.

We reluctantly left the beautiful grounds and ambience of Hidden Valley at 6:15 to drive to the Mayan Ruins at Caracol, the most extensive ruins site in Belize (177 square kilometers of identified, though not excavated, ruins). Enroute we stopped a few times to look at birds. At one spot we saw two Plumbeous Kites perched on trees about 75 feet apart. As we watched, one of the kites (the male as it turned out) flew over to the female, landing on her back and as we watched they copulated. This is a pretty rare sight, especially since we’d never heard of this bird two weeks ago! On to the ruins where Sandy stayed with the birders and Carl wandered off alone to photograph he ruins in the early morning light. We met up again about 10:30 to continue birding until 12 when we all met for lunch. Everywhere we walked we were accompanied by the sound of Howler Monkey growling from the tree tops. They were too far away to photograph but we downloaded a sound file so you can get a sense of the experience. This file will play with Windows Media Player or Quicktime on a Mac. Just “double-click” on the file. After lunch we headed back to the campground since we needed to get our laundry dropped off before they closed. Back at the campground we had a cake for Ken & Judy Smith’s 48^th anniversary.

We spent the morning birding at Blue Hole National Park. The “blue hole” is a water filled cavern where the roof of a limestone cave collapsed. It’s about 50 feet in diameter and 25 feet deep. Crystal clear water wells up from the underground river giving it the blue color and it was very inviting. To understand why it was inviting, we’ll tell you a little about “jungle birding”. There are several insects in the jungle we would rather not get bitten by. Since we spend a lot of time traipsing through the jungle looking at birds, we all wear long pants tucked into our socks and long sleeves as well as big floppy hats to keep the sun off. Add a liberal dose of 100% DEET and we are quite the sight (and smell). It is so hot and humid here it feels like, well . . . a jungle! That’s the main reason we get started so early. By noon even the birds hide deep in the shadows and the birders head for a shady place to have lunch. We headed back to San Ignacio to pick up our laundry and prepare for three days away from the coach

The Hard core birders were off at 6:15 but we decided to sleep in and ride to Dangriga at 11 with Bob & Sue. We stopped along the way to visit the place where they make the world famous Marie Sharpe’s Habanero sauce. It was a surprisingly small operation with three women bottling by hand and several others capping, wrapping and feeding the labeling machine (the only non-manual part of the process). We were astounded when told they bottle 24,000 units per day! The pepper sauce comes in three strengths up to XXXX Beware. They also make delicious jams from mangos grown on their land as well as pineapple, guava and a pepper jam. We met Marie and tasted some of the jams. We each bought a bunch of stuff for gifts. On to Dangriga where the Pelican Beach resort is right on the Caribbean although, like Ambergris, the water inside the barrier reef is covered with grass and murky. The rooms are simple yet comfortable. We’ll be here three nights while we bird in the area and snorkel at the barrier reef.