We were able to get away for a few days to South Long Cocoa Caye with LeeAnn and David on Live Sea Lee and Tom and Yvonne on Scrammin'. They are both boats in the marina in Guatemala where we are headed. We were able to get in some good snorkeling and visited with an old Guatemalan fisherman and his grandson, who were living in a fishing shack on the island for a month while they went shark fishing at night. One night they caught a 5 ft bull shark and two 4 ft nurse sharks. We watched them cutting up the bull shark to dry the meat. They gave one boat two huge stone crabs and another the jaws of the bull shark, so they made up "care packages" of canned goods, rice, etc for them. They never made it to our boat with anything. One afternoon we had a cookout on the beach, and the young boy joined us. He brought coconuts and cut them opened with a machete for us to drink the coconut water. Later, he ate a big plate of picnic food with us and carried a plate of hot dogs an brownies anong with a Coke back to his Papa.One great thing about being anchored by an uninhabited island (except for the unlighted fishing shack) is the night skies and water. There was a full moon out while we were here, which rose as a big orange ball over the island about 10 PM. Before that the stars were brilliant. Also, there was a lot of bioluminescence in the water, which sparkled like diamonds in the waves, and produced a beautiful green neon glow in the water when you stirred it with a pole. We have been told that female sea worms emit the light to attract males, and this happens for a few days after the full moon during Springtime.
After we were back in Placencia, we watched a little wooden schooner sail in. It was built by a couple who moved to Belize in 1971 (when it was still British Honduras) with their two young children, a small towable sailboat and a Ford van. They camped out and lived in their plywood boat while building a treehouse to live in. They have just published a book about their early adventures, which we are now reading. After their children were grown and moved to Montana to their uncle's farm (both with Belizian spouses and children), they built the wooden schooner with a sailing dingy to match. We have enjoyed visiting with them very much.
