Wednesday 24 April
We bid Caye Caulker a fond farewell and
take the water taxi to Belize City. I’m
apprehensive about the taxi ride back to the airport, especially as none of the
seatbelts in the car work. Luckily, the
suspension in the car is so shot that the driver has no choice but to potter
along steadily, so we arrive in one piece.
The internal flights are something of a
casual affair. Flight schedules seem to
change with the number of passengers that are there and where they want to
go. Our flight is on a 14-seater plane –
that’s one seat for the pilot and 13 passengers.
We’re full, so one girl gets to play co-pilot. We fly down to Dangriga (a 15 minute flight),
where we wait for 5 minutes for some passengers to unload, then take off again
for the remaining 20 minutes to Placencia.
It’s like being on a sightseeing fight and we get lovely views along the
coast and of the Placencia peninsula.
We’re staying at the Manatee Inn at the top
end of town. It’s simple, but
comfortable. As we pull up outside, the
first thing I notice is the giant mango tree and the piles of mangoes heaped up
on the ground. There are mangoes
everywhere.
As we’re checking in, the owner hands us a
handful of mangoes – he says there are so many that he just can’t eat them
all. I tuck into one straightaway and it
is the sweetest, juiciest mango I have ever tasted.
We walk down to a nearly sports bar, the
Tipsy Tuna, for a late lunch. It’s a
nice spot right on the beach and we notice that it’s got a cracking happy hour
– with beers cheaper than we can get them in the shop, this is where we’ll be heading later.
We spend the afternoon having a walk around
and getting our bearings, finishing up with a quick dip in the sea. We’ve got a supermarket just over the road
for everything we need and grab some basics before heading back to the Tipsy
Tuna. We have a few beers and then walk
over to the Barefoot Bar for some food – Mexican seems to be the food of choice
around here, and we’re happy with that.
Janet adds: Placencia seems cheaper than
Caye Caulker – both in restaurants and shops.
Thursday 25 April
We have a day at our leisure today, and
don’t do much with it in a nice kind of way.
We’re up early and have a breakfast of mango and banana bread. Before it gets too hot, we walk over to the
other side of the peninsula and hire a kayak to explore.
The lagoon is meant to be teeming with
dolphins and manatees. If it is, they’re
keeping themselves well hidden. Still,
it’s a beautiful and relaxing way to spend a couple of hours.
Most of the rest of the day is spent on the
beach reading in the shade. We find a
lovely calm spot for a swim, but that’s about as taxing as it gets.
Occasionally very polite people approach us
wanting to sell us everything from woven baskets to illegal substances - something
we didn’t get in Caye Caulker - but we’re never really hassled.
In the evening we have a few beers and some
food on the beach admiring the full moon – which is one of the reasons why
we’re here. Tomorrow we’ve booked a tour
to try to snorkel with whale sharks.
It’s the right season for them and they love the full moon, so we just
might get lucky…
Friday 26 April
We’re up early today to get checked in for
our tour. We’re assigned to a boat
called the Deep Blue. We’re the only
snorkelers on board, joining 7 divers.
It takes close to an hour and a half to power over to Gladden Spit, our
snorkel spot. Before we know it we’re
being told to jump in. Unluckily for us,
some divers aren’t ready yet and are still messing about with their equipment. As their dive master has gone, our snorkel
guide gets stuck sorting them out, which means we’re left bobbing in the open
ocean. It’s the first time I’ve
snorkeled in water this deep. It has
been referred to as blue water, and we soon know why: the clarity of the water
is amazing, but once you jump in and put your face under, all you see is blue
in every direction. It’s quiet
disorientating and we both get a bit of vertigo.
The divers are about 75 feet below us, and
they say the fish are another 50 feet or so below them. There’s not much to see except divers and
bubbles (with are strangely beautiful).
Unluckily for us no whale sharks turn up, and when the dive time is over
we retreat to the nearby reef for lunch.
I don’t generally get seasick, but we’ve
been snorkeling in quite a stiff swell and the constant bobbing up and down is
getting to me a bit. Luckily a bit of
food and a kwells seems to sort me out.
After lunch we take a leisurely snorkel over the reef. There’s beautiful coral, lots of fish and a
few barracudas following us about.
We’ve got one more go at the whale sharks
and before we know it our next slot is up.
We have no luck with the whale sharks this time either, but we do get to see some big shoals of fish and I enjoy the crazy snorkeling
anyway.
Before we know it we’re back on the boat
and heading for Placencia. This
time we find a cushy spot on the front of the boat so that we can take in the
sights on the way back.
Back on dry land an ice cream helps to
distract us from our disappointment. We
spend a few hours relaxing and then head out to spend the night in our two new
locals: the Tipsy Tuna and the Barefoot Bar.
Janet adds: despite not seeing whale sharks
we’ve had a fun day
Saturday 27 April
We have a lazy start and take ourselves to
De Tatch for a proper breakfast of eggs and toast. The rest of the morning is spent under a tree
on the beach.
We grab some toasted sandwiches for lunch
and then resume our spot under the tree.
We’re flying early tomorrow morning and
take some time in the afternoon to get packed up and ready, before heading out
for our happy hour beers. Unfortunately
the Tipsy Tuna (our favourite so far) decide to try and screw us on our drinks,
so we march off in disgust to our new favourite (Barefoot Bar), which doesn’t
let us down.
Janet adds: Placencia has everything going
for it, yet doesn’t quite have the same charm as Caye Caulker.
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