A Day in the Sea

We spent most of yesterday in, on, or near the sea. It began with a trip to the dock at Xanadu Resort, just down the street from us. They have a prominent NO FISHING sign literally carved into their dock, but I met one of the managers, a fellow named Al, and he said it would be fine for us to spear some lionfish. In fact, he encouraged us! I'd heard about Al many times before I actually met him--he and his family sailed away from South Africa, but after five years of cruising, they arrived in Belize and everyone was ready for a break. His wife got a job at Xanadu, one daughter got married, another went to Canada to study, and his son got a job on a Caribbean megayacht. So now they are "stuck" here but he doesn't seem too upset about it.

After gearing up, Liam, Nicholas and I started searching the waters in and around the dock. We saw lionfish just about everywhere we looked. Liam speared six (!), I speared one, and I helped Nicholas take his first ever shot with a Hawaiian sling. He hit the fish, but it was not a killing shot, and it got away. He was somewhat disappointed, but the kid shows real promise.

We strung up our catch and took a few "trophy" shots before we cleaned them.

The fishermen and their catch

They look small, but surprisingly those fish are almost entirely meat--Liam calls them "The Beef of the Reef"

Later that afternoon we took out one of Paul's boats and sailed north towards Mexico Rocks. Unfortunately a big squall came through that delayed our departure, and Nicholas and Lochlan were playing in the spray on the trampoline and quickly got soaked. By the time we got to Boca del Rio they were shivering, so we decided to snorkel there.

The fish were beautiful, as always, and we saw two new species:  a peacock flounder and a smooth trunkfish. We also saw three southern stingrays, which Nicholas particularly enjoyed.

Peacock flounder

Smooth trunkfish

Southern Stingray

'Goliath', the sorely neglected tour boat

Lochlan was experiencing technical difficulties with his mask, so he swam back to the boat and I hung out with him while Amy continued exploring the reef with the other two boys. We played a game Lochlan called "figure out all the work that needs to be done on that boat," referring to an ancient catamaran anchored off our port bow that was converted from a sailboat to a dive/snorkeling guide boat. We came up with about thirty things before the rest of the gang appeared and we had to stop. Lochlan has a keen eye for detail and I think he's got a bright future helping me with boat projects. :)

Sailing into the sunset

We had a brisk sail back to Caribbean Villas, and after cleaning up and enjoying some dinner, we joined Nicholas' family for a bonfire and marshmallow roast. It was a wonderful day!