Island Day

Today was an island day. We decided not to do any tours, but instead try out all of the amenities that the island has to offer. And relax. Relaxing was the emphasis for the first half of the day. I was able to get caught up on my blog posts, which I was far behind, and take a leisurely walk around the island. Everyone else did some shore snorkeling, but I decided to focus on taking pictures and lounging around.

After dinner, there was a local African drum circle with chanting. I am writing this as I listen, which is why you don't have to uffer through as much text. Just sit back and enjoy the pictures.

After lunch, we took some paddle boards out to test our balance. I was happy that I was able to get up, and when I dove into the water after a bit of paddling, I was surprised at how warm the water was. I was expecting at least a little shock from the chill, but it was a perfect temperature. We swam and paddled and played for an hour or so. I even made a sand castle on my board from the pure white sand from the ocean floor.

After paddling around, I took a quick shower, and was going to go read on a hammock, but just outside my door I saw a spotted eagle ray. We watched this swim around our hut for about thirty minutes before it decided to try another hunting ground. I continued my attempt to read, but got caught up in talking to Omar, one of our bartenders. More people showed up, and eventually I gave up on all pretenses of reading. 

The Black Hole

Today, Seth, Mai and I ventured off to do the Black Hole--a 300 foot repelling expedition in the Belizean jungle. I got up at 6:30, showered, and grabbed a quick breakfast. We then boarded the boat for the mainland. The resort van was waiting for us, and took us an hour into the mountains to a jungle resort. From there, we boarded an old stereotypical run-down bus. We took this a ways into an orange orchard, heading towards the jungle, where we promptly got stuck. Although it is not the rainy season, it has been raining quite a bit over the last couple of days. After five minutes of back and forth, we decided that we had made it far enough, called for a tow, and started walking.

 The jungle was muddy. The jungle was full of mosquitoes. We used DEET. Lots of it. We walked up a steep, muddy path through a dense jungle. It was very slippery, and there were several people who fell down. After about an hour of up and down, we arrived at a spot that they said was the Black Hole. However, we had to wait for the previous group to finish before we could continue, so we had lunch. It consisted of home-made tortillas, carrots, onions, salami, cheese, hard boiled egg, and cabbage--a build-your-own burrito. After lunch, we continued around to the other side.

The Black Hole is a 300 foot deep sink-hole in the middle of the Belize jungle. We were there to repel down into it, and I was up first. I had my harness and helmet on, and was locked onto the repel line. We were using a ladder connection rather than a figure eight, which pretty much meant that you had to force your way down. However, walking down the steep slope to the edge, and then looking down the 300 feet to the jungle below was an adrenaline rush. Walking off the edge, to the "hell-hole rappel"--sitting ,and lowering yourself with nothing to keep your feet on--was also a bit frightening. Really, just hanging there, hundreds of feet above the jungle, surrounded by cliffs and caves, was an amazing experience. I later described the trip as buying drugs. The drug of choice was adrenaline, and I was manufacturing it, but the Black Hole was the catalyst.

 

 

 Since I am writing this post--Mai-Tai in hand--you know that I made it safely to the bottom. I waited for the other people from our island to make it down, taking some pictures of the various caves. Once those of us from Thatch Caye were all on the ground, we left the second group and joined the first group. We were late for our pickup. We made pretty good time climbing out of the Black Hole, but it was still a long and slippery trek back to the bus. From there it was about a two and a half hour journey back to our island. We were so caked in mud that we had to wear plastic garbage bags so we didn't get the van dirty.

   We were greeted with drinks and snacks, which I partook in before heading for a nice long shower--that included my jeans and shoes. We spent a little more time at the starfish bar, which is on a platform over the ocean, before heading towards dinner. I was distracted for a while with the slack line, and then enjoyed a nice meal of freshly caught fish. It was a wonderful day.

Thatch Caye

Although technically this is the same day as my last post, that day was today. Since one post is travel, while the other is our new home, I hope that my readers will forgive me for creating a journal entry starting with our arrival at Thatch Caye. We were greeted at the dock by Sarah. This was an easy one. It didn't take me long to learn that by the end of the day, everyone that I dealt with would know my name, and to keep from sounding like a complete fool, I made a strong effort to learn their names. By the end of the day, I learned our host's name, Sarah (think Mr. Rourke from Fantasy Island), our bartenders, Omar and Clarence (think Isaac from The Love Boat), and the head grounds keeper Indie (think--er., the head grounds keeper, Indie).


We have a thatch-roofed hut over the water with slate floor, and a shell faucet. There are hammocks hanging on our porch, which we promptly fell into. Sarah took a nap while I went out exploring. The island is nine acres. Our Enumclaw property was 8 acres. It is a one-mile walk from one end of the island to the other. The north end is still pretty undeveloped, and needs some cleaning, but it also provides the most private beach. The power comes from a combination of a wind turbine and solar power, with a gas generator to take up the slack. The toilets flush with salt water from the ocean, while the shower runs on recycled rain water. Every meal so far has been gourmet.

  

 At night, the weather got a bit stormy. The hammocks were sideways, one chair was blown against our deck railing, and we could hear the sea getting rough. The side of the hut was battered by rain. It was a very comforting thing to fall asleep to.

Travel Day

Our journey to Belize was a comedy of errors that began nearly two weeks before we ever left for the airport. Sarah's reservations for one leg of the trip were accidentally made under her maiden name by one of her family members. To correct it cost an additional $400 dollars, and resulted in her having to take a separate flight on the first part of our journey, and us not being able to sit together from LAX to Belize. On the plus side, we both had window seats.

As we were waiting to board the plane to Belize, we received an email from Sarah's parents saying that their flight had been delayed for three or four hours. This meant that they were now scheduled to be landing ten minutes before we were scheduled to take off. We let the gate agent know they were coming. We let the stewardesses know. We sat on the gangway, refusing to get on the plane so they couldn't close the door. Two people from her parent's flight came running down t. he gangway, saying that the plane was unloading at the gate right next to ours, but they had been sitting in the front of the plane. We waited, and eventually had to get on the plane. As we were walking towards our seats, Sarah's parents showed up. After some quick and relieved greetings, we all went to our separate seats, and settled in for the red-eye flight.

We arrived in Belize at 8 a.m. local time, having left home at 1 p.m. the previous day. However, we were not to our final destination yet. Going through customs was uneventful outside of the power at the airport going out--never had that happen before. All of our luggage, including Sarah's parents' bags, arrived safely. We were moved to an earlier flight to Dangriga, and went to sit in the small Belizean airport. We had not eaten since 4 p.m. the previous day, but there were no places to purchase food here.

Getting on the next plane was where our vacation really started for me. It was a small plane that held 12 people, but the four of us and one local were the only passengers. I got to sit behind the pilot and watch him fly. We made about a five-minute jaunt to Belize City, and then flew to Dangriga. In this tiny airport, we met up with Seth and Mai, and boarded a van which took us to the docks. From there, we boarded a boat, and started a rough 9 mile crossing to a private island where the six of us would be joining eight other guests. The entire journey took approximately 23 hours.
 

 

Ka!

Today was the last day of the conference, and I must admit that I was a bit burned out. I skipped going to a lot of it. As usual, I started the day off with a nice long walk. Then, after breakfast, I listened to a few of the papers being presented, and then went off to purchase tickets for Ka. Instead of going back, I went up to my room, called my parents, and then called T-Mobile to try to get my phone fixed. It may have worked, but I need to give it time.

After this, I went and watched a couple of presentations, but I couldn't stay in my seat, so I walked around in back. During lunch, I did another walk, and didn't actually get anything but a Starbucks to eat. I watched the remaining presentations--one from my seat and the rest I listened to while pacing the back. Again, I decided to skip the last workshop and do some more walking.

After my walk, I changed for dinner, had a nice Italian meal in the hotel--more costly than all the food I had bought combined since leaving (although most of my meals were covered in the price of the convention). I then went to the Million Dollar Challenge, watched a bit of it, but once again left early. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time for the show.

I had seen Ka before, but it is by far the best Cirque De Soliel I have seen. Even now, I would be ready to see it again. The theater is impressive, but the stage--a multi-tonne robotic platform--is absolutely awesome. The show is full of flying, falling, special effects and pyrotechnics. Plus, the story is very clear. I had a great seat. I just wish I could have shared the experience with Sarah.
 

Tomorrow I go home and get to see her again. I'm glad, because I miss her.

Another Amazing Day

Well, it doesn't seem possible to get enough sleep. It could also have something to do with sitting in lectures for the better part of the day. Either way, I was once again having difficulties staying awake. However, there were a couple of times that I did not have any trouble.

This morning, I sat down at an empty table to have breakfast, and Randi sat down next to me. Well, he actually left a chair between us, but I quickly remedied that when he went to get his food. He is just a brilliant man; sharper at 86 than I ever was. And he is so friendly. He told the table stories, but made sure to include everyone at the table. He did a couple of magic tricks, and kept joking that I was laughing. Actually, I believe that I was grinning from ear to ear.

I also got to watch a live recording of the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, where they revealed a new Rogue. It was so wonderful seeing one of my favorite podcasts recorded live. I find it fascinating that sometime next week I will be walking to work and listening to it again on my iPod. But wait: the fun didn't stop there! I also got to watch a special private recording of the Skeptic's Guide. This one only had 30 people. It was a fascinating episode where George Hrab interviewed the Rogues. There was even a part where Bob and then George started crying. It was touching.

The SGU was not the only interesting part of the day. Today was the day I went to the James Randi Celebration, a party to remember all the good he has done for so many people. I was at the table closest to the stage. Actually, I had been in the front row--just behind the VIP seating--for the entire conference. I was good at getting there early.

What an amazing day at The Amazing Meeting!

Skeptic's Guide to the Universe Charity Dinner

I woke up today completely dead, and about 30 minutes before things started. I had only gotten 5 hours of sleep, and the Mai Tai (or more) that I had had last night was lingering. There was also about two hours of lectures on a person whom I had never heard of, and I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. However, I was front row, center. I also saw Al again, whom I had met the first day I was here, and saw a couple other people whom I had met yesterday. Then there were the new people I met. It seems to be very easy to meet people here; everyone is so friendly.

Today was the day for the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe charity dinner. The food was okay, but the event was great fun. Jay Novella sat at our table and talked with us throughout the meal. He is so friendly; talking to him is like seeing a friend you haven't seen for a while. I really like him. At the event, there was a charity auction. One of the things up for bid was a guest rogue spot on the SGU, which went for $3,700! The winner got a standing ovation.

The SGU also decided to do a private recording in addition to their normal public recording, possibly partially influenced by me asking Steven Novella about it during registration. I will be going to that tomorrow, and am really looking forward to it.

I did not leave the hotel the entire day today, and I am off to bed now to try to catch up on some sleep. Actually, I only left the conference hall once to get my cookie, and was only gone for 15 minutes.