Brave but Beaten
Days Five and Six in Belize

Day Five- 12/26/02 [Do it now!]
8:00 AM Tim wakes us banging on the door an hour too early. He asks if we are going diving. YES, we say, but our spots are reserved and we don't have to be there until 9:30 and the shop is 15 seconds away. We groan and roll over for a while. This dive will be local and inside the reef shelter. The weather still looks like it sucks. I feel ragged and discouraged but we decide to go.
9 AM Yogurt smoothies for breakfast. That's all, in case I throw it all up again. Don't want anything roughly hard to digest. Oh, and half an "english muffin" and some drammamine. Whee. Time to see what the drugs do to me. We eat at Vespucci's Table and pay in a hurry.
10 AM Departure. It's definitely a bit rough but calmer than yesterday. It starts to rain as we hit deeper water... and it is possible to get cold fast on a boat in the wind, even inside a wetsuit. We are again paired with JeanPaul and Peter. We learn they're travellers from Amsterdam who are diving for free by leading dive groups. Their luggage was lost somewhere between London and Miami. They speak a bazillion languages and are flagrantly gay. They made their million as dance instructors of all things (jazz and modern even) and have a few houses worldwide. They're in an obnoxiously good mood as usual. We see other boats as we near the reef. Snorkelers! Reassuring, somehow. I'm still glad to be here, even in the rain. I'm glad for my windbreaker. We leave the reef . The swells are gigantic but gentle. We're diving the Hol Chan marine reserve today. We drop anchor a distance from the reef. Not nearly as nauseating seas as yesterday. Still, we shove off quickly into the water. We're the first group to dive. Tim doesn't seem apprehensive any more, even if he's still a bit awkward underwater... but that may be the fault of his crummy short fins. Justin and I have massive split fins that give us UBER POWER UP under water.
10:30 AMThe first dive is a canyon dive. We head out even though JeanPaul and Peter don't know where the site and are unsure where to go. We drop quickly to 75 feet. The reef is still dark from lack of sun but it's pleasant. The fish are still bright blues, yellows, oranges, and reds... so far we haven't seen too many of them. But here we see a huge grouper leering at us. As soon as we settle over the reef, we're set upon by a curious Nurse shark who molests Peter. He kicks it away with his fin and it promptly follows us as it paces the canyon. These "canyons" are 15-20 foot deep splits in the reef that reach ocean bottom. We swim through them looking at coral, sea fans, anemones and little fishes. There are some really beautiful blue-purple irridescent corals here and there, ethereal and delicate. The shark follows us. We swim through a school of yellow angelfish beneath a coral overhang. We've been warned of Fire Coral (it stings) but I think it's mostly scare tactics to keep people from damaging the reef. We swim down one canyon and up the next toward the boat. We're lucky to come up under the mooring ball and are the only group that comes so close to the boat on our return. I only feel sort of queasy.
11 AM One hour above the surface. We go inside the reef and snorkel with some of the other groups. It's nice to delay the nausea a bit. There's a bunch of fish here, including a huge CLOUD of grey fish grouped so closely together that they look like a FISH MASS. Funny enough, there's one fish in the group that's larger and white, another species just hanging out there. We take turns dive-bombing the school and watching as they separate and reconverge in figure eights and mobius strips of fish.
12:30 PM On the second dive, we see no sharks and so far no stingrays. There's a bit more chop here and some surge underneath the water. Some of the divers in our group were a bit clumsy and kept kicking me. Toward the end of the dive we saw a spotted moray eel in its den. Peter tried to lure it out and I was convinced it was going to bite him but it seemed it really wasn't interested. The boat wasn't moored near us this time so we took our safety stop free-floating 15 feet from the surface. It was pretty disorienting and nauseating with all the surge from the surf. By the time we surfaced I felt pretty ill. We sat in the water while the boat came over to us, sloshing about. Just to let you guys know, I said, I think I might throw up. The urge was rising. So DO it! exclaimed JeanPaul in his hilarious accent (imagine a more effeminate fabio voice) Just do it right now! So I looked at him and puked right in the middle of everyone. Afterwards I felt 200 percent better and had a good laugh. Someone asked, do you do EVERYTHING on command? After we boarded the boat I covered myself in my parka and lay down. It rains the whole way home.
2:30 PM We're cold when we get home. A shower feels good. We take a nap... I'm starving.
5 PM Can't wait to eat any longer. We venture out but every place here is closed until 6. Damn it! Nowhere open has decent food. I'm intent on eating something that agrees with me... but it's Boxing Day and nothing will be open anyway. Tim's pace is driving me NUTS. I don't mind crusing for food but we do need a certain amount of urgency in our search. I can't take it any longer. The only place open is Chinese food. Let's just eat that. It's like American greasy spoon all over again. Good and savory MSG. Jeanpaul and Peter wander in and push a table alongside us. A good meal overall except for the obnoxios, noisy drunks that come in at the end. Justin and I leave Tim with $ for the bill and go hom.
7 PM Curiosity overcomes my hesitance and I poke my head into the hotel bar. Not much else to do so we go in. I'm so wiped out but we end up staying at the bar till near 10. First, we talk to some other divers and then to some locals who are friends with the bartender. The bartender's name is Adrian and he convinces Justin to get a superb frozen drink. We discover that this bar has possibly the best chips and salsa ever, right below our eyes. We'll never go hungry again. I learn to play backgammon from one of the locals and do a few games against him and the other guys. Of course I lose, but no matter. He buys us drinks. I have a Mai Tai and Justin does Tequila shots with the other divers. Eventually, we say goodnight. I feel dead and it's only 9:45. Tomorrow (thank god) is a "day off." We crawl into bed at 10:30.

Day Six- 12/27/02 [silence]
10:20 AM We sleep for 12 hours. I wake and the aches and pains of my body have healed. My sand flea bites itch like a motherfucker. Still overcast, on and off.
11:20 AM We're starved. We make dinner reservations for CocoPlum restaurant. Hear they have good pizza. As we're leaving the hotel, we see JeanPaul and Peter. Today's dive hasn't left yet. Someone stole the motor feet off the boat last night as well as robbed a few grocery stores. What the hell? How did no one catch them and where did they GO? It's not a very big island...
11:40 AM There's no place open to eat. Of course. Finally, we find the one restaurant on the island open all day. It's called the Happy Lobster. I'd rather call it the Dead Fish. The waitress is a snot and the service is SO slow. In the mean time, my stomach is bothering the hell out of me. Two days of vomiting have taken their toll. Outside the restaurant, a street vendor is hawking carrot cake and pineapple cake. We buy some of each and split one while waiting on the food. I swear they made my lasagna with velveeta cheese.
2:30 PM Back at the hotel, I hear Tim has made a reservation for a massage tomorrow at 9AM. $40US for an hour and a half. Sweet deal. I make one to follow him at 10:30 tho I'd rather do it after diving to make it SUPER worthwhile. We crash in our room and read. I start Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. It rains. Hard. A lot. We stay here and read all afternoon until our "taxi" comes for dinner.
6:30 PM Dinner is great. A small restaurant that I think my mom would LOVE. There's a path lit by tea lights, an art gallery and hand-crafted souvenirs. This is a nice place run by a small family, whole foods and nice veggie cuisine. The pizza IS excellent. I love olives. I wish my stomach agreed with me more, however. I buy a coloring book, conch earrings for mom, and worry dolls for Eleanor. I want to have breakfast here sometime before we leave.
8:30 PM We walk home. It rains, on and off. I'm increasingly glad for my jacket. We meet JeanPaul and Peter at the ice cream parlor and eat some coconut pineapple ice cream with them for a while. When we leave to go home, they say they'll meet us at our bar.
9 PM We get to the bar at it's technical "last call" (why so early?) but Adrian holds open for us. We chat with an actor from New York who we met earlier in the lunch place. His name is Fred. I decide I don't like him much even if he's nice. He comes on too strong. JD and Peter show up for about 15 minutes and we talk about their lives. They now have their luggage back and are wearing matching outfits (something they do every day hence). Today it's yellow shirts with BEANIES. They come see our room and are impressed. It surely is the nicest place to stay on the island.
10:45 I'm almost 3/4 of the way through Wicked before we go to bed. What a great day of recovery! Who needs to do much more than chill and read in paradise on vacation? If only the weather were nicer....

*******************************************************