Monday, October 31, 2011

It's Official................

As of December 31st, I will be unemployed - yes, my boss Gary has made the decision and will be retiring at the end of the year! And it IS a final decision as he has already contacted Farmers Insurance to let them know!

Another Farmers agent in town (who will be handling all of Gary's accounts) is actually going to move into OUR office and rent it from Gary - that will make it convenient for all of our policyholders! She is very excited about the move and has been over several times to look at the office and make her plans!

How do I feel???? Sad and happy at the same time! Sad that I will be done working for Gary as I've been with him for 21 1/2 years - sad that my journey as an insurance agent will probably be over - sad in that I will miss a lot of my clients who come in every month to pay their bill - and sad that the "routine" that I've known all these years will now be different!

Happy in that I AM getting tired of the insurance business, the new rules and regulations and "fighting" the system every step of the way and knowing I will NOT have to deal with that day in and day out - happy in the aspect of starting in on something new - and happy that I will have more "freedom" in my new environment!

So what am I going to do? I will be filing for unemployment first of all - after working for the last 38 years, I feel I am entitled to that paycheck! And I will be helping Glenn with his granite business (without pay of course!)

Besides cleaning his office and showroom from top to bottom and organizing his files and getting a system in place for his new clients, I will be manning the showroom. Yes, I need to brush up on my granite knowledge (I guess it's a little more than brushing up since I don't know much at all) and be able to help people that walk in the door with questions, leaving Glenn more time for actually "selling" and fabricating. And I can answer the phone and field his calls!

Right now when Glenn has to install, he has to close the office because his employees go with him. I'll fill that void as I will be THERE at the office in case a prospective client comes in - he has talked to several people that have stopped in when he was gone and ended up just going somewhere else for their granite - I can alleviate that problem!

I also will have some "free" time - after I get everything organized and in place, there probably won't be a lot to do until a client comes in - I hope to take my scrap booking things in and get caught up on that - I'm over a year behind............And there's always a good book ready to be read!!

How will Glenn and I work together? Probably not well at all -ha ha!! He and I are complete opposites on work related issues - I am the neat, organized, get it done NOW type of person and Glenn is the exact opposite!! I'm sure we'll butt heads many times but the nice part is that my office will be on the 2nd floor and the showroom and fabrication department are on the main floor so I can always escape to my "hideaway" if need be!!

The countdown is on! Just 2 more months to go that I know will fly by as the holiday season is approaching soon!

Changes - that's what life is all about!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Belize - Our Last Day!!

Here's a typical morning picture - sitting in the chairs enjoying coffee!!

And then it was time for one final walk to the bakery for sweets and a stop at Rosy's for those wonderful soft filled tacos - gosh, they were good!!! See the water on the left hand side of the picture? That was a typical scene here and probably where all the mosquitoes came from!!


Today was "do what you want to" day!! I spent the morning on our balcony, reading with a great cup of coffee!! Joleen went for a long walk into town to finish up some shopping and came back with the news that she had found the dress I really wanted to buy the last time we shopped but just couldn't justify the price - well, the dress was marked down 45%!! Now that I could handle!! So I walked back with her uptown, tried it on and bought it!! It's really cute and unique and I can't wait to wear it again (I wore it that night) when we go to Mexico!!


Martin opted to just "hang out" in the chairs for the morning and Glenn - well you know Glenn - he is ALWAYS talking to someone and had found this guy from Iowa who was staying in the dive shop on the dock. The guy had a canoe and wanted Glenn to go out with him to dive for lobsters!! Glenn of course doesn't dive but he managed to hold the canoe in the water while the guy dived and did some fishing - check out these lobsters!!


We had decided to go out for dinner on our last night but decided not to take the water taxi to the north end because of all the mosquitoes!! So I got online to check TripAdvisor for a good place to eat and it was hands down "Hidden Treasure" for our night out!!


The place is a little hard to find - it's down at the southern end and actually in a residential area but signs helped point the way!! When we pulled up in the golf cart, we all said "Ahhhhhhhh" as the place was an open air restaurant, lit with candles and hurricane lamps and draped white curtains to give it an "Arabian" look!! Romantic??? You bet!! Because of the dim lighting, the picture does NOT do this place justice at all but at least you can imagine!!



This is a shot of where you walk in - a neat walkway all lit with candles!!



The food was excellent!! The after dinner drinks were exotic looking and fun to taste!! Martin and Joleen shared a Mudslide!!



Glenn chose Hot Chocolate Cake and I opted for the chocolate martini!!! It was served in this cute cylinder shaped glass that was set in another bowl of ice and water!! YUM!!!


There were NO mosquitoes, even at this open aired restaurant because they had incense burning all around - but it was NOT the smelly kind - you didn't even know it was there unless you were looking!!! And did I forget to mention that as soon as we sat down at the table, we were brought cool cloths to wipe our hands with, scented with eucalyptus??? It was indeed a night to remember!!


And that was our last evening!!


The next morning was spent packing up, saying our goodbyes and once again, flying those friendly skies!! It was indeed one fantastic vacation - neither one of us were sick and none of our flights were changed or cancelled!!! It must have been the trip that was meant to be!!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Belize - The North End Tour

See, even Belize has construction going on!! This is ONE of the main roads and they are in the midst of paving it - quite a difference from our "pavement" of course as it's all done in blocks of cement, not poured all at once!! This is the route we took to get to the bakery that morning!

Today was set aside for touring the north end of the island! We packed our bags and were out the door by 9:00am in order to grab some coffee from a bakery downtown - only the coffee wasn't great!!


We headed over their new bridge that separates the southern 1/2 of the island from the northern half of the island - before the bridge they had one of those hand pulled ferries to get you across - the bridge is MUCH nicer!!



The northern 1/2 of the island is really getting developed -that's where the LARGE resorts are, a few private homes and a lot of "new" stuff getting built is all located!! The road is usually horrible, according to Martin, but it was pretty good - lots of bumps and mud holes of course but at least we didn't lose the golf cart in any of them!!



One of the first places we stopped was a granite fabrication shop!!! They were doing granite for the big hotel on the beach side - The Grand Caribe - Glenn talked to one of the workers for awhile and checked out their granite and their work and decided they weren't doing as good of work as he does.......ha ha........



We decided to walk on into the resort and it was beautiful - reminds me of some of the all-inclusives that we have been to EXCEPT for the fact there was hardly any people around!! I love this shot of the 2 trees with the water in the background!!


Along our journey, we finally saw a banana tree and whatever the long stem is with the flower on the end - I didn't read up on banana trees so have no idea what it is!


Not surprising, we were always running into the same people!!! We were at the end of this gorgeous dock, when 2 guys came out to talk to us - the same ones we had met at the fish market who wanted us to snorkel with their company!! Nice kids! Another couple on the dock offered to take a picture of the 4 of us!


While we were standing there at the ocean, this barge went by!! It was moving pretty slow and I was amazed at what was on it!


Here's a picture of this neat dock that goes out quite a ways into the ocean!!


Anyway, the 2 kids talked us into doing a time share presentation up at Captain Morgans - a place we were going to stop anyway for lunch and by listening, we would get enough money for lunch, drinks and whatever else we wanted to buy!! The resort is VERY nice and the time share places we saw were extremely nice!! So nice in fact that we listened to the presentation with interest!! It WAS a good deal but since we never make decisions on a whim, of course we didn't buy one!! We all had drinks afterward and then went to the store to buy t-shirts and the only ones they had were X-LG! So we ended up buying some Belize coffee to bring home along with some jelly, candy for the airplane and some needed things for dinner that night!! Nothing like shopping when you don't have to pay for it!!


I snapped this picture right before lunch - just because I thought it was a great shot!!


Martin and Joleen - FINALLY a picture of Martin smiling!!


After the shopping we headed back south on the golf cart and then stopped at the Palapa Bar - a bar at the END of a pier! AND it's a second story place - so you can sit along this open air bar and look down at the aqua bar - a super cool place!! We ordered rum punches and some appetizers and enjoyed every minute spent there!! Glenn and I were playing hide and seek when Jo took this picture!!


At this point in time, the mosquitoes had arrived and we had to high tail it back to our end of the island!! I made another batch of the potatoes/onion/ carrots wrapped in foil and Martin cooked our lobsters (that Glenn had bought the day before) on the grill - my oh my - those lobsters dipped in garlic butter were the BEST!!


Another fantastic day -and we're down to ONE MORE DAY on the island.......To Be Cont'd.....

Friday, October 21, 2011

Belize -Another Day In Paradise

Even though I'm blogging in Belize, I can't post my blogs - strange, huh??? I've tried everything but they just won't post so a big thank you to Jessi for posting them for me - I really appreciate it!!
So Thursday was another fishing day - but this time Joleen went out with the guys! She loves to fish and looks forward to it every time her and Martin come to Belize!! Now me - NO WAY - I was looking forward to a morning on the deck with a book in hand and some time to catch up on blogging and posting pictures!!
The 3 of them set out early in the morning and I enjoyed having my coffee on the balcony and finishing the current book I was reading - of course it was a tear jerker so here I am on vacation, crying my eyes out over a book!!! I loved just reading the morning away and spending some time on the computer!!
Before long they were back with lots more fish - since they weren't deep sea fishing, the fish were much smaller but all 3 of them had a great time and we put more fish in the freezer!!
After lunch, Joleen and I decided to head back down to Ramon's to try the snorkeling again - we walked out to the end of the dock and climbed down the ladder to the water and saw hundreds of fish!! The sun was shining so the fish looked brilliant with their colors of blue, purple, yellow and the beautiful striped ones too - I'm so glad we went back!!
We also did some grocery shopping and had a feast that night with fantastic grilled fish and chicken!! It was getting pretty dark out by the time I snapped this picture but I wanted to get a shot of the guys grilling! Although I think Martin is doing most of the work..............I made foil potatoes and carrots and everything tasted WONDERFUL - especially with the type of briquettes that is used here in Belize - bamboo!! It takes a while for them to get hot but the flavor is fantastic!!
Here we are enjoying our meal!!
After dinner we headed downtown on the golf cart to a bar that features the chicken drop - yes, that's right - it's called the chicken drop!!
Doesn't Joleen look cute on their swing?
So here's how the chicken drop works- when you get to the bar, you buy tickets - I think they're about $1.00 per ticket and each ticket you get has a number on it - Glenn and I bought 5 tickets!! Then at an appointed time, you go outside on the beach and there's this fenced in area with square blocks that each have a number of them. A chicken or rooster is brought out and someone in the crowd holds the chicken and then places the chicken in the ring. The picture below shows a gal holding the chicken right before she places it in the ring.
And then the fun begins - the chicken usually walks around a little bit and whatever spot the chicken poops on, well the number underneath it wins $100!! It was hilarious!! And darn it, the chicken did NOT poop on any of our numbers!!!
Anyway, it was a fun time and something we'll probably never experience again but I think somebody should do it in the US - I can see the bar in Soldier doing something like this when they have their motorcycle rallies!!! As I said, a good time was had by all!!
And the day ended again............and our time is getting shorter............To Be Cont'd........

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Belize - Snorkeling Tour

A serene view of the dock taken in the early morning!! We woke to clouds - bummer - this was our snorkeling day trip and we all wanted sunshine - but it was NOT to be!!
Glenn fixed us a nice breakfast scramble of bacon, eggs, potatoes and cheese and it was delicious!! Then it was out to the dock to wait for the boat to pick us up!! 3 other people were on the snorkeling tour with us and soon we headed out across the ocean to the reef!! It was breezy but still warm of course.
Soon we were out to the reef and I was dismayed at the waves - oh my - did I really think the ocean was going to be calm??? I guess so since the shoreline was as smooth as glass!! As soon as we got out there Joel, our guide, pulled over to the ranger (yes, there was a ranger stationed in a boat out there - I questioned Glenn about it and he said of course there was - just like we have rangers in our parks, there are rangers out at the reef also!!) to check in and soon we were getting on our equipment and crawling into the water.
Oh my, the waves were bad - I panicked for a little while and didn't have my mask tight enough so kept swallowing salt water - finally we got it tightened enough that it was secure and I felt much better then!!
It was a guided tour by Joel and we kind of followed him in the water and he would stop and point out certain things in the water that we would see!! At times the water was quite cloudy - and Joel explained that because of all the rain, it made the sea water cloudy at the top - if you would dive down about 5 feet, it was crystal clear - but I didn't do that!!
There were lots of places though that it was clear and we saw lots of brightly colored fish and it was amazing that they just swim right by you!! We saw eels and a shark and lots of coral on the reef - the colors weren't as vibrant as we had hoped since the sun wasn't shining through on them but we enjoyed it all the same!!
Going out to the reef was easy as we were going with the current - coming back was another story as you had to actually swim against the current to get back to the boat!! Glenn did great for the little time he had to practice and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the reef and all the places that fish could get under and break his line when he's fishing - it's a whole other world down below!! I felt like I was on the movie set to Nemo!
It was back to the boat after our time was up and it was REALLY cold as the wind was blowing and there was no sunshine!! Joel drove the boat another 3 or 4 minutes to Shark Ray Alley!! Some of the people jumped in right away with their snorkeling gear but I opted to stay in the boat a few minutes to take pictures!! Joel threw some chum out and before long, the sharks arrived and were eating away!! It was hard to capture the sharks but at least this picture turned out pretty well!!
We snorkeled around the boat for quite a while and soon it was time to head back!! We took pictures (that are on all accounts pretty bad!!) of what we looked like after we pulled our snorkeling gear off and were sitting there COLD!!!

Then it was back to the condo to wash off the seawater and head downtown for lunch!!
We picked up a few more grocery items that the guys hauled back as were spending the afternoon shopping since it had cooled off some and was cloudy!! There were a lot of nice shops we browsed through and I even found my Christmas ornament - I love it!!! Also picked up a nice pair of brown wooden earrings to match a necklace I have and another shell necklace with earrings to match!! A mango/pineapple smoothie rounded out the afternoon before we walked home - and just in time too as it started POURING not long after we reached the condo!!
We headed back downtown late afternoon for drinks at a local place and then came back home for fish tacos, guacamole and cerviche!! Joleen had said before we went that she would do the cooking so I do the clean up - works out great for both of us!!!
We finished our game of Phase 10 and once again Joleen was the winner -it's time to replace her winning streak with someone else I think - ME!!!!! To Be Cont'd....................

Belize - A Tour Of The Island

I just LOVE the picture of this "fan plant" (which I'm sure is not the proper name) but they are all over this island and I would love to have one of them in my house - but it probably wouldn't fit, huh? Oh well, they were fun to look at!!
After breakfast, the 4 of us hopped into the golf cart to take a tour of the southern 1/2 of the island. Ambergris Caye is the largest of Belizes' islands and is 25 miles long and up to a mile wide. Its coastline is protected by the 190 mile long Barrier Reef and the town on this island is called San Pedro! The locals on this island speak a mixture of English, Spanish, Creole and Maya so you never know what language you might hear but EVERYONE speaks English which is great for us dummies that can't speak a second language!!
Since Martin and Joleen have been here several times, they know the island pretty well!! We enjoyed driving the cart past all the really nice resorts on the southern part - I had researched a lot of them a year ago when looking for a place to go with the "Gran Family Farms" and it was neat to see where they were actually located!
Below is a picture of the leaves on this tree that I thought was pretty unique because they looked like ferns!!
We stopped down at the fish market and they also had local fruits and vegetables for sale that had been brought in by locals. We bought a few things, along with a watermelon that we were so excited to eat but it turned out to be the worst watermelon ever!!! It ended up in the trash!!
Joleen and I laid out a little bit when we got back as our "spray tans" were fading fast but we didn't last too long with the humidity and heat!! So we decided to take the cart down to "Ramons", a beautiful place that has some good snorkeling at the end of their dock - Glenn hadn't snorkeled before and needed to practice before our tour. Unfortunately, the skies clouded up FAST and it started to rain not too long after we arrived - but Glenn did get a chance to practice some which was a good thing!!
Check out this guy that was up in the tree right outside our condo, knocking coconuts to the ground!! I missed him crawling up but got a couple of good shots as he was climbing down BACKWARDS!!!

He sat over at the side of the road and cracked the coconuts open and drained the juice out to sell! Maybe I should have gotten some for my pina coladas!!
We decided to "dress up" for our evening meal back down at Ramons where they were doing a BBQ! So we got all ready and went outside to take pictures - of course the air was on inside the condo but the humidity was SO GREAT when we went outside to take pictures that the camera lens immediately fogged up!! It took several tries to get a clear shot!!
We had a great dinner down at Ramons, despite the mosquitoes - after getting all showered and smelling nice, we had to spray ourselves from head to foot with OFF so we didn't smell quite so nice after that!!
After the BBQ, we even ordered dessert!! The key lime pie was great but of course would have been better with some coffee - but I can only drink decaff at night and that's not always available in other countries!!
One more shot of us by the water - it was dusk and I was hoping the ocean would show in the background but we waited too long..................
Then it was back to the condo for another round of Phase 10, complete with their yummy juice and popcorn - we cranked the music up and had a great evening..............To Be Cont'd..........

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Belize - Island Paradise!!

The above picture is our condo at the Seven Seas Resort! Glenn and I stayed on the second floor on the right! And the picture below shows the beautiful palm trees in the front! And yes, that's our cute little golf cart we rented for the week right out front - but more on that later........

I woke up early on Monday morning, probably because Glenn got up VERY early - they were going deep sea fishing and of course he was pretty excited!! So I crept outside about 6:00am and snapped this picture from our balcony!!

The guys got left on their fishing trip and Joleen and I decided we better get some groceries as the refrigerators were empty!! It was hot - very hot - but it was even more humid!! Not being used to any humidity at all made it tough for me for a while!! Joleen and I walked quite a few blocks and then decided to go ahead and pick up some food to eat - and that was a big mistake - we over bought what we could easily carry!! So not only were we both sweating like crazy, now we had heavy grocery bags to carry all the way back home!


But I wanted fresh flour tortillas!! So we went to the tortilla factory and as figured, they were only doing corn tortillas - but the gal there said her neighbor next door would make us some! She came out the door, yelled up at a 2 story house and this lady came out, asked us how many we wanted and said to come back in 1/2 hour to pick them up - doesn't get much fresher than that!! She actually went back into her home and made the tortillas for us!!


After picking them up, nice and warm, we trudged back to our condo and decided then and there we were getting the golf cart for the week and NOT waiting for the guys to come back and do it!! Roberto, the manager of the condos, got us a great deal on the golf cart and before we knew it, it was delivered to us!


But BEFORE that happened, we ate the tortillas - oh my gosh, I had forgotten the taste of a freshly made flour tortilla, complete with mango jelly that I had bought!! It was SO GOOD!! Jill and Jessi will remember the tortillas we used to buy in Kino Bay - we would stand at the factory and wait till they were done - then go to the car and eat them on the way home!!


After our long walk around town, we laid in the sun for a little bit before the clouds took over and before we knew it, the guys were back!!


It was a VERY successful day fishing for the guys and they had big smiles as they got off the boat!! Here's Glenn's catch of the day, about a 30# amber jack fish!!

This next one is a grouper!

Glenn said they were fishing very deep, about 200 feet and the captain of the boat kept telling them when they got a fish on, to reel as fast as they could - apparently Glenn didn't reel fast enough on this black snapper that he caught because the picture shows what was left of the fish after a barracuda bit it right off for his lunch!!

4 happy guys after a great day of fishing!!

We had fresh grilled fish for dinner that night and it was excellent, along with a big batch of rice and beans!! I had bought the makings for pina coladas so made up a batch for me and they tasted just as good as what the bar had served the other night!! Joleen picked up the makings for rum punch and her batch was good too!!


The only downside of the night were the mosquitoes - they came out in FULL FORCE and Martin and I got bit up pretty bad - yikes - I haven't had mosquito bites in years!!! And I had forgotten how bad they itched!!! Luckily I had a few alcohol wipes that I used until we could shop the next day for a bottle of it!! Another day in paradise................To Be Cont'd.............

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Belize - In The Air Again!

We woke up Sunday morning to a beautiful sunrise and this view from our little cabin!!
Glenn was already out on the dock fishing but not having any luck - we all met for breakfast and since the sun was shining, it was time to snorkel!!! We headed back to our cabins to change and I kept hearing this pounding sound - it was the guys in this boat who were taking the conch out of the shells!!! What a sight!! Check out their piles of shells!!!
We headed out to snorkel - I had purchased a cheap mask at Walmart - big mistake!! It wouldn't seal around my face so I kept getting salt water in my eyes and nose! Not fun!! And since I've only snorkeled really one time, I wasn't very good at it so needed a lot of practice!! After seeing me struggle time and time again, I tried Joleen's mask and oh my, what a world of difference that made!! I caught right on then and soon I was snorkeling around Belize's barrier reef - the second longest in the world!!! We saw lots of blue, yellow and purple fish and some beautiful coral and that was enough to get me excited!!!
But it was time to pack up, eat a quick lunch and take one more picture of our view before we headed to the boat for our trip back to Dangriga!!
The boat ride was beautiful in the daytime and we all greatly enjoyed it!! Then it was once again, the quick taxi ride to the airport!! Here's a picture of their terminal!!! Yes, a one room terminal and of course we were the only ones there as we had an hour wait before our plane would arrive!!
It was a LONG hour as we were all so excited to get to our final destination, Ambergris Caye!! But first we had to fly back into Belize City and THEN another short plane ride to Am. Caye!! Soon our little plane arrived and the guy in the terminal said he had great news for us - since there were just the 4 of us, our pilot was taking us directly to Ambergris Caye - no layover in Belize City!!!
Wow - did we ever feel special with our own "private" plane!!! This one was REALLY tiny - it just seated a total of 7 people!!
Glenn and I were seated behind Martin and Joleen and the pilot asked us if we wanted to fly right over the reef - OF COURSE WE WANTED TO!!! It was absolutely breathtaking!!! We were flying right over this beautiful water and reef and had a birds eye view of it all!! Then he turned and asked if anybody wanted to sit up front with him!! Joleen said she didn't want to so I immediately crawled up there, fastened my seat belt and felt EXTREMELY important sitting in the co-pilot's seat!! Here is one of the pictures taken from the plane!!
And how neat is this picture??? I was smiling so much I thought my face was going to crack as the pilot pointed out special things in the water below - wow - probably something none of us will ever experience again!!!
Before we knew it, we were flying over Ambergris Caye and what a thrill to be in that front seat when the pilot landed that little plane!! It's something I'll never forget!!!
We found a taxi to take us to our home for the next 7 nights - Seven Seas - where Joleen and Martin have a time share at and where we booked a condo for the week!! It was hot and humid and after finally deciding which condo we wanted (we chose one on the second floor), the air was turned on and we unpacked our suitcases, finally!!
Next it was down to the bar where I had a fantastic pina colada and we started to relax on this paradise island!! It wasn't long before Glenn, Martin and a skipper started making plans for their fishing trip the next day!
Dinner that evening was at Caramba's - and the garlic shrimp was excellent!! Over dinner we made our plans for the week and it was GREAT to sleep in an air-conditioned bedroom that night - the humidity was pretty intense during the day and I was certainly glad the condo had air!!
Right next to my side of the bed was a reading lamp - the owners MUST have known I was coming!!! To Be Cont'd..................

Belize - Tobacco Caye - Saturday

Tobacco Caye - this tiny island is home to about 20 full-time Belizeans - no school building of course so any children spend the week on a nearby island and come home only on the weekends!! There's very little space on this island that isn't occupied by something - in fact, Hurricane Mitch leveled most of the island in 1998 so most everything has been rebuilt - which is ALSO hard to believe!! Sand, sun and salt are certainly hard on the buildings!!

Even though I slept so badly, I awoke early as Glenn had headed out the door a little earlier to fish!! I crept outside to take this picture of the brightly colored chairs, noting the gray, cloudy skies at the same time!!

Here's a picture of our little cabin - Joleen and Martin were on one side and we were on the other side!!

One thing I immediately noticed about the island were the abundance of conch shells - those beautiful pink large shells!! In fact, there are hundreds and hundreds of these on the island and they're used partly to decorate and partly to put along the shore to help keep the island intact!! I loved how every tree was surrounded by these beautiful shells!!

Soon the dinner bell was clanging - yes, the cook had a western type triangle that she used when it was time to eat and of course you could hear it all over the island!! Breakfast was great and we were famished once again - sausage, scrambled eggs, fry jacks and juice!!! The fry jacks were kind of like a fry bread and they had the best mango jelly to put on them!! Now coffee was another story - it was instant!! But we weren't complaining!!


Jo and I took a walk around the little island to check it out - I think it took all of 5 minutes to circle around!! We saw this huge nest on top of this old building and pretty soon this large bird flew out of it!!


The skies soon opened up and it rained off and on all day - I was really hoping to see the sun but it just didn't happen on Saturday!! Below is a picture of the smallness of the island - I am standing on the boat dock where we came in last night - and on the other side you can see the ocean - amazing!!! The red building is where we ate our meals - I LOVED all the brightly colored buildings!!

Here's a picture of the little bar - the sun must have peeked out for a moment because the background sure looks bright!!!

The two guys and Joleen fished quite a bit - I of course opted to read - I believe I was on book #2. Here's the catch of the day -which of course was cooked for dinner that evening!

Even though the sun hardly came out and we didn't feel like snorkeling with no sun on our backs, we did enjoy the day and it was very relaxing!! Lunch consisted of meat patties (these deep fat fried pockets with fish inside - delicious!!) coleslaw and fruit and it was all very good!! I was surprised when the darkness arrived, about 5:30!! Once again we used our flashlights when we walked over to eat!

I think the guys look a little grumpy in this picture - but actually they were SO hungry that they didn't even want to stop eating to smile!!! It's amazing what "island life" does to your appetite!!


We headed over to the bar after dinner to have one quick drink and even though the guys really thought they should head to bed (at 7:30????? on vacation????) we told them they HAD to come back to the dining room to play a game with us!! I had brought Phase 10 to play, and my IPOD and docking station and we cranked the music up and had a great evening together!!!


No storm on Saturday night - no breeze either - but I slept like a rock.........To Be Cont'd.......