A Drive to North Ambergris Caye & Other Things

Yesterday, Jeff and I took a drive up to about…I’m guessing 16 or 17 miles North Ambergris Caye. It’s a ride we’ve been taking more and more recently and…we have something starting to happen up there…but I’ll leave that for a later post. Once we are farther along…

It’s a rough drive in places…there is no real road past about 10 miles north so driving slows down considerably. But it’s beautiful – despite the sargassum (that is better in some spots and worse in others) – and we had some work to do.

If you know me, you’ll know that I took a bunch of pictures.

Trip to the States Via Cancun

But before I get to them, I am heading to the States in a few days. My first trip in a few years. To visit my brother and his family (and perhaps a seafood shack and Target) in Rhode Island. I’m flying from Cancun to PVD despite the fact that I swore up and down that I’d never do the Cancun thing again. (Traveling from San Pedro to Corozal, Belize to Chetumal, Mexico to Cancun for a flight)

But here I am. The BZE to PVD (RI) flights were $1250 (1-additional stop in USA) and the CUN-Orlando-PVD flight was $250. That difference is just TOO tempting!

I’ll probably spend half of that savings in my travels but I’ll report every step to you…

Storm Season Starts

While it shouldn’t affect us very much, it is notable that two named tropical storms are spinning in the Atlantic. Even though the hurricane season is June 1st to Nov 30th, the (statistical) height of the season is September 10 or 11th…so this is early.

Bret and Cindy.

For their paths and information, see National Hurricane Center. And if you like a full breakdown of wind shears and El Nino effects and all the nerdy stuff, check out Levy at Tropical Tidbits.

Both are diminishing as they progress, Cindy is expected to move north, Bret…maybe some rain for us? But it doesn’t look like much else.

Photos From the Drive Up North

Watching out for coconuts and hermit crabs. Some of the way, you are driving quite close to the beach…and other times a few hundred feet back…in the bush.

A stop at Tranquility Bay Resort.

We had delicious lime juice and a chicken quesadilla on our way back home…

And enjoyed the view.

Onward…

Passing an older beach home.

And then past Robles Point.

There are quite a few turtle nests marked (and on marked) on the beach…just along the brush line. Hol Chan Marine Reserve has marked and protected quite a few. They come up here once a week to work, check for new nests, check on older nests. It’s so cool.

Looking north towards Rocky Point.

Looking south towards Robles Point.

I took about 15 minutes of hermit crab video…I mean you never know when you might need it.

They get so big that they even inhabit good-sized conch shells…but I didn’t see any that size on this trip.

Above, an interesting oval, brown bottle with a woman’s silhouette shape on the bottom.

Some coral and shells on the beach.

I found some chunks of a black rock that I’d never seen on Ambergris Caye. I sent the photo to an expert on Bacalar Chico and he said they might be ballast from a shipwreck. I hear there is a ship wreck right on the reef here. COOOL.

A very heavy buoy found. Hooray! My collection grows slowly.

That’s all for today. Happy Friday…and I’ll be back.