My Five: Cool Birds, Buoys & Sargassum, Less Trucks in Town and The Island’s First Pok Ta Pok Game

Ambergris Caye is slowing down – quite a bit – as we exit “high season”. The weather is warm and muggy and sargassum has been heavy for the last few weeks.

Let’s start with the weather…a bit of rain that darkened the skies over the weekend and washed the dust off the trees and bushes. The plants look green and happy again.

1. First Rain of the Season: It’s been a dry few months. But that’s why they call it the “Dry Season” 🙂 Dusty road, thirsty plants and cisterns that are drying up – not a drop of rain for much of February, March and April.

So dry that we used up all the collected water from our cistern last week. Last Monday, we got our first (and hopefully only) paid cistern refresh of the season. 1200 gallons delivered (I need to double check that amount) to our house at 8 miles north, pumped into our cistern for $ 350 bzd.

As always, as soon as we pay for water, rain is predicted. Last weekend, the weather channels were talking about a Central American gyre. And on Saturday night, we got SERIOUS thunder, jump-outta-bed, quivering-dogs lightning, and an inch of needed water in about 30 minutes.

This week’s weather forecast has a return to breezy sun.

2. Less Trucks in Town: As of May 1st, there is a ban on the heavy dump trucks going thru San Pedro town. And so far, so good! Any fill that is going from the quarries at about 10 miles north to the south side of town is supposed to be loaded barged from the new barge landing that is now located just south of El Pescador.

I have not seen any fill trucks there yet, but we will see how that works! I am unclear where they will be barged to…the barge landings in the San Pedro lagoon? We shall see…

To clarify: the truck traffic remains HEAVY on North Ambergris Caye but is way less in the town center – alleviating many of the town traffic problems

3. Heavy Sargassum: We’ve seen quite a bit of sargassum since about mid-April and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Resorts and the San Pedro Town Council are working hard on the clean-up.

It is far from just a “Belize problem”. New information released this week by USF/NOAA and their team show heavy sargassum primarily to our south and east – off the coast of South American. They say the TOTAL amount – for the whole Caribbean/Atlantic basin – is 40% higher than the previous record year of 2022.

You can see where the largest volume is here, and read all the reported details. I get asked about “sargassum season” ALOT and it is impossible to precisely predict – tides, currents, water temperatures, winds…impossible. But in GENERAL, based on what I think only, it seems to come and go from about February to August – and can be exacerbated by the higher easterly winds that we can see (often called “Easter winds” in Belize) in March, April and early May.

4. Sargassum Can Not Stop My Buoy Collecting: Buoy collection can be a messy business. You definitely don’t find them on the cleanest, best-maintained beaches or in the center of town – you need to be WAY off the beaten parth.

I’ve been having some good luck over the last month or so with the higher winds. I’ve picked up 3 hard-plastic buoys along the shoreline up north to add to my current collection of about 15 hard plastic buoys, one metal buoy and 2 glass. (Collected over about 10 years!)

Wind last week brought in sargassum but…as I was driving up north…in an unpopulated area…I spotted 2 more hard-plastic buoys. One on the edge of the sargassum but one was…out there.

Would you go in for this?

I got the buoy. After stepping over the edge into thigh high in the sludge I felt committed. I slogged out about 10 more feet and realized that Frannie had jumped in after me! It turned into a waist-deep, Frannie clinging to me, covered in mess SUCCESS! That I would not do again.

We tied the buoys to the cart and continued north – to the nearest hose.

Yeah Buoy!

4. Cool Birds: I took some short videos of some VERY cool birds I’ve spotted driving up north on Ambergris Caye.

Here’s one of our most special birds. When I see these bright blue wings, I can’t help but scream. The Yucatan Jay – only found in North Belize and on the Mexican Yucatan peninsula.

About a mile later, I spotted this boat billed heron. Giving me an over-the-shoulder look. I like how eBird describes them as “bizarre”. Perhaps its the hunched back…or the crazy hair.

5. Pok a Pok Comes to San Pedro: SAVE THIS WEEKEND!

The royal game of the Maya – the first team sport in the world – is coming to Ambergris Caye organized by the Belize Eco-Museum and the Ambergris North Alliance. The Maya lived on Ambergris Caye for hundreds, maybe thousands of years. But not Maya Royalty. It was the working folk who set up camps for fishing, shells, and salt collection – traveling back and forth to the mainland on large dugout canoes.

This June, Pok Ta Pok (a game for royalty) – the team from Yo Creek, Orange Walk, is coming to San Pedro for the first time – at the Belize Eco-Museum…a celebration of Art, Food, Music and Culture. Mark this weekend on your calendar – June 21st or 22nd….the Summer Solstice.

Such a cool way to kick off big celebrations of our island. It will be followed by Dia De San Pedro events – on and around the weekend of Jun 29th and then lobster festival starts soon after…

One more thing: mango season has started and we are getting local mangos (Belizean mangos from the mainland) in to some of the fruit shops.

You may see Mexican champagne mangos much of the year (for $5 bzd or more) at some fruit stands. They are tasty. Sweet and smooth but kinda…one note. Sweet.

Belizean ripe mangos are THE BEST. Sweet with a bit of tartness, maybe a bit pine-y/spicy…more meaty and sometimes, hairy (the strands that get stuck in your teeth!) Some taste like honey…

SOOOOO good. Look at your fruit stand and ask questions. Are these ripe? Are they sweet (some are sour!) These ones pictured below were AMAZING.

Also look for mamey – another delicious tropical fruit that seems to be in season now. (They look kinda like dry dusty potatos on the outside but inside they are magic)