Two Panty Rippers Please

Yesterday was about being under the waves, today was about being over them. We arrived bright and early at 8:15 for our taxi to the ‘airport’ for a scenic flight over the ocean to be told bad news – the plane’s broken, it developed a strange noise yesterday afternoon and had been grounded. Fortunately they managed to get us onto a flight with another airline in the afternoon.

To assuage our disappointment, we had a wholesome breakfast – fried jacks are a large savoury doughnut stuffed with any combination of eggs, beans, cheese, ham or chicken – plus the obligatory chilli sauce.

We walked around the streets for a while – they are colourful and lively. Stopped for a coffee then walked along the sea front as far as we could go, this is the quiet end of town, no bars, just waterfront hotels with their own jetties.

We returned to the hotel for a bit to cool off then back out for a juice and some shopping – replenishing our t-shirt stocks.

It’s soon time for our flights, the taxi to the airport is a 6 seat golf buggy, transport on the island is foot, bike or buggies. The plane is not much more than a 6 seat golf-buggy with wings. We are given silver class boarding passes – it’s like playing at airports, two minutes later the ground crew take the boarding passes off us. It’s the first time I’ve ever got in a plane and turned left but business class it isn’t, my knees don’t fit behind the pilot’s seat in front of me and my head is touching the ceiling. The windows are big however.

We’re soon airborne and climbing over the sea, the town is on my side, Florence has the reef and open ocean on hers. There is a good aerial view of the channel we snorkelled in yesterday. We turn out over the sea and head towards the Blue Hole 43 miles out to sea.

The Blue Hole is a 400 foot deep cave in the floor of an atoll, approximately 900 feet across. It was formed above sea level, like the cenotes we’ve previously seen in Yucatan and was subsequently submerged by rises in sea level.

From above, the hole is deep rich blue, contrasting with the turquoises of the surrounding shallow water. We circle a few times in each direction at different altitudes to give everyone a good look. It’s an amazing site, far better in reality than images can prepare you for, this was one of the things I was looking forward to the most on the trip and it wasn’t a disappointment. Too soon we’re done and move on to look at a ship wrecked on the edge of the atoll then back to the airport.

We’re back just in time to watch the sun set into the sea while pelicans fly around the small fishing harbour on the west side of the island.

Florence’s nerves needed calming after the flight. When we arrived in Belize we asked our driver what cocktails we should order on Caye Caulker, his immediate reply was Panty Rippers – so we do. These are fresh pineapple juice and coconut rum, in a waterfront bar watching the last of the light on the Caribbean through the Palm trees, the bar has swings instead of bar stools. It’s all as good as it sounds.