One more Belize trip before hitting the road

Back in Illinois now.

Took one last fishing trip out of Placencia, using the kayak to drift along a freshwater salt water seam in the seagrass at the lagoon mouth. The dinks were cooperative, but nothing of size made an appearance for quite some time.

So after several hours of catching small jacks, schoolmaster snappers and blue-lined grunts, the final bite of the day bent the rod double and pulled the rod tip under the boat, the drag wasn't quite ready to respond. Whatever that fish was, it didn't slow down much before it snapped the line.

I don't know how many big fish I've lost to an overly stiff drag. Need to remember to keep it limber by pulling some line through it now and then.

Ah well. There's always next time.

For now, it's time to find the Barbie pole and some nice Illinois panfish just right for a 5 year old.

Randy Rays

A spawning aggregation of cownosed rays showed up in a canal in the lagoon yesterday.

Thanks to Emily who came by the office to tell us. The pictures speak for themselves.

The Leaning Ice House of Placencia

The Anachronism apologizes for the recent gap between posts but frankly things have been a bit busy here.

You have heard of the Leaning Tower of Piza? Meet the Leaning Ice House of Placencia.

Aside from finishing two projects, hosting a workshop, running a contest and battling raccoons (a story for another day), we have also had the biggest earthquake in Belize in recent history. The epicenter was in Hounduras (a large bridge I traveled on there recently near Progresso collapsed) and registered a hefty 7.1. We've had aftershocks as big as 6.1 almost every day since then.

For a village accustomed to danger from the sky, this was an unexpected twist. Most of the village was spared. Unfortunately, near the end of the point where the sand has been recently deposited, the shaking liquified the ground. Mud sprang up through the sand everywhere and houses sank. Several luxury concrete homes and condos are leaning and cracked.

One especially notable loss was the Placencia Fisherman's Co-op. The co-op ice house is still operating (if at an angle), but the main building is a complete loss.

Admirably, power and water were restored within a few hours after the quake. The water tower in Independence Village collapsed and crushed the water main, but even they were back up and running the next day.

It will be time to travel back to Illinois soon. Maybe I can slip in one more Belizean fishing trip before I go.