Our visit to Caye Caulker has been lovely, and today made sure it's something we'll never forget. With the rain gone, we decided it was time to take a tour to see the reef that makes Belize a draw for so many. Taking Anu into account, we decided against a full day boat trip, opting instead to join a half day snorkel tour, and I'd elected to stay on board with Anu. We'd checked out a few operators but hadn't booked anything, when Maurice, the owner of Wish Willy's...

We don't have many photos to add as we tend not to take cameras or phones with us when we head to the beach, which is at the end of the street. Actually, this part of the island is so narrow, there's only 5 properties on the street and water on each end. We woke to a storm shaking the house, thunder rolls and claps louder than anything we had ever heard. Even Monique, our host, said she hadn't heard anything like it in 12 years of living here. But by 10 am it ha...

Rainy season, we've discovered, does what it says it does! Not that it bothers us, the odd tropical shower, as we watch puddles forming in the sand from the cover of our porch. When it's not raining, we head out to explore the little village or go sit in the sea to cool off. Anu loves the water which probably reminds her of the bath, as it's so warm. We met a Mexican girl and her son who let Anu play with his inflatable boat, the type with holes for baby's legs ...

I'm dizzy with the heat, lack of sleep and the colour of our new surroundings! Up at 2.45 am, yes ... 2.45 am, to get to the airport for a flight to Miami and then rushing to catch our connecting flight to Belize. All went well, despite the zombie-like state we were in, having stayed up later than planned at Gerry's chatting to him, Norah and Euan, Cathy and Rob. Great craic! When we arrived in Belize, we discovered that our bags hadn't! But we were told they w...

Leaving Chicago... On the day we arrived, we were driving along and saw a scarlet bird. I thought perhaps someone's pet had escaped, it was such a bright red, it seemed tropical. But no, it was a cardinal, the state bird of Illinois. I don't remember ever seeing one when I lived there, so I took it as a sign that our visit would be great... And that it was! There were other creatures that caught our attention, fireflies every night sparkling around us as we sat...