San Pedro Holiday Hotel

... more transparent so was the dress that I was wearing. Luckily the hotel wasn't far so that I could do a quick change and head straight out for breakfast with the rest of the group. The island is all that people have said, seriously relaxed, in a gorgeous setting surrounded by the longest continous reef in the world. There are signs everywhere telling you to GO SLOW and if you are found to be walking ...

... out, but I was too focused on my destination to want to stop. There was a "new" bartender at Canuck's when I arrived... the owner's son, it turned out. He had come down with Don and Carol when they had 9 years ago and had been floating around in various parts of the country with his wife and kids since then, coming back to San Pedro every so often. We both found it odd that I'd never seen him on my previous trips. We chatted for awhile as I had a few very strong ...

... circular limestone sinkhole more than 300 feet across and 412 feet deep. The dive was literally down a vertical wall and at around 35meters we got to kind of overhang with stalactites and limestone formations which we swam through - there is almost no life down there at all, but it was an facinating dive all the same. Sometimes you apparently can see hammer head sharks down there but unfortunatly we didn't. <br>Next stop was Half Moon Caye where we ...

... we picked up that and deception point - then went to find the ice cream shop. after ice cream back to the Caye caulker water taxi - who proceeded to rip us off - we paid for 2 round trip tickets from Belize city to san Pedro - but the boat isn't direct, it stops in Caye Caulker - so we wanted to use our tickets to stop in Caye Caulker for a few days then continue on to Belize City. that was a 'no-go' company ...

... and the food is cheap! We happened to hit lobster season which started Sunday but apparently this has no effect on bringing down the price of lobster booo! And as the title says I took my fancy new underwater digital camera snorkeling, and it is currently drying out in our cabana with little hope for a future :) Wheres a best buy when you need one? We miss you all and love the comments keep them coming, Teddy and Brooklyn

... in the sun, and nights spent at restaurants and bars to keep it interesting. Prices weren't to bad, my cheap room was $15 per night with shared bath, and I ate fish one night and curry conch the next for about $10 each. The bad news is that drinks were expensive, beers costing $3-4 each and mixed drinks $5-8. Also the cost of going on excursions in the water adds up. My expenses shot up from $50 to $100 per day. I had a few drinks at the Bar by the ...

... giggles. After having dinner and a couple of tropical drinks, we headed back to town. On the way back, we walked along Front Street instead of the beach. We heard music blaring, but couldn't tell what was going on. That is until we saw the drag queens dancing in the street - literally stopping traffic. Another San Pedro Carnaval tradition! They were following a red pickup truck with a keyboardist playing music. The funniest thing was that ...

... to float directly under me, and remained a little stiller than usual. Right before we were to head back to the boat (Bag stowage debacle: 7) after another 45 minute to an hour swim, Sarah and a few other people spotted a small shark. Sadly, I missed it. I was swimming with sharks and didn't even know it. From Hol Chan, we headed into San Pedro for lunch, as the reserve is significantly closer to Ambergris than Caye Caulker. The Patio was closed, so Sarah and I found the Blue Water ...

... and called it 'the best diving spot in the world' at the end of his life. We get a debriefing. Several people chicken out. I cannot blame them. Which part of 'depth of dive 45 meters', 'breathing is difficult below 40 meters', 'we go into caves at that maximum depth', 'lots of big sharks', 'do NOT take out your regulator, whatever happens', 'do NOT pop to the surface' is not scary? OK, down! It does go pretty fast. The temperature drops ...