A FOND FAREWELL TO TORTUGAL

Leeza & Carmela in the kitchen; Santiago & Lionel - the night watchmen keeping our boats safe; Manuel, the manager (in red); Our empty slip as we sadly depart  Rio Dulce & me bailing the last of the river rain from the dinghy

A Walk Through Tortugal Grounds, Guatemala

Back in the Rio Dulce, Nov. 2014

Meghan & Brett's Big Day

The Wedding Party

Bride/Groom Dance; Father/Daughter; & The C'Mon Eileen Dance

Princess Louisa Inlet / Chatterbox Falls

We only had 5 days to cruise in British Columbia this summer, but were fortunate enough to go up to  the ever spectacular Princess Louisa Inlet with friends Dave & Holly.

GLOVER'S REEF, BELIZE

Glover's is one of 3 atolls off Belize's southern coast, about 45 kms from the mainland.. It consists of 4 very small coral islands, totally surrounded by coral reefs. Glover's Reef forms part of the Belize Barrier Reef & has some of the most spectacular diving. 

GARDENS UNDER THE SEA

Diving at the Belize Barrier Reef is one of the all time best places for coral reefs - 2nd only to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

 (top left) Juvenile French Angelfish; (middle) Juvenile Queen Angelfish; (top-right) Rock Beauty. (bottom left) Peter spear fishing  - the fish needn't have worried!! (middle bottom) garden eels - they look like tiny little worms in the sand; (bottom right) Anne checking out the fish.

50 SHADES OF BELIZEAN BLUE

SAN PEDRO, AMBERGRIS CAYE, BELIZE

 We took the ferry from Caye Caulker to Ambergris with our good sailing friends, John & Anne off of "Seahorse".

Dive shops, dirt roads, colorful buildings, bars & restaurants everywhere you turn, pretty well describes San Pedro.

BEAUTIFUL CAYE CAULKER, BELIZE

SWIMMING WITH THE DOLPHINS

I could not believe how lucky I was to just be out for a little swim in the mangroves of Belize, when 2 dolphins came up to say hello - what a thrill!

UNDER THE SEA - BACK IN BELIZE

 Red spotted siphonophore; pelagic tunicate; comb jelly or sea walnut?; moon jelly

 Spotted eagle ray digging for food; green sea turtle with sharksuckers; yellow stingray; porcupinefish

 3 types sponge brittle stars; circle-marked brittle star

Web burrfish; Tobaccofish; Sand Diver

Comb jelly; Pederson cleaner shrimp; Spaghetti worm; Channel clinging crab; Cushion starfish; Hawksbill turtle

 Gray angelfish (intermediate); Blue tang (juvenile); French angelfish (juvenile)

Drumfish (adult & juvenile); Spotted drumfish (black spots on white body); Buffalo trunkfish; Smooth trunkfish (white spots on black)

Purple sea plumes; Red tube sponge; Stove pipe coral ( blue); Social Featherduster; Giant barrel sponge; Ball sponge; Giant anemone; Feather duster

Tube sponges; feather dusters; variable boring sponge;  christmas tree worm

Silversides; Yellowline arrow crab; Sand dollar; Reef urchin; Sea star

Scrawled cowfish; Orange spotted filefish; Scrawled filefish; Cowfish (variety)

Yellowtail hamlet; Sailfin blennie; Sharpnose puffer

Porkfish; Scrawled Cowfish; Ocean Trigger; Queen Angelfish; Juvenile Damsel; & Red  Squirrelfish

CAL & ANGIE''S VISIT

Great time had by all, as amigos, Cal & Angie, joined us for 10 days on the boat in Roatan.

A day on the high seas off the West End in the Bay Islands, Honduras.

                                Cal & Angie enjoying the beauty of Roatan.

 Rosemary & Stacey's cruise ship just happened to make a stop in Roatan while Angie & Cal were here. We showed them the sights (West End & West Bay) in a whirlwind 4 hour stop!!

BACK IN THE WATER

 Scrawled Filefish; Banded Butterflyfish;Spotfin Butterflyfish; Flamingo Tongue;& of course, the Great Barracuda

Lionfish; Hogfish; Turtle; Tiger Grouper & ....Peter diving through crevices at Canyon Reef, Roatan

CHRISTMAS IN GUATEMALA

(click on photo to enlarge)

This year was a little different from our previous years on the boat. We did more inland touring including (r-l) Semuc-Champey, climbing Picaya Volcano, Antigua & Tikal Mayan Ruins.

PACAYA VOLCAN

We hiked up this ACTIVE volcano located 25 km. outside of Antigua.  It's about 2550 meters high & warm enough to roast marshmallows!! It had a major blow in 2010 & is still quite active spewing out lots of smoke.

EAT 'N DRINK, EAT 'N DRINK

MARKET DAY

NEW YEARS DAY/NIGHT

 A religious procession proceeds through the main plaza accompanied by a massive amount of firecrackers. We have yet figured out the significance of the firecrackers, but the Gautemalans sure are obsessed with them!