Morning in Paradise

 As the sun rose over the Caribbean Sea

this morning, our catamaran, The Watuna, bobbed gently as I sipped my freshly brewed cup of Guatemalan coffee on the front porch. The catamaran has stayed moored out front for easy access for our Belize fishing, snorkeling and sailing trips. It can take up to 12 people and it was awaiting a tour this morning for a trip to the Barrier Reef, which lies just 5 miles off the coast of Hopkins, Belize. The guests were still mostly sleeping while my wife readied her usual breakfast delicacies for their enjoyment before heading out for a day of snorkeling the fabulous Belize Reef, which still teems with a plethora of colorful coral and fish.

    An Herbaceous Frittata

was on the menu this morning as the warm Caribbean Breeze and cacophony of birds are the usual alarm clock for slumbering guests at Beaches and Dreams. A few will meander out to get  coffee and head out to the dock to bid the day good morning and possibly contemplate how they can make the  vacation last.

      Fresh Fruit and Yogurt

help to round out every morning's menu. Caribbean fresh fruit from the markets and farms all across Belize are a must and once you've tasted just picked ripe bananas, papaya and starfruit, the at home supermarket varieties will never compare again. The yogurt is made at the Mennonite Dairy near Spanish Lookout in Northern Belize.[

           Freshly Baked Pastries

are always a must to fortify vacationers for various trips into Belize's Jungles, like the 2 nearby National Parks, Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve and Mayflower Bocawina
National Park, both great hiking destinations and a Bird Watcher's paradise. That's the great thing about Hopkins, we have all that Belize has to offer within just a short radius. Hopkins is bordered on the East by the Sea, with the best beach for swimming in Belize and to the west lie the Maya Mountains with a fabulous Savannah in between. The wetland Savannah is full of  birds like the Jabiru Stork and the Roseatted Spoonbill, Whistling Ducks, Tiger Herons  and Pigmy Kingfishers.

 Yes, I feel lucky to live in a place

where Scuba Diving, Snorkeling the second Largest Barrier Reef in the world, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Bird Watching, world class hiking and jungle experiences, Mayan Ruins, River Cave Tubing, Zip lining and of course just hanging out on a great piece of beach are all at my finger tips, and contemplating the days activities over one of Angela's great breakfasts is always a great way to start the day in Hopkins Belize.................You'd Better Belize It!

The puppy

When we first came down to Belize 3 years ago, we brought our dog of , then, 11 years, Sugar. She was a beautiful German Short hair Pointer that we owned in Alaska since she was 8 weeks old. The Alaskan winters were harder on her than us and her joints were always stiff and she was dangerously lethargic in winters now, barely going off our generous porch to do her business at 40 below zero. She had a wonderful life, never knowing confinement and having a the clear cool waters of the Upper Chena River in her front yard. The move down to Belize proved to be a great one as she was rejuvenated and often swam in the water for hours at a time and plenty of birds, crabs and other crawlies to chase. I think most of all, she loved the fact that I never left her for 12 hours at a time as was the case with our busy restaurant in Alaska,. and she was free to follow me around all day until I had to go to the kitchen to work at about 3 pm every day at which time she would dutifully go upstairs where we reside and take up her place on the love seat. Not a bad life. Indeed she became quite the schmoozer of the beach as wandering tourists ogled over her, missing their own pets. Our guestbook makes just as much reference to Sugar as to the hospitality and food that has become our trademark. Alas, last summer, she had a seizure and we put her to sleep where she can swim in the fluffy clouds for eternity.

Fast forward to February 2009 when Angela and I knew we would stay down here for the season I began thinking about getting another dog. I had had German Shorthair Pointers my whole life, hunting them some, but mostly as family pets and I wanted another. I really didn't want to spend the nearly $1000 US to purchase one from the States, but had my mind set on a GSP. I went online to some of the more Northern Breeders (remember, it is February there) and basically offered a 5 night stay with a fishing trip to any breeder willing to trade me a puppy. Low and Behold a breeder from Minnesota (that's where the February thing fits in.said he had a 3 week old male that he would do the trade and would wait until next March to come down and do his trip and he would send the puppy when he was 12 weeks old. We are expecting shipping on the puppy this May 18th and are very excited as for the first time in my life, I will have the time to work with a dog.

The owner is also a trainer of hunting dogs so he started him and asked if we had a name for him as they were just calling him Belize. After exchanging a few pictures and seeing him as a little pistol, we opted for the name Ruger and he is a cutie.

I have no doubt that Ruger will equally "own" the visitors on the beach and will soon learn the ways of "Schmoozing" That Sugar was so good at.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE FARM

.For such a small patch of salty seafront property, my micro climates around the roadside part of the property continue to amaze me as, at the time of this post my Mango tree is laden with fruit, a few pineapples are coming on, my basil is going at full bore, my tangerine tree is beginning to fruit (and it is full !)and the papayas are still producing small papayas. My pride and joy, however, has been the Tuscan Cantaloupes, of which we harvested the first ones earlier this week and they are positively the best cantaloupes I have ever had with their sweet, soft syrupy texture.

That's all for now, I see a boat pulling up to the dock and I know that the morning fisherman is returning....You'd better Belize it!