Yesterday I was in (skateboard) heaven but today we went to Hell. Yes, Hell is a real town on the island and is named after jagged limestone formations which were thought to resemble hell. The main attraction is the post office / souvenir shop which has the Devil himself.
The shop keeper is always dressed as the Devil, complete with small black horns. His corny lines in his repertoire included “How the Hell are you?” and to the Americans “Do you know where Heaven is?” The answer is West Virginia as the number plate on the wall has the slogan West Virginia. In five minutes we heard him repeat these (ultra-)corny lines three times. Haha.. When we told him about Australia’s tourism campaign of “Where the bloody hell are ya?” he looked as dis-interested as the number plate on the wall.
We left and took a few more obligatory shots of some of the buildings in the town and then bailed. 
We were contemplating on going to the turtle farm though first we stopped at West Bay. Here is one of the best shore diving locations in the world. Two large walls just drop deep into the ocean 150m off the shore. There was a man made channel with some huge fish, up to 1m long, swimming in the outlet. Brown matter resembling “Bondi cigars” was floating in the water which the fish were feeding on. We ended up chatting to some American students (with their chocolate Labrador called Hershey) studying on Grand Cayman who told it was $55 each to visit the turtles and the channel was actually on outlet from the turtle farm (not the turd farm!!)
Yesterday we spoke to a Canadian couple who said Cemetery Beach was good for snorkeling. We traveled along the coast until we hit ut, just along from Seven Mile beach where our hotel is located. It’s quite odd, but all of the cemeteries we have seen on this island, typically small, are located right on the beach front and this one was no exception. We walked through to see quite a lot of young-ish people who had passed away. It was almost certain if you were a bloke on this island who had passed away, it said “Gone Fishing”.
The snorkeling here was really good. Initially I swam out to find some small fish congregating around some rocks but as I swam across I found some submerged ledges teeming with fish! Diving down and sticking your hand under ledge, scared the fish out which you could then chase. It was lots of fun! 
Afterwards, we went for a spin on the gravel tracks but the little car and the pot holes didn’t match. On one of the beaches I found the one star sun lounge (complete with sea weed). 
We had to return to West Bay, to a café / bar where the divers embarked for the ledges. It was really nice, moderately priced, and we were even cooled by a passing weak sun shower. 
It was time our little red car needed some fuel. We used KY$10 (Cayman Dollars) worth of fuel in two days.. wow. As a token gesture, as we were leaving, a random chicken decided to walk through the petrol station! 
Passing through George Town yesterday, I saw a local fish market propped up on the beach and I was keen to see what they had on offer. When we arrived, a guy was cutting up a fish head into quarters for a Jamaican lady. We saw what appeared to be like Coral Trout and Nannygai or Redfish for sale and some massive Wahoo. If we had one more day, I would have been out there catching them ourselves!!
George Town, like all of the other Caribbean destinations have a strong pirate history and George Town had “Richard du Noir” (Richard the Black) who later became affectionately known as “Big Black Dick!” 
We settled back at the hotel, where we lounged in the sun and the non-eventful sunset. 
I had to have my last Pina Colada of our Caribbean adventure while Tan settled for an exceptional mango dacquiri.
The shop keeper is always dressed as the Devil, complete with small black horns. His corny lines in his repertoire included “How the Hell are you?” and to the Americans “Do you know where Heaven is?” The answer is West Virginia as the number plate on the wall has the slogan West Virginia. In five minutes we heard him repeat these (ultra-)corny lines three times. Haha.. When we told him about Australia’s tourism campaign of “Where the bloody hell are ya?” he looked as dis-interested as the number plate on the wall.
We left and took a few more obligatory shots of some of the buildings in the town and then bailed. We were contemplating on going to the turtle farm though first we stopped at West Bay. Here is one of the best shore diving locations in the world. Two large walls just drop deep into the ocean 150m off the shore. There was a man made channel with some huge fish, up to 1m long, swimming in the outlet. Brown matter resembling “Bondi cigars” was floating in the water which the fish were feeding on. We ended up chatting to some American students (with their chocolate Labrador called Hershey) studying on Grand Cayman who told it was $55 each to visit the turtles and the channel was actually on outlet from the turtle farm (not the turd farm!!)Yesterday we spoke to a Canadian couple who said Cemetery Beach was good for snorkeling. We traveled along the coast until we hit ut, just along from Seven Mile beach where our hotel is located. It’s quite odd, but all of the cemeteries we have seen on this island, typically small, are located right on the beach front and this one was no exception. We walked through to see quite a lot of young-ish people who had passed away. It was almost certain if you were a bloke on this island who had passed away, it said “Gone Fishing”.
The snorkeling here was really good. Initially I swam out to find some small fish congregating around some rocks but as I swam across I found some submerged ledges teeming with fish! Diving down and sticking your hand under ledge, scared the fish out which you could then chase. It was lots of fun! Afterwards, we went for a spin on the gravel tracks but the little car and the pot holes didn’t match. On one of the beaches I found the one star sun lounge (complete with sea weed). We had to return to West Bay, to a café / bar where the divers embarked for the ledges. It was really nice, moderately priced, and we were even cooled by a passing weak sun shower. It was time our little red car needed some fuel. We used KY$10 (Cayman Dollars) worth of fuel in two days.. wow. As a token gesture, as we were leaving, a random chicken decided to walk through the petrol station! Passing through George Town yesterday, I saw a local fish market propped up on the beach and I was keen to see what they had on offer. When we arrived, a guy was cutting up a fish head into quarters for a Jamaican lady. We saw what appeared to be like Coral Trout and Nannygai or Redfish for sale and some massive Wahoo. If we had one more day, I would have been out there catching them ourselves!!George Town, like all of the other Caribbean destinations have a strong pirate history and George Town had “Richard du Noir” (Richard the Black) who later became affectionately known as “Big Black Dick!” We settled back at the hotel, where we lounged in the sun and the non-eventful sunset. I had to have my last Pina Colada of our Caribbean adventure while Tan settled for an exceptional mango dacquiri.
Our first stop, the coral garden, was to swim with corals and a number of fish. The water wasn’t too warm but comfortable. I was the first one in and horse-eye jack were everywhere. Imagine, a two foot long big eye trevally. Yep, and they were swarming around us. It was absolutely awesome. Towards the reef we saw an assortment of coral and fish. The highlight was a small 3 foot long barracuda patrolling the edge of the reef. This fish was fast.
Our second spot, shark and ray alley, was in the Marine Reserve. This area has been called a marine reserve for 22 years so the fish are more abundant and bigger. Tan was feeling a bit sea sick so she sat this one out. As soon as I got in there were more horse-eye jack and some moderate size black stingrays. I wasn’t too keen on getting up close and personal with these ones but the captain and crew lifted one out of the water and allowed people to pet it. Not really for me but seeing them swim around was pretty good. Okay, we have seen the sting rays but it was the sharks we were after. 
We followed our snorkeling guide towards the reef and immediately the group raced off chasing a shark. I was too slow and missed this one. Claudio and I were spewing. We swam around a bit more and then we saw a nurse shark hiding under an over hang. It was about 6 feet long and was cowering around our presence. Our guide swam down to greet it and it bolted away swimming in the open sea. We all of course followed suite, chasing it. On the way back the group spread out with Claudio and I on the eastern flank. I spotted another big shark in a cave. I pointed it out to Claudio and we watched it for about a minute before everyone else come over. Snorkelling with sharks isn’t that dangerous!!!
After a few hours sleep I miraculously made it out of bed where Tan and I shared a pizza which hit the spot.
We updated the blog, already a long way behind on a slooooow connection. Coffee was interesting and Tan’s chai latte was a cracker. Normally chai is a cinnamon based tea but she got an expresso with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Oh well.. we are in Belize and it doesn’t matter.
The fresh fish included a Spanish mackerel and it was brilliant.
The bill was easy, $25 Belizean ($US12.50) each for the feed and he counted up the empty bottles. He wasn’t too worried about the price. The whole Go Slow and everything is going to be alright is quite catchy.
