Kayaks, Hammocks and Belikins!

As told by Stacey and Karen:

Day 2 dawned with a beautiful sunrise out of our bedroom doors and NO ROOSTERS!  Breakfast starts at 7:30 each day and is always something very yummy...often involves eggs, fresh biscuits or cinnamon buns, fruit, yogurt and granola.  Each morning involved Victor telling us what we would be doing for the day...via the whiteboard of our lives.

Thus begins our second day and our kayak orientation.  We were fitted with sea kayaks after a land demonstration on T rescues by Victor and Mario.  Victor with delicate diplomacy fitted my kayak and then offered me an open sit upon kayak instead (apparently Karen has too many assets to be able to comfortably jump in and out of a regular one...lol).  Into the water we "glided" smoothly and gently.  (BAHAHAHAHA)  As per usual, Stacey offered to be first to go in the water to be rescued (Karen and Stacey were buddies for this exercise) and Stacey never left poor Karen's side...until later.  After a fairly uneventful but bruising rescue, it was Karen's turn.  Unbeknownst to us, we had drifted about 1/2 a mile away from the rest of the group.  Fortunately, MJ realized early on that we were in need of extra assistance and had stuck with us.  Karen's fall to the water was relatively simple, however, she encountered difficulty when trying to haul her uncoordinated "assets" back up and MJ adjusted our rescue plan accordingly.  RESULTS!  We survived and went for a quick break.

Sunrise from Hut #2

Gathering for our orientation.

Self portrait in the kayak.  Karen in the background searching for critters.

View from Stacey's kayak of Victor leading the charge.






Stacey's bruises from bunny hopping the length of the kayak.

After a quick break, we loaded up and set off for the reef just off Northeast Caye.  Here is where Stacey became the worst buddy ever as stated by Victor.  She left Karen in her wake and headed out to the front of the pack.  Karen being an inexperienced paddler was always at the end of the pack (except for the people who wimped out and turned back.  Kellie were you one of them?????  We know you were freezing and miserable.)  

No land in site.  This is Arno, a fellow Canadian.



The Belize Barrier Reef as seen from Stacey's kayak.



Look way, way back, it's Karen!



Stacey staying with her buddy, Karen, after being chastised yet again by Victor.

After a delicious lunch, kayak surfing was on the WHITEBOARD for the afternoon's activity.  There was also a 5 minute demonstration on Paddleboard use.  Stacey attempted to partake in this sport.  Karen on the otherhand, was advised  that her paddling skills might not enable her to be successful at this point.  Stacey had a rough time of it, didn't really catch a wave, found it hard to paddle out but we were soon to learn that none of this was likely to be her fault.  After she gave up in disgrace and John took her kayak and also, was unsuccessful, MJ traded with him and brought the other kayak back to the dock.  It was soon discovered that this particular kayak had a crack in the bottom and was taking on huge amounts of water making it very heavy.  Stacey was happy to learn that she hadn't brutally failed at sea kayak surfing life. 

Stacey - red kayak, blue buoyancy aid, red helmet

Stacey catching a wave.  Note how low her kayak is in the water.  You can't even see it.

Recuperating after being dumped.  Note: most of the kayak is still under water.  It was shortly after this that she gave up.

So we spent the rest of the afternoon hammock surfing, drinking Belikin and then had a pre-dinner volleyball game.

Ichabod the Iguana

Chuck the Duck hammock surfing on Stacey's deck.

Stacey's artistic rendition of "Self-portrait of a freak through a hammock"

Karen trying in vain to reach her drink while dozing in the hammock palapa.

Chuck enjoying a nice cold Belikin under the palapa.

Staff (Mario, MJ and Martin) and Anders from Sweden before we joined in.