After a couple of days in Belize City (confusingly usually refered to as "Belize" here) Chris and I are back home at Steppingstones.

We usually go to the city about once a month, and we are getting to know it quite well. We always say that here in Belize we are not shoppers, we are hunter/gatherers. In other words, you can't just go to the hardware shop, say, and buy white paint. No, there is no white paint to be had. But while you are there, you see a bath plug, a tennon saw and some cable ties which just might come in handy..... And next time, when you are looking for those energy saving lightbulbs, well, low and behold, there will be white paint - so let's stock up just in case!

We stayed at the Princess Hotel and Casino, which is having a September special. It was US$80 plus tax which included breakfast, and actually for that price it is a pretty good deal. The rooms all have a Caribbean view from a big picture window, a big bathroom, two very comfortable king size beds, and the breakfast is not bad. But don't whatever you do eat there in the evening.......it's awful!

I have just discovered a wonderful plant nursery hidden away in Belmopan. It's owned by a Belizean lady called Geraldine Sosa. She started her business about 20 years ago, when her plants and cuttings threatened to swamp the family home. She now has a beautiful large site bursting to the brim with glorious tropicals, in particular, orchids. She is only open on Tuesday and Thursday, so I insisted on a visit.

We didn't have time to linger, which was perhaps fortunate as I could have spent a small fortune. The first thing I saw on arrival was a honeysuckle growing on a fence. I am always after sweet smelling flowers, so that was top of my list. The honeysuckle doesn't look like a British one, and I can't identify the species, but it's a nice looking bushy plant and will go in the Secret Garden, which we are just making out back. I took two cuttings this morning, so fingers crossed they will take and Martha and Wilma will have one each too.

Next acquisition was a lovely salmon pink ixora. This is a member of the coffee family, and stands up very well to salt wind. It too is destined for the Secret Garden, but I plan to take cuttings and try it out front. It is too luscious a colour to lose, so I am giving it a pampered spot while it settles in.

Then I found a very pretty reddish purple grass about 3ft high, which will be make a good colour accent. Then the creamy white flowered shrub Mussaenda phillippica 'Dona Aurora' (I think it's this one) which will also go in the Secret Garden as it doesn't like salt, but it is so pretty, reminding me a bit of white poinsettia, although the flowers are floppier.

Wandering round with Geraldine was so interesting, I could have spent hours. She is a real orchid expert, and her orchids are just wonderful, the colours are delectable, and the forms are so varied. They are mainly grown for cut flowers. She also has a nice collection of cactus, brought in from the US as seedlings and grown on, although she is struggling with some of the varieties as it is a little too hot for them here. It was nice that she was ready to point out her woes and failures, reminding me that all gardeners have them.

Under the shading I spotted a fabulous succulent which has flowers just like an oleander. Gerladine calls it Rose of the Desert - I need to do some research to find out what its proper name is. I couldn't resist this, and chose one which has both pink and white flowers on the same plant - grafted. This will be kept safely on the kitchen veranda - safe that is unless Faye and Suzie Q get overexcited.

Finally, I just had to have an orchid. Those of you who have visited Steppingstones know that we have wild orchids growing around the place, the green bull horn orchid, a beautiful white one and an orange one which I have been too lazy to identify. So I chose a black orchid - the national flower of Belize - encyclia cochleatum. Just beautiful, with a very dark mauve and green flower like a baby octopus. I can see I am going to get badly hooked on these. Fortunately we have a great climate for orchids, and they are not expensive to buy.

On the way back from Belmopan, I stopped off at the tiny roadside nursery near St Michaels, run by Lennox with the help of his friend Edward. This is a great place, everything is $5, and you can find not only your basic crotons, mangos, etc but there are usually some tucked away unusual oddments.

This time was no exception, and I came away with a pink flowered ginger, a miniature white ixora, a lovely zebra plant - cryptanthus zonatus - and a plant described as oregano by Lennox but which has a large thick leaf smelling of mint, like a very large leafed apple mint. This latter was pounced on by Rambo as we were unloading the boat, with cries of "Bueno, bueno", so I think it must be used in cooking in Honduras. Anyway, I have taken a cutting of this one too, and will quiz Rambo on it when he gets back from his weekend off.

It's a nice bright day after quite a bit of rain overnight, tomorrow may be a day to go kayaking, after all this gardening.

We were up at the crack of dawn for our fishing trip with Ian. Ian Cuevas is our head guide, and friend. He lives in Monkey River Village with partner Alison, from Canada, who is doing her doctorate on the howler monkeys of Monkey River.

We are trying to fit in a trip to the reef every week at the moment, brushing up our skills and “doing learning”. Later on in the season Ian will be working every single day with guests, but for now, we have the time to play a bit ourselves and build up our knowledge of the cayes and the reef.

It was not a promising morning; the sea state was described as moderate, which translates to a very bumpy ride out to the reef, especially as we had decided to go north to Glovers Spit to try for kingfish. The wind was coming out for the northeast, and despite Ian’s skill at sliding up and down the big waves, our bones were well jolted around by the time we reached Pumpkin Island (sometimes called Pompion). This is our bait catching place, but for once the baits just weren’t there. Just as well Chris had just done a complete overhaul and refit of our lures.

We head out to the outside of the reef and began to patrol along Gladden Spit. In April, May and June, this is where you can spot whale shark gorging on plankton produced by a huge grouper spawning – especially around the full moon. Using deep running lures, we trolled up and down in a pretty big though gentle swell. Glass green transparent waves 8 foot high are beautiful when the sun is shining and you have a great boatman at the helm.

Chris started getting hits on his Yo-Zuri L Jack Minnow in bright silver. Small bonito. Ian started to see kings jumping, and Chris hauled in a bonito, neatly cut in half on its way back to the boat. “Big kingfish” declared Ian. So we were into the bite, and another bonito followed shortly, surely only a matter of time before we hit the kingfish. But I was starting to feel very queasy, unusually for me and despite travel sickness tablets. Rather than spoil the whole day, I asked Ian to take us inside the reef into calmer water. I was angry at myself, as Chris and Ian both knew the bite was on, but they were kind enough not to point out that I was a wimp.

I just threw myself down on the foredeck and had a brief doze, while Chris and Ian pottered around and caught a few snappers, small ‘cuda and the like, in the lovely turquoise waters of the inner reef. Feeling better, I joined in, and had a baby big eye jack – my only fish of the day.

We stopped for a chat with the rangers at Little Water Caye. That place is spotless; the guides really do a good job out there. As usual, the jokes were in Creole, but Ian and co be warned, I understand more Creole each day! They have a nice pack of dogs out there, a lovely brindle mother dog, a big male that looks to have boxer and rottie in him, and some pups, one of whom has a perfect gsd head, and another looks a bit like Faye.

The guides had been fishing for ‘cuda for their dinner, and for the dogs’ dinner as well. We watched the german shepherd-looking pup gently and delicately retrieve a fish tail from the water, look around for the others to make sure they weren’t watching, and take it off to eat in private.

We had some quiche and my trademark chips ‘n’ dips, then off for a bit more fishing, this time trolling the banks around Little Water Caye. Ian was amazed as we set off to see a shoal of mixed permit and bonefish in the shallows by the Caye. In all the time he has fished that area, he has never seen bonefish and permit there before. We weren’t out for permit and bones, or they would have been a good cheap shot.

The afternoon’s trolling produced a decent barracuda of about 10lb on a Yo-Zuri Tobimaru, which Chris later lost when after a ten minute battle a fish took him round a coral head. Then finally, a kingfish, not a monster, but good enough for a few meals, was tempted by Chris’s Halco Laser Pro is silver blue and pink, which Ian had earlier declared to be an ugly useless lure! However, when the fish came in and we could see fish and lure together it was clear that the colour of the lure imitated the colours of a small kingfish.

We don’t get many wins when it comes to pitching our knowledge against Ian’s, so we treasure the ones that come along!

We decided not to push on with fishing into the dark, it had just been too bumpy a day for all of us. Chris and I were worn out when we got home, and absolutely covered in salt, it felt like sand we were so thickly encrusted from the spray. The hot water shower that our solar water heater supplies felt wonderful!

I think we were in bed by about eight o clock, completely worn out. The week ahead will be occupied with trips to Independence for supplies, and a trip to the city to look at a backup generator and to buy some necessary fripperies. More fishing next weekend – but we will pay more attention to the weather next time.

Hi there everybody,

This blog is designed for what you could loosely call the Friends of Steppingstones - our friends, relations, guests, and those thinking of visiting. Here we will attempt to keep everyone up to date with the news, gossip and happenings down here in southern Belize - especially fishing news.

I'll start with a little introduction. Chris and I starting building Steppingstones in 2002 - working mostly at long range from the UK with the invaluable help of Sam and Martha Scott. In March 2005 we moved down here for good, and opened for business as a tiny fishing eco resort in November 2005.

Since then we have had a small be very select band of visitors, from the UK, Canada and the US, and these included Mike Ladle and Steve Pitts, who made a lovely DVD while they were here, and Chris and Spud Woodward, working on an article for Sport Fishing Magazine, Feb 07 issue.

Chris and I have been very busy with the seemingly endless tasks involved in building Steppingstones into the kind of fishing resort that we would like to stay at. And of course, this being Belize, we wake up every morning wondering what little challenge will present itself today!

For example, we have been having a bit of trouble with the starter motor on our launch, Patience, so we called in the excellent Houdeny, our mechanic from Monkey River Village to sort out the problem. He came and picked the motor up, brought it back a few hours later, refitted it, wasn't quite happy, so decided to take it apart on the dock.

Yes, you know what happened next - a small but vital spring fell through the crack into the blue Caribbean. So our starter motor is back in the village again, fingers crossed Houdeny will be able to find a spring that fits, or we will be forced to manual start - not an easy task on a 50hp outboard.

In the pic you can see that we have had Patience done up, and also built a nice palapa and a dock extension. The palapa has two hammocks and a couple of chairs, it's a lovely place to sit in the breeze.

So, I am off to cook barracuda and chips (fries) for dinner. We have had lovely weather recently, so we are planning to go out to the cayes tomorrow with Ian for some fishing. I'll be reporting how we get on in the next post.