Since we last posted we have been joined by our first guests of the season, Ros and Steve from the UK and their friends Fran and Larry from the US, so we have had a busy couple of weeks which have just flown by.

One of the first things which everyone wanted to do was get out and explore, and our new kayaks were put to good use by Steve and Larry, and they were joined in a small flotilla by Ros and Fran in one of the pedallos - excellent leg exercise, better than a Stairmaster, everyone agrees - better views certainly.

Steve, Fran and Larry are all anglers - Ros likes cooking and eating the catch and just watching the world go by. They have done a lot of beach fishing, and early on were rewarded by barracuda, snook and a fine mutton snapper to Steve from the beach. They've also done quite a bit of river and lagoon fishing with our head guide Ian Cuevas this week, which has been rather tough going, although yesterday they were rewarded for all their efforts with some decent snook.

The Western Caribbean has been enduring an unusual cold front which has meant that we have had cool, rainy, cloudy weather, and this has sent the local fish into the sulks. Could it be the effects of El Nino this year? Luckily for us, even with this unseasonal weather, Ian managed to work out the pattern of the fish movement and successful predict where the snook would be yesterday - but it has been quite hard this week.

Larry and Fran leave us today, Ros and Steve stay on for another three weeks. Later today we will be joined by two British anglers, also friends of Ros and Steve, Ian and another Steve, it is going to be interesting as the Brits are likely to be very competitive!

OUr four guests usually have their winter holiday in the Anna Maria Island, Florida area, which can be quite cold apparantly in the winter, and they are amazed at how warm it is here in Belize despite the cloud, especially at night. Chris and I, being acclimatised, just pile on the blankets once it gets below 70.

One of the highlights of this week was a night trip up Monkey River spotting crocodiles and birds. Seems an unlikely thing to do, but the jungle comes alive at night and animals and birds are much easier to see. Our guide was Winsley Garbutt (Babe as he is known) and his ability to spot birds, animals and even insects in the dark is nothing short of breathtaking. Traveling along the river in the cool of the evening, we saw dozens of beautiful roosting birds, iguanas, racoons, roosting bats and of course crocs. We were able to get really close to everything except the biggest croc, the smaller ones you could reach out and touch - not recommended. Oh, I should say that once Babe spots the animal, we illuminate it with torches. Really a great trip and recommended for any nature lover visiting.

The weather seems likely to turn kinder and more normal during the coming week, so we hope to have some trips to the reef to report soon.