Hi, Chris here, my turn to blog.

Finally, the pictures we promised are posted to this blog.

One of our guests, gazing into the water off our dock recently, casually asked us if we knew we had sea horses in residence! Sure enough, when we looked we found pretty little sea horses feeding off the algae on the piles of our dock. This was a revelation because they are so well camouflaged they can easily be missed, as we had proved! So in addition to the snappers, barracuda, needlefish, Nemo (the black and yellow stripy one) and the rest, we have yet another resident species.

Talking of needlefish, we have quite a few tiny baby needlefish around the dock feeding on microscopic fry and larvae. I spotted one last night which was all of three inches long and had grabbed a tiny fish which was way too big for it to swallow, so it was swimming around with the unfortunate fish clamped across its jaws, obviously unsure what to do next! Big brother needlefish however had no such problem. He (she) spent yesterday afternoon stalking a huge shoal of baitfish that appeared from nowhere, picking off the stragglers at the tail of the shoal. We were on standby, rods at the ready, in case some larger predators followed the baitfish in. This time however, nothing showed up. A big baitfish shoal is a magnet to blue runners in particular, and they in turn attract other bigger predators within casting range.

One visitor we did get was a full size, solitary dolphin, which cruised slowly by, about sixty yards offshore the other morning. Quite a spectacular sight in flat calm water. Dolphins seem to come in very close along our beach, and we frequently get an escort of three or four around the boat as we run out to the reef. It could be that they are hunting in the fish rich waters at the mouth of nearby Monkey River. Certainly the kingfish come into the shallow river estuary to feed as Spud Woodward, one of our guests back last summer proved, when he had one take a bait right at the river mouth.

Currently we have John and Amanda Bennet staying with us. John is a keen fly fisher who until now had never fished warm salt water. We promised him a crash course in screaming reels and hooped rods. Well first cast on his first day out he hooked his first permit, but as sometimes happens, the fish surges off and a knot slips. It happens to all of us sometimes, but very frustrating for all that. John went on to get amongst the bonefish, and next day finally got his longed-for permit. Not a monster, but as Ian says, a permit is a permit. John also got an 8lb jack which towed him all over the place before coming in. In between boat trips with Ian, John has been exploring Great Monkey Caye which lies about 700yds off our beach dead in front of Steppingstones. He moors the kayak, and then wades the small flats at the northern tip of the caye. This has produced snappers, barracuda etc for John all on fly.

This type of approach often yields an unexpected bonus, in John’s case, a close encounter with a manatee (aka sea cow) grazing the extensive grass beds that surround the caye. Belize has quite a population of manatees, and here in Southern Belize we have one of their major breeding grounds. In many parts of the world manatee are under threat from man, most often because of collisions with fast moving boats in shallow water. Apparently the manatee which spends all its day grazing on sea grass, has poor hearing and cannot hear approaching boats. The locals here are well aware of the importance of this protected species, and everyone watches out for them.

Rambo, our resident handyman, has just got back from a short kayak trip to get a couple of snappers for his supper. He fishes with a baited handline local style. I used to sneer at this until I saw how successful he is! This time he came in having had both his lines broken by big fish in the channel right in front of us. I suspect this may be groupers straying from the reef, as I had the same thing happen in the same area. Whatever it was it just bolted into a coral outcrop and that was that.

On another front, Sue and I have been planting sprouting coconuts all along the highwater mark on the beach. We discovered that coconuts cannot be successfully transplanted once strongly rooted, but a sprouted coconut will turn into a viable palm tree within three years or so. It is the nature of a wild uncultivated beach that coconut palms eventually fall down into the sea unless well-rooted. So we decided to give nature a helping hand by planting “sprouties” all along the beach, to replace the ones which have fallen in over the years.

We still have plenty of mature palms, and a vast excess of coconuts. We use the palm fronds for shading of our chicken run, the husks and shells as barbeque fuel, and the nut meat for eating either raw or in dishes like curries etc. Some people enjoy the milk from the green coconuts, this is not a taste we have cultivated ourselves. I have learned how to chop a coconut open with my machete. This is a job which requires concentration and a good eye, otherwise your fingers are going to be at risk.