It is hard to believe but last night was the very first night that I was able to review the photos from the trip. Correction: It was the first night that I could view the photos from Saturday, the day we arrived. I have yet to review the rest of the week. Do bear in mind that Lizzy has been reviewing them and has passed several of them my way (e.g., spider pics and some others). Last night was just the first time I reviewed them myself.

I came across this amazing photo from our kayak and snorkel trip. We kayaked out a couple hundred yards to a buoy, tied a line and hopped in. The water wasn’t deep and the tide made it almost impossible to take a photo – above the surface or below!

Lizzy appears here just barely above the surface as she floats along admiring the view below. The timing of this shot was pretty spectacular to get the half-n-half. I just wish that I’d gotten a clear view below. That would have been amazing. Still working on my photography skills, though.

I don’t know that Liz and I will make it a habit to post every morning, but on this day, we just so happened to be awake before everyone else is and have the luxury of a few minutes to relax and gather our wits about us. Much of this may have to do with the 8:30 bedtime last night! We were so exhausted by the end of our journey yesterday (OK after we kayaked out to the reef, climbed a tree, drank coconut rum punch and ate a wonderful dinner), that we simply couldn’t stay awake any longer.

But going to bed at 8:30 leads to an early rise, even after ten hours sleep! So we got up, walked to the dock, laid in the hammocks for a couple of minutes and are now prepping or a trip to forage for food.

One new travel tip: ALWAYS stick to your plan. Liz and I got too excited to stop and grab groceries on our way to Cocotal yesterday. We were indecisive on what we should do and ultimately skipped it. Would have been easy to cook up some grub and roll out the kayaks first thing this morning. Lesson learned.

Old Travel Tip: Pack a few clothes into carry on items! A nice couple from Birmingham shared our flights but not our fortune as their luggage didn’t arrive. They are staying at a private island with the clothes on their backs and a tank top Liz insisted the lady borrow. I feel bad for them, but on the bright side, they do have all the privacy in the world on that little island!

Here is our itinerary. We likely won’t be able to post on any of these exciting activities while we’re gone, but you can follow along with what we are doing each day anyway. Hopefully we can post here and there, but for now, this is what we have.

[Click to Enlarge]

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P.S. Wish us luck!

We didn’t get to kayak this last weekend. It was a scuba diving trip that took us to Rockport and led to another visit to North Shore Kayak. But we did get to stop in, say hello and discuss a little bit about kayaking, our trip to Belize and the possibility of purchasing some rides for next year.

While I was there, I picked up a new dry bag. I got a 10 liter Seal Line Baja Bag. I got this primarily to protect my new DSLR camera. I think that most of our gear is pretty waterproof with the exception of this and Liz’s Sony Webbie. The V.I.O. POV 1 and my Sealife are both waterproof (to a certain extend) but these other items might be vital to one or more of our planned adventures; particularly, the ATM trip.

We’ve already established that the ATM trip will involve some immersion (and possible submersion) in the walk to the cave and even within. Since it’s the rainy season, we can count on other wet days. And finally, we’re kayaking, snorkeling and diving. So yes, water is a constant. And I think that if we are to properly document this trip, we need to ensure that we have the resources we need.

The dry bag was a small investment, about US$17.00 towards preserving our gear and equipping us for the elements. Match this with the killer Marmot jackets and a few other waterproof items (like the dry box) and we should be all set!

I know this is a redundant topic, but I wanted to expand a bit more on it.

The mosquito problem in Belize. I hate, hate, hate mosquitoes. Ever since I was a child and my family would vacation in the Outer Banks, NC I have had an extreme irritation of mosquitoes. When my family would vacation, we would always rent a house with my mom’s sister’s family and her three kids. With Seven kids, two couples and my grandmother and her friend (6 adults) there wasn’t ample sleeping space in some of the houses. One year, I was deemed the “sun room” or screened in porch as my sleeping headquarters. Again, I dawned my bed as an air mattress all week. I woke up morning after morning covered in more and more mosquito bites than the night before. I had horrible itching for weeks after returning from the Outer banks and developed a deep hatred for the little buggers.

One day, as a teenager and later in life, I was reading through a Cosmopolitan offering tips for summer beauty. One of the tips suggest Vitamin B1 as a mosquito repellent. You take the pills and the scent your body emits from the pills wards off mosquitoes. I immediately went out and bought a bottle of Vitamin B1 from GNC. Ever since, I have always had vitamin B1 in my possession. The Vitamin B1 has worked for me and it has prevented huge red itchy bumps from camping trips and late beach nights. You have to start taking the pills a few days before your planned journey, but it does work. I have read recently a few forums of people being worried of taking Vitamin B pills being asthmatic. I can say, having asthma as a child and (fortunately) seem to be growing out of it, I have had no problems combining Vitamin B1 with my asthma. Another plus about the Vitamin B1 is that it enhances your energy and metabolism. Maybe I can contribute some of my slender figure to that? It’s not a diet pill but a natural energy enhancer/mosquito repellent. Again, a win win situation!

I have about 8 pills left in my bottle. This means I’ll be making a trip to CVS Pharmacy (I no longer shop at GNC) to pick up some more of these handy pills to start taking three days before Belize and to share with Courtney.