February 8, 2011 (Leaving Tobacco Caye: Part 1)

Today I would be leaving the beautiful and tranquil Tobacco Caye. After a nice "last breakfast" with my new Jehovah's Witness friends prepared by Carmen, I packed by bags and headed for the dock. A boat piloted by "Captain Buck" was supposed to be heading back to Dangriga at 9:00 AM. I was getting a little worried as the day was dark and overcast (a real rarity for Belize!) and the seas were stormy. It had just started raining when we departed on Captain Buck's small boat. The boat had a maximum capacity of about nine people and had no "roof" or cover of any kind. Once it started raining I was glad the captain had set us up with several large plastic tarps to help keep us dry. I crawled completely underneath the tarp and managed to stay pretty dry and warm. The ride was -- unfortunately-- incredibly bumpy this time. And due to the huge waves and the captain's tricky manner of riding the waves sideways the trip took about twice as long as my boat trip TO Tobacco Caye a few days earlier. I had made the huge mistake of failing to put one of the dozen life jackets on board underneath my ass for the journey because after a few minutes of incredible pounding on my bony butt I had to slide down so my meaty thighs took the abuse instead. Even with my tricky maneuvering I still thought I might need surgery on my vertebrae and kidney replacement after this adventure. My back took an incredible pounding. But eventually we arrived back at "lovely" Dangriga. Once in Dangriga I jumped in a taxi for the very short ride to the bus station, and once there I hooked up with the bus to Placencia. The bus ride was -- as usual -- a fabulous bargain (US$5.00 for a ninety minute ride) but had a lot of stops along the way. The Placencia Peninsula looks rather tiny on the map but seems to take forever to drive down. Placencia Village -- where most of the "action" in Placencia takes place-- is at the very bottom (southern) tip of the peninsula shown below.

The trip from Dangriga to Placencia is interesting because you pass by an incredible range of economic development along the way. The Placencia Peninsula lies south of Dandriga and Hopkins (about 120 miles south of Belize City) and due east of the Maya Mountains on the Caribbean coast. The peninsula extends sixteen miles from its northernmost point to the southern tip. Placencia is renowned for its white sand beaches and spectacular views of the Caribbean along its entire length. A calm lagoon separates the skinny peninsula from the mainland. At some points along the way the peninsula is only a couple hundred feet wide. Homes and real estate projects line almost the entirety of both sides of the central road running north and south along the peninsula. The bus lets you off at the very end of the peninsula, so I found a nice (and reasonably priced) hotel called the Paradise Resort a few blocks from the bus stop and checked in.