2-1-2015 Fishing & Relaxing in the Cayes

Guido and Simonetta's day off is Sunday, so we chartered a boat from Patrick's Tour Belize for some fishing and relaxing.
We arrived at the marina at 7 am, ready for fun.

The Sittee River was beautiful, as always.

Heading out for a day of fun with Captain Jack and guide Lincoln

The incredible view as we left the Sittee River and entered the Caribbean Sea.

The clouds were beautiful and dramatic.

We could see rain in the distance as we headed to the cayes, and we seemed to be heading right for it.

Indeed, we had to endure a brief but heavy rain, though we were prepared for it.

We first stopped at South Water Caye to catch some bait fish (sardines).

The kayak looks lonely and just aching to get out on the water.

The island of South Water Caye houses several resorts.  We didn't stay long, then we headed to the inner reef.

Our first hint of the beautiful waters we would soon be enjoying.

The dark spots you see here are coral.

Lincoln giving Simonetta some trips on trolling.

Guess they were good tips - not long after putting her line in the water Simonetta caught the biggest fish of the day (a large
barracuda), and Captain Jack helped bring it in.

Here is the video Eric took of Simonetta catching this barracuda:

The color and clarity of the water was amazing - like a giant swimming pool.

The whitecaps you see in the distance are waves breaking on the reef.  That reef (the world's largest living reef) is what
protects much of Belize from the big waves.

Gorgeous!

Eric tried his hand at trolling.

Simonetta relaxing and enjoying the beautiful waters.

Eric also caught a barracuda.

We saw more rain heading our way, so we threw our raincoats on again and headed toward Bread and Butter Caye.

On the way we stopped at a little sandbar in the middle of nowhere. 

We just love Guido and Simonetta - what an awesome couple!

Captain Jack expertly guided the skiff onto and off of the little sandbar.

Bread and Butter Caye.  This island is Bread, and the neighboring (softer) island is Butter.

There are loads of great places to relax here.

There is also a nice place to sit and have lunch, which is what we did while the weather cleared up.

The caretaker of the island had this red-lored amazon parrot.

The pupils in the parrot's eyes would quickly dilate then return to normal while he was listening
to us talk.

The island's owner made the island much bigger by packing it with conch shells and covering
that with sand.

We enjoyed watching the pelicans dive all around us.

The pelicans loved the docks as well.  To the right you can see the companion island of "Butter".

The weather finally cleared for good, and it turned out to be a gorgeous day.

This viewpoint offered great creature watching.

Looks like a grassy bottom, doesn't it?

Nope, those are zillions of little tiny fish.  If you look closely you might be able to see the barracuda (above and left of
center).  We also saw a small Spanish Ray swim by here.

The sign above the window reads "Bread and Butter Cayes Welcomes Positive Vibes" - love it.

You can barely see the caretaker outside of his boat in the distance.  He was filling his boat with sand to bring back to the
island as filler.

We left the island for more fishing - bottom fishing and trolling.  We hated to leave the dog, Rudy, because he was so cute
and playful.

Captain Jack with the Grunt fish.

Guido caught a couple of Mackerel - here is his first.

The view at the Sittee River Marina upon our return.

Simonetta was super excited about the big Barracuda she caught.

Our catch for the day: Barracuda, Mackerel, Jack, and Grunt.

Simonetta showing off the mackerels caught by Guido.

We all went home and cleaned up.  Then Guido and Simonetta came over and with the fresh fish Simonetta made a carpaccio appetizer and ragout over pasta.