By car, then by boat, then by plane... Just get me to the Cayes- Ambergris Cayes, Belize

So, its been a long day at this point. We are super tired from the long drive and Janene and I have been up since 3:30am. We are so ready to rest. Unfortunatly, we have to get to our condo in the Belizian Cayes.

We arrive at the airport at about 5:30pm. We figured that we would just hop on the next plane and take the 30 minute flight to San Pedro, the main town in the Ambergris Cayes. We grab our luggage and walk straight to the counter of Tropic Air. The airport is empty, so this is a small concern. When we get to the counter, we find that we missed the last plane to the Cayes. Shit!

Well, I knew I could rely on Janene. Things always seem to magically work out when Janene is around. She turns to me and says, "we are getting there tonight! There must be a way!" Jon and Kara look like they want to give up and die, so Janene and I do the only thing we can do.

We belly up to the counter, I put a sad, sad look on my face, and she sticks out her lower lip just a little. "But sir," she pleads, "we just have to get the Cayes. We just HAVE to!"

It works. The guy at the counter tells us to wait for a moment while he finds some guy named Juan who MIGHT be able to help us. After about 5 minutes, Juan comes to the counter with a smile and a thumbs up. They can get us on a flight! Juan is the man!

We fly through security and walk out to the tarmac just as the sun is setting for the day. The plane buzzes towards us and it is TINY. It has seven seats, and I am just a little nervous. I have flown on normal planes many times and have had no problems. But I've never been on a puddle jumper before!

Janene gets in the co-pilot seat and the rest of us climb in to our seats.

We take off and as the sun sets behind us, we see the dark clouds ahead that are becoming dangerously close. It all starts off safe enough, but then the rain and hail start pelting the windows of the plane. OK, a little nervous now. I look at Jon, he has his head down and is writing in his journal. How can he possibly write while we are being pelted by hail? Kara sqeezes his free hand and makes absolutley no eye contact with me. She's tired. Janene is super excited in the front seat and keeps flashing me "Maverick" thumbs up signs.

Suddenly, the wind kicks up and we are literally bouncing through the air. I bite my lip and my arms are tired. (Duh, I'm totally holding the plane up by my handrails.) We can barely see our destination through the rain and a big red button starts flashing and beeping.

Janene looks quickly at the pilot but he turns the button off calmly. I am starting straight ahead because I see the runway bouncing up and down in front of us and am willing the plane to land on the tiny patch of dirt ahead. Are we going to make it? 

With the palm trees swinging furiously on the ground and the huge gust of wind that carries us, we make a sideways landing on the runway. We are alive! We made it! The whole plane seems to breath a sigh of relief as I gingerly pry my hands from my handrails. We exit the plane and the wind practically blows us away, afterall, it is hurricane season.  The sound of clapping distracts us from our zeal and we see that the entire crew has come out to congratulate the pilot on his stellar landing.

Wow, we really did almost die.

We are relieved to make it safely, but are a little disapointed to find out that our condo is on the other end of the island, accessable only by boat. With our luggage soaked, we wait in the rain at the water taxi stop. It is a busy taxi- a ton of tourists are hoping to return back to thier condo's after a night out in the town of San Pedro.

We all cram onto the water taxi and although it is covered, water still gets in. My hat and hair is soaked and it is cold as we zip through the waves. Of course, our condo is the very last stop.

We finally make it, and as we arrive are greeted with delicous cocktails. We dump our luggage into the condo and head down to the restaurant. Almost dying really makes me hungry! We eat a huge meal and toast with our cocktails. Our condo is older, but very nice. We have a hammock out on the balcony and spacious rooms. Janene and I settle in to our room and I fall asleep immediatly.