tobacco caye

so sunday it was time for tobacco caye.  mike and i LOVE tobacco caye.  we could stay there...well forever really!  and no trip to belize is complete for us without at least one night out on tobacco caye, so sunday morning we grabbed salma and giselle and hitched a ride on a boat out.  now the folks we hitched a ride out with were a bunch of musicians in town from...jamaica i believe it was, and by the time we reached the island i'm pretty sure we had a bit of a contact high going on!

once docked we checked salma and giselle into the reef's end lodge and then headed over to our aunt jean's house.  aunt jean is our grandmother's sister, and she spends as much time on tobacco caye as possible.  it was june and she'd been there since april!!  our family grew up out there and have three homes out on the island and  my mom always tells me stories of how when she and her siblings were young, every last day of school before summer vacay, by the time they got home from school that day my grandmother would already have all the food and clothes packed and they'd be out on tobacco caye by nightfall.

  they'd spend the entire summer out there until the day before school started in the fall and they had to return home to the mainland.  from the moment i visited the island over 15 years ago, i was instantly hooked!

after saying hi and putting our stuff down at aunt jean's, we changed into our swimsuits and headed for the pier.  see that's what you do on tobacco caye - swim, eat, drink, swim, eat, drink, sleep, and repeat!  it's a super tiny island - the entire thing can be walked in 5 to 10 minutes tops.  it's got a hotel at either end with family owned homes in between, a few bars out near the docks, a couple restaurants, one or two volleyball nets, and lots of white sand and hammocks!

while lounging out at the pier there was a nice yacht docked a little bit aways from the shore.

  we found out it was owned by a family from columbia who was sailing around for the summer as we met the wife and baby on the pier when she came over to barter with mike for lobsters!  see lobster season started in a few days, friday to be exact, but sometimes you just can't wait!  so while we were hanging out a man in a small dory came paddling by and yelled 'hi' out to mike. (mike knows everybody in dangriga, and EVERYBODY on tobacco caye!) turns out he had been out catching lobsters, and the next thing you know mike had five lobsters in hand!  he pulled out a pocket knife and shelled them right there on the pier, and when the columbian lady saw this, she immediately came over and offered to buy the lobsters from mike.  mike knowing a good deal when he sees it, gladly sold the lobsters!  meanwhile i'm thinking hey that was our dinner!  :0)  but it was okay, there'd be plenty lobster to come.   my grandmother, by the way, cooks THE BEST lobster i have ever had in my entire life...anywho!

after a few belikins and plenty of lounging, we headed home to shower and change, then back over to the reef's end lodge to have dinner with salma and giselle, and carlos and johnny - friends of mike's who worked at the lodge.  johnny's folks actually own the lodge and are long time family friends.  at dinner we met an awesome group of students that were studying abroad in san ignacio and had decided to spend a couple days out at tobacco caye.  after eating we all lounged on the pier attached to the restaurant where salma found a hammock and proceeded to immediately pass out in it!  but she didn't sleep for long as a couple of local guys brought out some drums and began to play - the minute she heard the drums she popped up and began to dance!  we spent the rest of the night hanging out there till the wee hours of the morning while mike and johnny played bartender, planned a midnight skinny dip (which i have promised not to post photos of anywhere!), and we drank, danced, and were merry!