Please forgive me of my misgivings towards la isla bonita in my last post. I had judged book by its cover and allowed my attitude to cloud my perspective.  I had only seen town proper and hadn’t given the full island a chance.  I also hadn’t talked to anyone for about 36 hours, so I was feeling pretty lonely.  That all changed on Friday when I woke up early, rented a bike and rode the beach as far as my body would allow.  Once you get past downtown, the island really shines.  There are still a lot of hotels, vacant as they may be, but it still doesn’t seem to be too over developed.  The natural beauty and essence of the island is inescapable.  Once I got about 4 miles past downtown, it was pretty much just me and the beach for the rest of the way.  I didnt see a single other biker for the rest of about 10 miles.  At the far end of my trip it was a few miles between resorts, so it was just me, the ocean, the jungle and my bike.  This is the island that Madonna sang of.  Nearing exhaustion and sorely underhydrated after about 15 miles, I made the slow trek back towards town.  About 2.5 miles north of town I had to make a pit stop at a bar I had passed on my way up; Palapa Bar.  As far as I was concerned in my exhausted state, this was mecca.  It was a bar with a straw thatched roof at the end of a pier with hammocks and innertubes to float/drink in if you were so inclined.  This day I opted for a couple bottles of water and a Belikin, the only beer brewed in Belize, and headed straight for the hammock.  I had found my paradise.  Feeling refreshed and relatively accomplished, I pedaled slowly back to my hostel.

As I arrived I met a couple of Swiss girls who were also staying at the hostel; my first conversation with fellow travelers since I landed in Belize.  After some small talk, I headed to my room, took a shower, grabbed a burrito from a street vendor and prepared myself for a night I will not soon forget.  When I returned, I met back up with the swiss girls, who had befriended a group of 4 Australian dudes (lovable lunatics).  We were soon joined by a pair of Canadians and an Italian fellow.  They had no idea what they were in for.  It was karaoke night at the hostel.  After a few free rum drinks and some drinking games furnished by the Canadians, it was time to tear the house down.  First up was Aussie Jac, who was paid $50 by his friend Aussie Max for his rendition of  I Touch Myself.  He was promptly pulled offstage after a few grating lines of the song.  Next up was an unforgetable performance of Dead or Alive by yours truly.  I say performance, because that’s what it was.  If you want classically trained vocal stylings, please look elswhere.  If you want to see someone’s heart, soul and passion shine through on stage, you can find me at a karaoke bar.  The rest of the night was filled with banter, laughter, a few more perfomances, trading war stories with my fellow travelers and making instant life long friends.

The following morning I was supposed to go diving, but it got postponed to the afternoon due to more favorable weather and currents.  I had a few hours to kill, so I walked with the Canadians to the Palapa Bar, the aforementioned meca I had discovered the day prior.  After walking for a little over an hour we reached our haven.  I could only stay for about 15 minutes before I head to head back to go diving, but the Canadians ended there staying for most of the day and getting severely burnt in the process.

I, on the other hand, had a date to make with some fish.  The dive itself was pretty good, but for the most part, nothing I hadn’t seen before.  Saw some eels, sting rays, giant grouper, huge schools of fish, lobster, lion fish, and fields of coral as far as the eye could see.  Belize hosts one of the largest reef systems in they world, second only to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, so there was plenty to see.  Once the dive was over, we headed over to shark ray alley for a quick snorkel session.  This is where shit got real.  I have always wanted to swim with sharks, but this was some next level shark swimming.   As soon as I hit the water I was surrounded by hoards of nurse sharks.  They were harmless, unless you got too close to their mouth, but I can’t remember the last time my adrenaline was pumping so hard.  I still cant remove an ear to ear smile every time I think about that experience or look at the footage.

San Pedro has been a great start to the trip and it’s hard to imagine it getting much better from here, but next up is Caye Caulker where the mantra is “Go Slow” I plan to dive the Blue Hole.