Belize Journey - The Stark Reality (Part 5)

[Latimeria]

With the exception of the puffers up until this point, I've been skunked and got nothing in my hands for a cool picture.  Ugh...  Every morning I'd go out and cast for an hour and do it a few more times throughout the day.
This particular morning, the water was extra turgid and there wasn't any clean water anywhere...



I tried a popper on this day to see if I could get a reaction strike in the dirty water.  I was hoping for anything and half expected to get a cuda.



But I chucked this thing for an hour with no love... 

I went back with my head hung low and helped harvest some coconuts to make coconut water ice cubes for our drinks. 





It was pretty cool going into the back yard and harvesting them.  You can only harvest the small/young coconuts because they are filled with water.  The bigger ones have nuts grown in that space.





After Harvesting, I went back to cast some irons and see if anything was around.  Water was still dirty as hell.  These are the concrete steps that was slippery as ice.



I was about 50 casts in when the lure suddenly stops!  It then takes off and then nothing... No fish, no lure... just a clean-cut line!  I didn't have a steel leader on, so ran back to the casita and re-rigged and ran back down!  I made about 50 more casts and it happened again!  This time I saw it was a nice sized barracuda! As I was fighting him in, the weight went away, but it felt like I had my iron.  I reeled it in to see the treble hook totally missing!  I have no idea what happened there as the hook and the lure were new, but all I know is I've had the most terrible time up until this point with losing fish and for all intents and purposes feel like I've caught nothing I've come down here for.

The coolest thing I saw in the park was a Coatimundi that was walking along the breakwall looking for some breakfast.



I was not happy, so thought I'd go back and take the e-bike out for a ride through the jungle to calm my crazed head.
I've never rode an e-bike before, but it turned out to be awesome when you were heading into the wind and needed some extra power for a long distance ride.



The bikes were armed with machetes.  When I asked why, Elliot replied "To fend off the wild packs of dogs or even people that you might come across"....  Well, that didn't exactly put my mind to rest.  Lol

We cruised around the ExPat community before heading down some jungle roads to the local village to get some breakfast.  First off, these e-bikes are awesome and were great on the back roads. 



I saw plenty of Spiny Iguanas on the drive.  They pretty much inhabited every single rock wall down there.



Some of them were big boys!



We finally started to head out into the jungle to grab some breakfast.  All of the wires will filled with nests.  I'm not sure what birds make those nests, but they look like weaver nests. 





We passed a few houses with some cool root sculptures.



They didn't have a whole lot of food,, but the tortas had chicken, meat (not sure what kind), cabbage, onion and I'm not sure what type of gravy, but it hit the spot!







Nice little waiting room with the chickens running all over the place.  A rooster wanted to kick Elliot's ass and was almost as tall as him, but the lady called us up for food, so Elliot got lucky.  Right next door was the local Car Wash.



We cruised to another ExPat community and checked out their shoreline for fishing.  There were TONS of huge Green Iguanas here at this one!





The wind in this spot was at a bad angle also and all you got were big bows in your line which would have made it hard to set the hook, but it's a new spot to try in the morning before I head into town and get my Covid-19 test for passage back to the US of A.



Nice little kayak launch.



We finished a long ride up and went back to the casa to relax.  I also had to get some Brama Burgers together to cook in the BBQ room.  I spent some time chilling in there since it was one of the only spots that seemed to be cool.





The good old Coke made with cane sugar is soooooo good!  I forgot what real Coke tastes like!



We ran down to the water and they went for a swim while I fished... Nothing, Nothing, Nothing....



After some great Brama burgers and sides, Elliot and I went out fishing.  We went for cats, but I rigged him up with a typical catfish rig and I tied on a much bigger rig trying for a shark, Ray or just anything bigger. 
Elliot had a hot bite and caught smaller cats on every cast. 



I on the other hand was getting picked up, but finally had a huge bite on the 9/0 hook and huge chunk of cuda I bought off a local for shark bait!  I couldn't even move it, but it came rocketing up and jumped.  Of course it threw the hook and Elliot said "You have the worst luck ever!"  All we saw was the splash in the moon light.  I'm thinking it was a shark, but the steel leader was not scraped up, so who knows.  Once again, I was thinking that I was going to get skunked on this trip.  My only fish so far were small Belizean Saltwater Cats (New species) and Checkered Puffers (New Species).  Ugh, I was getting sick, so we called it the night and went back to grab some harder booze to drown (my) sorrows. 



Tomorrow morning it supposed to rain, but we're going to have to run into town and go to the hospital since I need a Covid test to get back to the states.  My plan was to fish in the morning and check out town since we have the Barrier Reef trip on the last full day before I leave!  I'm just praying that trip salvages my trip down here with some monsters or at least a bunch of new species... 

But little did I know that the adventures are just beginning!

[vdisney]

But little did I know that the adventures are just beginning!

Not sure how to take this, but looking forward to reading.  Thanks for the whole series Tom, enjoyed it immensely

[sasquatch]

f@ck. I'm at the bar and can't read this.

Not because I'm drunk either. I'm playing trivia.

[Tim524]

The Grand Finale is coming

[jrodda]

Things heating up now with those missed opportunities....Crazy little tidbit with the machete!

[Tim524]

Was there a part 3 or did I miss it ?

[Latimeria]

Was there a part 3 or did I miss it ?

Freshwater Boat Reports for Part 3.  Fishing Talk for Part 6.

[Latimeria]

Was there a part 3 or did I miss it ?

I'm making people work for it.  hahahaha

[KogaHead]

Now you know how Steve and I feel when we batfish with you!

[skrilla]

Electric bikes and machetes you say? I think I found my new hobby.