When my partner Cully Erdman and I were just getting started running Slickrock Adventures in Belize, we never dreamed the stuff we would eventually have to learn. Sure we knew how to kayak, and fix great meals, and we were learning the names of all of the fish. But the diversity of subjects required to create and operate a resort in Belize on a tiny remote island boggles the mind. And one of the strangest skills we have had to master is dealing with the coconut tree disease.

Long Caye Belize by Lucy Wallingford

When we first moved out to Glover’s Reef in 1991, no one had ever heard of a coconut tree disease. Our 13-acre island Long Caye was covered with something like 1500 coconut trees. We leased 1/2 of the island from an American businessman, who had recently bought it from a Belizean.

In 1997, rumors began floating around Belize about an approaching catastrophe: Yellow Leaf (YL) disease (also called Lethal Yellowing disease). It first arrived in Florida, and took something like 20 years to get to Belize. Everyone who owned palm trees, whether they had 10 or 2000, vigorously denied it was going to be a problem. But by mid-1998 there were reports of signs of YL at both islands and coastal towns throughout Belize.

Yellow leaf disease by Lucy Wallingford

Once the disease takes hold of a tree, the coconuts are shed from the tree, and it ceases to flower. Then the leaves turn yellow and as they die their stems break, leaving a characteristic signature of broken, hanging dead leaves. Eventually the crown rots and falls off the tree, leaving a dead trunk that can stand for years. YL disease is 95% fatal to most palm trees, in particular the Jamaican Tall variety which is the most common coconut palm found throughout the Caribbean. The disease spreads rapidly, and is found almost everywhere in the tropical latitudes of our hemisphere.

YL disease is caused by an organism that attacks the head of the palm tree where its growth is concentrated, and causes the tree to die when this part of the tree rots away. The organism is spread from tree to tree through the leaf hopper insect, which feeds on the leaves.

Belize was lucky in that the disease arrived first in southern Florida, where they had so many more resources than Belize

Yellow leaf disease treatment by Lucy Wallingford

would ever have to figure out how protect palm forests. Horticulturalists in Florida studied the disease and developed a system to vaccinate the trees which prevents infection.

When we first started seeing our trees dying we told the owner of the island about it. He was back in the states. His answer was “I have a lot of palm trees.” We would say again “No really, it’s a major problem, you have to do something!” He would just say, “I can spare a few trees, no problem.” Just like everyone else, he was in complete denial.

But there was one person in Belize who confronted the problem head-on. Chris Berlin of Ambergris Caye, was running the dive shop at Victoria House. He heard the rumors like everyone else. But instead of denying it, he flew to Florida and found out how to treat the disease. He got the proper medications and equipment, and brought them back to Belize. He started out by treating Victoria House’s trees.

Coconut disease

We heard about him. By this time we were beginning to realize that if Long Caye trees were going to be saved, we were going to have to do it ourselves, even though we didn’t own the trees. We had already lost at least 50 trees. We hired Chris to come out and treat our trees on Long Caye. It takes days to treat that many trees (we have about 500 we are currently treating) and so Chris would have to cancel his whole life to come out to Glover’s Reef and do it. After two such trips out to Glover’s he said “Lucy, why don’t you do it yourselves?” So I flew to Ambergris Caye in March of 1999 (my first trip to San
Pedro!) and met with Chris and he taught me how to do it. I took copious notes, and got everything he told me to get. It’s an odd list of gear: golf tees, horse syringes, bullet casings (for a really fun time, try to get them past Homeland Security when flying from the states), and special tree medicine from Tree Savers in Florida.

Our island caretaker, Apolitico Salam, of Silk Grass Village, treats our trees 4 times a year. It’s easy to see the success of the treatment because we only treated the half of the island we were leasing and the trees on the other half all died. Several years later the owner finally visited the caye, and shortly thereafter agreed to sell us our part of the island. I believe  it was because we saved the trees that he decided to let us have it. The other half is still abandoned, it’s kind of hot down there. It’s really sad because there were originally many more trees down on that end than our end before the disease hit.

Since buying the island we have planted over 500 ‘hybrid’ palm trees that have been bred to be disease resistant. We bought these palm starts from the Belize government, which purchased the nuts from a facility in Jamaica. We even planted about 40 trees down on the other end of the island because it looked so pathetic. We don’t do any plantings anymore because there is no more room! These trees have grown very fast and have replaced those that we lost, so our end of the island is once again covered with a thick forest of palm trees.

When I think about this, I am always so grateful to Chris Berlin for NOT just saying-it-ain’t-so, and taking a proactive approach above and beyond what anyone else did. He saved our island.

Lucy Wallingford and Cully Erdman own Slickrock Adventures. They have a water sports center out on Long Caye at Glover’s Reef in Belize.

Palms at Glovers Reef by Lucy Wallingford

Long Caye Belize by Lucy Wallingford

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The mangrove collection at Marco Gonzalez Maya ruin site was a lot of fun and it was great to spend time with everyone that is getting involved in the San Mateo Sanitation and environmental education project.

While in search of black mangrove seedlings,  Jan Brown gave us a tour of Marco Gonzalez Archaeological Reserve and explained about it’s rich Maya history. We could see pottery shards everywhere,  mountains of conch shells and even some human remains. The ground is very high and I could just imagine how much has yet to be discovered under our feet.

While we were doing our mangrove collecting, Valentine Rosado showed up to help us. I had met Valentine before on a trip to Bacalar Chico, so I knew how knowledgeable and environmentally friendly he is.  What I did not know was how involved he has been in mangrove transplanting projects and has been working in different areas on the island to help get new mangrove plants growing. He brought us some red mangrove propagules which are oblong and slightly curved, kind of lima bean shaped.  Propagules resemble seed pods but they are actually undeveloped root structures. Propagules become fully mature plants before dropping off the adult tree and are  distributed  by water until eventually embedding in the shallows.

On the way home Valentine suggested we stop off at Kakaw, Belize chocolate factory so he could take us on a mini field trip and show is some of his red mangrove replanting work. He explained how the mangroves grow inside the tubes and pointed out one that was just peeking out of the top.

I will be doing a Maya site specific Marco Gonzalez post soon and highly recommend a tour with Jan if you are staying on the island. Do not forget your bug spray, pants and a light shirt helpful protection as well. This tour is not strenuous but I would still say it is geared more towards adventure seekers – about 1/4 mile walk to the site from the entrance.

If you want to read more about the our adventures, Debra and Cherie from ACES both did write ups along with some great pictures on  Taking Belize blog and ACES / American Crocodile Education Sanctuary blog.

Belize Rain report by Cowboy Doug via sms – 1.4 inches so far and looking like more on the way, stay dry.

Vacation On Ambergris Caye At A Tropical Beach Resort and Help Keep Belize Green.

TOTTENHAM, ON – January 23, 2012 –Exotic Caye Beach Resort, on the island of Ambergis Caye, Belize is contributing 50% of the resorts special offer room rate bookings January 22 thru February 21, 2012 valid until May 2013 to support hands- on environmental education programs. Funds raised will go to Canadian Not For Profit Direct Abundance and US Charity Caribbean S.E.A. (Student Environmental Alliance) to empower and improve the community of San Mateo.

Direct Abundance and Caribbean S.E.A. are partnering together to offer educational programs about coral reef and mangrove conservation, safe water and sewage discharge solutions. The need for these programs is essential for the San Mateo area as their homes are located in a swamp highly contaminated by human waste.

“It is over-whelming to watch this hard-working community grow as it begins to reach its full potential.” says Heather Zwicker, the Co-founder of Direct Abundance. “Exotic Caye Beach Resort has seen first hand the help this community needs and would like to generously give back.”

Travelers wishing to experience adventures in Belize need to look no further then the front desk. The knowledgeable staff at Exotic Caye Beach Resort will be able to assist with a multitude of activities including coral reef diving, exploring Maya ruins, or simply relaxing on the beaches. It’s a fabulous destination for couples searching for that perfect getaway or the family wanting to create memories to cherish.

This is a unique 30 day offer. Enter the promotional code DA2012 on Exotic Caye website to receive a certificate that is valid from now until May 31, 2013, however 50% of your room rate goes immediately to Direct Abundance and Caribbean
S.E.A.

Direct Abundance is a Canadian not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people in struggling developing world communities through education and poverty reduction. Caribbean S.E.A. works with local partners to empower youth to take care of their water, from the Ridge to the Reef.

For more information on the project go to Direct Abundance website and flickr Page.

become fully mature plants before dropping off the parent tree. These are dispersed by water until eventually embedding in the shallows.

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Belize Rain Report by Cowboy Doug via sms – catching up a few days worth. This morning 1/10th of an inch since 8am,  yesterday evening – Gonna give ya a rainfall reading… IF IT WOULD EVER QUIT!!! 1inch and 6/10ths WOW! We just got the road graded too. January 29th 30/100ths less than a 10th and January 28th Jeeze! a little over 2/10ths.

Enough about our rainy morning weather and onto some Belize History with  from Lucy Wallingford from Slickrock Adventures.  Lucy also does an interesting Belize blog – Behind the Scenes at a Belize Adventure Company. Lucy sent the email below when we were going back and forth for her Exploring Caves Branch River in the early 80s guest post. It struck me as a wonderful memory in time and I was glad she agreed to let me share it with you.

Hi Laurie,

We do have old pics, but they are all in slide form. But the really old ones I don’t have. When we first started kayak trips in Placencia in 1986 we rented a beach at the last house, which was near the old Kitty’s Place. We could only shop for food on Saturdays and you had to take your wheelbarrel down the sidewalk and take a number and wait 2 hours to get called to give them your list. Meanwhile our tourists are sitting back on the beach packing their kayaks waiting for me to get back with the food…. but only memories! No pictures. Funny how when you are in your 20s (at least back then) you couldn’t imagine that what you were doing at the time you would like to look back on and have pictures to prove it!

We came to Belize because we were running trips in Chiapas, Mexico and one day my partner Cully just thought he’d go check out Belize. He hired some guy with a sailboat to take him the whole length of the Barrier Reef and picked the itinerary still used by kayak companies today: Placencia,  Bugle Caye,  Laughing Bird Caye, Water Caye, Silk Cayes, Pumpkin Caye and Ranguana Caye. A 7 day trip. No one was out there back then but a few rasta fishermen; it was incredible.

I never even visited Ambergris until we got the coconut tree disease in 1998. I flew out there and Chris Berlin taught me how to treat coconut trees. Still today we use that method on Long Caye. We have treated our 500 trees every 3 months since then! Chris Berlin saved our island with this knowledge he freely shared with us.

Thanks,
Lucy

Find Slickrock Adventures  on Twitter and facebook.
Upcoming Palm tree disease article from Lucy next week.

Daily catch on Laughing Bird Caye. No problem catching dinner back then!

Camp on Laughing Bird Caye. It is now forbidden to camp there, a national park.

Kids of Placencia hung out around us all of the time. Of course these guys are much older now, this was 1987.

My partner Cully negotiating with the propriator of the Sea Spray Hotel in Placencia. I can't remember her name.

Beach scene, where we rented in Placencia. I bet the beach we rented was a couple of acres and I don't remember how much it cost but it wasn't much! This was the front yard of Mr. Clive and Miss Pearl.

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Other island exercise news – Chi Gong classes are starting up again this Sunday at 9:00am on the beach at the South end of Victoria House.

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Today’s post comes from – Chris Rowlands-Barber – Travel insurance expert. He highlights a short span of  what to do for 4 days on the island. You could add 3 days on the mainland to get the full jungle and beach vacation experience, or just spend the rest of your week enjoying your time at the beach.

A Four day Belize Itinerary

If you are lucky enough to visit Belize in your lifetime, you might choose to just lie back and soak up the sun and the sights, rather than risk having to make a claim on that cheap holiday insurance you purchased. But Belize has a wonderful range of adrenaline-pumping activities for those who aren’t afraid to get their feet wet and their heart racing.

Here is a plan for four days of non-stop action around Belize that will give you a real flavor of what life in Central America’s northernmost country is all about.

Day One
Touch down at Belize International Airport and treat yourself to a Belikin or rum punch at Jets Bar, he is quite a character.  Then enjoy the Caribbean Sea view on short Tropic Air flight to San Pedro town, you might even spot some rays or big fish on the way. As soon as you land you will be instantly captivated by its beauty, and friendly people.  After settling in with a welcome drink at  The Phoenix resort, you might  find yourself tempted to spend hours just walking the beach or end up getting caught up at  BC’s beach bar.

Enjoy dinner at one of the many delicious restaurants in town followed by a night of live music at one of the local San Pedro bars. There are many talented musicians and on the island and  Lola’s Pub, Legends Burger House and Crazy Canucks at Exotic Caye are  all great places to find them.

Day Two
If you haven’t taken a swim the sea yet, your second day is a great time enjoy a water adventure, grab your flippers and head for a  half day snorkel  at  Shark Ray Alley and Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Where you will get up close and personal with coral, rays, lobsters, fish and if you are lucky you might see dolphins.

For lunch indulge yourself in some local Belize food,  there are many great local places around town to choose from like My Secret Deli near Belize Bank and and Neri’s tacos near the south end of town . At night visit the park is also fun, there are many food stands, where you will be able to sample a variety of reasonably priced local food. Head around the corner to DandE’s frozen custard for dessert.

Day Three
Adventure time and you will find many options to choose from. Celebrate 2012 with some Maya history and a trip to Altun Ha, Laminai , Cahal Pech or one of the other Maya ruins. If you are an animal lover, take a boat ride to the mainland and head up the river to Belize Zoo. Adventure lovers, try your hand at zip-lining through the trees and witness the spectacular views from a unique vantage point, before stopping in at the jungle lodge for lunch.

By the time you arrive back in San Pedro, you’ll have worked up quite an appetite. A simple solution lies at Pedro’s Pizza, eat in or delivery option available. Great thin crust pizza and they do trivia every other Thursday, live music and food special every Friday.

Day Four
Your fourth day is a day to explore the island some more. Why not head south to Marco Gonzalez Maya Ruins,  definitely worth seeing. If you prefer to enjoy relaxing lunch by the pool take a tropical drive to Cowboy Doug’s pool bar and Grill located in North Ambergris Caye.

Belize provides as much action, activity, serenity and splendor as you could ever wish for. And there’s no reason to hold back if you’re not as young as you used to be – travel insurance over 65 is readily available.

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Belize Blog update
“Cable Woes and Cayo Connection Meeting”  – Wealth Ships
Why YOU Should Visit Belize in January – San Pedro Scoop
15 Top Tips For Sellers – San Pedro Belize – Invest in Belize Real Estate blog

Canadian news – World’s top islands: Frommers picks Tahiti, Belize, Tobago and more – The Toronto Star news paper.

Belize Travel News - Some of you may have seen the good news already but for those of you who haven’t, several Belize resorts scored major points in the trip advisor 2012 Travelers Choice Hotel Awards. Congratulations to all who made the cut.

Top 25 Hotels in the World
1. The Phoenix Resort
3. Hamanasi Adventure and Dive Resort

Top 25 Hotels in Central America
1. Phoenix
2. Hamanasi
3. Xanadu
5 Coco Plum Island Resort
7 Turneffe Island Resort
10 Victoria House
13 Belcampo Lodge
20 Las Terrazzas
23 Chaa Creek
24 Mata Chica
25 Grand Caribe

Belize Rain report by Cowboy Doug of Cowboy Doug’s Pool bar and Grill – text received January 20th 1/2 an inch of rain last night starting at 11:40pm. Don’t forget Tomorrow is pool party day, head on up and say hi to the cowboy.

Saga Humane Society Update
I hope this finds you well and enjoying the New Year.  There seems to be a buzz in the air with 2012, let’s hope it’s a good year for all of us!

Saga Humane Society would like to give a big thanks to Mojito Bar and their great staff for hosting our Pasta Cook-off. Friday the 13th turned out to be a lucky day for the Saga shelter animals with an anonymous donor pledging to match all proceeds from this event; Saga was able to raise just over $3,000. There was a great turnout of visitors and locals who enjoyed all the fine Pasta dishes presented.

Winners were: 3rd Place: Chicken Fettuccini ala Parmesan from Faride Salinas who received a Cutlery Set; 2nd Place: Pineapple Chipotle Pasta from Xenika Nicole Armstrong who received a lovely set of 8 Pub Glasses; and 1st Place: Pork Chow Mein from Sharon Metcalfe who Received a Toaster Oven.

We would also like to thank our other entries for their wonderful dishes. Pasta Fiesta Salad – Pineapples Restaurant; Dill Macaroni Salad – LouAnn LeClaire; Bow Ties a Ragu de Tonno – Rosa LaRosa; Shrimp Roulade with Prosecco Tarragon Cream Sauce – Chap Ross & Kathy Neimic; Tia’s Salad – Tia Hindson; and Veggie Callaloni – Mathieu’s Deli.

Raffle Prizes: Kim Gonzalez won a Full Groom from Pampered Paws sponsored by George’s Kitchen. A visiting tourist won a Rod & Reel courtesy of Captain Sharks. And Eliza and her parents Jessica Waters & Stephen Card won Dinner for 2 plus a Mojito courtesy of Mojito Bar.

Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make this event a success. Heather Beck Janina Canales, Grant Crimmins,
Ingrid Juarez, Joe LaRosa, Rosa LaRosa, Bob LeClaire, LouAnn LeClaire, Ingrid Lima, Katia Marin, Sharon Metcalfe
Lori Purdy, Nancy Rountree, Jonny Woodward.

Saga Humane Society would like to thank everyone for their continued support.

[front page picture of The Phoenix Resort by Matt Lankes and Demian Solano]

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“Engineers without Borders-USA” sent a group of students from the Texas A & M University to conduct a reconnaissance trip in January of 2012 during which they conducted a three part evaluation of potable water in the San Mateo Community. These evaluations included water quality field tests, water and sewer infrastructure assessment and a water quality survey. The alarming results confirmed what many have suspected for years. To read the full story please go to the San Pedro Sun.

It’s time to round up more troops, the San Mateo Sanitation project is a Very Important Project and Heather needs all the help she can get to see it through.  If you love Ambergris Caye would like to help create a green living community please contact her. Heather Zwicker of Direct Abundance -  heatherzw@gmail.com

Channel betwen San Mateo and Caribbean Sea

Channel that passes by San Mateo and goes to the sea

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Not a lot of rain overall, but usually it is drier this time of year so the showers over the past few days must be bumping the annual rainfall in Belize totals for January slightly higher. Typically January is drier in northern Belize and gets more rain to the south. Average temperatures for January run  low of 70.0 degrees to a high of 80.0 degrees.  81.5F and 28c Current San Pedro Belize temperature courtesy of San Pedro Weather Live – if you want a visual from South Ambergris Caye area click on link to see their weather station webcam.

Between out of country server issues and local internet slowdown  Storm Chasers Belize webcam on taco cam page has been a bit sketchy lately.  I hope the  internet gods are smiling upon us and the kinks get worked out asap. Sorry for any inconvenience to your Caribbean Sea viewing pleasure.

Unfortunately my foot still not quite ready for beach walks or aquafit class at San Pedro fitness club, I did make it to Legends Burger house and town yesterday. I am ok with that because tacoboy just had a coffee break in our pool and said the water was shockingly cold. I need to get some bike repairs done first as well,  Dicks beach cruiser needs a tire patch and so does Cindy’s. Luckily Zac had the patch kit and tire levers and Dennis is willing to do the repairs. All of the above happening on Belize time

I will leave you with a couple of canal pictures and a street shot from San Pablo area.

Sunflower street Canal

Walking to my friends house

San Pablo Canal

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Advantages of CDMA is that it does provide a better and more stable signal due to the nature of the technology. I can verify that as once I had to go out on the dock to get reception up at Sueno Del Mar and Quicksilver Dianne said her go phones get signal closer to the resort. Advantages of GSM technology it is the global standard for cellular technology and you will be able to use your phone internationally provided the phone is unlocked and has the needed bandwidths mentioned below.

There is a new cell phone company on the horizon that looks like it will work for Belize. Simple Mobile takes sim cards,  and have a $10 pay as you go phone option. If you are looking into phones from this carrier as a potential option for Belize cell phone service, you will need to ask the store clerk which phones meet following requirements an unlocked GSM  or Global System Mobile Communication 1900 MHz cellular phone.

For more Cell phone information check my previous posts – Belize sim card information and  Cell Phone Charges in Belize.

Once you have your phone set up, you can easily top up at local stores in San Pedro with phone cards or by machine.  Digicell often does double triple days, $10 – $49.99 will get you double credit and $50 or more will get you triple credit.

Digicell also offers purchase of  SMS bundles from your phone by dialing *767 and following the prompts. They have an ongoing double up promotion for text bundles, which is great cause they seem to go fast.

$5 for 50 100 SMS
$8 for 100 200 SMS
$10 for 200 400 SMS
$15 for 500 1000 SMS

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Today’s San Pedro weather report comes from Dennis while he was visiting on his lunch break. He said it is hot enough to get ripe fast and was on shirt number two. He also noted, the Caribbean Sea is super calm making it a great day for swimming, snorkeling diving, fishing outside the reef boat rides. I will add a tacogirl travel tip – Don’t forget to pack sunscreen and a shade option on days like this and drink lots of water or coconut water to stay hydrated.

Listening to Moves like Jagger, I never get tired of this song. Totally agree with Michele in Playa Adam Levine is super hot in the video. I am bummed I did not get to see the Kinnon crew more but I was following doctors orders and resting as much as I could at the time. Thankfully what ever I had did not turn out to be pneumonia. Cindy still fighting her battle as well. Anoyne on island or mainland Belize have similar health issue right now? [Started as a cold and ended with no energy for too long]

Check out Michele’s recent Belize trip review – Best BBQ in San Pedro? Estel’s on the Beach!. The family blog is  Life’s a Beach and it’s about observations on life and Real Estate From Rob and Michele Kinnon in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.

Pedro’s Hotel is now featuring live music Friday nights with Gino and the Shackshakers. The band w ill be be shaking their groove thing on Friday the 13th. Cindy’s  seriously strong rum punch will be on tap and the weekly food special $1 wings. Don’t miss a great party.

Hibiscus flower flowers

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