My son Jordan was nine when I took he and his twin sister to Belize to a remote island called Blackbird Caye for a week vacation. The island is quite small and about two hours by boat from Belize City. It hasn’t any of the trappings of a tourist destination. There are no cars, no stores, no phones, limited electricity generated on the spot, water from a reverse osmosis device, and a limited amount of beach as most of the island is infested with mosquitoes and saltwater crocs. However, the ocean is essentially untouched, the fishing is superb, the diving is tops, and the snorkeling can’t be beat. At any given time there are about 30 people on the island of which six or eight are staff. You sleep under mosquito netting in thatched roof huts and eat communally in a large, round palapa-like structure. As long as the prevailing winds are doing their thing, the mosquitoes are at bay. When the winds die down, you had better be in doors or under water as they will eat you alive. I love the quiet of the place and I thought it a good destination for some quality time with my twins.
The island is surrounded by a reef which is particularly wide on the Atlantic side. Within the inland side of the reef, the snorkeling is excellent and there are only a few passageways through to the ocean. My kids were excellent swimmers and two of the staff, an unlikely couple consisting of a very tall Belizian by the name of Egbert, and a lovely Chinese gal, Angela, who was not much taller than my daughter, took a liking to my kids and we five would go out snorkeling in the afternoons from a small boat that was often used for fishing. Egbert and I would catch lobsters and fish for dinner.
As my daughter was under the watchful eye of Angela and Egbert, Jordan and I were snorkeling and I decided to go through a passageway in the reef to the ocean side and swim to the south to explore some new areas. I am a very strong swimmer and felt confident that I could handle whatever arose. I held onto Jordan’s wrist and we proceeded through the passageway into the ocean side. The water is about 30 feet deep on the inland side and from 30 to 60 feet deep along the ocean side.
The creatures on the ocean side are quite different, larger, and more varied than inland, and we were so thoroughly enjoying pointing out the eagle rays, the reef sharks, and countless other creatures that I didn’t realize that a current was pulling us to the south. By the time I became aware of what was happening, we were nearly a mile down the reef and out of sight of the boat. The reef on the ocean side is highly irregular, full of indentations, with walls below and very elaborate coral formations, portions of which prutrude above the sea at low tide. The coral is largely of Staghorn and Fire, although virtually all of the Atlantic species are represented. While the formations are beautiful to behold, from my many years of diving I knew that to touch the coral was to assure painful cuts and bleeding which is not desirable in the ocean. I knew that we had a difficult swim ahead of us and that the likelihood of a place to stop and rest on the way was probably nonexistent.
Not relaxing my grip on Jordan’s wrist, I turned us around and we headed north. I didn’t let on that I was concerned and by this time, he was sufficiently tired that his kicking, even with flippers, wasn’t adding much to the thrust. As with the trip down, we were seeing all sorts of interesting critters. We followed the reef rather closely, occasionally raising my head out of the water to see if I could spot the boat. By following the ocean side contours of reef as we were, we swam into a number of blind canyons , finding to my disappointment that no other passageway to the inland side existed. Jordan remained enthusiastic, spotting rays and big fish and kicking as best as he could.
I don’t know how much time it took to get back to the original passage. It seemed like an eternity and I was getting tired. Of course I was aware of my responsibility for taking the risk in the first place and for getting us back safely. When the boat came into view, I knew that we were safe and that the passage would appear shortly and I was greatly relieved when I spotted Egbert standing in the boat. We turned to the left and traveled the thirty five or so feet through the passage. As we were nearing the inland side, a huge green Morey eel swam beneath us from one wall of the passage to the other, disappearing into a nook in the coral. We soon got back to the boat, which was perhaps thirty yards ahead and when we lifted out heads out of the water, Jordan exclaimed, “Dad, did you see that huge eel?”
I took a risk I probably shouldn’t have and things turned out ok. My whole life has been a sequence of calculated risks and all but a few have turned out ok. My son and I (as well as my daughter) are very close and we have shared lots of great experiences. He graduates from my alma mater, the U. of Michigan in May, now a mature young man with the whole world ahead of him. We have spoken of that adventure and I have confessed to him that my judgment had not been right and that I shouldn’t have taken the risk even though I perceived it to be small. It is one thing to take a risk for yourself, it is quite another to set up a risk for another when that person doesn’t understand what they are getting into. Trust is a very special thing and should never be abused. Jordan told me recently that he still feels that my hand is there to grasp his wrist if necessary.
I am mindful what is going on with Obamacare. Its proponents have concocted a multi-thousand page packages of risks that very few of them or us understand and from their paternalistic perspective, they ask us to trust that they will do it right, while sheltering themselves from the risks by way of their exclusions from the “plan.”. Yet not only do they not understand what it all will ultimately mean as that is not understandable or predictable, but they abuse our trust as their plan is driven by their own extreme ideological beliefs and not by the sacred responsibilities of their trusteeship. When Pelosi tells her fellow Democrats that they should fall on their swords and accept the likelihood that they won’t be reelected if they vote for the plan, she exhibits a bizarre disdain for the democratic process which imposes on our elected officials t he duty to act in our interests and not to use their elected powers to unnecessarily put our welfare at risk. As in my adventure with Jordan, unknown and most probably imprudent risks are inherent in the scheme. . While it could turn out ok, that likelihood is considerably less than Jordan and I experienced on the reef and their abuse of the electorate’s trust has resulted in the unprecedented decline in Obama’s poll numbers. I remain hopeful that they will fail.
My thanks to Skookum for the inspiration. The picture was taken on that vacation.
Great story
When I was 2 years old, we had a family reunion on Ambergris Caye in Belize. I do not remember much of it, but I do remember the beautiful ocean and warm breezes. At the time Ambergris Caye was not developed either and it was thatch roofed building and the power generator turned off at 9, except for the bar (men only).
And I was certified as a Diving instructor and can relate that taking risks is a no no in the ocean. And Obamacare and the rest of his socialistic plans are a big risks to our way of life. Passing the bill is more important than winning elections to the satatists, since they know that they will most likely loose power in Nov anyway, so they want to transform as much as possible with this monstrosity.
Ambergris Caye is just north of Blackbird Caye and is a much larger island. I has become quite developed and is a more typical diving destination. Jordan and I returned to Belize after he was certified and had a great time. I haven’t been back in years and probably will return soon. They both took an awful hit in one of the big hurricanes but I don’t remember which.
Disturber, I had a big day with the horses and I am tired. Your story left me fighting for air and with my muscles burning. Yikes, I don’t like fighting the current after a hard day’s work, I was tired before, now I am exhausted.
Congratulations on an excellent post, of course now that we know what you are capable of, we will expect more.
Congratulations on being an excellent father, you have every right to be proud. Being a good parent isn’t in the Constitution; but it is an unwritten component of being a good citizen.
Well done Disturber, well done indeed!
Now, I am going to have a glass of red wine and relax.
Skookum, a compliment from you is a compliment indeed, for you were the inspiration for that post. I guess I have lived a rather tame life in comparison to yours. I do enjoy your stories and I am grateful for Curt and company to allow us to express ourselves here.
Disturber
Thanks for the great job of the two horses. Wanted to let you know we checked out the site, lots of great information.
DISTuRBER great story for sure i was there pulling you and JORDAN so well explained y’all very good looking on the picture not every one had the chance to go under the ocean floor to explore so nice ,bye
Fernley is one of my customers from today, we should all try to bring at least a couple of new readers to the site each week! This situation is becoming desperate! Skook.