Our honeymoon was, by all accounts, incredible! It began with a lovely wave off from friends and family. Then we drove to Wayland and were picked up by some of the same friends that had just waved us off! Katherine's friend Marianne kindly drove us to Logan airport, where we said goodbye to our mutual friend Suzanne (of Cedar Creek fame). We then settled in to the Hilton for the night. Our tranquility was interrupted only by an emergency involving the keys to our get-away car, which I hadn't given back to my father-in-law!
The next morning we made all flights/connections without incident and before long found ourselves in Belize City waiting for our puddle-jumper flight to San Pedro, the town on Ambergris Caye, our island destination. While waiting to get to the terminal, a 4'8" bartender, who is apparently a fixture there and has been for over twenty years, insisted that we try the rum punch inside the terminal. We enjoyed our rum punch with another honeymooning couple that were waiting at "Gate" 4. Those of you that have been to Central or South America know that not all gates are equal -- this one was little more than a door carved out in a hall between pre-existing gates. Loading the airplane was funny because they seat you based on weight, which meant that my tubby self went to the front and Katherine sat in the back. I ended up riding co-pilot, which was really cool.
A cab picked us up at the airport and took us to the Blue Tang where we stayed for the seven nights that we were in San Pedro. After we unpacked we decided to explore Ambergris Caye. The first person we met was "Island Dog," an ex-limo driver from Connecticut who turned out to be an acquaintance of my grandmother's (Wini Holmes). We located this acquaintance, Kelly McDermott, and had an excellent meal at her restaurant, the Blue Water Grill. We also spent some time familiarizing ourselves with the dive shops. The next day, we wasted no time signing up for dives (excluding of course, sleeping in until an obscene hour).
We dove a total of eight times on our honeymoon, which is twice as many dives as we had done to date! Belize is home of the second largest coral reef and has a plethora of beautiful dive sites. One of the most famous is the Blue Hole, a 480 foot death trap. Of course we had to work up to that one, but we did it! In the course of our dives, we saw 1 eagle ray, 3 sea turtles, a spiny lobster, sting rays, nurse sharks, reef sharks, puffer fish, moray eels, and much more. One of the sea turtles we saw must have been the oldest creature ever, with a head the width of a basketball. Our diving group disturbed its slumber underneath a ledge, and it decided to take off. It basically had to get a lumbering start on the ocean floor before it could ascend into its beautiful underwater flight. It was one of the most magical things that I have ever seen...
Between diving, sleeping, reading, and relaxing, who could ask for more! Good food, good fun, good company... the perfect way to start our life together! If you would like to see a few pictures from our trip, please go to the pictures section of the web site.
~Barron