Welcome to Corozal

Welcome to beautiful Corozal. Guess what the first thing is that you see when coming into Corozal from points south on the Phillip Goldson Highway (formerly the Northern Highway)? Is it the view of the beautiful bay with its ever-changing colors? Hardly. It's an increasingly ugly display of commercial billboards - right on the water side of the highway.

What An Atrocious View

The Corozal Town Council, in their wisdom, doesn't mandate that billboards occupy the land-side of the highway, where they would still be ugly, but far less intrusive to the view of everyone. Oh no. They have to be placed front and center. It really makes one proud to live in a town that used to have an almost unobstructed view of this gorgeous bay.

Billboards, along with a slowly creeping increase of construction on the water-side, is slowly ruining the premier waterfront parks and unobstructed views that have been the jewel of Corozal, and made it such a treat to see.

Now you can get a glimpse of the water, and an idea of how it used to be. One can only hope that Corozaleños, both native and new arrivals, will let the Corozal Town Council (http://www.corozaltowncouncil.bz/) know just how much they appreciate the beautiful waterfront views they now have. Just press the 'Contact' button to leave them a message. I'm sure they'll respond 'right now.'

Reason Number 721 And Counting

Just thought I'd post another example of why we live here.

I shot this just this morning during walkies. I was on the northern end of the seawall by Menzie's Caribbean Village here in Corozal.

Sunrise Swim

What a way to start the day! Three young men having a sunrise swim, the sun just rising above the misty horizon, and the silhouetted palm trees. I just had to stop and take the shot. I'm almost never without my camera. Of course, sometimes, I go to shoot and all I get is a message 'Replace Batteries'. That didn't happen today.

We see stuff like this just about every morning. Scenes like this help lessen the pain of the past couple of months immeasurably. Sunrises like this never fails to take your breath away with the beauty and grandeur. The 'golden hour' has come through again.

Even in the afternoons, the incredibly beautiful white-on-white cloud formations against the bluest of blue skies is simply astounding. Of course, it's even more of a bonus then 'cause we're lounging in our pool, holding ice-cold Belikins.

I thought it worthwhile to share with you. You know, if you play your cards right, you too can see this sort of stuff day in and day out, without having to wait for vacation time... Just a thought.

Back to the US For A Short Visit

All good things must come to an end - even if its only for a short while. These shots are of the beginning of our journey from Corozal back to the US.

We're calling it a visit to the US, because that's what it is. We're heading back to Olympia to finish packing and to ship everything down to Los Angeles for Roy and Son Shipping to actually get everything from there to Corozal.

First things first, you'll remember earlier photos of the Corozal Airstrip, so I won't repeat myself there. When the plane comes in, it touches down and then pulls up directly in front of the Tropic Air office. We all walked out and got on the plane. Probably because of it being Mother's Day, it was full - 10 seats, 10 passengers.

The photo below shows the pilot and the copilot... Wait a minute, that's not a copilot, that's an additional passenger! Both flights, some lucky person got to sit in the copilot's seat.

With Luck, Passengers Can Sit in the Right Seat!

We always knew the house was close to the airport, so I had planned to snap a photo of it when we took off. Good thing I had the camera ready, cause this was about 10 seconds after we took off.

That's Our Place Down There!

For this one, I cropped the photo so you can see Tony's place. You can even see our Isuzu parked in the driveway.

A Little Tighter Crop on the Place

About thirty seconds later, we're flying over Corozal Town. This shot shows the southern end of downtown with the Texaco gas station (only one in town).

Flying Over Corozal

Then in short order, we're flying over Corozal Bay. If you remember the shots of Bill and Jenny and their resort over near Copper Bank on the Cerros Peninsula, well, here's their place from the air. Bill's dad's house to the left, the Mennonite house in the middle , and the resort buildings to the right.

Bill and Jenni's Ceros Beach Resort

Then, as we fly along out over Chetumal Bay as it becomes, we see on the horizon, the first caye to appear.

Ambergris Caye Ahead

Now we're over Ambergris Caye and beginning our approach to the town of San Pedro and their airstrip.

Descending to San Pedro

On final for San Pedro. A sharp bank, descent, and we're down into a completely different culture and atmosphere.

On Final for the Airstrip

Tons of tourists, loud and noisy! Bustling and rambunctious . What a difference from Corozal to here! I'd like to come over sometime for a weekend visit to see the sights, take in some of the nightlife, and then get the heck back to the peace and quiet of Corozal. There 's a couple of ways in and out of San Pedro. You can drive down to Belize City and take a ferry over, or you can fly, like this time, or you can take the Thunderbolt fast ferry from Corozal.

So, from here on to Olympia, it's flying in the US - boring. I'll pick up the narrative again after we get back to Oly and begin the process of packing, discarding, garage sales, shipping, and leaving for home in Corozal Town.

A brief note - when we landed in Seattle at Seatac International, it was 47 degrees - freezing-ass cold! Our duplex is at 70 degrees and we're freezing! Dianna and I are both wearing socks, shoes, long pants, sweatshirts - more clothes than we've worn in a month! Brrrrrrrr!

I can't wait to leave and get back to a simpler, quieter lifestyle.