Double Spayed Cats and Sandpaper Sealife - Belize

We had a relatively early evening due to the combination of a couple of bottle of Belikin Beer under our belt (try saying that 5 times fast!) and the extreme heat we were contending with.

Before retiring, however, we hovered outside the now-closed cafe across the street to take advantage of the wifi  (not the first time I've done this while travelling). While checking our emails and Facebooks, I was approached by a guy with long dreads riding a bicycle about 4 sizes too small for him. At first he asked me if I wanted to purchase any ganja, but once I declined he set out to try to woo me. Proclaiming all kinds of promises to treat me like I deserved, Justice (as he introduced himself) was dead set to keep me on the island. 

I, as is my nature, politely chatted with him and eventually excused myself. Meg, having managed to remain outside of the conversation, laughed at me once he was out of ear shot and we were on our way back to our hostel. 

Next morning we were up early and ready to go snorkelling. We'd booked a late morning departure that was to visit 3 different locations and have us back to the shore around 2. 

Meg and her shell phone

It's basically impossible to smile with a mask on your face.

Our guide was great, showing us lots of different sea creatures and enjoying the fact that I'm pretty daring and was willing to jump in the water first when it came to being able to touch sharks and sting rays. 

determined to pet a shark 

If you've never had the pleasure of petting sea creatures, the best way I can describe the texture of a shark is that it feels like it's covered in sand paper. Rays, however, feel basically like petting a semi-frozen chicken breast. Firm on the inside, but kinda slimy and squishy on the outside. 

Once back on shore we went back to the room and showered - and were greeted by an adorable kitten missing the top half of it's ear. The girl working at the hostel told us her name was Blackie (though she was really more of a dark brown) and that she was missing part of her ear so that they would know she'd already been spayed. We must have looked confused, as she went on to elaborate: the island is full of strays and they do free spaying and neutering. Blackie had been hanging around the hostel so the girl who worked there took her to get fixed, only to find (once they'd opened her up) that she'd already had all her parts removed. So, to avoid any further confusion, they clipped the top of her ear off. Poor Blackie, the double spayed, half ear'd cat.

We got changed and went out to take pictures and find a drink.