February 23, Ladyville, Belize:

I did not get much of a chance to see much on arrival that first night. Bed came none too soon and so did the dawn of day one. Spread before me were a large shrimp ponds as far as the eye could see. Rough tracks separated the ponds with roads in various stages of repair and lined with carcass of dead vehicles and equipment. A gentle mechanical roar drifted across the ponds shining surface breaking the tranquility and reinforcing the plantation nature of the enclave.

It was not long on day one that I began to take stock of After the Storm which sat on a corner of Charlie’s Highwayman gas station and general store. For better or worse the boat rested beside the Belly Full restaurant so I could enjoy the endless smells of fried chicken rice and beans over the next couple of weeks.

My first impression of “After the Storm” was that she was an old inter Island freighter with its large aft deck, wide flaring bow and flat aft runs. There was a nicely applied fiberglass coating over the entire hull that appeared and in fact was adhering perfectly. Her frames were 4” by 4” on roughly 18” center with a full 1.5” planking. Power is by 2 135 HP Volvos that hide beneath the huge aft deck.

At first inspection things did not look too bad and a huge volume of heavy work had already been completed. I had gone expecting to do a deck, the cabin, some trim and build a custom berth settee. What I found was a boat that someone had totally lost any grip on the windscreen. They had tried but with the roughest attempts to fit the old windows alerted me that this was another Jig Saw Puzzle that would have to be solved piece by piece. Worse yet when they removed things they had broken away enough of the old wood that there was no real key piece on which to base a new structure.

The deck was well laid on the whole with the exception of a nasty traverse join amidships that ruined the effect. The aft cabin wall had been done in tong and groove but showed signs of the stone axe syndrome of carpentry that I was never able to fix.

Huge amounts of work had been lavished on the hull and superstructure giving every indication of a careful refit with much attention to detail.

The first list:

• Fabricate new front windscreen
• Repair Forecabin window corners
• Boarding ladder?
• Aft swim platform/ wet wells grind and non skid
• Battery boxes 3 for 4D batteries
• Settee pulls out berth 6’ long behind helm
• Aft cabin wall voids
• Trim around windows

Saturday, February 24:

Today started out with a massive tool buying trip to downtown Belize City. There is a lively chaos to the towns that has a whole different beat than Canada. This is the tropics and Saturday is a busy day as stores close at 1PM.

We stopped for lunch at the Old Belize a tourist style resort and harbor the Old Belize. I did not realize the significance of it then, but here is Charlie and both his children and Kim in as close to a family photo as I ever did get. It is probably why there is limited around the house stuff as we all lived there and the camera seemed like an intrusion in the house.

After a mad couple of hours of tool and parts buying I ended up feeling that the same quality tools were retailing for roughly the same as comparable would sell for in Canada. Heading downtown you begin to feel the tropical rythem as the streets are full and traffic chaotic. On the river near the bridge is a small harbor full of two masted traditional boats. All three hardware stores are right downtown near the square and main bridge which connects the two Tourist streets. There is a large square with a dozen vendors all selling BBQ chicken.

In the evening Dr. Alberto came by and I joined them at a gravel pile way out back for pistola practice. Alberto had this nice new Glock but I still favor Charlie’s big pistol as I could hit something with it. What a nice change warm and pleasant with very few bugs and only one poison snake common to the area. However without question very much at the edge of civilization. A half mile back from the main house and the jungle and short scrub of this low land felt very tropical.

Sunday, February 25:

It is not too bad working up here on deck, but pushing through mid day heat is not so smart. Other than feeling like I am wearing sandpaper with the SPF 30 sunscreen is doing its job. Tonight I have only the slightest burn on my shoulders. Not a critical dosage but I will have to be more careful.

Today I have tools and it is time to address this windscreen issue. Unfortunately the person who started the job had really lost his way and there was no possible way to put it together with that length upright. In fact the uprights ended up being 1.0 & 1.5” longer than I found them and way out of skew.

The Highwayman Gas Station and Country Store is on the Northern Highway and was built by Charlie years ago. The Highwayman and Charlie as a confirmed antique equipment collector over the year developed all the property in the rear as a junk yard full of non functional equipment. The three bay workshop at the rear could be so much, alas now it is in the running for the worst mess I have ever seen. There is virtually three feet of stuff piled everywhere. Not a tool in place and everything lying where someone put it down. He says he has to buy tools for every new job and I believe him.

Building code is lax and the back of the gas station would stand a siege. It is here in the cave that Charlie checks all the monitors and secures the proceeds and valuables. This is a armed and ativley protected business.

Like everywhere else Charlie goes the most important use was the dozen freezers full of shrimp that were parked in the garage. The down side of this is that any remaining floor space was then covered with discarded boxes. Put mildley I was disgusted and appauled as there was no way that I could find anything that worked in this chaos.

16:00 EST, Sunday, February 25: The Shrimp Plantation

This was my first Kim Sunday BBQ, a feature that was to become a regular Sunday entertainment feature. When you think you have a big family, these folks moe than fill a place. There is however no question who is queen matriarch as Kim's mom still holds the reins.

There were of course more BBQ shrimp than anyone could eat and better yet today brought a nice roast of Croc. Very tasty if kept moist, very much like a huge lobster tail.

There was am much din from the slew of kids that I expected and everyone was having a wonderful time. Even Superclub would be hard pressed for a better BBQ.