19 September, 2015

Sand and Early Morning Rainbows

Sand - there is new sand on the beach!  Still nowhere what had been there, but things are improving.
The sandbags along the shore are almost covered by sand; only the tied ends are visible as white blobs on the wet sand to the right of the dock.  The bags to the left of the dock are fully covered.  You can also make out the submerged sandbags of the breakwater that runs under the dock in the foreground.
 The shore is still a big mess with washed up seagrass and driftwood, but even that is gradually getting covered by sand.
View from the dock looking toward the buttonwood tree.  The shore has built up a bit of a slope now.  The brown stuff under the buttonwood is seagrass sitting on top of the sandbags that were placed in front of the buttonwood to keep it from getting undermined by the waves.
As I write this, the breakwater extends all the way down our property to the south and they are still working on the part to the north.  In the photo below, taken Sept 15th, the breakwater extends from the dock only to just in front of the buttonwood tree. Notice how the wave breaks hard to the left of the buttonwood, but is not breaking at all between the buttonwood and the dock.  That is just what we wanted!
Breakwater in action!  See how much flatter the waves are near the dock?
We think we are the right track with the breakwater.  Since I took those photos a few days ago, a lot of seagrass has washed in on top of the sand, so we can't really tell if the sand is still there.

The sea is beautiful and calm today.  The crew made good progress extending the breakwater to the north.  Next week is a short week because Monday is the celebration of the Independence of Belize.  Never-the-less, I believe they will finish Stage One of the breakwater next week, unless the weather turns bad.  Also, we have the electrical engineer, Jose, with us today.  He and Dennis are repairing the big diesel generator.  We had the coil rewound, which required shipping the coil to the town of Spanish Lookout.  So they are working on that as I write this.
Jose and Dennis working on the big diesel generator.  Note the essential tools - the can of Liquid Wrench and the persuasive hammer.
This morning at dawn, a very gentle rain shower drifted in from the southeast.  The sun was low on the horizon (as it tends to be at dawn!), peeking through the falling rain over the sea.  To the west was a gorgeous double rainbow.  By the time I got my camera and went back up to the sunset balcony, the intensity of the rainbow had faded, but it was still a lovely sight.
Rainbow over the jungle.  The Maya Mountains are low in the distance.
A Great Egret flew over.
And thus started another day.

9 comments:

  1. What a beautiful space you have created, the Great Scot was peeking over my shoulder and was thoroughly enchanted! (So am I.)

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    1. Thank you, Jacqueline. We love the natural beauty and the peacefulness, but as you can see it is hard work to live in paradise!

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  2. You really do have the knack of making us in the cold and damp UK quite envious. Exciting that the sand is now returning, you'll soon have your beach back.

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    1. I must confess to some envy of my own on those very hot and humid days here. ;-) And among other things I miss good wine; I no longer even aspire to fine wine ...

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  3. Wilma - it all looks and sounds so beautiful.

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    1. There is incredible beauty to be seen here every day; some days you just have to look harder for than others. I suppose most places are like that. Today is an easy day - I saw 2 toucans fly over and that is a real treat for us.

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  4. D'you mean that you can't just pop down to Tescos and buy a nice Australian or French wine to have with dinner - only joking. I guess wherever we all live, we have compensations that others don't have, "the grass always seems greener" at times. And of course you have Dennis, what a gem he must be to you with all his various skills.

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    1. You can get wine here. The price range in the local stores is $15-40 a bottle. And it often is not drinkable due to how it has been handled and stored (in the hot, sunny window of the store!). Or we can travel to Belize city (an overnight trip) and pay $60 or so to get a decent wine that in the US would cost only about $20. Yes, we are fortunate that Dennis is so capable and resourceful. Better than any bottle of wine!

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  5. And like a fine wine, he is improving with age I dare say.

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