It is an Ill Wind That Blows No Good

And an ill wind it is indeed.  The following is a slightly edited email that I sent to my family, with photos added.

It has been a very mixed week for us.  In less than 48 hours we lost more than 8 feet of sand all along our beachfront.  We now have a small cliff that the waves slap against instead of a gently sloping beach that the waves roll onto.  

The top photo shows the dock from about a year ago on Sept 30, 2014,  middle on Aug 27, 2015 and bottom on Sept 1, 2015.  On the 27th we added 6 feet of boards to the dock to bridge the gap; you can see they are a more golden color in the middle photo.  On the 28th, we had to support the new end of the dock because another 3 feet of beach was gone.  Very sad ...

This is due, we think, to the major El Nino that has taken hold and radically changed the winds blowing across the Atlantic.  (The same winds are blowing in all that Sargassum Seaweed, too.)  We mobilized our construction crew to help shore up the beach around a buttonwood tree, a tropical almond tree, and the dock.  So far the buttonwood and dock are ok and tomorrow they will start protecting the almond tree.  We are using sand bags filled with cement and sand.  This is just a band aid that will have a longterm negative impact on the situation unless we do more extensive (i.e., "expensive") work to make a breakwater out in the water about 20 feet offshore.  So we will start on that too. Big sigh as money flows like water ...

As if that wasn't disheartening enough, as I was driving into Bella Vista early Sunday morning to pick up 6 bags of cement (96 lbs each), I had a flat tire on the Monkey River Road.  I had passed only 1 person on a bicycle and was miles away from anything.  Fortunately, as I was assessing the situation, I saw a pickup truck approaching and flagged them down.  It was like a clown car - out poured 3 adult males, 2 adult females, and I never did get an accurate count of the children.  Anyway, they changed the tire for me; good thing because I wouldn't have been able to get the lug nuts off with our little piddly lug wrench and they got the donut tire on.  Now this is Sunday morning at 7:30.  So I drove to Bella Vista, a tiny village only 3 miles down the paved Southern Highway from the junction of the Monkey River Road.  I found a "24hr" tire repair place. Picture a 1950s gas station in Appalachia, sans banjo music.  And sans gas for that matter.  But they were very nice and are my new BFFs; even have them in my contacts on my phone.  Got the tire patched (it had a big nail in it) but they said the donut was better than the repaired tire, so we left the donut on the car.  

As I was talking with them, I asked about cement deliveries.  One of the guys said he had a brother who sold cement. (There is always a brother or an uncle or a cousin, isn't there?)  I asked if they could make a delivery that morning since I wouldn't be able to haul any in the car with only the donut tire.  Their truck was already loaded with cement blocks ready for delivery to someone for Monday, but they rallied and got that delivery made right then! and then they delivered 40 bags to us in less than 2 hours, 40 minutes of which it took to drive the Monkey River Road.  Amazing!  I had been planning to get only 6 bags to make it through the day with our crew, so this turned out much better than what I had been trying to do.  Although again, money flows like water.  So our crew was able to finish up what they needed to for today and have the supplies they need for tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Dennis will get a new tire either in Independence or Dangriga and then drive to Belmopan and spend the night there.  He will be picking up more sand bags (empty bags) and looking for a pump that we need to make our breakwater.  On Tuesday he may have to drive on to Spanish Lookout if he can't find the right pump in Belmopan.

This afternoon was somewhat less fraught.  Our friend Percy stopped by with a nice kingfish for us that he caught out on the reef and one of the village boys came selling some fresh caught monkfish and jacks that we bought.  We now have a nicely stocked freezer and had delicious monkfish for dinner.  For dessert we had figs (purchased at Trader Joe's in SanJose CA - thanks Lizanne!) that have been soaking in port (purchased by Dennis at the Belize City Brodie's store when he picked me up at the airport) since August 15th.  The figs were accompanied by mascarpone cheese; perhaps not as lovely as the the ricotta from Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes Station CA (Ok, not nearly as lovely as the ricotta from Cowgirl, but we takes what we gets).  We are taste testing Black Mission Figs v Calymyrna (sp?) Figs. Calymyrna win, hands down.

end of email

Since that email, Dennis has scoured the country of Belize for the pump we need and has not been able to find one.  So we have ordered it on Amazon (free shipping in the US with Prime!) and it is on its way to our shippers (Easy Shipping to Belize) in Florida.  They will have it to us in about 3 weeks.  But he was able to purchase 1000 bags for sand.  We will use sand and cement in the bags to start constructing a breakwater about 20 feet off shore in water that is no more than 2.5 feet deep at high tide.  That should absorb some of the energy from the waves from the high winds that we have been experiencing. The plan is to set mangrove trees out there to make a living breakwater.  We expect that we will have to tend the breakwater periodically and move sand (hence the need for the pump) to shore it up.  All that sand that washed off our beach is still there, it is just in a different place out in the water instead of at the edge.  Here are some additional photos of the situation.

The dock extension covers part of the gap where sargassum seaweed has accumulated.  The sand used to extend all the way to the base of the pair of white posts that support the dock.

The crew preparing sandbags to shore up around the buttonwood you see to the right.  It has always leaned toward the water at this angle, but I really don't want it to tip in.  We learned from other people's experience that you need to mix cement in with the sand, keeping it dry, and then set the bags in the seawater.  Without the cement, the sand just washes away in less than a week.

A view from the other side of the buttonwood showing the sandbag barrier.  Overnight, sargassum seaweed was washed up over the bags.  We will back fill the space with sand now that the barrier is in place.

I couldn't bear to end the post with such dismal photos, so here is a lovely sun rise from a couple of days ago.

As I was pulling up some older photos of the dock, I saw that in the months of October and November, we typically gain a lot of sand on the beach.  I do hope that the El Nino that has caused the heavy waves that washed out our beach doesn't mess up the typical cycle of beach replenishment.  This is the beach I want back:

The tree at the left is the buttonwood in happier times last November.

December Rainbows

This evening, as the sun was nearing the western horizon, Dennis came in to tell me there was a magnificent rainbow out front.  I grabbed my camera and managed to get these shots before the sun disappeared behind some low clouds.

An intense double rainbow.

Seemingly coming straight up out of the sea.

I have never been able to detect this many bands of color in a rainbow.

I did not enhance these images at all, except to make full use of the histogram (i.e. go from black all the way to white). No adjustments were made to color balance or saturation.

As the light faded I turned to take photos of our beach in the last of the sun.

Soft golden light and long shadows fall on the sand and sea. 

 All too soon, the brief tropical twilight doused the rainbow and cloaked the beach; the magic light was gone, replaced by the dark of night.

Relentless

It started during the early morning hours of October 7th, although I was not awake to see the beginning.   

Rafts of Sargassum drifting in to shore.

More Sargassum seaweed (see my previous post, here) washing up.  But this time it was different - it was full of trash. 

It doesn't look like it amounts to much, except that it just keeps coming.

Hour after hour it accumulated on the shore in overwhelming amounts.

The view of our dock from the veranda.

 It just kept coming ...

The view of the south beach from the dock.

And the north beach.

I could hardly bear to take these photos, but I felt like I should document what was happening.

Floating plastic crap mixed in with Sargassum.

 It was physically gut-wrenching to me to see this.

So much crap.

Sticks and logs were mixed in with the Sargassum and the trash.

The accumulation was several feet deep, 10 or more feet wide and extended as far as the eye could see.

 I learned later that similar amounts were washing up in Punta Gorda, 30 miles to our south, and along the entire Placencia peninsula, 15 miles to our north.  It may have been along the entire coastline of Belize.

These large logs probably washed out of Honduran and Guatemalan Rivers with the floods of the rainy season.  That is probably where the trash came from as well.

An amazing number of logs (called "sticks" locally) washed up just to our north. 

One place in particular seemed to collect plastic.  This looks like a landfill.  

It is almost impossible for me to comprehend the magnitude of this mess.

 It is no exaggeration to say that the accumulation is several feet deep.

And still floating in the water is more Sargassum with small bits of styrofoam and other plastic.

 New accumulations more or less stopped by Oct. 10th, when the next photos below were taken.

The first Sargassum to wash up has dried out and turned dark brown.

We have had 3 people working 6 hours a day to get the mess moved off the beach.

Allen, Matthew, and Lloydie worked steadily using wheelbarrows, pitchforks, and rakes to clear the beach.  

 For almost 2 weeks, the 3 guys worked 6 hours, 6 days a week.  They were able to cut back a little and get back to construction for a few hours a day after that. 

Some of the Sargassum and trash washed back out to sea.

Only to be washed back ashore.

Gradually, they made headway against the overwhelming mass and we could begin to a beach again.

By October 11, the sheer bulk had been dramatically reduced.

 Uncountable wheelbarrow loads were massed in shallow pile on our south lot.

We kept the pile shallow so that the Sargassum could dry out.  The center of the pile had originally been about 3 feet deep and is only a foot or so deep now that the Sargassum has dried.

We will rake through and pull out the largest plastic things like shoes and bottles to bag up and take to the landfill.  But the remainder of little bits of plastic and styrofoam mixed in with Sargassum we will burn on site and then take the resulting plastic slag to the landfill.

Meanwhile, the beach just north of us is still covered with trash. 

This is a spot north of our property where more plastic accumulated than Sargassum.

Lots of little tiny crocs for toddlers in the mix.

To our south, we see little styrofoam bits washing back out into the water from their temporary stranding among mangrove roots.  This, of course, then accumulates on our beach.

 Eventually we will extend our cleanup efforts to the beach to our north.

Our beach, at the left edge of the photo, is pretty clean now, but the north is still trash-covered.

Some of the larger items that will get taken to the landfill.

 It is now to the point where we can walk north on the beach at low tide.  At high tide we have to pick our way through the trash.

Still not pretty.

 One neat thing that washed up is pumice.

Pumice is a volcanic rock that is so filled with minute air-bubbles that it floats.  We think this washes out from the Guatemalan Rivers and originated, perhaps centuries ago, from volcanoes in Guatemala.

Lots of pumice washed up ranging in size from these small pieces (some no larger than cough drop) to football-sized chunks.

The last shots show how our place looks now, 4 weeks after the influx.  We still have trash washing up, but it is manageable.  I can look out at the beach and feel happy rather than sick to my stomach, due almost entirely to the efforts of Allen, Matthew, and Lloydie.

Only 1 errant bottle in sight! 

Once again, the sand calls to us to walk barefoot along the beach.

This is how we like it.

There is still lots of work to do - sorting through the big pile and getting it burned.  Hauling the plastic and slag to the landfill (first by boat to get to our car and then to the landfill), cleaning up to the north and south of our property and staying on top of what washes in from farther away. But it seems feasible and the overwhelming despair is gone.  I've even been swimming again.  Paradise regained.

Back to Belize

Seems life has been conspiring to keep me from posting a blog entry recently.  Computer issues, mainly.  But also getting ready to go back to Belize.  In a couple of days, we'll be at our beachfront jungle for a couple of weeks, seeing sights like that pictured below.

See you there.