And the Countdown Begins

It is really happening, I mean really.

Plane ticket is purchased.

... and I think I found a house.

It is small, a one bedroom with a futon in the living room area. But wait, want to see one of the best parts? Look .....

That is what will be my front yard. Jealous yet?

The house is in Placencia and is across a lagoon/canal from the road into town so the house is accessible only by boat.

I'm already in love.

Oh, right, the plane ticket ... I leave Saturday the 8th in the evening, arrive in Belize City late on the morning of the 9th.

Okay now for the bad news, the house isn't available until the 15th of March and no, I'm not staying in the U.S. on friend's couches for an additional month so I'm working on where I'll stay for the intervening month.

I'll remind you as I remind myself, "leap, and the net will appear". So I'm sure I'll find a perfect interim place but I can't wait to move in to this place.

You're still welcome to come visit, you've been forewarned about the lack of space. But remember, if my little place doesn't fit your needs, there are lovely resorts and other places to stay in Placencia.

So keep your fingers crossed, think good thoughts, send positive vibes, I'll let you know what happens next.

**YIPPEEEEE!!**  (That is my outside voice, sorry.)

Next post: think I can get my three suitcases down to two?

All Things Considered

Apologies to the NPR show of the same name, it just fit with my thinking at the moment.

So, as I sit and bide my time before leaving I have plenty of time to continue to research and think about where I'll go, and what I'll do.

As I wrote about previously, I have decided that I will either live in Ambergris Caye (San Pedro) or in Placencia. But also remember, nothing is set in stone. Based upon all the blogs I am reading from ex-pats living there, rental costs can vary widely in Ambergris depending on what you need and want in a place to live. And I mean widely. I am aware, you can get a very Americanized condo with all the amenities including a lovely pool and bar etc., at a condo complex with a two bedroom place costing around $1200 a month or more.

At first glance that isn't much different than what I'm paying in the U.S. for a one bedroom place but then I have to take into account the increased costs for plenty of other things including the costs for utilities, phone, internet etc.

But you can also at times find homes in Ambergris (decidedly less Americanized and without the amenities) for $600 a month.

I am already thinking I'd like to lean towards the $600 a month, I don't need much, just enough room for me and I'd like enough room so that when my friends come to visit (hint hint) they can just stay with me. But that serves as a warning to my friends, if you're looking for the 5-star accommodations when you come to visit, you might as well make reservations at a resort because I'm not likely to have them. I would so much rather spend my money on travel, diving, seeing and learning about the country and the culture in Belize and my other passions.

I am still working on research to learn real costs in Placencia.

Is it a Fly in the Ointment or A Sign of What I Should Do?

I had heard about this some before but didn't know a lot of the details. I'm starting to learn more.

Norwegian Cruise Lines made a deal with the government of Belize to buy an island about two miles off the coast of Placencia called Harvest Caye. The plan is to build their very own cruise ship port there. According to the local news I have read there is a lot of heart ache about this plan. Many are saying it will ruin Belize's reputing as a top notch eco-tourism destination, that it could very likely ruin the reef with the dredging required for the port and the resulting silt that is dredged up (what will they do with it). Add to that, as I understand it Placencia's population is about 1000. A cruise ship will bring in about 4000 tourists with each ship. So is this plan a fly in my ointment or a sign that I should think more seriously about Placencia area now, before NCL has taken over?

I have been to the Cruise Ship shopping area at Belize City and already know I would hate to see the same thing in Placencia. I also am aware that Harvest Caye has a lot of mangroves and is home to Manatees. I would really be sad to see their habitat ruined by making room for an obnoxious cruise ship and a bunch of unaware and uncaring tourists (not all are this way but there are enough). And I am also aware that this area is a great area to dive and snorkel with whale sharks and wonder if that will change with the cruise ship traffic. And they plan to have this all done by 2015!

I'm going to paraphrase some of what I have read recently but will  try and provide some links to some articles and information. As I understand it the project itself is at a cost of about 50 million dollars for NCL. The deal they got with Belize is that they pay the government $7 for each passenger that arrives then  the government pays NCL back $4 per passenger for them to recoup their 50 million dollar investment. What? Apparently the $7 per passenger is a deal in the caribbean. NCL is promising 250 part time  high-season jobs for Belize. A luxury resort like Coppola's Turtle Inn provides 125 year round jobs alone.

It is looking to me like someone isn't thinking very long term for Belize or someone is getting some type of compensation for pushing this idea through (but maybe that is my cynical American view). Anyway, please read the following if you're interested in more info:

San Pedro Scoop

San Pedro Scoop

Ambergris Today

So back to All Things Considered

What much of this is leading to is; I'm starting to think I might like Placencia (as it is today) more than Ambergris and maybe I should try living there before it gets overrun by "murricans who want to buy chotskies (likely made in China with the word Belize printed on them). Also, I have heard that, at least now, Placencia is cheaper than Ambergris.

Before and after shots??

This all depresses me somewhat as we as humans continue to ruin some of the most beautiful places in the world, kill or capture some of the most beautiful animals in the world all out of either greed or stupidity but that is a post for another day when I'm really fired up.

(But just in case you haven't heard .... watch Blackfish and The Cove and start paying attention)

One last note, this is instructions for friends if you plan to come and visit:

ONE: You've been warned about what the accommodations might be like so don't complain (but I'll update you once I get there and find a place to live ... lets hope I'm not camping on the beach).

TWO: I hear that things like wine and liquor that are imported from the US can be quite expensive in Belize and there was a hint I read ... if you're coming maybe make a stop at the duty free shop in the airport and bring some with you. Or plan to drink the local stuff including Belikin -- the beer of Belize.

THREE: If you're coming consider writing ahead, there are a few American things that I'd love to have that I won't be able to get there or might be easier and cheaper from the US, and it would be great if you'd consider letting me send you the money and you adding them to your bag or your carry on as favor to me.

I'm really working now on the art of patience, and letting go of the things I have no control over, of which there are plenty. Everything will happen when it is supposed to and I will be right where I am meant to be. (Can you hear the Ommmm, I recite after that?)

Take This ... .Leave That

When I finally made the real decision that I was going to go and it would be right around the first of the year I had to then seriously think about where I would end up, what I would take with me and what I would leave behind. And, for all that I left behind did I want or need to store things or what did I want to actually get rid of.

I started looking online for places to rent in Belize, both in Ambergris Caye and in Placencia. I also checked out Roatan, one of my other favorite Caribbean countries. I ended up trying to make pro and con lists for each place -- although I have to admit anything on the "con" list is pretty inconsequential really, I mean what really could be bad about living somewhere tropical???

Ambergris Caye I have been to before. It is lovely and based upon my research and the people I have talked to who either live there, go there often, or who have family who live there or visit often, it has a huge ex-pat community, many of the conveniences of home and beautiful diving. I looked at several condos for rent. They were within my budget (although not as low priced as I had hoped) and on first glance seemed perfect. The more I thought about it though, they are very Americanized, very much like a condo complex you'd find anywhere in the US. Is that really what I wanted? I'm not so sure.

I communicated with a leasing agent in Belize about a couple of places but we didn't communicate well, they seemed a little slow to respond to my questions. They were on Belize time.

I really have a feeling that everything happens for a reason and this felt like some type of sign that it just wasn't right.

I started looking a little more at Placencia which I have never been to but have researched and talked to several who have been there or live there. It is in the south of Belize, on the mainland, a little more laid back than Ambergris, a little less expensive and a  little less Americanized. But again, I haven't seen the place personally so I'm not completely ready to commit before getting there.

Roatan is really beautiful and much less expensive (based upon my own research) than Belize. But it is also a much poorer country and I think that those places I might want to live would require me likely to have access to or own a vehicle. I was hoping to get away from having a car.

I finally decided that the universe was telling me to just go, look for myself and make my decision once there. I can do that. So I'm going, will stay at a resort or short term rental for 2-4 weeks while I find the perfect place to live. Most places require a 6 month lease, easy.

Okay, so that decision made now what about my stuff. Almost every place I have looked at to rent comes fully furnished. Well thats good because I can't imagine how I would get furniture there or even buy more once I arrived. Remember, this whole thing is a seat of my pants operation so I'm really not prepared to furnish an entire apartment/condo.

Confession #1, I have almost zero emotional attachment to any of the stuff I own. I mean, certainly to photos and things of my kids and my family, some things that belonged to my mother and father before their passing, but generally I don't care about the "stuff" that filled my apartment and that I have moved repeatedly from one place to another. The stuff I care the most about that was there was my books, photographs and memorabilia of my kids childhood, the art I owned -- much of it produced by family and friends -- and the things i needed to do what I love, my computer, my underwater camera equipment and my dive equipment.

The thought of storing everything else in a storage unit depressed me. A monthly bill for stuff I didn't care much about and would really do me, or anyone else, no good seemed stupid. But I did still have a few things i couldn't throw away and it is almost everyone's favorite time of year -- tax season -- so I had to think about what would i do with the few things i really did need to keep.

Confession #2, I have this idea that every few months I might make a trip back to the US to visit friends and family and in fact I know of one dive trip which will require me to be in Florida to leave. Now that Florida trip is the middle of summer so no worries there but what if I came back in January and it was 0 degrees?!? I'm not taking heavy winter clothes with me to Belize but I might need them for a visit back. I finally decided one box or suitcase in Tennessee with some warmer stuff, and one in California. When all was said and done I had a couple boxes of paperwork etc. that I couldn't dispose of and a couple boxes of books that I didn't want to dispose of. So I finally decided on a very tiny storage unit (more like  a storage closet) for those things and my one box of clothes to be kept in Tennessee.

Okay, basic decisions made but what about all the rest. Like I said no emotional attachment to any of it so I got rid of it all. Sold or gave away just about everything I own. If this whole plan were to fail (and I don't plan on that happening), I'll just have to start over again. But did I care about the couch I had in my apartment? Not at all. So away it all went. Some I gave to people because I would rather have given it to someone for free who could use it rather than donate it where it would be sold to someone. Other things i gave to charity for the tax write off. And other stuff I just gave to whoever could take it and maybe pass it on to someone else in need.

I had hoped to pack one suitcase with all my dive equipment, one suitcase with my clothes then take my usual two carry-ons and that was it. I pared down all my clothes and my dive stuff and I still couldn't do it. So I'm now going with three suitcases of 50 pounds each and two carry-ons. Let's not talk about the weight of the carry-ons. And that is quite a site, me trying to wrangle that luggage through the airport  and onto shuttle buses etc, it is not a pretty sight.

But in the end it is everything I would need to live in the caribbean. There were still a few pieces of dive equipment I couldn't fit in my bag (either due to room or weight) so I have another suitcase packed and stored with a friend for either my next trip home I'll take it back with me, or when someone comes to visit I'll pay for the extra piece of baggage and have them bring it with them.

Well maybe it's not quite that bad but that's how it feels.

The airlines LOVE me.

Planning for the Big Adventure

I've been thinking about this for a while, this idea to just up and move and now I'm actually doing it. But let me back up a bit, for those that don't know how I got "here", planning to go "there".

I retired from a career in law enforcement in California in 2008. Following my daughter who had moved to Tennessee the year before I up and moved to Nashville. A good move, for both my mental, emotional and physical health and definitely for my monetary health.

I've long dreamt of becoming a writer. You know, a real one, with published books and all that. Once retired I had to begun to ask, what was stopping me (besides that awful internal critic who kept reminding me I could NEVER be a writer). So I attended a writer's workshop and started writing a memoir, about my career mostly and my life. And I kept on writing and dragging that internal critic around with me.

I had learned to Scuba Dive when I was in my early 20's in California, my dad had wanted someone to take Scuba lessons with him and it seemed like a good idea to me. I liked the "idea" of scuba diving but in that 53 degree water in Monterey I was not having a very good time. I was cold, the visibility didn't look at all like those tropical postcards I had always seen and did I mention, I was cold. So I had the card that said I was certified and never dove. Then in about 2006 I had the opportunity to try again. I did and although I had more of a desire and I was obviously more mature than I was in my early 20's, the water was still 53 degrees in Monterey and I was still cold. But I had to admit, I really did think it seemed like it would be fun if I could get warmer and see more.

As each year passes I find myself hating winter more and more. It looks pretty in pictures but other than that you can keep it. And the idea to move where winter wasn't an issue kept running through my brain. In 2012 I finally actually wrote a bucket list and on it I listed wanting to finish my book I was writing, diving more and I listed some of the places I longed to go and mostly wanting to move to somewhere tropical .... no more winter.

I am happy to say, I finished a first draft of the book, it is nowhere near done, in fact I may rewrite the entire thing but I did write a first draft. I continue to work on editing and I am now excited about writing fiction as well. I got to attend a writer's workshop in Montana near the entrance to Glacier National Park, it was a stunning locale and it re-energized my writing brain.

I have been fortunate enough to travel to some amazing places in the world to dive including the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, Truk Lagoon in Micronesia, Hawaii, Australia (only one short shore dive but I'm not complaining, I still spent 3 weeks in Oz), and I just returned from Fiji.

In August of 2012 I became a scuba diving instructor and I have also started taking underwater photographs.

Finally about 18 months ago I decided I was ready, I wanted to move to somewhere warm, tropical, where I could dive and write and take pictures. My plan was to move in June of 2013. As June approached I decided I wasn't really ready, where would I go, what would I do, how could I .......

I put it off and extended my apartment lease for 7 months. But I sat myself down and had a long talk with me and finally decided, if not now, when? And I made my life mantra the Richard Burroughs quote, "Leap, and the net will appear".

The other quote I am living by is the one that titles this blog, by George Addair ....  "Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear."

My lease is actually up this week. But I'm already out. In fact, I have left Tennessee in my rear view mirror and I am in California for a short stay. I'm walking through the fear to the other side, I"m leaping and hoping for the net to appear, and I'm doing it all just flying by the seat of my pants. This blog is part of that journey, a diary of the adventure, the good, the bad, the scary and the exciting and some other stuff, like my writing, my pictures and the things I am most passionate about.

I'm hoping you will join me, keep me in your best thoughts for good weather, fun, adventure, beautiful pictures, great dives and some day maybe a book tour with my published work! And wherever I land, I hope you'll be with me, either through this blog or come visit, we'll go for a dive!