We got straight back to work as soon as we arrived in Belize. We seriously enjoy our jobs, running charters, and after 3 months in cold Cape Town, South Africa, we were more than ready to switch our jeans and hoodies for boardies and bikinis on a boat!

Our first charter was for one of the owners of the catamarans in the company fleet. Jon is a serious fly fisherman and the whole boat was kitted and geared specifically towards finding Permit. His friend, Peter Morse, joined him as well as Omar Arceo, a professional Belizean fishing guide with many years of experience in the local waters.

All three men, although extremely experienced and well known in their fields, were humble and down to earth. It took us a while to figure out (I eventually googled him, while the team was out scouting for Permit) that Peter is in fact an internationally renowned IFFF Master Casting Instructor. Omar, also known as "Doctor of the Flats", is an internationally sought after guide and enthusiasts fly halfway across the globe to fish with him in Belize. Jon is in the process of writing his second book on fly fishing and astounded us with the list of countries he has travelled to and fished in over the years.

The part of the charter I enjoyed most was dinner time, when all five of us shared great conversation on a diverse range of topics, made especially interesting because of the 4 different nationalities - USA, Australia, Belize and South Africa.

We learnt a lot about Belize, it's history and it's current political situation from Omar. He was the quiet one, out of the bunch, and didnt ever talk just for the sake of it, only when he felt he had something worthwhile to say. So when he complimented the dinner I prepared for them one night, which was my own take on a local Belizean dish with beans I was extremely humbled: "I've had a lot of beans and yours were very very good." For me, that is a big deal, coming from a local, with beans as one of their staple foods in practically every meal of the day!

Peter regaled us with tales from his life before fly fishing and his family in Australia. South Africans generally get on well with Australians, we share a similar sense of humour (and Rugby) and Peter was no exception. Jon managed to spark Rufus and my interest in fly fishing, through his pure passion and devotion to the sport. Rufus even got a few casting lessons from Peter and he apparently has a natural talent for it ;)

All three had a great sense of humour and their passion for the sport was infectious. Rufus and I started the charter knowing absolutely nothing about fishing in general but, after that week, we have a new appreciation and respect for the sport.

Thank you Jon, for trusting us with your boat and sharing your inspiring passion and dedication to fly fishing. Thank you Peter for generously sharing your time and expertise and, thank you Omar for sharing your knowledge about and love for Belize and its waters.

the pros  scouting for permit — the pros scouting for permit

all these are hand made for specific fish

Omar found these guys on deck. unfortunately none were big enough to barbecue :(

another teeny creature from the sugar scoops out back

Peter offered to do a pole dance as a farewell gift... he never went through with it but he did have an grip on that pole ...

Rufus is no longer impressed by all my photo taking

the gentlemen off to the airport in Dangriga, to return home

The day we arrived back in Belize, after the Caribbean Sea crossing, we got the news that Rufus' mom was ill. None of us knew at that stage that she had Leukemia but, over the next few days during the prep for our next charter, it escalated from being "tired and needing blood transfusions" to "full blown, advanced AML" and emergency prep for chemo.

There is always a time of stress before a charter begins, the last few hours to get everything perfect before the guests arrive (which isn't so bad actually, unless you are a perfectionist...) and then there is the wait to meet our new guests and gauge their "vibe" in the first hour or so, which is extremely important as it sets the tone for the rest of the charter.

This specific charter was for a couple, Ken and Elizabeth, on our company's smallest boat, Sea Dale. She is a 38ft Leopard and we are rather fond of this boat, not just because she is South African designed and built, but because she is a great boat to sail and live on. The other bonus is that we get to host mostly couples on her, because she is smaller, which means the charter is more personal and you almost always end up becoming friends.

We collected our guests in Belize City, at our base in Cucumber Marina, and sailed 6 nights down south to Placencia. We were obviously more stressed and distracted when this charter started, because of what was happening with Ma back home, but after a few minutes with Ken and Elizabeth, discussing their love of good food, world travel and music we immediately relaxed and we knew this was going to be a great few days ahead.

We had so much fun exploring the southern islands, which Rufus and I hadn't yet had the chance to visit in such perfect weather, we enjoyed great meals together (I am always more relaxed and creative when our guests love food as much as we do!), snorkelling, exploring mangroves and deserted islands, dinghy rides, swimming, photography, music and great conversation.

During those seven days we made the decision to fly back to South Africa, immediately after the charter was done. We want to thank Ken and Elizabeth for being such a great couple to share that charter with. They didn't know about Ma until the end of it, but by just being the relaxed, positive, happy, inspiring people that they are they helped us to take our mind off things back home and zero'd our work stress :)

Just to show you how perfect the weather and destinations were (and to make you a teensy bit jealous) here are some photos of that route - no editing/filters/photoshopping whatsoever. Enjoy!

this friendly "little" guy followed us around the island (Ranguana Caye) and was quite keen on having his photo taken. Did I mention that I haven't edited these photos at all? - not even cropped them... That is the actual colour of the water. In every photo - no tricks.