Friday marked our last day of diving. In the afternoon we golf carted to Rudy’s shop. For dinner we revisited Caramba. Curtis had the whole fried hogfish, a special non-menu item. When we come back, I’m definitely getting that.

Since Saturday was our last full day, I sunscreened up early and headed to the Pool of Solitude.

It was overcast, but it was still warm. cklahr and I soaked up as many rays as we could. After eating our last lunch pool side (I was excited for the margarita flat bread pizza, but it turned out to be hand tossed cheese), we decided to go on another golf cart adventure to explore north over the bridge. Rudy also said he forgot to get a group photo, so first we headed to the dive shop.

As we left the dive shop, the golf cart felt a little wobbly. We pulled over north of Banyan Bay. A few locals came to our rescue and decided the alignment of the front tire was off. One called the golf cart rental company for us, and they drove a replacement to us. They drove the broken cart back. Someone stood on the back end to keep it off the front wheel.

Curtis had enough adventure for one day, so we dropped him off at the hotel. Nick, Kristen, and I continued north. There’s really nothing up there other than some new resorts. We drove past Grand Caribe, our old stomping grounds from 2010. Shortly after, our replacement golf cart came to a stop. We sat on the side of the road for a little bit, and again, some people came to our rescue. Miraculously it started running again.

On the way back, a local who was biking back to town after a long day of work hitched a ride with us. Nick chatted him up until we got back to the toll bridge. The cart was hesitating again, and we wanted to give it a chance to cool off before attempting the incline. There was a sign on the side of the road with weather evacuation information. It was quite interesting. I should have gotten a picture.

We couldn’t get back to the hotel soon enough. Nick bailed on us when we took a one-way street the wrong way and walked back to the hotel. After returning the cart (the hotel didn’t charge us for all our troubles) Kristen and I walked to Belizean Breezes, a homemade soap shop. It was like a Belizean Lush, but less expensive. And less smelly. And the owner was super nice. I bought a ridiculous amount of things.

I hit the pool one last time before dinner. cklahr joined me for a bit. I stayed in the water until it was dark.

For dinner we went to Elvi’s again. I opted for the garlic butter fish filet with coconut rice. I feel like I didn’t get enough of either during this trip. Probably because we ate a lot of meals at the hotel restaurant, Red Ginger. Also I had a nice run of coconut curry meals.

We packed up before going to bed.

Sunday we traveled home. We had no TSA Pre Check advantage this time around, but everything went smoothly nonetheless. Boo was very vocal about her displeasure of us being gone for 10 days but forgave us in record time.

Nick and I opted out of diving today. I wanted a relaxation day, and since whenever the trips are over I always regret not taking more days off diving instead of diving more, that’s what I did. My intention was to hide away in the air conditioned room and shady balcony, but I can’t resist an empty pool. I was down by the pool by 9:30 a.m. and didn’t come inside until cklahr came back from diving at 12:30. Of course they went somewhere new where the lionfish were a plenty.

In the afternoon we headed north per Nick’s request. We never head that direction as town is south of us, so it was an adventure. We found one of the two CrossFit gyms on the caye and ran into Loidy, who sadly is no longer with Island Divers. For lunch we at at the Sand Bar. I had shrimp tacos, surprise, surprise. I also talked Kristen into a third drink. Best decision ever.

Rudy invited us to the dive shop for lionfish ceviche. We decided the best course of action would be to rent a golf cart; that way we could enjoy dinner at a faraway place south near the dive shop and not have to rely on taxis.

The ceviche was delicious and we spent the early afternoon in good company. For dinner we went to Casa Picasso, a restaurant recommended to us by our taxi driver from the airport. It was off the beaten path and behind some sort of shipping hub for what looked like all the bottled water on the island. I ordered mahimahi and banana wantons for dessert. Kristen and I also tried a wine we’d never heard of. Unfortunately I don’t remember what it was called, but it was good.

The rain got us on the way back to the resort, so we put up the windshield and hunkered down. Since the drive got me wet, I ventured to the pool while it was still raining. A perfect ending to a perfect day.