Positive news on Baby Daniel Estell Jr.

Baby Daniel

San Pedro Sun | Thanks to the support and love of everyone who kept Baby Daniel in their minds and hearts, his surgery was successful. Surrounded by immediate family, both Daniel Estell Sr. and Jr. underwent surgeries (at different times) in Colombia on Wednesday, August 18th. Calls placed by friends from San Pedro have been met with positive news.

Mel Spain, Baby Daniel’s grandmother told a friend that “baby is doing great, and that all his tests are coming back with positive results. While his Bilirubin was high, it has come back down, meaning his liver is functioning. Big Daniel is also doing well, but still is in pain.” Mom Ilda thanks everyone and can’t wait to come home with Baby Daniel.

San Pedro Mayor to be part of Gulf of Mexico research expedition

Elsa Paz, Mayor of San Pedro Belize

LoveFM | The first leg of the findings in OCEANA’s two month research expedition to the Gulf will be announced on Tuesday. Mayor of San Pedro Town Elsa Paz has expressed grave concern about the impact of offshore drilling and will accompany Oceana, Nautica and other Oceana advocates including award winning actors Ted Danson and Morgan Freeman on Tuesday visit to Gulfport, Mississippi.

OCEANA’s report will reveal its findings of vulnerable habitats from the Florida Keys to Panama City at risk from future oil spills as well as results of its project to tag whale sharks, a species at risk from the Gulf Oil disaster. Its corporate partner Nautica has reaffirmed its commitment to Oceana by donating one hundred thousand dollars to support the organizations upcoming deep water exploration efforts near the Deepwater Horizon wellhead. The team will be onboard the OCEANA latitude vessel and leave for the Gulf on Tuesday, August 24th.

Will Rural South Minister join San Pedro mayor against oil exploration?

Hon. Manuel Heredia

Channel 5 Belize | The Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage has garnered support and membership from environmental groups as well as major stakeholders in industries that can be affected by an oil spill. The call to ban offshore drilling has sparked vocal responses at meetings held in Caye Caulker and San Pedro by Oceana, one of the founding members of the coalition.

The National Trade Union Congress and the Belize Tourism Industry Association, two powerful organizations, were joined by San Pedro’s Mayor, Elsa Paz when she joined the coalition. But the person most environmentalists and BTIA’s president Dionne Chamberlain, were hoping to join the coalition is Tourism Minister and San Pedro resident Manuel Heredia. Heredia is obliged to support his party as well as the electors of Belize Rural South. News Five asked Heredia this evening, which voice has his attention.

Manuel Heredia, Area Representative, Belize Rural South

“Even though I am a part of government, I still consider myself a fisherman and I still love the reef. I have fished the reef so many years and I see how beautiful it is. We have been looking at all the options, agreements, contracts that are there’ looking at what is happening internationally with this particular issue in the gulf and I can assure you that at the end of the day we will come up with a solution that will be in the best interest of the tourism industry. If it means to say that there is anything to cause damage to our reef, definitely I will be the first one to say I’m not riding with that. I feel that our industry comes first, as I mentioned in the beginning. The Tourism industry is a priority to this government. If the oil or the drilling will affect that industry I’m sure that we will make sure that we put measures and that we do whatever it takes to address the situation.” (Continue Reading)

Condoning Illegal Croc Feeding Sends the Wrong Message

Illegal Crocodile Feeding on Ambergris Caye - Photo by Ambergris Today

San Pedro Sun | Less than a month ago the American Crocodile Education Sanctuary (ACES) team from Punta Gorda traveled to Ambergris Caye at the request of the Belize Forest Department (BFD) to remove two problematic American Crocodiles from the WASA Lagoon south of San Pedro Town. Why did the BFD consider these animals problematic and potentially dangerous? For years locals have been illegally feeding them as a tourist attraction.

Once these animals learn to associate man with dinner it is just a matter of time before someone will get hurt, or even killed. According to Belize law it is a CRIME to feed the crocodiles. Under Chapter 220 of the laws of Belize Wildlife Protection Act molesting (including feeding) wildlife is punishable by a $1,000 fine and/or six months in prison. This should be cause enough to deter people from partaking in this practice, and even though ACES and the BFD have campaigned tirelessly through this paper and other media sources on the many reasons why this practice should come to an end it falls on deaf ears.

Just last Saturday a huge crowd gathered at the WASA Lagoon to watch local guys draw in crocodiles with baited ropes to tease the animals while they entertained the audience of tourists and residents alike. At least five crocodiles from large (approximately 10 feet) to small participated in the feeding frenzy while reconfirming in their primitive brains, “MAN EQUALS FOOD”. Although this ongoing practice seems to be a mainstay on the island there are a few factors here that are beyond acceptable. (Continue Reading)

Caves Branch officially declared as an Archaeological Reserve

Nohoch che’ en or Caves Branch declared archaeological reserve

LoveFM | Minister of Tourism, Manuel Heredia, has signed a statutory instrument which declared Nohoch che’ en or Caves Branch as an archaeological reserve. As a result, the Statutory Instrument makes it mandatory for tour operators to pay requisite entrance fees. Love News was on hand for this afternoon signing ceremony, and spoke with Minister Heredia about the new declaration.

Manuel Heredia; Minister of Tourism

“All the users will have a fair play and everybody will be paying the same fees. Before we had the situation where the court had ruled that Jaguar Paw being owners don’t really have to pay. From that time as the Director of NICH said they have been working and trying to do an acquisition and trying to establish and SI that will give us what we really have today and hence the reason for that signing today. At least one of the controversies that was floating on the air was that some were saying that there wasn’t fair play with one group and the other. But again we have to respect the judgement of the court. Today with this signing everybody will be entitled to pay and there is no more of the saying that this one is paying less than the other it will be very fair to everyone.”

The new law follows a meeting held on Wednesday of this week involving the Belize Tourism Board, Minister Heredia and cruise industry stakeholders which discussed the impacts on the local playing field sparked by the partnership between Bakabush Adventure Limited and the Jamaican based company Chukka Caribbean Adventures. Director of the Belize Tourism Board Seleni Matus told Love News about organizational restructuring which will soon introduce several initiatives aimed at enhancing the performance of the cruise sector. (Continue Reading)

Daily San Pedro Belize Weather Forecast August 20th

IR Satellite Photo

General Situation: Relatively Moist and Unstable conditions prevail as a tropical wave passes out of the area. 24hr Forecast: Some cloudy spells with a few showers and thunderstorms today with showers increasing tonight in coastal areas. Winds: East at 5 to 15 knots with gusts near thunderstorms. Sea State: Choppy becoming locally rough at times. ** Small Craft Caution ** Outlook: Through Sunday: Cloudy spells with showers and thunderstorms as a tropical wave passes over the country. Highs: 32°C/89°F  Lows: 26°C/78°F.

Tropical Weather Outlook: Tropical cyclone formation is not expected in the North Atlantic, Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico during the next 48 hours.

Belize’s Reputation Abroad – Letter to the Editor

I have spent the last two years cruising Belize, Honduras and Guatamala, flying the Belize flag. I only have to walk into any bar with cruisers, announce proudly that we live in Belize to be derided about Belize and its corruption.

Today we went to the Sundog Cafe in Fronteras, Guatemala. Announced that we came from Belize to be greeted with shaking heads. We sat next to Sterling, who had a few days earlier decided to go with a friend to Florida to visit a veteran hospital of some kind. They were both getting on in years. They, like every other cruiser in his/her right mind, decided to bypass Belize as they had heard of the corrupt officials and the thievery.

As they passed Turneffe his jib blew out and it became clear that they would not reach the US in time for the crew to make his critical appointment. So they decided to put into Belize City so the crew could fly up to the US and make the appointment.

This was last Tuesday, 1st June 2010, when Capt Sterling on his boat called “Sterling”, docked at the Radisson Fort St George and went ashore to find Immigration and Customs.
At Immigrations they were castigated for not following International Law and anchoring off under the Q flag to await boarding. While it is true that this is the custom in many countries, it is not the way it is done in Belize, (or Honduras), not in San Pedro, not in Belize City, not in Big Creek, not in Punta Gorda. So they refused to book the crew in so he could catch his flight. After a big argument where Sterling stood his ground, and refused to pay the mordida, they agreed to check them in.

Next morning the Port Authority visited the boat and demanded a $1,000 US fine for crossing the shipping channel without a Belize pilot! So TMM and The Moorings charters all have Belize pilots on board? Sterling, getting on in years, being slightly deaf but having fought on more than one war, stood his ground. Beside, he did not have $1,000. So they decided to impound his boat! Eventually they went through his boat, took all the cash he had, amounting to some $377 BZ, and let him go. (Continue Reading)

Hope For Kim, Cancer Awareness Walk

For more information about this Cancer Awareness Walk, contact the Train Station Fitness Club at 226-4222.

BATSUB cancels civil emergency medical air service

Astrum Helicopters

San Pedro Sun | When you live on an island with limited medical facilities, it is imperative for its residents to know what to do in times of a medical emergency. So when The Sun found out that the British Army Training Support Unit of Belize (BATSUB) cancelled civil emergency evacuations for the entire country including the islands of San Pedro and Caye Caulker, it was enough reason to find out more. A call was placed to BATSUB and their Press Officer Major Sean Ryan confirmed that indeed emergency medical air service has been cancelled.

Major Ryan explained that several conditions contributed to BATSUB’s discontinuing their services. Ryan stated that with the unavailability of pilots and having to overhaul their choppers, they had no other option but to cancel the air medical service. He could not state for how long such services would be unavailable, but he did mention that even after the choppers are overhauled, BATSUB still will have a shortage of available pilots and will be unable to offer the service on a 24 hour basis. So what does this mean for the over 12 thousand plus residents on Ambergris Caye? Doctor Javier Zuniga stated that it spells “serious problems.” (Continue Reading)

Caye Caulker Angler Wins Tres Pescados

Tres Pescados Slam Tournament

Ambergris Today | Team Anglers Abroad, Haywood Curry and guide Ken Coc from Caye Caulker take 1st place in the 2nd annual Tres Pescados Slam Tournament held Thursday August 12th through Saturday August 14th. Along with winning the event’s 1st place trophy, Ken Coc won the “Top Guide” trophy and Haywood Curry will be going to Islamorada, Florida in July 2011 to compete in the IGFA Inshore World Championships representing Belize.

With 14 Pro and Amateur teams registered and set for the competition, 7:00 am on Thursday August 12th arrived and the official start at the pier in Central Park was underway. All of the teams were required to be at the pier each of the 3 days of the event for the 7:00 am start to receive their team’s daily ID number that was required to be in every fish photograph entered for the competition. By 4:00 pm all teams were required to check in back at the tournament headquarters in Central Park.

With volunteers Ben Popik and Tina Winkler checking in anglers and reviewing release photos on the fly, day one results produced over 466 inches of Bonefish and 27 inches of Permit. No tarpon were released on the first day although several were caught and either not landed or under the tournament limits. One team, Shake-N-Bake, had a grand slam this first day that would make anyone proud but unfortunately the tarpon were under the tournament limit.

In the Pro Division, team Shake-N-Bake guided by George Bradley edged out the Anglers Abroad team with guide Ken Coc by 29 points to take the day 1 lead. Both teams had two of the needed species for a slam with a permit and several bones each. Team TFO guided by Cesar Acosta took 3rd place for day 1.

From 3:00 until 6:00 pm tournament events in the park included the Cast-Off ran by Dick Gentry with the community, team members and guides competing for the chance to win a custom built Belize fly rod and other prizes. Entertainment with steel drum and traditional drumming music was provided by Tanya and Zack, two local San Pedro artists that wowed the crowd with their talents on the drums while the San Pedro Lions Club were on hand to providing the drink concession. (Continue Reading)