Belize: Trading Butter for Bathing Suits

Debbie Klauber enjoys a swim in Belize, where she lives for six months out of the year.
Debbie Klauber enjoying a swim in Belize. Sonya Stark photos.

Debbie Klauber swaps the heat of the kitchen for the heat of a tropical paradise during the winter months

By Sonja Stark
Senior Writer

It’s the holiday season and one of the country’s most revered pie-making debutantes is feeling the heat. No, she’s not slaving away in the kitchen waiting for the dough to rise. She’s on a tropical island in the Caribbean basking in the sunshine on a pristine beach. It’s a life swap that Debbie Klauber makes six months out of the year.

The La Beliza Resort has a rooftop terrace for observing the sun transforming into a ball of fire and disappearing into the horizon.
The La Beliza Resort has a rooftop terrace for observing the sun transforming into a ball of fire and disappearing into the horizon.

But, living in San Pedro on the island of Ambergris Caye is a mixed bag for Klauber.

On one hand, she loves frolicking like a mermaid in the warm waters, on the other, she’s tortured by the lack of her favorite baking essentials.

“Oh, sure, they have butter in San Pedro but it costs seven dollars for a half pound!” exclaims the curly-haired castaway. Conch and ceviche are within her budget but not eggs and milk.

The endearing Capital Region personality declares Belize home six months a year, not exactly a full-fledged expat but close enough.

For a quarter of a century, Klauber ran the beloved sandwich, soup and pastry shop known as Debbie’s Kitchen on Madison Avenue in Albany, NY. The eatery sat a few doors shy from George Dunbrook’s car repair business, Dunbrook ltd.

When the city temps fell to a miserable minus zero last winter, George suggested that we escape to Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” to visit his favorite donut dame.

Rocky is a stray dog rescued by La Beliza Resort who enjoys greeting guests at the pier.
Rocky is a stray dog rescued by La Beliza Resort who enjoys greeting guests at the pier.

A Secluded Bungalow

Per Klauber’s suggestion, we dropped our bags at La Belize Resort, a secluded bungalow eight miles north of San Pedro to share breakfast with a one-eyed canine ambassador named Rocky.

The dog sleeps on the pier and jumps to attention to greet guests arriving by water-taxi from San Pedro.

Staff do the same by handing everyone a refreshing face towel and a fancy coconut cocktail. Water-taxi is the most efficient way to navigate the democratic, English speaking nation, once known as British Honduras. Click to watch a video on La Beliza Resort.

When Debbie first moved to Ambergris Caye she stayed at one of the 18 unit private villas at La Beliza Resort to convalesce over a sudden death in the family. The palm-fringed pools, the pristine stretch of beach, the fresh, salty air of the gulf all combined into a much-needed elixir to mend her broken heart.

George and I are serenaded by the same healing properties while dining on lobster from the patio restaurant or relaxing under the stars on the terrace.

On our first day, we borrow the resort’s complimentary, purple one-speed bikes to reunite with our long-lost friend. We bike a sand-packed single track past mangroves and beach resorts to the Rojo Beach Bar. Due to rain and fast-growing jungly undergrowth the dirt roads outside of San Pedro are best left to peddling or all-terrain vehicles.

The vibe at the rasta-bar is mellow and unhurried with a splash of irreverence. The menu chalkboards read “Party, Sleep, Repeat” and rum drinks are given memorable names like Panty and Brief Rippa. It’s downright pejorative but customers feel right at home among roaming rescue dogs and bare-chested fishermen scorched with tats.

The three of us perch on wobbly barstools listening to waves crash softly off the Barrier Reef, the second longest reef in the world. I’m reminded of Madonna’s lyrics: “Tropical the island breeze, all of nature wild and free…”.

Klauber admits that, in her youth, before realizing her penchant for baking, she wanted to be a marine biologist. And with that declaration, she rockets off her chair and hurls herself into the sun-drenched waters of the Caribbean Sea. She grins wide for the camera.

San Pedro, once a sleepy fishing village, has mushroomed into a world-class scuba and snorkeling destination on the 25-mile island. Divers swim side-by-side with a kaleidoscope of reef life like rays, snappers, parrot fish, angel fish, grouper, barracuda, eels, spider crabs and nurse sharks. Marine reserves throughout the reefs get first billing in popular scuba magazines. Dogs and Tattoos are welcome at the RoJo Beach Bar. The lobster pizza and conch fritters are worth the bumpy bike ride from San Pedro.. The lobster pizza and conch fritters are worth the bumpy bike ride from San Pedro.

A Journey to the Center of the Earth

Looking like a massive pupil floating in a turquoise sea, the Great Blue Hole off the coast of Belize is easily considered the most amazing underwater sinkhole in the world.

There are others that are deeper and larger in diameter but none can compete with the splendor of this natural depression.

It formed as a limestone cave system during the last ice age when sea levels were lower. The caves flooded as the planet warmed and sea levels rose. At nearly 1000 feet wide and 480 feet deep, the vertical atoll is an attraction for gutsy divers looking for the adventure of a lifetime. Jacques Cousteau aboard his research ship Calypso made the hole famous in his television series./

Captain Edgar goes to great length to ease our fears in the Great Blue Hole off the coast of Belize.
Captain Edgar goes to great length to ease our fears in the Great Blue Hole off the coast of Belize.

Exploring natural wonders is par for the course for the professionals who run the Amigos Del Mar dive shop. They arrive promptly at 5:30 am by water taxi at the La Beliza pier and stop to gather others at their respective resorts.

Just before sunrise, our friendly crew of divers: Maverick, Michael, Jorge and Captain Edgar, brief our 8-person group on what to expect.

We cast off for the 80-mile round trip day tour that includes three dives, one Blue Hole and two drifts, with a hearty chicken lunch provided at Half Moon Caye, an island shared with noisy, cackling red-footed Boobies.

George became PADI-certified a year earlier and, other than taking his final exam in Lake George, he’s had Captain Edgar goes to great length to ease our fears in the Great Blue Hole off the coast of Belize.zero deep water experience. Would this first plummet prove too risky? Out of his league?

The Amigos crew were especially helpful with masks, regulators, and tanks allowing ample time to prepare and repeat safety procedures. When it was my turn to take a giant stride entry towards the seemingly bottomless pit, a surge of anxiety overcame me.

While bobbing at the surface I motioned for our dive leader to stay close. Trained to recognize stress, he saw how anxious I was and held onto my hand until I was comfortable. Within minutes I was able to equalize and join up with my scuba buddy who was acclimating just fine for a beginner. More than fine, in fact. He flipped and rolled around in the water like a dolphin on steroids.

Teeming with Coral

Jose Vivas, Manager of the Amigos Dive Shop in San Pedro, Belize provides daily trips to the Great Blue Hole and Lighthouse Atoll.
Jose Vivas, Manager of the Amigos Dive Shop in San Pedro, Belize provides daily trips to the Great Blue Hole and Lighthouse Atoll

Laser-like sunbeams sliced through the crystal-clear waters and the rim was teeming with coral formations.

The shallow seabed at the edge of the makes for an ideal spot to snorkel and swim, a backup plan that I thought I might have to entertain if I didn’t allay my fears.

As we descended, the chromatic reef morphs into a dull grey wall of snails and mollusks. About fifty feet below the surface, the

SCUBA tanks at Amigos Del Mar Dive Shop await journeys to the Great Blue Hole.
SCUBA tanks at Amigos Del Mar Dive Shop await 80-mile roundtrip journeys to the Great Blue Hole.

water shimmers as we pass the “halocline”—an invisible line that divides that salty top of the hole from its freshwater depths.

As the light begins to fade, I catch the silhouette of mans’ most intimidating predator, the mighty shark. But there’s nothing to be afraid of here.

The bull sharks glide through the hazy void at temperatures far chiller than at the surface and ignore us.

The crew reminds us that at 100 feet down decompression illness and nitrogen narcosis affects everyone differently.

We would be diving to 130 feet so we were told to be vigilant of aberrant sensations like a temporary loss of coherence or movement, almost like being intoxicated.

Thankfully, we experienced none of the symptoms.

At 110 feet, tall bumpy columns called stalactites dwarf the divers as they swim past. It’s eerily quiet and Edgar releases my hand to lighten the moment with a trick. He takes the respirator from his mouth and blows air up and into a small air gap or pocket in the roof of a cave. The bubbles resemble smoke vapors spreading like pale swirling cobwebs.

Like an experiment where you turn a cup upside down and submerge in water, the cave ceiling has small pockets of trapped air. The residual air is a memory from eons ago but still breathable though far too little to sustain life for more than a few seconds. Like a diving bell, the only way the air can escape is by diffusing itself through the water, one molecule at a time.

After only eight intrepid minutes, we leave the mysterious world of giant gray monoliths and formidable sharks for the surface. The last two dives yield equally-amazing surprises including orgonians, sea fans, tunicates, and shellfish of amazing variety. Click here to watch a video on the Great Blue Hole Dive.

For more information, visit the Travel Belize website.

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