Caye Caulker Chronicles

Happy Birthday, Chantel!

Happy Birthday to hottie tottie Hicaquena and calendar model, Chantel Marin. Do enjoy, girl!

Mr. Eduardo Reyes Is “Employee Of The Month”

This has got to be filed under “late but not forgotten”.

Apologies to Mr. Eduardo Reyes for this late posting, but we would like to big up the gentleman.  Mr. Reyes, a Senior Justice Of The Peace and employee of Maya Island Air, was October’s “Employee Of The Month” at Maya Island.

He was chosen to receive the award in a competition which included ALL the employees of Maya Island Air nationwide.

Congratulations, Mr. Reyes!

If somebody has a photo of Mr. Reyes they could email us, we would appreciate it.

Photo of Dane Dingerson, “Person Of The Year”

In an earlier post, the Caye Caulker Chronicles named Dane Dingerson, one of two “Persons of the Year” for his contributions to the new (first ever) high school which opened up on the island just this year.  The other person named as “Person of the Year” is local Hicaqueno, Desi Rosado.

At the time of the article, we did not have a photo of Dane Dingerson available to post, but one of our readers has since sent us one.  So here is a photo of Dane Dingerson, who we would like to honor as one of our two “Persons of the Year” for 2008.

Ocean Academy’s Student Newsletter Now Online!

Earlier we posted a front page snap of Ocean Academy’s student newsletter “Crocodile Tales”.  Well, now we have the link to the full publication.  You can read the entire newsletter HERE.

Welcome, Queens!

Twenty two year old Queen of the Bay, Miss Karima Carel and nine year old Azzi Juanita Hoy, Miss Mini Universe Princess Belize, spent the major part of the day out on Caye Caulker today.  We have them pictured above at the “Split”.

The two beauty queens were on Caye Caulker shooting a promotion for the TNC Meso American Reef Program.

Thanks for stopping by, ladies, and thanks for doing your part to help battered reefs worldwide!

Football game currently underway…

The national pastime is most of the world is “football” (soccer).   Caye Caulker is no exception.   Pretty much, every Sunday on Caye Caulker is football Sunday.

This is a photo of a game currently being played at the football (soccer) field today.  We are not sure which teams are playing, but big up to sports and football fans on Caye Caulker anyway!

Thank you, Anders!

As a Christmas present to his mother and in her honor, a guest of Tina”s Hostel by the name of Anders asked Tina for help in donating $300 towards “any good cause” in the community.

Upon her advice, $100 in groceries was donated to “Dodo” Alamina 88 years old Feb. 2nd, and $200 to the Caye Caulker Environmental Group.  (Group President please contact Tina).

Tina would like to ask anyone who might have a motorized wheelchair they are not using which they can donate to “Dodo” to please contact her.  He is unable to walk due to a hip injury and misses the outdoors.

2009 Lobster Fest Dates Announced!

Several readers have been asking if the dates for the 2009 Lobsterfest have been announced.  Well, now they have!

At the New Year’s Eve Dance at the Central Park, the new Lobster Fest dates were announced. This year’s Caye Caulker Lobster Fest will be held on June 26, 27, 28, with entertainment coming all the way from Miami.

The Committee promises that this will be one of the biggest Lobsterfest yet!

Canoe Racing Season Starts…

Will Caye Caulker have a canoe represented in any of the season’s races this year?  For many years longtime Caye Caulker resident, Allie Ifield, led her team to several memorable wins, proudly bringing home several race trophies to Caye Caulker.

The Auxillou Beach Suites had the pleasure of sponsoring Allie and her team for several years. Here is a photo essay of one of the races we followed one year.

Allie’s team was called the Caye Caulker Barracudas.  The Barracudas ROCKED!   In addition to winning trophies many times over, when it was its sponsor, the Auxillou Beach Suites commissioned famous San Pedro musician, Dennis Wolfe, to write a canoe race song just for the Barracudas. No other canoe team in the history of the La Ruta Maya Canoe Race aside from the Caye Caulker Barracudas TO THIS DAY can honestly say that it has its own canoe song. The Caye Caulker Barracudas is the first and only team to ever do this.

You can listen to the Barracudas song HERE, and you can find the lyrics HERE, so sing along if you want!  It’s a catchy tune.

Will Allie or Immer or anybody field a Caye Caulker team to the races this year?  If so, please send us any information you have.  Maybe the Caye Caulker Village Council or the Caye Caulker Business Community could sponsor a team?  For sure that would get Caye Caulker’s name mentioned about.  Think about the glory it would bring to our island if one of our teams won.  The Ruta Maya is a HUGE race.  For more information about the three day La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge, please click HERE.

Below are some press releases from the Belize Canoe Association regarding some upcoming races.

January 3, 2009

Dear Paddlers and Fans,

We have decided to run the 2nd Annual Boom to Manatee Race on Saturday 17th January. It is scheduled to commence at 10-00am sharp so registration begins at 9-00 am on the river bank in Burrell Boom. Please have a look at the attached press release and entry form. Pre-entry will be allowed if anyone wished to fill it out and email me back. RSVP to let me know approximately how many will be turning out to this first race of the season.

With regards to the February race and the La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge, anyone with any infomation on these yet?

Regards,
Jerry Wilken
Grumpy Old Men

…to which Orlando Harrison of the “La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge” race responded with the following shortly after.

Dear All:

This is in response to Jeremy Wilken’s e-mail.

We are already into high gear planning for the next la Ruta Maya Belize River challenge 2009!

We will bring you updates on the progress as we go along.  All indications are that there will be no recession for the La Ruta Maya come March 6th.  Lot’s of prizes and surprises as usual!!!

Jeremy we will offer a free entry to the 2009 La Ruta Maya to the team that reaches the Manatee Lookout with the most amount of garbage in their canoe.

Please pass the word around to every one you know on your contact list.

Regards,
Orlando Harrison
Chairman – Race Comm.
La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge

Who Was The First Miss Caye Caulker?

In response to the birthday wishes we posted for Lizette, in which we referred to her as the first Miss Caye Caulker, a comment was made to the post which said the following:

January 1, 2009

Comment:

Hi, while I would like to wish Lizette many blessings on her birthday and a prosperous New year, I would like to ask Wendy to find out who really was the first Miss Caye Caulker.  Lizette was one but I am sure she was not the first.  No offense meant here Liz, You made us proud.

Diana Zaldivar

So…it got us thinking, who, exactly…really…was the FIRST Miss Caye Caulker?  And how many “Miss Caye Caulker’s” have there been altogether?

Lizette was the first Miss Caye Caulker of these “modern” times, but after asking around, I realized that there were other Miss Caye Caulkers long before her.

One name that was mentioned was Ms. Chiqui Zaldivar, who went on to represent Caye Caulker in the Miss Belize contest sometime in the 1970’s or 1980’s.  But we are not so sure.

This is Caye Caulker history that we should preserve.

If anybody has information or photos that they can send us so that we can solve this puzzling part of Caye Caulker’s history, please email us at info@cayecaulkerchronicles.com.   We would love to hear from you.  Send us your thoughts and your guesses.  If you have photos, even better!  We would love to publish them.