San Pedro Kids for Recycling

School children took to the streets once again, this time for another cause. In an effort to protect the environment several schools on the Island have joined together to encourage their communities to make reusing and recycling a part of San Pedro’s education system.

Today, the marched through the streets of town with posters and placards on hand sending the message for residents to start being more conscience about the environtment and start making steps to recycle.

The goal is to jump-start reusing and recycling on Ambergris Caye by having people talk to the kids and explain why it is important. In the new school year the plan is to get kids making arts and crafts from clean and ready to use items that people would otherwise be throwing in the trash.

If you would like to help please contact one of the schools listed below to see what is needed. If there is a school in your area that is not on the list please encourage it to join the program. For more Information please contact Laurie via tacogirlblog.blogspot.com

* Holy Cross School – Miss Linda: 226-3456
* ABC Pre School – Mr. Will Alamilla Jr.: 226-3070
* Little Angels Pre School – Miss Marina: 226-2115
* R.C. School - Miss Kay: 226-2550
* New Horizons – Mr. Miguel Hernandez: 226-4155
* Ambergris Caye Elementary School – Miss Odelia: 226-4323

Lobsterfest Caye Caulker Sashing

The sashing of the Miss Lobsterfest contestants, originally scheduled for last weekend, but which had to be postponed due to Tropical Storm Arthur, has been rescheduled. The sashing will now take place tonight, June 6th at 7:00 p.m. at the basketball court.










Pictures courtesy of Caye Caulker Chronicles

Collie Buddz Not Confirmed for Costa Maya

It made headlines on the San Pedro Sun today that Reggae singer Collie Buddz is confirmed to perform at the Costa Maya Festival 2008, but the Costa Maya Festival committee had contacted both newspapers to pull that headline from this week's publications. We at Ambergris Today were able to do so just before press time.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the festival committee came to some problems prior to booking Collie Buddz. So for the time being Mr. Buddz is not confirmed to perform at the festival and another artist might be considered to replace him. Ambergris Today will keep you posted with the latest from the Costa Maya Festival. Keep reading Ambergris Today!

Leave your comments below on which artist you would like to see perform at the festival. Click on comments link below.

Radiothon for Arthur Relief

The San Pedro Business Association, along with Reef Radio and the Lions Club, organized a radiothon fundraiser for the victims of Tropical Storm Arthur in the southern part of the country. The donations quickly started pouring in on Wednesday, June 4 at the Lions Den. Residents donated clothing, canned goods and money.

By the end of the day about $19,000 and bag-loads of clothes and food had been collected, all of which will be delivered on Saturday, June 7.

Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation, Hon. Manuel Heredia was also on hand to plea for donations over the radio.

Miss Bikini 2008 Contestants

Last Saturday, May 31, The Lime presented 5 of the contestants of the Ms. Bikini 2008 at Jaguar's Temple Nightclub. The contest is scheduled for Friday, June 13, at Jaguar’s Temple Nightclub where they will be modeling four different bikinis. Clear your schedules for Friday, June 13, for Summer Of Fun! - photo by Luis Zapata

Island Supermarket Raffle Winner

Dr. Giovanni Solorzano was the lucky winner of a brand new golf cart that was raffled by the Island Supermarket on Monday, June 2.



Miss Lions Club 2008 Susie Rodriquez was in hand to pick the winning ticket.

Damages to Southern Belize

Astrum Helicopters just provided us with these spectacular aerial pictures of the devastation that Tropical Storm Arthur cause to Southern Belize. Astrum Helicopters assisted the National Emergency Management Organization to assess the damage to the southern part of the country. The pictures were taken on their first recognizance flight early morning on June 2, 2008.

Got to Astrum Helicopters for more.

Kids Take Flight

More kids of the Island Academy expanded their knowledge last week as students in Standard 4 learned about flight dynamics and aviation history after having visited Tropic Air's hangar.

Teacher Lisa Anderson and her students got to see the vast inventory of specialized airplane parts and sit in an older airplane that is for private sale. Head Mechanic Doug Gaunt challenged everyone to a paper airplane distance contest. Captain Gerald Leslie got into the spirit, but Customer Service's Dennis Sundermand's granddaughter Ivy Bladon won with the farthest flown paper airplane!

Tropical Storm Arthur Hits Belize

In a strange series of events, what we thought was just a dying tropical depression already moving its way inland, proved to be a powerful storm that left its mark in Belize. What was left of Tropical Depression Arthur dumped some serious rain over Belize causing major flooding in the mainland.

In San Pedro, the damaged was limited to mostly sunken and displaced skiffs, downed trees, flooded yards and homes, with only a few losing their roofs. The storm packed tropical storm winds gust of about 40mph, dumped about 10 inches of rain and produced some powerful electrical storms.

Complete story on this week's edition of Ambergris Today.

It Just Won't Stop Raining!!

I have been stuck home all day today because the bad weather just does not want to let up. The rain went from bad to worst since yesterday. I drove around town today and besides the occasional passerby, San Pedro looks like a ghost town. Tropical Storm Arthur has seriously dumped a lot of rain; everything is wet and soggy. The forecast calls for more rain and thunderstorms for the rest of the week.

Tropical Storm Arthur Moves over Belize

Unbelievable, the first storm of the hurricane season 2008 had to cross over Belize. Luckily the storm was a week tropical storm that formed Saturday off the Yucatan Peninsula and quickly made landfall at the Belize-Mexico border, dumping rain and kicking up surf.

Weather here in San Pedro started to deteriorate since Friday afternoon and it rained all day Saturday. There was some flooding off the streets and low lying areas. The seas were choppy, but all in all, there was only a lot of rain dumped on the island which was a blessing because everything was covered in dust for the past three months. Now we deal with mud! JeJeJe!

Alma Becomes Arthur

The first named storm of the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season, Arthur moved northwest across the Yucatan with maximum sustained winds near 40 mph (64 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The storm formed one day before the official start of the season June 1, hitting land near the Mexican port city of Chetumal and Belize's Corozal city. It dumped rain as far south as Belize City and kicked up strong surf on the popular tourist island of Ambergis Caye.

Tropical storm warnings were issued for Belize and Mexico's Caribbean coastline. In the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, which includes the popular resort of Cancun, ports were closed and all water sports were banned. Residents and tourists were encouraged to take precautions in coastal areas. Ports were also closed on the islands of Cozumel and Isla Mujeres and in Chetumal.

In northern Belize, the National Emergency Management Organization expected about 4 inches (102 millimeters) of rain and warned of possible flooding around the Azul Hondo River.

Rain and rough seas ruined vacations for tourists in Ambergis Caye.

"I just came to lay in the sun and get a nice tan, but so far there hasn't been any sunshine," said Debbie Fountaineau, a police officer from Lake Charles, Louisiana, who arrived on the island Thursday.

The storm was projected to weaken as it crosses the Yucatan before moving out into the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical depression early Sunday.

Grupo TACA passenger jet overshoots runway in Honduras; 2 dead, several hurt

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, CBC NEWS Online - A Grupo TACA airplane overshot a runway and slammed to a stop on a city street Friday in the Honduran capital, leaving a pilot and a passenger dead and injuring several others.

Television images showed the plane's fuselage buckled and broken apart in places. The cockpit was smashed under a billboard, and firefighters hosed down at least two cars trapped under the plane's left engine.

More than 7,500 litres of jet fuel spilled out of the plane, and authorities tried to clear away hundreds of onlookers. "The airplane's fuel could cause an explosion, and that would be an even bigger tragedy," Security Ministry spokesman Ivan Mejia said.

"We landed ... and suddenly I heard a really strong, loud impact," passenger Roberto Sosa, 34, told The Associated Press.

Mirtila Lopez, 71, said she was talking to another passenger when the plane "left the runway, hit electric cables from a nearby street and then got stuck in the side of a small ravine."

Weather may have been a factor. The plane landed hours after the passage of tropical storm Alma, which dumped rain and left parts of the city shrouded in fog.

The flight left San Salvador at 8:30 a.m. local time carrying 124 passengers, mostly from Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica. It was scheduled to stop briefly in Tegucigalpa and in San Pedro Sula before heading to Miami.

Nicaraguan Harry Brautigam, president of the Tegucigalpa-based Central American Bank for Economic Integration since 2003, was on the plane and died of heart problems shortly after the crash, according to Tito Alvarado, the director of the hospital where he was treated. Cesar Villalta, director of Honduras' military hospital, confirmed that the plane's pilot was killed.

Officials have been struggling for years to replace aging Toncontin International Airport, whose short runway, primitive navigation equipment and neighboring hills make it one of the world's more dangerous landing strips. The airport was built on the southern edge of hilly Tegucigalpa in 1948 with a runway less than 1,600 meters long.

The altitude of some 1,000 metres forces pilots to use more runway on landings and takeoffs than they would at sea level. And because of the hills, pilots have to make an unusually steep approach.

The difficulties are complicated during Central America's frequent downpours, and during the springtime burning of farm fields, which produces smoke that often forces the airport to close for days at a time.

The worst crash associated with the airport came in 1989 when a Honduran airliner hit a nearby hill, killing 133 people.

BEL Works to Restore Power to San Pedro

Power outages are still plaguing the island, keeping businesses at a stand still. Word came to our office that some tourist are checking out early due to the lack of power in some hotels. Only a few resorts have their back-up generators.

Other sources inform us that BEL is using their back up generators in San Pedro to supply power to only a few sections of town. They are sharing the load of power at intervals of 4 hours to different areas of town. But as it is, most areas out side of town have not had power since 1:57am in the morning.

The island is definitely suffering from these power outages and hopefully something is done to correct the problem very soon!Below is an official press release from the power company explaining the situation:

Press Release - Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) advises that it is working to fully restore power supply to San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye following a trip on the system earlier this morning. At 1:57 a.m., power supply was lost to the town following a trip on the system. It was identified that the outage was due to a ground fault between the Maskall Substation and the riser on the submarine cable which feeds power supply to the island. The exact fault is being investigated by work crews, who have been dispatched to the area.

Using the standby generator on San Pedro, power supply was restored by 6:37 a.m. to Feeder 1 and Feeder 2 which includes the central portion of the town. The Northern and

Southern end of San Pedro Town remain without power. Power supply to these remaining areas should be restored by 9:30 a.m. BEL also reports that crews are working to resolve technical difficulties on the distribution systems in other regions of the country. Some villages along the Northern, Hummingbird and Southern Highways and a portion of North Side Belize City have been experiencing intermittent power outages between last night and this morning due to faults on those systems.

BEL regrets any inconvenience caused by these outages and assures customers that the

Company is working to restore power supply to all affected areas as soon as possible.

Artisans Show Off Beautiful Art

From time to time, woodcarvers from the mainland travel to Ambergris Caye to showcase and sell their amazing artwork carved from Coconut Tree trunks, drift wood and exotic wood like Mahogany.

This past weekend one such wood carver displayed one of his biggest piece which involved the roots of a large piece of driftwood. Meticulously carved in detail, stained and varnished, the large carving would make for an excellent centerpiece in anyone's home.

Manatee at Hol Chan Channel

Another great picture submitted to us by our good friend Carlos Ayala of Carlos Tours in Caye Caulker. While out at the Hol Chan channel on Tuesday, May 27, a friendly manatee swam up to the divers and snorkelers. This is a rare occasion as manatees tend to stay close to the coast line near the mangrove areas. They are herbivores and eat only marine plants.

BEL Identifies Cause of Nationwide Power Outages

Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) has confirmed that nationwide power outages which occurred earlier this morning were the result of a fault on the 115 kV transmission line.

At 7:41 a.m. today, power supply was lost to the National Grid following a trip on the system. The Company identified that the fault on the system was located in the Orange

Walk District and surveillance crews were immediately dispatched via helicopter and road to determine the cause. Using local generation sources, BEL was able to restore power to the entire country by 8:22 a.m.

Power supply was again lost to the National Grid at 9:30 a.m. Shortly after, surveillance crews reported that the cause of the trip was a damaged insulator located on the 115 kV transmission line, approximately two miles outside of Orange Walk Town. Investigations have revealed that the damage was most likely due to the recent extended dry and dusty weather conditions.

Power was restored to Belize City, Ladyville, the Western and Southern Zones by 10:45 a.m. using local generation sources, while power supply to the Orange Walk and Corozal Districts was restored shortly after using Mexico’s supply. Power supply to San Pedro was restored at 11:46 a.m. Crews are currently working to repair the damaged equipment as soon as possible.

The Company also reports that power supply was lost to the Corozal District at 1:46 a.m. and was restored at 8:58 a.m., following repairs to a damaged insulator on the 34.5 kV line. BEL regrets any inconvenience caused by these outages. For more information, please contact BEL at 0-800-BEL-CARE or 0-800-235-2273.

Airlines Reduce Flights to Corozal

After the Belize Airports Authority announced last week that the Corozal Airport would be closed for major repairs for three weeks, both Tropic Air and Maya Island Air have kept scheduled flights to the northern district, but have reduced their number of scheduled flights to three, for the time being.

Tropic Air has the following schedule:
From San Pedro to Corozal:
1. 7a.m returning 7:30a.m.
2. 1p.m. returning 1:30p.m
3. 4p.m. returning 4:30p.m.

Maya Island Air has the following schedule:
From San Pedro to Corozal:
1. 7a.m returning 7:30a.m.
2.10a.m returning 10:30a.m.
3.4:30p.m returning 5p.m.