I couldn’t believe my ears. It was the sound of a steady tropical downpour. I mean relentless rain pounding the roof of the Belize Permit Club. Yesterday was beautiful and when we went to bed there were stars out, but now we were right back to where we started our week only worse!
No doubt attempting to find a permit in early morning low light under dismal rain would be near impossible. So we slept in till 6 AM. Then we didn’t head for the flats until around 7:30. You could say the hour boat ride to the flats was no laughing matter. But what fun would that be. You can’t control the weather. Wil Flack, Tim Brune and I just took it with a smile. Thank goodness I brought my Simms Gore-Tex bibs along with their best rain jacket.
There’s no need to elaborate too much with today’s blog. We saw three permit all day. Honestly, the conditions were so bad we’re lucky we saw three. Strangely one was aggressively feeding on a ray for so long Tim and I were able to take turns trying for him and changed flies numerous times. But no luck. We actually gave up on him which is unheard of with a permit but the steady rain turned to a downpour and the 20 MPH wind jumped to about 30. It was no use.
The only fish we caught was this accidental yellowtail snapper. They exhibit one of the prettiest yellows in nature. Their vibrant buttery color still glows without sunshine.
We toughed it out till about 3 PM on the flats despite the excruciatingly hard conditions. Then we made the ride back to Wil’s lodge. The waves on the crossing were so big we took on a few over the top of us. Even with our rain gear artillery we took water down the neck and up the sleeves. We were so wet we needed to be rung out.
The good news however is that as we head to bed now we see stars again. You can’t trust a forecast for Southern Belize however it calls for light wind and mostly sunny. But I think I’ll sleep on that!
A special thanks for this trip to my friend Wil Flack and the Belize Permit Club.
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