Belize – New Friends, Lobsters and Sea Urchins

guest — Tue, 24 May 2011 17:17:05 GMT

Last week I traveled to Belize City as one of the facilitators for an International Triathlon Union (ITU) Level I Coach Education Course. I consider it a tremendous honor to be chosen to be an instructor for coach education courses around the world.

As soon as the report is posted on the ITU website, I’ll post a link here. That link will contain more information about the course itself. Coach education is part of ITU’s world-wide effort Sport Development portfolio.

Participants included Aesha Garel, Giovanni Alamilla, Jamie Usher and Peter Castillo from Belize. Maria Shakira Gooding and Quanah Patino from Trinidad. Felix Molina came from Mexico and Brett Petersen traveled from the U.S.A. Course facilitators were Rodrigo Milazzo from Brazil and myself.

As a special privilege, we were invited to do the swim practical session at a private island owned by Victor Foreman’s family for 50 years. Named Forman Isles, this small two-acre island is home base for the family lobster fishing business. Not an easy business, as they have to defend their livelihood against thieves, hurricanes and sharks.

Luckily, we didn’t encounter thieves, hurricanes or sharks. You can see in the photos below that the group enjoyed the beautiful water, Peter tried out fishing, Aesha found sea urchins, Rodrigo found a lobster hiding in a conch shell and Maria was able to capture the group having fun.

I’m a lucky dog to meet such smart and wonderful people ~

Above, back row left to right: Peter, Felix, Brett, Rodrigo, and Giovanni. Front row left to right: Jaime, Quanah and Aesha.

Peter doing fishing with a throw line - spool stowed on his head.

Aesha finds sea urchins.

Rodrigo shows a lobster living in a conch shell.

Island owner Victor Foreman shows the jawbone of a shark. (A Nurse Shark?)

Maria Shakira Gooding smiling big for the camera.

More photos can be found on my Facebook page.

Blog Posts From Active Expert: Gale Bernhardt Tagged With belize

Belize – New Friends, Lobsters and Sea Urchins