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In 1947 on the banks of Albemarle Sound at Manns Harbor, North
Carolina and a short distance from Kill Devil Hills, the spot of the
Wright brother’s historic flight, a very special creation was brought into
this world. West of town in a canal next to the old ice plant, Clarence
Holmes contracted Belove Tillet to build a forty two-foot party boat. The
boat was built “by the rock of the eye”, with special care as it was
designed to spend its life in and out of the most treacherous inlet on
the East Coast of the United States, Oregon Inlet at Cape Hatteras. The
talent that went onto this special vessel can only be appreciated by a
person that has piloted it through the crashing seas of a deadly raging
and unforgiving inlet…like a little duck in love with the water, the
“Secotan” bounces and bobs along in the wildest of torrents…trust me
for I have been there.    READ MORE
LIFE OF SECOTAN
Hurricane Isidore September 22, 2002
It was time to make provisions for the coming storm. I pumped up all of
our “tinacos”, we have three one hundred plus gallon roof top water
reservoir tanks. Then I shut off all of our six toilets. A leaking toilet can
surely frustrate your efforts to conserve water. Next, we removed the
things from our upstairs patio, took in our lawn furniture and picked the
last fruit from our zapote tree. At 3 PM  it became apparent that this
storm would indeed visit Merida  as the full force came swooping down
upon us.  The city cut all electrical service at this time.
             READ MORE
LUPITA         POSTSCRIPT TO THE “ISIDORE HURRICANE STORY

With the passing of the storm many homes were lost and almost none
escaped damage. This was also true for the wildlife of the Yucatan . Bird’
s nests were gone and even worse for some species like the “chupaflor”
or hummingbird, their source of food was gone when all of the trees were
defoliated and no flowers remained.

The series of pictures that follow tell more than a thousand words could
explain.      READ MORE
YUCATAN COAST BY BIKE 2001
Our first trip along the coast from Progreso to Dzilam de Bravo
was by bus and we thought it was one of the most enchanting
roads we had ever ridden...and we decided to come back and
make the trip by bicycle.
NINETEEN YEARS LATER
We travelled the coastal road again and this time it was by bike.
READ MORE
BELIZE, ORANGE WALK TOWN AND THE
MAYAN RUINS OF LAMANAI ON THE NEW
RIVER It is nice to take a trip out of Mexico
occasionally and we find Belize a pleasant
experience filled with friendly people. Rural little
Belize is quaint, clean and quiet by contrast and
only has a population of about 350,000 in the
entire country       read more