Hugh Manatee
Well, hello there!
This is Hugh Manatee, Sirenian Bay’s resident manatee and star reporter.
I got the gig because I’m set up right here on the beach, with amazing views of everything that’s going on at the Resort – and because Brian and Brenda said I need to do something more with my time than just sunbathing all day.
I realized I was being a bit shellfish living in this amazing place without pulling my weight, so I put flipper to waterproof keyboard, and here I am!
My first port of call is to let you know that after almost 14 years of dreaming, planning and building, Manatee Villa (formerly known as Casa Sunsandsea) is open for business! And by business I mean relaxing, enjoying the sun and the best that Belize has to offer.
Sounds pretty unBelizeable, doesn’t it?
All right, that joke wasn’t mine. I borrowed it from our very first guest Steve, who wrote us a thank you letter so wonderful that this old manatee found himself blinking back the saltwater.
Steve and his family spent some time with us recently, and it was as hard for us to see them go as it was for them to leave us. Although to be fair, they were going back to a place with snow and blizzards, which is pretty un-sea-sonable weather as far as I’m concerned.
Their holiday started with Brian’s magic words to Steve: “you can relax now.” Those perfect words set the scene for the family’s entire vacation – everyone to
ok a Belizean chill pill and was instantly at ease.
There was swimming, paddle boarding, kayaking and sunbathing. There was corn hole and horseshoes. (They all had a much better throwing arm than I do.) And there were home-cooked meals that made this little manatee’s whiskers twitch – and I’m an herbivore!
Every now and then the Villa would go quiet, and it would turn out that the family was off on an adventure. First they were ziplining, tubing down the river, touring the villages or getting a massage from a towering waterfall. Then they were at Monkey River spotting toucans, monkeys and exploring ancient Mayan ruins.
Even the clouds rolling in didn’t stop the fun – it just gave the family time to relax, share memories, tell stories and play cards. (Brian and Brenda warned them not to play with me – for a manatee I’m a bit of a card shark.)
“We will be forever grateful for you spending last week with us in what will most likely go down as one of the best and most amazing vacations of our family’s lifetime,” wrote Steve in his letter.
And you can bet that our little family at Sirenian Bay will be treasuring those moments as well.
p.s., Sorry about the pun in the title – I promise I didn’t do it on porpoise.