I am a new fan of Stacy Holbert, a woman who apparently lives on Ambergris Caye in Belize, and posts great Belize scuba diving videos to You Tube. One of her videos is a fabulous minute-and-a-half clip of the beautiful Moon jellyfish. We don’t see these that often, but it’s always a thrill when we do.

Everyone is afraid of jellyfish, because their sting delivers a whopper of a hurt, but really, they can’t even come and get you if they wanted to, you have to bump into them. They don’t have a thing against you. I think if you keep that in mind, you can learn to appreciate their beauty (while keeping a safe distance.)

Moon jellies are 10-16 inches in diameter, and can best be identified by the clover-shaped markings on the top of their body. They inhabit much of the world’s oceans, from the tropics to the far north and south. I looked them up on Wikipedia, and was astonished to read that they can live in ocean temperatures between 43 and 88 degrees! Now that is adaptability!

To my knowledge, no one on our trips has ever been stung by a Moon jellyfish. Our biggest enemy is the Portuguese Man-O-War, and luckily we don’t see them that often either. Our most common jellyfish encounters are with the Pica Pica, which are the larvae of the Sea Thimble jellyfish, and their sting causes an annoying, itchy rash. Just wearing a dive skin insures you won’t be stung (except possibly on your neck, which isn’t covered by a dive skin.) You can find a great deal on a dive skin here: http://www.leisurepro.com/p-blrlm/neosport-unisex-lycra-spandex-skin-suit?=,, I bought one of these myself, and can attest to it’s good quality. This is the best insurance against a jellyfish sting of any variety.

One of the most popular activities we offer on our Belize island is windsurfing for beginners. Once our guests start out with our training program, there is always a line to use the equipment to practice their new skills. The secret lies with our first orientation using the land trainer, which allows students to learn the basics on the beach without having to fall in the water over and over. Then, when progressing to the water, our new style beginner boards make it easy since they are extra wide and stable. This permits newly anointed windsurfers to focus more on the sailing dynamics and less on balance.

Most people figure it out with little effort and within minutes are sailing back and forth across the calm waters of our lagoon. The biggest challenge still remains in developing ‘wind awareness’ however, and that does take some practice. Without an awareness of the direction one is sailing, it is easy to end up too far downwind after a few tacks and getting back to the beach is then a challenge. Fortunately, our guides are watching out for this and will paddle a kayak down to either tow people back or simply trade places with the student and sail the rig back to the beach. We always see 3-5 boards on the water when the wind is blowing!

[all photos by Hannah Stonehouse Hudson]

I just read about a new app for the iPhone that I plan to get. It uses complex formulas predicting your circadian rhythms. It also calculates when you need to be exposed to light and when to avoid light after changing numerous time zones. The app is called Entrain, but unfortunately the article I read doesn’t say where you go to become a Beta tester. I travel a lot, to Europe and to Canada each year, and I am hopeful this app can shorten the time that I am affected by jet lag.

Read the full jet lag article here.