Log Pavilion in Belize - June 3rd 2005
[b]John and Ingrid traveled to Belize to build a log pavilion for brother Tim who operates an Adventure Tourism company. Here is an article that was published in a recent issue of The LogBuilding News.[/b] [img align=left]/uploaded/newspic_1.jpg[/img]Since marrying into Nicola LogWorks I have had exactly four (4) count ‘em, holidays. (John and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary this year.) The first holiday was our honeymoon – John’s brother Tim gave us that. (Tim runs an adventure expedition company down in Belize – kayak touring, snorkeling, jungle river runs, that sort of thing). Our second holiday together was a Timmy trip too. No lazing about on the beach this time. Tim was exploring a new river and needed it cleared for float trips. Armed with machetes and a third world chainsaw we cleared the long-thorned basket tai-tai, iron wood snags and other obstacles from the river. Holiday number three really was a holiday – well sort of - if you call 10 days stranded on a remote west coast island with Ma Boys, and the brothers Boys with their boys and some of the Boys girls too. (Tim coordinated and arranged that family holiday). Our most recent vacation (and boy did we need it) was also courtesy of Tim. Thank God for Tim – the holiday brother. If it weren’t for Tim, John would never go fishing. Brother Tim has been running trips out of Belize since 1985, and he is always hunting for new and unexplored destinations. About 50 miles offshore is Lighthouse Reef, the last island on the barrier reef, and it was here that Tim needed a structure, and he needed it in a hurry. The island is part of a National Park and overseen by the Belize Audubon Society. The deal Timmy cut with the Belizean authorities would allow him to use the island as a base camp if he were to invest in a structure that they both could share the use of. This is where brother John comes in. Can he design a log pavilion? Better still, can he come to Belize and build a log pavilion? With five weeks to coordinate and build the project (the first customers arrive on the 22nd of December),the schedule is tight. Tim heads down to Belize with elevations, floor plan and specs and starts logging “bush wood”. He orders fourteen pressure treated pine telephone poles from Honduras, and books his general contractor and crew while Johnny rounds up bales of rope, fabric roof, lags, screws and fabricates the special bolts. Every project must have the special bolts. December 7th and we are leaving for the Caribbean; fins, masks and snorkels crushed in duffle bags exploding with come-a-longs, block and tackle, drill bits, lags and other hardware and small tools. After arriving in Dangriga, where John inspected the jungle wood and pre-cut the telephone poles to length, we headed dead reckoning in an 18’ skiff towards Lighthouse Reef. The weather had been stormy and we were lucky to be going. I’m not a mariner, so we’ll skip my account of the four drenching hours we crashed across the ocean, bow loaded with gear, tools and food. Well, not all the food – most of it had to be left on the dock in order to make room for the tools. Well, as builders, you all know the challenges of work flow, project coordination, materials acquisition, schedules and so on. Generally speaking, the people of Belize are not as driven as we from the North. Despite on-going Weather, which made timely arrivals of materials, crew and supplies a challenge, everything (except the onions) eventually got there. The logs arrived on a 40’ foot sailboat (the longest logs were 30’ long and weighed a wet 1200 pounds). The bush wood arrived in fits and starts as weather permitted. The onions never did arrive. We had a blast! Hubert Usher, the general contractor, was great; his crew was diverse and talented and naturally took to log work. The workday started at five in the morning with a quick trip in the skiff to the outer reef in search of dinner. And that is how Johnny got his fishing holiday. [img align=left]/uploaded/newspic_2.jpg[/img]It was a challenge to move and lift the logs without mechanization. With sweat, manpower, ropes and rollers, we managed to get the logs off the beach and up to the building site. Standing the structure up was a head-scratcher too, but furtive nighttime reading of a rigging manual made it look like John really knew what he was doing. Between dips in the ocean and visits to the Blue Beaked Booby Sanctuary, I also had a satisfying vacation. My assignment was furniture, landscaping and decorating – sort of what I like to do at home. On a turquoise and cobalt 22nd of December, our bags were packed and we were sweeping the last of the sawdust out of the pavilion as the boat brought the first guests to their adventure holiday on Lighthouse Reef, and we returned with that boat to the mainland. I know those guests had a great time; kayaking, snorkeling and exploring the reefs and shipwrecks under a warm southern sun, but I wouldn’t trade my Nicola LogWorks holiday - any of them. A Nicola LogWorks holiday is probably not for everyone, or maybe our holiday sounds too much like the ones you already get. Tim’s trips are really great, and if you’d enjoy white sand beaches, or swimming in a warm phosphorescent ocean on a star studded southern night, and if you like an active holiday with great food then visit his web site: www.islandexpedtions.com
