Victim shot during robbery

The scooter Dilia was riding remained on the road. Fuel permeated the air as it leaked out of the scooter.
Last night at approximately 10:45 p.m., Dilia Teraza, 46, owner of Topaz Jewelry in Pescador Drive was riding to her home located on Angel Coral Street, next to Sun Up Restaurant.

Dilia owns Topaz Jewelry on Pescador Drive.

While she rode her scooter alone, her husband was traveling infront of her on the couple's golf cart along with an eight-year-old child. Upon reaching close to home, on the corner of Angel Coral and Pelican Street, a taxi cab was reversing and this made her slow down. Once she slowed down, two men jumped on her and demanded the knapsack that she was carrying. The men are described as being of brown skinned desent. A struggle ensued between Dilia and the culprits and one shot was fired. The single gunshot hit Dilia under her arm on the left chest area. The culprits ran off with her knapsack and made their way towards the lagoon where it is alleged that a getaway boat was waiting for them. Police officers process the crime scene.

Dilia was transported to the San Pedro Polyclinic where her condition was described as stable but she was later transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital where she remains under treatment.

No suspects have been identified and as such no arrests have been made. Police investigation continues. Police allege that the knapsack contained an undisclosed amount of jewelry and Dilia's licensed firearm.

Twin Otter lands in lagoon

The Twin Otter lands

Bob Ambrose is taking a nice ride from Minnesota to Peru. Today, he landed his Twin Otter plane in the lagoon by the Old Football Field. He arrived from New Iberia, Louisiana and tomorrow will fly out to Panama.

Watch the Twin Otter land.

The plane drew a crowd where it docked at Caribena lagoon gas station.
Even police officers were on hand to watch it dock.

Sand Castles

What do you do while in San Pedro? Build sand castles of course. On the beach, we found a sales boy creating these castles.
It took him five minutes to make these castles.
He did not wish to appear on camera but stated that he enjoys building these and the reactions that they cause to passersby.

Tropic Air Groundbreaking

Dora and Stephanie welcomed guests to Tropic Air's Groundbreaking Ceremonies.

Master of Ceremonies David Marin welcomed all to the important event in Tropic Air's history.

Honorable Manuel Heredia Jr., Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation along with John Greif III, had the honors of breaking ground. In his welcome speech, Grief comented, "Our roots and home are here in San Pedro."

David Medina of Medina's Construction is the contractor hired by Tropic Air.
Tropic Air pilots eagerly awaiting the completion of thier new terminal.
Tropic Air's planned design. The terminal is scheduled to be completed within a year's time.
Other Tropic Air plans include acquiring 11 new Caravans such as this one. This is a proposed five year plan. Tropic Air has other plans such as the construction of a bigger Fuel Depot in Belize and a new Cargo Unit in San Pedro.

The new airplanes are equipped with state of the art equipment. Mike Kuhn, Tropic Air's chief pilot explained that training for Tropic's pilot were provided by out of country professionals.

Founded in 1979 by Johnny Greif III with just a single airplane and 2 employees, Tropic Air now employs over 200 people and offers over 180 daily scheduled flights throughout Belize and Flores, Guatemala.

Reef Scientists in SP

Reef Scientists who have dove across the globe paid a visit to San Pedro and Belize this past week. Currently diving the waters off of Lighthouse Reef, the scientists are on the country as part of field trips organized by the International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS). This symposium will take place in Florida, USA on July 7th – 11th.

Reef Radio's Jorge Aldana interviewing a Phd Student on Fisheries who was astounded as to the amount of fish on our reefs. "There is a lot of fish out there and the colors of them, the beauty is just marvelous."
In speaking with The San Pedro Sun, Dr. Melanie McField, from the Smithsonian Institution of Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative, stressed the importance of the Coral Reef Symposium stating that sharing pertinent valuable reef information is key. “People that attend have the opportunity to bring home vast amounts of knowledge pertaining to reef, whether it be diseases or new developments which directly affect our ecosystem.”
While in San Pedro, the group got the opportunity to dive Bacalar Chico, the Caye Caulker Reserve and Hol Chan which all agreed, “Is worth protecting.”
Every four years the International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) convenes as a major scientific conference to provide the latest knowledge about coral reefs worldwide. Natural scientists, resource managers and users, conservationists, economists, and educators meet together to advance coral reef science, management, and conservation. The International Society for Reef Studies (ISRS), the largest society focused on coral reefs worldwide, officially sanctions ICRS meetings.

Dr. Melanie McField has done research in Belize's reef system for over 15 years. She was recently on San Pedro Town as part of the Society of Environmental Journalist workshop. With media houses from around the country in San Pedro Town, Dr. McField shared with them valuable information which may be used for upcoming articles. She believes that the reef is showing signs of stress but with proper conservation methods and laws, "Belize is stil in time to save our most precious valubale resource."