Belize - Day 13 - Snorkeling

We spent Day 13 on Raggamuffin’s sailboat tour that stopped at three snorkeling spots. We had beautiful sunny weather and some wind, so it was an ideal day for being on the water. Our captains and guides, Kevin and Ramsey, were warm and entertaining, Kevin in particular as he sung along with his own reggae music.

Our first snorkeling spot was Coral Gardens. The fish life here is not as dense as in Bonaire, but we did see some different specimens. We saw some grey angelfish on this snorkel as well as some cornflower blue pencil coral. There were plenty of boulder corals, fire corals and sea fans.



At our second stop, Ramsey chummed the water and up rose a bubbling sea full of nurse sharks, jacks, and southern stingrays. We quickly put on our gear and jumped in to see them close up. It was a bit petting zoo-like, but it was still a thrill to be in the water with so many nurse sharks and rays. We even got to touch them (we needed Kevin to capture one of the sharks to feel its skin). Later, when Quentin was swimming around underwater, one ray tried to cuddle with him.





The last stop was near the cut at Hol Chan Marine Park. Unfortunately, you have to go with a guide when snorkeling in the Marine Park. Ramsey wanted to take “the family” because he was nervous about letting the kids swim out near the break in the reef where there was a lot of current, but also more possibility of seeing big creatures like eagle rays. We convinced him that the kids are strong swimmers and so off we went. No eagle rays, but we did see a some large and curious groupers, a queen angelfish, a couple of tarpon, a rainbow parrotfish, a green moray and three massive turtles. We also saw schools of grunts, blue tang and black margates.

The wind picked up on return trip home (on which Gerard got to take the helm) and it whistled all night long. We had dinner at home and treated ourselves to another Belizean ice cream at one of the stands after dinner.

Belize - Days 11 and 12 - On the water

Day 11 was a travel day. We had to travel by van from Caves Branch to the Belize City water taxi and then we took the boat to Caye Caulker. We arrived around noon. Caye Caulker is a very small and very quiet island. It was split in half by Hurricane Hattie in the 1960s and only the bottom half is inhabited. The inhabited part is a mere half mile wide by two miles long. People get around the sandy roads by foot, bike or golf cart. We feel very far away.



The afternoon was spent playing in the pool, getting some groceries and checking in with the dive shop. In the late afternoon, we strolled over to the split for a short snorkel. We found seastars, stingrays and a couple of guitarfish, a species we had never seen before. Sadly, Quentin got stung by something in the water that caused him to have tremendous pain in his feet for several hours. He found some relief when he kept his feet in the pool. Fortunately, the benedryl kicked in and he was able to fall asleep. By the next morning, he was fine and ready to go diving.



Day 12 was our diving day. Beth spent lots of time and thought communicating with the dive shop since January to set up an arrangement that would work for our four certified divers in the family and the two who are not yet certified. Despite her efforts, the dive shop reneged on our agreement. Instead, they proposed a different plan which mostly worked for our family. In the end, we came up with yet a different plan once Gerard saw the waves on the outer reef and Xavier turned green after the first dive.



On the outer reef dives, everything was big. 8-10 ft. waves rolled the boat. It was like a never ending amusement park ride to the buoy. Under water, we saw some enormous and very friendly groupers, a triggerfish and a few large eagle rays. Beth spotted a lobster on the first dive. The outer reef is a series of canyons with sand channels in between, so the rays must love this spot. On one dive, we saw one 5 ft. eagle ray glide by followed by yet another. On the inner reef dives/snorkels, we saw big turtles, nurse sharks, tarpon, eels and schools of fish like grunts and snappers.



For dinner, we sat outside at a picnic table at a local eatery and enjoyed a simple dinner by the sea. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to an ice cream before heading home to soothe sunburns and get rested for the next day’s sailing and snorkel tour.