Slappin' da bass ...

Tam:

Had a truly wonderful day today snorkeling in Belize. The weather turned on a clear blue sky and the last couple of days feeling a little under the weather had passed. We have just come back from snorkeling the world famous Blue Hole, a sunken cave in the middle of the sea surrounded by a small coral reef ( looks like land from above). What's wondrous about this is that the cave had filled with water when it collapsed creating the blue hole, literally a lagoon within a sea and inside are several types of sharks, tropical fish of all kinds and stalagmites. From above it looks quite strange, the light green blue water suddenly changes colour to a deep blue about 300 metres wide but to go down ( as most divers do ) it covers about 100 feet. Coxy and I don't have the time to get certified right now as we has to get to the jungle for some volunteer work, so we decided to snorkel it instead. We saw a reef shark, tropical fish and beautiful coral reef. It's quite something to say you have seen the blue hole let alone swim in it.

Our next stop was in half moon bay another coral reef and this was the spot of the best snorkeling I have experienced to date. The water warm and clear we swam with schools of blue tank fish, were surrounded by purple sea fan, picked and touched a sea cucumber, saw more sharks and barracuda and more. I literally felt like I was in a Disney movie. For lunch we had a feast of rice, beans , potato salad and chicken ( exactly like mum's adobo) and drank orange Tang again taking me back to my childhood. After lunch to settle our tummies we alighted onto a small nearby island known for it's colony of the rare red footed booby bird. A small beautiful island full of wind swept coconut trees and a small hut or two. We bird watched and strolled to pass the hour.

Our final swim for the day was just near the island. Unfortunately a hurricane which had been responsible for splitting the island in two ( as does most hurricanes to most cayes) had also killed some of the coral reef but that didn't detract from seeing some amazing things. We saw half a dozen lobsters and the most elegant spotted eagle ray gliding towards us almost extraterrestrial like. I can't decide which was my favorite part of the day, swimming with tropical fish, spotting 4 playful dolphins or the eagle ray!

After our final snorkel, tired Coxy and I chose to ride the waves for the 2.5 hours back to Caye Caulker on top of the boat - a somewhat smoother ride. And also entertaining for the tiny flying fishing darting out of the water like silver hummingbirds of the sea.

Now we are resting in our little comfortable cabana at the Tropical Paradise Hotel fresh from our showers. We have one more night here on the island before we head off to 'work'. By tomorrow night we will be tucked away in the heart of the Guatemalan jungle lending a hand to ARCAS a jungle and wildlife conservation group.

So goodbye Belize! I stand corrected too on my last blog. No beaches here at all, just great snorkeling, diving, atolls, the second largest barrier reef in the world and Belize's answer to the late great Steve Irwin.. But I will let Coxy tell you about that!

Thanks too to all our friends and family who have read and left messages on our blog. It means a lot to hear from all of you being so far away. We miss you all. Till next time ....

Coxy:

After several bus rides and a water taxi we arrived in San Pedro looking for a cheap room and some rest. The first thing we did was acquire some local transportation - a golf cart! That's right we hired one for the day because out is the easiest and most popular way to get around the island. Hooning around the crooked backstreets of San Pedro and taking it off-road down some corrugated dirt tracks, hopping from beach bar to beach bar was fun. Tamara even put into practice some of her driving skills.

Hol Chan reserve was a fantastic half day trip once we got to Caye Caulker. We took a small boat with a Candian couple and our guide - little Alfonz. This guy is the Steve Irwin of Belize for sure. He took us to all the great spots including a place where he drops his 'chum feeder' overboard and a dozen big grey nurse sharks immediately come up to our boat and go into a feeding frenzy, then he is like 'ok let's get in before we get party crashed' (a term for snorkelers from other boats coming over to our area when not invited) - um, but little al, there are big arse sharks in there? Ha, he just flashed a smile, gave a giggle and jumped in where he swam straight up to them and tried wrestling them. He found one that wanted to play so we got to hold one, so cool and got pictures of it too - hope they turn out... We also saw Sting-Rays and angry Eels, so much fun packed into half a day.

Then we had a stroll through the streets of Caye Caulker and ran into the famous banana bread salesman, for the equivalent of less the $2AUD we purchased 2 big pieces of still warm banana bread and ate it watching a truly memorable sunset not far from the Lazy Lizard bar.

Interesting that in Playa, San Pedro and Caye Caulker lots of dudes want to sell me 'high quality weed'... the distinct Jamaican guys are cool and their broken pigeon English is fascinating if you sit and listen to them hold a conversation. They ride their bikes barefoot in the sand and sing songs to themselves to create a special ambience, only stopping to say hello to you or one of their friends that might be taking out a fishing boat for the day.

So at least I have managed to get a little brown, the milky white skin has gone and the peeling has subsided. Time for the jungle leg - wonder if I will stumble upon any undiscovered Mayan ruins?