Well, what can I say? The picture says it all! Currrently in beautiful Belize on the island of Caye Caulker. We have 2.5 days here as part of the trip. Better rewind a couple of days first as we had another stop in Belize before coming here. We left Guatemala on Saturday 21st and travelled to San Ignacio. It was a couple of hours drive to the border and probably had the quickest border crossing of the trip there, our tour leader sorted our exit from Guatemala and then we went through to Belize individually. First observation: they speak English here! I knew that and expected it, however it still seemed strange after nearly 5 weeks of being in Spanish speaking countries! Spanish is also spoken here, along with Creole specific to the area.

Our destination for a couple of days was San Ignacio and in the afternoon we went out on an activity- cave tubing! Probably the most adventurous thing I'll do on the trip! We drove about 90 minutes to get to the place then had to walk about 45 minutes to get to the start of the tubing, though the first part was pretty funny, walking across the river and therefore the current, holding onto a rope, trying not to fall and not drop my flip flops whilst holding the tube! It was great, really enjoyed it...but I did require "support" from one of the guides as the bit where we started went through a little bit of rapids, not even the kind that would rate on any rapid scale! But I got a bit scared! He did ask if anyone thought they'd need assistance so I said "yes,me!" He therefore kept me attached to his tube with his feet for most of the trip, which was a good thing for me as it meant less worrying and more enjoyment! We spent half of the trip going through pitch black caves, don't worry, we did have head torches on and all you could really see in there was torches above the water! You could see cave formations too and the best part was when we saw a waterfall within the cave and also some greenery where there was a bit of an opening above. When it came to exiting the cave, the guide had to pull about 5 off us out of the current to stop us going further in the cave! We then tubed down the river, with the occasional rapid, the current mostly carried us. At one point the guide had to go and supervise some of the others, and once I felt the current pull me, I found i was in shallow water so I dug my hands into the stones to wait! I know, silly me! Better to feel safe.....I'm glad i did it though as I had hesitated, was a great experience and more "adventurous" than the tubing i did in Ecuador last year.

The following day everyone else was booked on caving trips, there was no way I was doing that so I had a day of reading/relaxing planned...however I got ill. If I had to get ill the timing was good as it meant I didn't really miss anything and just spent the day in bed feeling rubbish, sleeping and watching TV. On Monday my temperature had gone but i was still feeling bad, but managed to make the journey to Caye Caulker which is an island about 1 hour from Belize City...on arrival though I more or less had to just go to bed where i spent the rest of the day....

Fortunately today I felt much better, not 100% right, but so much better, which was great news because otherwise I'd have missed the snorkelling trip, which was fantastic! We went out on a small sail boat and went to 3 different snorkel sites. At the first one we snorkelled over the reef and saw lots of different fish. I also spotted a small turtle!! I couldn't keep up with the group because of the current, but that was a good thing as that was when I spotted it. It must have been a young turtle as it was pretty small, consideering the size of fully grown ones. The second site was called "Shark Ray Alley" (Or something very similar!) and the name kind of gives it away! There were lots of sharks here! One look and I said "No way I'm going in there!" If I actually see a shark of any kind before I go in the water I won't go in.....and it was made worse as the boat crew were throwing in fish to feed them which of course makes them all hang around! They were nurse sharks, not harmful to humans but it was enough to put me off! However one of the crew tried to talk me into going in and getting over the fear, so I said I'd need someone to hold my hand so he said he would...so I went in! Aren't I brave?! Ha ha! I did make sure I held his hand the whole time, but it was good to go in and snorkel there. Fortunately no more fish was being thrown in and therefore they weren't all swimming round everyone by this point, which was better for me! We also saw quite a few rays, which I don't think I've ever seen when snorkelling, or not that i can remember anyway. He did feed some fish, beautiful blue ones, the kind that 'Dory' from "Finding Nemo" was. There was another type too, quite big ones, but i can't re,ember the names. My grip tightened at this point with so many fish swimming very close! He also picked up a starfish and big shell to show us. After this it was time for lunch, a fish fillet sandwich, very nice and my first food in 2 days. (Over the past 2 days I had eaten only 3 plain rolls and half a packet of biscuits, surprised I had any strength for snorkelling!) The third snorkel site was also great, the group was spilt in 2 and each group went with one of the crew. He stopped regularly to point out lots of different fish and later when we went into shallower water to look for turtles we saw four! They were so close! Today is only the second time I have seen turtles whilst snorkelling, I saw one in mexico 3 years ago but it wasn't so close. I really wished I'd had an underwater camera, it was fantastic to see them and swim by them! :-) Back on the boat to sail back to the island and we enjoyed a very relaxing sail back. Plenty of very strong rum punch for those who wanted it, I didn't as I didn't think that would be a good idea for my stomach! It was a fantastic day, I think the most I have ever seen in one area, the first time of seeing rays, the first time I've knowingly gone in with (harmless!) sharks and seeing the turtles was a highlight!

One more day here, probably a bit of sunbathing if not too hot, although there is not much actual beach here. Thursday we travel up to Playa del Carmen in Mexico then i have only one day there before my flight home! :-(