If yesterday had been less windy and with calmer seas it would hav been perfect! As it was, it was merely fantastic.
Admittedly, if the day started the previous evening it didn’t get off to a great start. I’d returned from evening trivia and decided to get towels for the next day’s snorkeling adventure and fruit salad — the melons on the ship have been delicious. Just as I closed the door, I realized I’d left my medallion (key) inside. Oops. Well, mistake’s been made so I’ll do my errands then figure it out. Confirmed (via the app) that Don wasn’t in the room, learned I needed to go too guest services to get a temporary key and was able to get in. Unfortunately, Don was temporarily locked out though that resolved quickly My medallion wasn’t working so I figured I’d deal with it in the morning.
In the morning we both woke up earlier than our alarm. I leisurely did wordle and quordle and read newspapers since we had plenty of time to prepare for our 8am meeting time. Then at 6:22am — it’s always a bit of a panic when one realizes one’s timing is off — we discovered that the meeting time was actually 6:45 so we went into warp speed. I finished dressing and amassing gear, raced up from our 15th floor room to the 16th floor buffet to grab breakfast food, down to the 5th floor to see guest services to resolve my medallion issues (afraid they wouldn’t let me off the ship if that was unresolved), noticed I didn’t have my hat, texted a request to Don to retrieve one for me, then took the stairs to our meeting place on the 7th floor, where I arrived breathlessly by 6:46 (and wasn’t the last one). I let them know I was heading to my room to get a hat, returned to our meeting place where I had time to eat my breakfast before we could board the tender to shore in Belize. The extra time allowed my adrenal glands to recover from the excitement. As it turned out, we probably didn’t board our snorkel boat until 10, and I later discovered that I did indeed have a hat with me but that’s getting ahead of the story.
Belize has been on my bucket list for some time. It’s still on my bucket list. Beautiful tropical water, friendly people, amazing wildlife. Sixteen of us (out of 57 or so) signed up for a snorkel boat. The ocean was choppy and while we waited on the pier we could see the concrete sections of the pier moving differently with the wind and waves. Not an auspicious start to being in a small boat. Meanwhile, several Magnificent frigates (that’s the species name, not a modifier) were circling overhead; we later learned that they are known as “fricking birds” because of their eagerness to pester people.
Boarding the small boat was a bit of a challenge, but the crew helped us in. They also advised that the middle to back of the boat would be the smoothest ride so I sat at the very backk. It was exhilarating to move so quickly over the water, though a great relief after about ten minutes when we reached more sheltered waters and had a calmer ride.
The crew, especially lead guide Tafara, did a stellar orientation for everyone, how to signal ok, how to signal calmly for help, how to signal urgently for help, how to use snorkel gear, identifying who was less experienced, the requirement to have a lift jacket and how to use it — either as a float or as a bracelet. There were several other boats near us as we jumped into the water. Yes, no option to go down the ladder, so we had to jump off the side or back of the boat into the warm but choppy water. The life jacket was a bit of a hindrance as I had it tied around my left wrist and it provided drag in the water.
On a calmer day it would have been spectacular — nice coral (though admittedly not the diversity we saw in Roatan), lots of fish including schools that were bigger than fish we’d seen elsewhere on this tour. With the churn from the wind and current we still saw plenty, just not as clearly. Yellow and white striped snappers. Manta rays. Conch (pronounced “conk”) in stunning shells. Clams in more modest shells. I just confirmed that the name of the coral that seemed to be about the width of a paper towel roll only much longer is the “tube sponge coral.” And the usual suspects including sargeant majors, tangs, etc. Unfortunately, the current didn’t impact only visibility, it also made it much harder to swim, and it wasn’t possible to simply stay in one place to watch for very long.
We stayed in the water quite a while, then were greeted with pineapple and watermelon slices when we got back into the boat. The boat then moved to a shallower place. A crew member offered me a sardine to hold up for a frigate to snatch out of my hand — I’m hopeful someone good a good picture of that and will share it with me.
The second place we snorkeled we did not have to use life preservers, and were not permitted to use fins. This was the opportunity to swim with sharks and rays, specifically nurse sharks and manta rays. Before we got in, many of the sardines were deployed in the water to attract the sharks. After watching the sharks from above, we got to go in, down the boat’s ladder this time. I was warned to drag my feet along the ground to avoid the rays’ stingers but didn’t enjoy the sensation on my delicate feet so I swam after the first couple of steps. I later learned that a few others also didn’t like putting their feet down on the reedy sand and that fins would have been helpful. Again the current was strong, and combined with the exertion from the first snorkel and the boat moving, it was a challenge to return.
On the way to lunch, I complimented Tafara on the great briefing and professionalism and commented that it was especially nice to see a female in the leadership position. We had a great chat about the challenges of being a female leader. Lunch was delicious chicken with the usual Caribbean side dishes: rice with beans (this one also had coconut), plantain and Cole slaw plus a beverage (for future reference I note that pineapple Fanta is a pleasant beverage). Yes, caches were found, increasing my number of countries with geocache finds to 53 (if all goes well, this spring I will have cache finds in more countries than my age).
After lunch we returned to the boat and fed the tarpon, a type of large fish (up to 8 feet long) endemic to Belize and elsewhere. Similar to the frigates, we held a fish for the tarpon to grab, only for the tarpon the fish was about a foot above water and they’d jump to retrieve it. On the way back to the port, the captain spotted a manatee, and we got to watch it breech (ie, lift its head out of the water to breathe).
I walked with another cacher to the “craft” market. The sellers were very assertive and wanted to make sure we saw their wares. There were some interesting things, but the only thingI purchased was a handmade magnet. Then I attended a quick geocaching event before returning to the ship via tender.
Don and I were so exhausted and sore from the day that we decided to skip the formal dinner and instead went for pizza (on board). Then, as we’ve often done, we joined friends for evening trivia (usually music trivia). Each time I stood up my legs reminded me that they’d worked hard today particularly my hamstrings and adductors.
Such a great day. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great fun to be traveling with a group of 50+ people. But it was special to have a tour with only 15 or so of us, it felt more like a “family picnic” than a tour and the larger the group the less possible that feeling is to achieve,.
`A nice finale to what turned out to be my last snorkeling of the trip.
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