Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley

I wanted to take a trip out to Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Ally, two spots that are only minutes south of San Pedro. I booked a half day snorkel trip with Serious Adventures, the same company I'd used before.
Covering approximately 4,400 acres of coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangrove forests, the Belize Barrier Reef is the second largest in the world, and largest living reef. "Hol Chan" is mayan for little channel. It was very beautiful, and I took plenty of pics (to be uploaded later). Our guide identified various fish as we weaved through the reef. We were in this particular zone of Ho Chan for about an hour and a half. The highlight was a massive turtle that came up from behind me on its way to the surface. I got great picture before I dodged out of his way!
Shark Ray Alley, which is actually a zone within the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, has an interesting history. For many years local fishermen used to clean their catch just inside the reef. Eventually, fishermen realized that the fish offal had begun to attract Nurse Sharks and Sting Rays. "Shark-Ray Alley" became a very popular site, attracting divers and snorkelers.
Today, sharks and rays hear the dive boats approaching and begin to school in anticipation of bait being thrown into the water. The surface of the water begins to churn with sharks and stingrays vying for scraps. They have a great tolerance for divers and snorkelers. The rays will even swim directly towards the divers, mouths often turned up hoping for food to be held near their mouths.
Afterwards, we went back to the aquarium that I had visited on the manatee watching trip. Because there were so many tour boats offering food this time, not as many swarmed to our boat as they had before. More nurse sharks and stingrays. I also saw a massive Gargantuan Grouper. I was able to grab a few shots from the boat, and the rest will be posted later!










A Southern Stingray, their wing spans can be up to four feet long!




Shark infested waters.






Nurse sharks are actually very mellow.





Next stop Ceye Cualker!

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Swallow Caye, Goff's Caye, and Caye Cualker

I was picked up on the Belize Yacht Club pier by a speedboat heading south to Swallow Caye Wildlife Sanctuary. About 40 minutes into the trip we encountered another boat that reported there were manatee nearby. We got off the boat with our snorkel gear on and swam over and watched three West Indian Manatees munching on sea grass. Occasionally they would glide up to the ocean's surface to breathe. They even "kissed" once or twice. They were magnificent. We made sure to keep a distance so as to not spook them off. I brought a disposable waterproof camera with me, but probably won't be able to post them until I get back home.
Afterwards we headed to Goff's Caye. The tiny island used to be a popular day trip for tourists from cruise ships until about five years ago...because it is a great spot to see the reef that surrounds the area. The problem was, with up to seven hundred tourists arriving a day, the reef was damaged extensively, so park authorities stopped allowing the cruise ship tourists entry to the Caye. Today you can only visit via the local tour companies.
Once at Goff's Caye, the guides started preparing food, while the rest of us relaxed on the beach or snorkeled. After a while some of the guides joined us and we swam further out. I can't remember the names of all the fish and plants that they pointed out, but I clearly remember a huge barracuda. And lots of conch, all over the ocean floor. A little after we ate, headed north of Goff's Caye to visit an aquarium.
I think we were to visit a building on another island. The aquarium was actually a stretch of ocean that is known to have large quantities of stingrays and nurse sharks. On the way, we ran into two fishermen, and traded them two cold beers and bottles of water for a small bucket of fish. Once we arrived at the aquarium, the guides began to feed the sharks and stingrays. We got into the water and swam around them, touched them. Stingrays are smooth and slippery whereas the sharks felt like rough sandpaper. One of the guides would catch a stingray and let us hold her, and as long as we were feeding her she seemed ok with it. The shark not so much so.
Next, we headed to Caye Cualker, Amberis Caye's sister island. Caye Cualker is similar to what San Pedro was 20 years ago before all of the recent development. So quiet locals like to say it is a drinking village with a fishing problem! We just walked around town, (there's only two streets), looked at gift shops (not as expensive as San Pedro), and met at a bar at the north end of the southern portion of the island (Caye Cualker was divided into two islands back in the 60's by a hurricane, the northern island is privately owned).
We were back on San Pedro by 5:30. Although I was a little toasty by the end of the day, waterproof sunscreen seems to only work so well out here, it was a fantastic trip.

Stingray by the dock, while I was waiting to get picked up.



Distant showers



Eventually everything cleared up, at Swallow Caye Wildlife Reserve, the darker spots are sea grass.



Heading towards the manatees, I'll post the underwater pics later.



Goff's Caye









I also took a lot of pics of the reef at this point, I'll post them later as well.



Lunch. The guides at Sea-rious Adventures really went all out.












Rum punch time!



Can you spot the dolphins in the distance? They followed us but never came too close. This is also getting closer to the aquarium - I'll post the shark and stingray pics later.



Main Street Caye Cualker.






The divide between the north and south sections of the island. Its actually not too wide.



More starfish.



Back at the Belize Yacht Club pier. Another perfect day! Was it incredible?! You betta Belize it!



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San Pedro aka La Isla Bonita

After three nights in Belize City, I took a water taxi to San Pedro Town, on Ambergris Caye, Belize's largest island. Yes, this is the island that Madonna sang of so many years ago. It's absolutely lovely. There are really no beaches to speak of in Belize City, so I was happy to see sugary white sand and clear blue waters all along the coast as we approached the island. The Lonely Planet guide book had warned that San Pedro was something of a Cancun/spring break tourist destination, but as it is low season right now, it feels practically empty. I originally intended to only stay three days but enjoyed my stay so much I have extended it for another 3 days (for now anyway!).
Apparently, there has been a lot of recent development to the town, new condos, resorts, and businesses. People who visited San Pedro before 2009 may not recognize it. That said, it is still pretty quiet, there are few cars here, people mostly rent golf carts to get around. Most buildings are new and brightly painted. English is the main language, but it's not uncommon to hear Spanish or creole. All of the beaches are open to the public. There are plenty of activities and tours to sign up for including: snorkeling, kayaking, windsurfing, parasailing, hiring a sailboat to visit other islands, go manatee watching, swimming with sharks, visit popular dive spots and wildlife reserves, or head to the mainland and go cave-tubing, zip-lining in the jungle, and visit more ruins. There is also a small airport with daily flights to destinations throughout the country.
A continuous sea breeze enhances the island's serene atmosphere. The days are hot and sunny, and I try to get my swims in the morning or the evening. The beaches are usually empty, but you have to walk a while to find one that is not overrun with sea grass. At night, the temperature is mild, and there are occasional sudden rain showers that only last a few minutes. People are very friendly here, the local children are especially curious and like to strike up conversations. One of them showed me a massive red starfish they had found before he released it back into the ocean.
I have gone out for dinner and breakfast at some of the nicer resorts' restaurants overlooking the ocean, and they are also pretty empty. I stayed in Pedro's Inn, which is about a block away from the beach, and both a hotel and a hostel. They have a small pool, a bar, and serve fantastic pizza. A portion of the proceeds from the pizza sales go towards the San Pedro Animal Hospital, also located on the premises.
It's been nice taking it easy and I may extend my stay a bit longer. Tomorrow, snorkeling, a visit to Caye Caulker, a BBQ on the beach, and sea cows.

Pedro's Inn



The walk to get to the beach



























Fried jacks, a local breakfast favorite (sweet fried dough).









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Belize City - Belize Zoo and Harry Potter!

Jacob and I got up early and walked out to the bus station. Set in natural forest, the 29-acre Belize Zoo is about 31 miles from Belize City along the Western Highway. It was founded in the early 80's by US biologist Sharon Matola. Most of the animals in the zoo are rescues (like big cats who were kept as pets and never learned to hunt), injured, or donated from other zoos and have been bred in captivity. They are kept in the zoo only if reconditioning to a life in the wild is impossible. One thing that I found really amazing about this zoo is that because it is in a natural environment, wildlife from the surrounding jungle often comes in and eats or just hangs out with the animals in the enclosures.



Most of the buses in Belize are old school buses from the U.S.












Jacob looking for spider monkeys.






Looks like she found us instead.



She was very curious about us, probably suspected we had food.





















They smelled so sweet.



Zombie/Howler monkey.












"Jacob, do you feel like something is watching us?"












It's not a log.



After catching another school bus back to Belize City (standing room only!), we walked around the looking for lunch. One of the things I missed while I was traveling is all of the movies that have come out in the last few months. So I was thrilled when we walked out to the Princess Casino (which has only theatre in Belize City) and saw the final Harry Potter!


Triwizard Champ by ChayaA

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