Belize: Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Day 3 of our Belizean holiday consisted of taking a trip on a catamaran out to two snorkeling sites. The day began at 7:00AM with a cup of Belizean coffee and cereal with milk. We threw on our suits and headed down to the dock by 8:15AM. We checked in, grabbed our gear, and set sail at 9:00AM with 13 others. A 30 minute boat ride got us to our first destination: a coral reef park. This was my first time snorkeling, so I had a bit of trouble with my mask at the beginning. Once our tour guide gave me a few tips, we hopped into the water and began the 40 minute tour. Johnny took some video with his new underwater camera. We saw many different types of fish, three sea turtles, and an eel, who our guide coxed out of his hidey-hole by getting a little too close. One school of fish followed us around throughout the park. Everything would have been amazing had our group not been so huge. I kept getting kicked in the face by people's flippers and running into others. After the reef park, we climbed back on the boat and made our way to sting ray alley. There, we saw about five sting ray and four sharks. Our guide grabbed one of the sharks and allowed us to touch him. He felt of dull sand paper and looked almost like an overgrown catfish. They were really sweet. After swimming around for about 30 minutes, we boarding the catamaran and headed for land. We stopped in Caye Caulker for lunch. We went as a group to Island Paradise restaurant. Johnny ordered a lobster burrito and I ordered fish and chips. The food was ok. Nothing like El Fogon. Johnny covered his burrito in a Belizean habanero hot sauce. Man, that stuff was hot. After lunch, we headed down to a gift shop where I bought a t-shirt and Johnny bought a Mayan ruin plaque. The town we were in had a very low budget, beach vibe. Small shops lined the streets with dog running around. The hotels in the area looked as though had seen man years and had no air conditioning. Completely different from our home away from home: Coco Beach. We were told to return to the boat by 3:00PM. Johnny and I were the first to arrive, followed by the majority of the group. One couple who actually got married the same day we did, almost got left behind. We had already released from the dock when they came around the corner. We did a quick turn-around and then headed back to the resort. On the way back, we saw the fin of two dolphin pass by the boat. We weren't able to get that great of view, though. Two and a half hours and a plate of freshly made ceviche with tortilla chips later, we were back on the dock. We returned our gear and headed for the pool. After a nice dip, we went back to our room to wind down the day.