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Published: April 8th 2008
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Caribbean Sea
View from the boat on the snorkling trip 25th February 2008
We had arranged a Boat trip for today with Ragamuffin tours. It was a full days snorkel(snurkel)/booze cruise around the coral reef just off the coast of Caye Caulker. So we all got onboard our sail boat and met Captain Charlie & Jermain the two crew men. First Job for the crew was to introduce themselves and then blare out full volume Reggae Music for our enjoyment.
First of all we sailed to the Coral Gardens. This area of the reef was the closest to the island & was a very young reef & we were told this would be a good place to get used to our equipment.
As becci has never Snorkled before she had a brief while I dived in to explore. Straight away I saw a number of small tropical fish and amazing coral reef. We spent a good 40 minutes in the water & it went really quickly. Bex finally got in and quickly got into the swing of things too.
After getting back on board Jermain handed out fresh watermelon & mango for us to eat & then started to set sail toward the next stop, which was supposed to be
Shark & ray alley.
When we got close to this area Captain Charlie decided to sail on to our last stop as a number of other vessels where already here. We would return after we went to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Unlike the Coral Gardens this was a well established reef and was a marine reserve which means no fishing allowed which leads to big fish and lots of them. Hol Chan is a Mayan word which means little channel but there was nothing little about this spot. As soon as we arrived Nurse Sharks started to circle the boat. These things were huge but apparently harmless and by the time we had got in with them they swam away.
We were split into two groups, one half went with charlie the other went with Jermain. Bex and I were in Charlies group and we follwed him around the reef and he pointed out many different types of species. We picked up a guest along the way, This huge 7ft Barracuder decided to follow us around. This thing was scary and at one point i turned my head and came face to face with it!
Charlie led us to
a cave and said if we could hold our breath for 30 seconds we can swim through it. We all passed but charlie showed us how it was done and he returned with a conche. The conche was going to be put in the ceviche for later. Charlie also found an eel and he used his stick to bang on the cave so it would come out. This reef was so much more populated with sea life, with much more fish most of them big also the coral itself was much more impressive and it was truly amazing to see and experience. Also when bex and I were swimming back to the boat we spotted a huge Turtle. He was amazing to watch and we were close enought to touch it.
We then got back into the boat and had lunch on the way to Shark & Ray alley. As the name suggests this is the best place to swim with Nurse Sharks & Sting rays & we weren't dissapointed.
When we pulled up again the sharks circled the boat but this time Captain charlie fed them fish so they would stay around. We all jumped in and were surrounded
Chimi
Our Tour Leader by these huge sharks and within seconds the sting rays were here too.
We all managed to touch the rays and the sharks and we again got alot of time in the water to explore the area. The best thing I got to see was when a Stingray pushed one of the fish charlie had been feeding down to the sea bed (this happening directly below me) so it could eat it. Once it had pushed it all the way it started to feast on the fish but out of nowhere the biggest shark about 10ft long came in behind the ray and grabbed the fish from underneath the ray.
We then got onboard again to sail back to Caye Caulker. Jermain bet us we could not drink all the rum punch they had made so we gladly accepted the challenge.
After one sip we could see that this could be a little tricky, it was incredibly strong and there was loads of it but it tasted soooo damn good! Not suprisngly we were all pretty merry and we also had the conche Cerviche to eat on the way back too.
When we arrived back at the jettty there was
still rum to drink so we lost the challenge but we couldn't care any less as we had a fantastic day and loads of fun. We were then told by jermain they had never run out of rum and never lost a challenge.
26th February
After our mamoth snorkel trip, we decided to chill out on the beach front for a day, it was so hot hottest day we had had so far, perfect blue skys and tourquise coloured sea. It wasn't long before a beer was in order!! Dinner at Jolly Rogers was different! just a guy on the side of the road/sand with his bbq and we all had a feast!
We then headed out for a few drinks starting at the Lazy Lizard which was one hell of a bar, right on the beach great cocktails and load Reggae music. After a Few here we headed out to use our free drink coupons we got with our maps but becci wasn't feeling very well and went back to the hotel room. I continued on and when we got to the next bar we bumped into Jermain and his pals. He joined us for a couple of
drinks and his friend taught us to play a local game called three's. It's was so simple to play and involved gambling which made it more interesting. I had only 6 belizian dollers left so I thought I would play and if I lost it all it would't be the end of the world. We had loads of fun playing threes, on my first 3 attempts I was well up but I soon lost my winnings and Nikki ended up taking everyones money.
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