A break from diving...snorkeling Hol Chan

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Believe it or not, we decided to take a brake from our dives and take the "not to be missed" trip to Hol Chan Marine Park. The park is simply a protected part of the reef reserved for snorkeling trips. We booked a half day trip with 8 other snorkelers.
Our first stop was Hol Chan. We jumped into the crystal clear water that had to be at least 80 degrees. We saw all kinds of colorful fish and coral of all shapes and sizes. The treat of the swim was the three beautiful Green sea turtles we watched munching sea grass, pausing only to swim up for a quck breath of air.
Our next stop was Shark Ray Alley. Our guide stopped the boat and began throwing pieces of fish in the water. A group of nurse sharks swarmed over and began fighting for the bits. That's when we geared up and jumped in the water. We got to pet a shark and swim with the sting rays who glided along the bottom. Our guide (Miguel) took John's camera and performed an amazing free dive down to the bottom to capture a moray eel backed into a small cave.
When we got into the boat it was lunch time. We had fried fish sandwiches and fresh watermelon. As we ate the boat took us to the last site of the day. The current was strong at this site and we had to struggle to swim out to the reef. The effort was worth it because when we got there, we say a manatee. It moved so gracefully in the water, all you can do is stop and stare. At one point it turned to face us and swam our way till it dove under our feet and moved on. John swam after it for a bit and captured a pretty good movie.
Then is was time to return to the isalnd. With the exception of a strip of sunburn on my lower back, we made home in tact. It's not every day you get to swim with turtles, sharks and manatees!

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Photos

Moray Eel
Our guide snapped this pic for us

Sea Turtle
This was a Green sea turtle

Nurse Sharks
Quite a feeding frenzy

Is that Dory?
Maybe...

Comments

[Eleanor]

WOW
Amazing ! and Beautiful! pictures with such interesting narrations of all of your adventures. Take care