Snorkeling with Rays, Turtles and Nurse Sharks

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We had another exciting day today. We were up early for the sunrise again. Next we packed our gear and headed to Placencia Village for breakfast at Wendy's. Local spot recommended to us. The food was good. Kasie was adventurous and ordered the fish. It was a whole deep fried fish. She really liked it. A local lady stopped at our table on the outside seating deck and we got a hot cinnamon and sugar donut from her. We also had one of the local pups join us for breakfast. He slept underneath the table while we ate. His collar said Kinkin on it. We gave him one of our fry Jack's after the meal and he casually ate it. He just nibbled at it at first and then finally ate the rest of it. We headed down the block towards the dive shop and Kinkin joined us for part of the walk, but then he headed down one of the side streets. We checked in for our snorkel tour and then walked down the beach a short way for a tourist picture on the big chair. The sun was already getting warm, so we found a shady spot on the dock and lathered on the SPF50. Our tour was leaving at 9 a.m.and we promptly boarded "Let's Sea" for our adventure. The ride out to Silk Cay was about 1 hour. There were 9 of us in the tour, the boat captain, the dive guide, and 2 locals. The locals got dropped on one of the islands about 20 minutes into the boat ride. We arrived at Silk Caye at about 10. We were given instructions by the local Ranger and then it was into the water. We swam out from the island through the sandy area and then followed our guide around the outside of the island looking at various small fish and other sea life. The guide dove down to point to the fish and wildlife and he would return to the surface to tell us what it was. Pedro stayed on the island as he is not a fan of snorkeling. We made our full lap of the island in about an hour. We saw a very large lobster! I would have liked to have him for lunch, but we came back and he was not on the menu. There were about 5 other boats on the island with tour groups. The island had picnic tables and one building set up as a bathroom. There were a few palm trees for shade. Pedro had found his favorite spot on the island to recline. We had a typical Beliazin lunch with chicken, rice and beans, potato salad, watermelon and chips and salsa. All of the guides gathered together in the shade to eat lunch and many of them stopped at our table to get a piece of the chicken. Not sure what was served to the rest of the groups, but apparently we had the good chicken. Our group had already commented on the amount of chicken and that it seemed like too much, but it was nearly gone. One of the other guides did bring us some banana bread. After lunch we loaded our gear into the boat and headed out to another area away from the island. After our briefing, we got into the water with the nurse sharks, rays, and turtles. There were lots of rays and sharks passing through. The turtle came through as well all by itself. Pedro said that the boat captain told him the turtle is on a heading and always swam in a straight line. After nearly an hour swimming with the "big guys" we got back into our boat for the ride back. We were headed with the wind on our 20 mile ride back, so it was a little quicker. We all really enjoyed the tour and were very impressed by the marine life. We stopped at "Tutti Frutti" for some ice cream after we got back to Placencia Village. The remainder of the afternoon was spent relaxing at the pool with some Frisbee tossing. Kasie won at bocce ball. We drove a short drive for dinner at Mr. Q's barbeque. Skunky the dog entertained us for during our dinner. Skunky was a short long black dog, likely part wiener dog, with a white tipped tail and white stripe on the forehead. The food at Mr. Q's was very good and reasonably priced. Sriracha and Pedro are finishing up the night with a round of Cribbage.

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Photos

Placencia Sunrise
Up early on Monday watching another sunrise

Breakfast at Wendy's in Placencia Village
Kinkin is under the table waiting for a "fry jack"....Pedro.....do you have something for me?

Placencia Beach
Kasie, Pedro and Sriracha in the big chair

Sriracha on the "Let's Sea"
On the way to Silk Caye

Kasie on the "Let's Sea"
On the way to Silk Caye

Comments

[Bob & Linda]

Looks like another great day!
Thanks again for the daily report. Making more great memories with the sunshine.