Nurse Sharks (Apparently, not aggressive, but still a little scary getting in the water with them. They were more interested in the fish our guide was feeding them, however.)
Southern Stingrays and a green sea turtle
Leatherback turtle
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley, Belize
Nurse Sharks (Apparently, not aggressive, but still a little scary getting in the water with them. They were more interested in the fish our guide was feeding them, however.)Southern Stingrays and a green sea turtle
Leatherback turtle
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Belize and Caye Caulker
We've been on Caye Caulker a few days now and are settling into a routine of relaxing. We went snorkeling to a place called the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. We saw hundreds of different kinds of fish, including nurse sharks (Matt even petted it!), Green Sea Turtles, some other kind of turtle that was about as big as me, and some really, really big sting rays. We have been eating great seafood, including a snapper that Matt caught out on a guided fishing trip. Today, we rented bicycles and explored the island. We are hoping to catch a sunset sailing tour and maybe a manatee tour before we leave. We are loving Belize, but are also ready to come home (I miss my bed and my cat!).
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Belize so far...
We arrived in Punta Gorda, in Southern Belize from Guatemala on Friday. We spent the day kayaking up a crazy mangrove stream and swimming the in Carribean. We ate at a fantastic restaurant overlooking the water, where I had my first plate of rice and beans, the Belizian staple. Matt also ate some of the cook's homemade hot sauce-it looked for a moment like he might pass out from the pain.
Tobacco Caye
Our cabana
We spent a night in Placencia, a quiet little pennisula. Here's a photo of Matt in the beautiful blue water.
Tobacco Caye
We then moved on to Dangriga, the second biggest city in Belize. We just spent the night, then went out to a beautiful island called Tobacco Caye. The island is only about five acres, so there's not much going on but swimming and snorkeling, which is exactly what we did for two days. (our guide book likened it to Gilligan's Island). We had a fantastic time relaxing and playing in the water. We saw big rays, a squid, and some really unique fish while snorkeling. Matt even got in a bit of fishing time off the porch of our cabana and caught a baby baracuda. We're now on Caye Caulker, a island just southeast of Belize city, and have snorkeling trip planned for tomorrow.
Our cabana
This is the view from our cabana. Life doesn't get better than this!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Belize!
We arrived in Punta Gorda, Belize this morning from Livingston, Guatemala. We are hanging out here for the day, but then moving on to the beach town of Placencia, about two hours north of here. We will probably be there a few days to do some snorkeling and possibly a dive for Matt.
Our last week in Guate was a whirlwind of the area of Peten, the most northern state. We visited Tikal, an ancient Mayan city. We saw spider and howler monkeys, as well as a coatamundi in the jungle and some pretty incredible ruins. We then went south a few hours and stayed near the village of Poptun at a really nice place called Finca Ixobel. We ate great food and went on a cave trek in the morning. However, the most memorable thing for me was the GIANT tarantula I found hanging out in my room. I had a minor melt down until the bartender, a very charming man named George, came and removed it for me. (Not before Matt got some pretty cool pictures, of course.) I bought George a beer later to thank him. I will try and put some pictures of the spider up soon-Everyone said it was a 'baby' tarantula, but it was the nastiest, biggest spider I have ever seen. Apparently, they are not even poisonous, but I don't care. I had bad dreams about spiders all night.
We spent last night in the town of Livingston, a small town where the Rio Dulce meets the Caribbean. The interesting thing about Livingston is it's mixture of two different cultures-Mayans and Garifuna. We met an interesting gentleman at a restaurant named Paulo, who took us on a tour of the 'real' Livingtston. He was a musician and has toured in the States, so he was quite knowledgable about American culture and spoke very good English. He showed us the Garifuna section of town, where they have an orphanage that we donated a bit of money to. There is obvious tension between the indigenous Mayans and the Garifuna people here, and it was strange to see the way the two cultures interact (or don't.) Livingston is definitely an anomaly in Guatemala and now I am hoping to learn more about Garifuna culture and people.
Our last week in Guate was a whirlwind of the area of Peten, the most northern state. We visited Tikal, an ancient Mayan city. We saw spider and howler monkeys, as well as a coatamundi in the jungle and some pretty incredible ruins. We then went south a few hours and stayed near the village of Poptun at a really nice place called Finca Ixobel. We ate great food and went on a cave trek in the morning. However, the most memorable thing for me was the GIANT tarantula I found hanging out in my room. I had a minor melt down until the bartender, a very charming man named George, came and removed it for me. (Not before Matt got some pretty cool pictures, of course.) I bought George a beer later to thank him. I will try and put some pictures of the spider up soon-Everyone said it was a 'baby' tarantula, but it was the nastiest, biggest spider I have ever seen. Apparently, they are not even poisonous, but I don't care. I had bad dreams about spiders all night.
We spent last night in the town of Livingston, a small town where the Rio Dulce meets the Caribbean. The interesting thing about Livingston is it's mixture of two different cultures-Mayans and Garifuna. We met an interesting gentleman at a restaurant named Paulo, who took us on a tour of the 'real' Livingtston. He was a musician and has toured in the States, so he was quite knowledgable about American culture and spoke very good English. He showed us the Garifuna section of town, where they have an orphanage that we donated a bit of money to. There is obvious tension between the indigenous Mayans and the Garifuna people here, and it was strange to see the way the two cultures interact (or don't.) Livingston is definitely an anomaly in Guatemala and now I am hoping to learn more about Garifuna culture and people.
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