Fish are Friends, Not Food

Snorkeling in the World's Second Largest Reef 

This trip proved that selfies with sea animas is quite difficult

No matter who we talked to: street venders, shop owners, tourists, or the receptionist at the hotel, everyone asked if we are planning on snorkeling while in Caye Caulker. We had already booked a day cruise that involves some snorkeling for our upcoming trip in San Pedro and had not planned on doing a full day snorkel. Running out of things to do on the small island of Caye Caulker we spontaneously decided to sign up for a full day snorkel in the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.

The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, more commonly known as the Great Mayan Reef, is the second largest coral reef in the world. 620 miles long, the reef beginning at the Yucatan Peninsula and travels down past Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and ends in Honduras. The Belize section contains the popular diving spot, the Great Blue Hole. Our snorkeling trip, however, only touched a few of the hundred different snorkeling stops along the reef.

We were joined by four other snorkelers. A couple from Italy, a backpacker from Bulgaria, and a man from Canada who came to Belize to follow his dream of learning how to dive. It was quite a diverse group of people squished on a small speed boat for the day. The Italians were dressed in bathing suits that did not cover much and the Bulgarian female decided she wanted to control the day and determine when we should arrive and leave each snorkeling stop. Regardless, we managed and ended up having an incredible day.

We had a wonderful experience with this company and highly recommend them!

Our first stop on the snorkeling trip was the Hol Chan reserve. We pulled up along a fishing boat that contained two men. Our tour guide, Harry, informed our snorkeling group that these men are local fisherman who have fishing permits to collect conch. The fisherman dive for the conch, pull out the meat, and release the shells back into the ocean. An easy place for leftovers, many sea turtles, large stingray, and pretty fish hang around the bottom of the boat looking for a free meal. The promise to see marine life did not disappoint.

And check out all the conch we swam over! 

There were so many different fish! 

All the fish and a few turtles huddled together under the boat 

A big stingray heading over to all the action 

Our next stop on the trip was a guided tour through a different section of the Hol Chan reserve. The water was much deeper (and colder) and allowed us the opportunity to do some free dives. We saw a lot of coral and a few fish up close, but I took this opportunity to go with the flow of the water and look at the reef from a distance.

Diving down is harder than it looks. The combination of a strong current, cold water, and holding your breath long enough to get down to the reef and back to the surface discouraged me from going down more than a few times. 

Look at the school of fish down below

A little difficult to see, but look at the size of our snorkeling guide compared to the reef. The reef was huge! 

Lots of pretty fish and coral 

In this one section of the reef, we saw a nurse shark (left) and a Moray Eel (he's hiding in the coral and not in this picture) 

The third, and my favorite stop, was Shark Ray Alley. A popular spot for all snorkeling companies, it is home to a bunch of nurse sharks all looking for a free meal. The guide baited the water with sardines and immediately, approximately 15-20 sharks started swimming around the edge of the boat. Swimming below the sharks were a few stingrays looking for leftovers.

All the snarks heading over to the side of the boat 

Jumping in on the opposite side of all the madness 

All the sharks were swimming on top of each other trying to get the fish

Sting rays staying low looking for leftovers  

Our final stop allowed us the opportunity to explore more reefs, but without the help from our tour guide. We had full access to the ocean! The currents were quite strong so I only saw a few things before calling it a day and relaxing on the boat before heading back to the dry land. The Bulgarian backpacker stayed in the water the whole time and told us about the sea turtles and nurse sharks she saw. I'll be honest and admit that I enjoyed looking at all the different fish more than seeing another sea turtle.

Heading in for the final snorkel

I don't know what type of fish this was, but it was my favorite from the whole day

All of the sights from the snorkeling trip were breathtaking. I was amazed by the variety of different marine life and coral. Only after docking back on the mainland did the guide tell us about all the other creatures he has seen on previous trips with groups, his most recent being a hammer head shark! Little did he know that Karilyn and I are going snorkeling again the following weekend. We will have to keep our eyes extra wide open on this trip (or maybe spend a little more time on the boat). 

The snorkeling trip was the perfect ending to an incredible weekend on Caye Caulker. I am feeling luckier than ever to have this opportunity to study (and travel) in Belize. 

What an exciting and thrilling day at sea!