Swimming with Rays, Turtles, and Nurse Sharks

Saturday saw one of us going to the sunrise yoga session before breakfast, then we both attended the other morning session.  Right after lunch, we boarded Our Devocean for the short trip to the ray, turtle, and shark snorkle site and then hopped over to the Silk Cayes.  

Our Devocean at the Ray Caye dock

Becki elected to stay on the boat and be photographer for the first stop, so I got to snorkel.  This place attracts rays and sharks because it is spot where commercial fishermen anchor to clean their catches, thus attracting stingrays and nurse sharks.  Nurse sharks are quite docile and not a threat to humans - they would much rather eat lobster heads and fish guts.  Rays can be a danger near shore if you step on their stinging tails, but that is not an issue when snorkeling.

Large nurse shark looking for food.

Here come 3 slightly smaller sharks toward the boat.

The rays were all near the floor of the sea, about 15 feet down, so there are no photos.  But I did manage to spot a couple of Southern Stingrays and one rough tailed stingray from the water.  The rough tailed ray was HUGE - at least 6 feet across.

But for me the real treat was seeing the turtles.  These were logger turtles out here.  I don't know if there are other kinds at this particular spot.  At our place, we see hawksbill turtles.  These loggerheads were pretty large.  They swim so placidly and were slow enough that it was easy to swim alongside them.  They feed on the sea grass beds in the area.  I could have stayed out there for hours, I was so entranced by them.  I kept having to check myself to be sure I wasn't swimming too far away from the boat.

One of our guides near a loggerhead turtle.

Finally, those of us in the water tore ourselves away from the sea creatures and reboarded the boat.  It was a 10 minute ride to the Silk Cayes - 3 tiny sand bars surrounded by coral beds.

One of the Silk Cayes.

This time Becki swam over to the caye while I snorkeled over the coral.  Another beautiful undersea world filled with colorful fish and both hard and soft corals.

Then it was time to go back to Ray Caye, shower off the salt, and prepare for yoga, dinner, and more yoga.

The head of this lobster may have been lunch for one of the sharks I swam with.

Three and One Half Weeks

Time is moving right along, as it does.  Our weather has been quite nice, allowing us to do some outside clean up in relative comfort.  I say “us”, but really it has been Dennis who has cut up the fallen tree and moved the wood into the woods to rot, drained the garden hoses and put them away, etc.  I managed to bring a little pottery birdbath inside to clean up and put away.  My big accomplishment has been to sort all my clothes into 4 categories:  clothes that I need for work until December 12 and that I will need again in March when I return to Minnesota, clothes that go to Belize with me for immediate use, clothes that will be shipped later, and clothes that will go to Salvation Army.

I have also been working on selling some of our furniture.  It just doesn’t make sense to take it all to Belize with us.  We will have a much simpler lifestyle there that won’t require as much “stuff” as we have here.  What a relief that will be.

We will celebrate our last Thanksgiving in the U.S. this coming week.   Part of the day will likely be spent at the storage unit where we have the boxes stored that we will ship to Belize early next year.  We need to squeeze a few more things in order to make room at our house for the house sitters.  And we also need to pull out the things that we will ship down right away.  We are hoping that the shipping company that is handling the car will let us pack the car full of boxes.  But back to Thanksgiving – we will have a non-traditional dinner of scallops and fish with cranberry/orange sauce, Brussels sprouts, salad, and cheese blintzes with ginger syrup for dessert.  A nice sparkling almond-flavored wine will accompany the dessert.

So what is worth all this effort, anxiety, and turmoil?  Is it the fresh fruit we can grow? 

Fresh guava from our own tree.  It makes an incredibly refreshing drink when macerated and mixed with fresh, sweetened lime juice (also from own tree).

Is it the wildlife (including fabulous insects) that also make their home in Belize?

Lovely red dragonfly.  I haven't keyed it out yet; that is part of the satisfaction I am looking forward to. 

Is it the back-to basics cabana and associated lifestyle?

This what our cabana looked like in 2008.  Since then Richard enclosed the part below with a cane screen to hide the black water vats and poured the concrete slabs.  The coconut trees are now taller than the cabana. 

Is it the tranquility?

This is my favorite sight in all the world - coming home to our beachfront cabana where life is sweet and simple.

Is it the snorkeling off our front veranda?

Our veranda that overlooks the ocean.  I keep my snorkel gear (in the blue and yellow bag hanging on the wall) handy so I can snorkel at  moment's notice right off our dock.  Or what about relaxing in the hammocks?  Maybe a cold coke will hit the spot while keying out the fish that I spotted while in the water will do the trick. 

Or is it sharing all this with all the other oddballs who found their true home in Belize?

Dennis with Sam, Martha, Chris, and Sue.  We know why we are here in Belize.

It is all of those things and more.  Come visit Belize and see for yourself.