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  • Day 173

    More sharks and rays

    October 26, 2015 in Belize ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    We moved rooms this morning as ours was booked and we wanted to extend our stay. Our new hut is 4 back from the beach but bigger and with a stronger shower. Plus seems to have a functional, non-leaking toilet!

    We went to the bakery and bought 4 cinnamon rolls for 1B each. Not quite as good as Utila’s but very close and a bit bigger. Then, just after 10am we went back to the snorkel tour shop and had to wait while Anna had her caffeine fix before heading out. Today we were doing the reef straight off Caye Caulker, a 5 min boat ride away so it was cheaper (70B). The water is extremely shallow, about 5ft deep, so it's the most beautiful clear turquoise colour I've ever seen.

    Our first site was Ray & Shark Alley (diff to yesterday). There were tons of stingrays, which was slightly frightening since the water was so shallow and you couldn't get out their way easily. At first we only saw a few sharks at once, but then a small boat came and about 20 of them flocked after it so we managed to follow them for quite a while. We also saw a barracuda and some big pufferfish.

    Then we drove a minute to our next site: CC southern channel. Alex guided us and we saw barracuda, flamingo tongued sea slugs, parrot fish, angel fish, tons of coral and a huge lobster. Again the water was beautifully clear and the coral looked lovely.

    Our last site was a further minute away: Coral Garden. We went in alone and saw millions of tiny fish at the surface, 2 sharks hiding under the coral and more barracuda. We munched on some oranges and headed back to shore. Another fabulous day of snorkelling! We saw a couple of small boats rammed full of tourists. Apparently they are from the cruise ships and all have to wear life jackets. We were very grateful for our private tour today!

    We were back by 1:30pm - the heat of the day - so stayed inside for an hour or so. We went for ice creams and Anna tried her first Belizean beer. I laid in the sun whilst Anna hid inside. Then we went to wander around and check out the sunset. We looked at numerous places for dinner until settling on Enjoy, which was cheaper than most on the main strip and offered proper, local veggie food! Plus it had swings instead of seats at the bar! Anna had jerk snapper and I had a jerk veggie kebab. Both came with coconut rice, garlic bread and mine with tons of sautéed veggies. It was the most lovely, delicious spicy food I've had in ages. I couldn't manage it all which seemed a travesty. The price also included some fruit for dessert and a rum punch each (41B). We saw Lou and Spanky, kiwis that we met in Utila, who've followed a similar route to us.
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