Saturday January 25
We woke up to blue skies! Yay! No rain today, and none tomorrow either. It’s windy but who cares!
We take our time, drinking coffee in our room, banana pancakes again in the resort restaurant. Around 10:30 we grab our bikes and ride to the Split Ferry. The ferries (there are a few different ones) are basically pontoon boats that are large enough to hold a golf cart, a couple of bikes, and some people as well. The channel is small, it only takes 5 minutes at most. Soon we’re on the north island.
There’s not much there, a few resorts, a few restaurants, lots of construction though of what looks like condos and fancy houses and resorts. The roads are the same Belize roads though, packed sand and potholes.
We tool along following the signs for Bliss Beach. We’re not sure what it is but we’re going to find out! It’s about three miles from the ferry to the beach. it turns out to be a nice beach where you can enjoy the ocean, sit in a lounge chair, and grab a drink. No food though, and we’re getting hungry, so we opt to turn around. We ride about two miles back to the Happy Lobster and have lunch there. I have conch fritters and Lee has a lobster and we share. They are spiny lobsters which means they don’t have claws. They’re split in half and it’s easy to pick out the meat. The conch fritters are excellent as well. They’re served with a chili lime dip that’s spicy but delicious. Just use it sparingly! I get another Mexican coke as well.
We bike back to the ferry. As we’re riding the ferry back my hat blows off! Oh no! It’s the hat I bought on the Big Island in Hawaii during our trip there for Dan and Kelsey’s wedding. It’s easy to see it in the clear blue water but we can’t reach it. The ferry captain says he’ll try to get it on his next trip but I really don’t want to wait around. All of a sudden the girl at the next dock over jumps in the water and rescues my hat! I thank her profusely and she tells me to wear it backwards if I’m facing into the wind. Good idea!
Back at the hotel I decide to get in the pool and swim a few laps to cool off. Well, the water is FREEZING. I only swim around 250 yards before I have to get out. Lee says it’s mostly rain water after the week we’ve had and he’s probably right. There hasn’t been any sun to warm it up, that’s for sure.
Sunday January 26
We had a pizza delivered for dinner. It was pretty good, mostly a nice change.
In the morning it’s another beautiful day, and less windy too. We have a reservation to go snorkeling at 9 AM. We meet our guide out on the dock. I’m nervous; it’s been at least 10 years since we’ve done this and because of all the wind yesterday it was pretty choppy.
But our guide was really nice, and knowledgeable. He knew the names of lots of different fish. The first place we went he got in the water with us. Alas I had a problem; my mask leaked. We tried to fix it but my face is really narrow and sometimes I need a kid’s mask. I tried to make the best of it, just dumping the water out occasionally.
We floated around looking at all the different fish. The coral was brown but we expected that. Poor coral. There was a fairly strong current and I was still nervous. I had a life jacket around my waist so that I would be a little buoyant. Lee took his off; he didn’t need it. Of course we had flippers too. I tried to stay pretty close to our guide, but at one point I accidentally got a mouthful of water and that freaked me out. I couldn’t seem to keep up with Lee and the guide. The guide took a look at me and asked if I was ok. I shook my head no. He grabbed me, told me to just float on my back and relax. I floated, but didn’t relax, sigh. Once we got back to the boat and I was out of the water I was fine. He gave me a water bottle and told me to drink some. I was kind of mad at myself for having a little panic attack but oh well.
We drove to another site. Here there were a BUNCH of nurse sharks and sting rays. We got in the water again and just floated there for a bit while the sting rays swam underneath us and the nurse sharks bumped us with their big brown bodies. It was pretty cool but now it was Lee’s turn to be nervous, so we didn’t stay in the water very long. The sting rays are neat, they have big eyes and seem to be looking at you speculatively. The nurse sharks weren’t scary at all. Apparently they don’t have actual teeth but the insides of their mouths are very sandpapery. They are called nurse sharks because they suck up their food, like a baby with a bottle.
The third site, the coral gardens, was very shallow. Once again Lee and I got in the water by ourselves. The current here was really strong but finally my mask seemed to be seated properly and it quit leaking. We would kick against the current and then float down and look at all the fish. I saw a white fish with pink stripes that was beautiful.
After that we boated over to the other side of Caye Caulker and looked at the tarpons and pelicans. People are allowed to feed the tarpons here so that’s what we did. We had to be careful of the pelicans; they would take your fingers off, but all the tarpons did was bump your arm and make you drop the fish. Lee and I both fed them. It was awesome!
That was the end of the snorkeling adventure. It was fun once I recovered from being scared. It’s the ocean, and open water that does it for me. I love to look at it but getting in it not so much.
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