Our plane lands and we engage a taxi to take us to our hotel, which has a marvelous, casual bar -- one of the most popular spots along the beach for locals and guests. The crowd at the bar is a mixture of Americans, Canadians, and Belizians. Most of them are sun burnt. Doesn't anyone on this island use sunscreen, I wonder? Our white skin identifies us as new arrivals. It is a friendly group and when asked what they'd recommend for activities, snorkeling at the marine reserve and Shark Ray Alley are the number-one answers.
The barrier reef, second only to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, is just a short boat ride from the island. The reef is part of the protected Hol Chan Marine Reserve. It offers divers and snorkelers a fascinating underwater world that is hard to resist.
Hol Chan Marine Reserve
Our half-day tour of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley, our group first must meet in shallow water with our guide, Alphonse, to test our snorkel equipment. We see several fish as soon as we are in the water. They swim around the boat and keep us entertained well we acquaint ourselves with the sport of snorkeling.
We swim as a group, our own little school, towards the reef. Alphonse stops to point out a vibrant green eel living in a rock just underneath us. The depth of the water increases as we approach the coral. There are several scuba divers in the deeper water, whom I watch with envy and fascination, wishing I were adventurous enough to try diving.
The coral is fantastic. Various shapes, colors and sizes. Fish swim amongst it. There are tiny fish at the bottom, hiding from the larger ones, which swim around us as we pass over. Alphonse regularly calls us to the surface to identify the coral and fish we have just seen. His vast knowledge of marine life is wasted on me. I do not need to know the names of the fish, seeing them underwater is enough. I watch the other snorkelers, like humpback whales, them seem to glide up and down in the water, the sun glaring off their backs.
As we snorkel over a large bank of coral, the sea bottom drops dramatically but the depth does not scare me. There is a large hole in the coral, one of the other snorkelers swims through it. It is an underwater playground. Then I see the stingray. It appears to rise from the bottom of the ocean floor in a cloud of sand and then gracefully swims off. Alphonse signals that it is time to head back to the boat.
Shark Ray Alley
Our next stop is Shark Ray Alley, where we will swim with nurse sharks and stingrays. Alphonse assures us that the sharks are harmless. They are used to the snorkelers and will even let us touch them. Like everyone else on the boat, I am a little nervous. After all, sharks are not known to be friendly.
The sharks immediately surround the boat when we arrive at Shark Ray Alley. They come to the sound of the motor, looking for handouts. Back into the water, a few eager people jump in while the rest of us cautiously join them. Alphonse catches a medium sized shark (about three to four feet long). We take turns holding it and having our pictures taken. The sharks are not threatening and soon I find myself comfortable swimming in the water with them.
Then the stingrays arrive. Several of them in various sizes -- some up to four or five feet across. The stingrays circle the boat and slowly the sharks move off. Alphonse catches a stingray and we all gather around to feel it. It is smooth and soft to the touch. There are several kinds of fish as well, big silver snappers, others with yellow and black stripes and brilliant blue fish that swim right up to you. All too soon it is time to leave.
Back at the hotel we join the crowd at the bar and tell everyone how wonderful the trip was. We are sunburnt from the morning in the water. Our backs and shoulders as red as the fruit punch in our drinks. Now I am giving out bar-stool advice to the new guests. If you are visiting the caye, you must go snorkeling at the marine reserve -- only wear a T-shirt.
