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| Jacks (1.5-2.5 feet long) at Shark Ray Alley, next to the boat |
Fuzzy headed and slow to awake, we awoke a little slower than usual. We
had a wonderful time last night and chatted up the other travelers quite a bit.
Before the dive shop closed, Anna schedule a trip for in the next to take us at
10:30am to Caye Caulker. Caye (Key) Caulker is currently having Lobsterfest
until this upcoming Sunday (6/28) and we wanted to sample the local cuisine and
see the sights.
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| Nurse Sharks at Shark Ray Alley near Ambergris Caye, Belize |
We got ready and headed down to the dock at around 10:15am. There were
no boats docked nor did we see any close to returning. It wasn’t until around
11am that one the Action Diver boats got back to Portofinos. It seems we may have
had a mis-rum-derstanding last night
when we made arrangements. No problem though, they were gracious enough to accommodate
and we were on our way around 11:30am.
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| Just taking in the sheer aquatic beauty |
We stopped and fished a little along the way and then stopped at a nature
sanctuary they call Shark Ray Alley. It is a channel opening in the reef about
100 yards wide where the locals have taught the sharks and rays to congregate by
chumming the waters repeatedly for the scuba and snorkel adventurers. They have
done a phenomenal job because they were out in droves.
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| Didn't eat or stay there, just decided to do a group pic |
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| Caye Caulker Police Station |
Once we got near the area we were quickly greeted by a school of Jacks.
Pretty big guys too. Too bad we couldn’t simply drop a hook there. Since it is
a nature sanctuary they do not allow fishing there. Clinton, the boat captain,
threw in some sardines and the frenzy started. Within less than 10 seconds not
only did the energentic jacks fight for the snack, but we quickly had a school of 15+ nurse sharks
by the boat looking to participate in the feeding. Wow…that was quick. These guys came from nowhere. Young Thomas was
jumping with excitement. He literally threw on a dive mask and jumped right in.
Talk about chumming the waters...We let him swim for about 10 minutes and we
were off to lunch at Caye Caulker.
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| Catching some sunrays |
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| Restaurant and bar at the end of the island |
It didn’t take too much longer before we hit land (around 2:30pm) and
Clinton dropped us off at a dock where we walked over to a restaurant named
Bamboo. Totally Caribbean style, this restaurant was really unique as all of
its chairs were swinging planks on ropes hanging from the ceiling. We ordered
just a few appetizers to hold us over until with hit the local street fair.
Olivia had a beautiful vegetable tortilla with a strawberry smoothie. She was
a little hungrier than the rest of us. Thomas, Anna and I had Buffalo wings and
popcorn lobster. I almost forgot what chicken tasted like, having eaten seafood
for almost every meal.
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| Lobsters, lobsters & more lobsters |
After lunch we all strolled the streets (all three of them) and check
out the local food, knick-knacks and entertainment. We finished the walk at “The
Split” where we had gone earlier in the week. Grabbed a beer, let Thomas go for
a swim and had Clinton pick us up with the boat about an hour later. It was 5pm
when we left Caye Caulker.
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| Clinton waiting for us by The Split |
We had an enjoyable boat ride back which took around 40 minutes. The
rest of the evening went by quickly even though we didn’t do much of anything.
Thomas did catch a yellow stingray later in the evening and after admiring it
he let swim back towards the reef. Anna and I caught a couple of Belikin beers.
We admired them too, but weren’t as friendly. We did not let them get back to
their case once caught. These guys were to be consumed….
You truly don’t realize what all is involved with getting from point A
to point B here on the island until you need to really get something done. Here
on Ambergris Caye most everything is located in San Pedro which is located on
the southern tip. Anything about two miles north of that starts to require
water taxis.
We also were greeted by two southern stingrays and of course our little
buddy – Tequila. The stingrays came and went throughout the dive, but Tequila
hung around mainly by the boat hoping for some handouts. Anna pointed out a
huge Moray Eel about halfway through our dive. He had a muted green coloration and
seemed to be quite healthy. And by healthy I mean “fat”. This bad boy was
definitely not taking any Slim Fast. 
We ended up snorkeling for a little over an hour before heading back to
the resort. I would have to say this dive has to be one of my favorite dives I
have ever done. Just in seeing all the different biodiversity we saw in the
short hour was superb. 
We headed to the front side of the reef with “D” for a little fishing
since the waters were somewhat calm. Hoping to catch some dinner, we managed to
tag numerous fish. Quite a bit of them were too small, so we threw them back in
the world’s biggest pool. However, we did catch quite a number of different
types that would be for consumption later. Anna decided to come with Thomas and
I which was a pleasant treat. Around 5pm we headed back in. Anthony, the deck
hand, needed to get back to the dock so he could catch the Coastal Express
water taxi back to San Pedro.
Once we rolled out of the boat, we were all
immersed in some unbelievable aquatic life. The pictures really don’t do it
justice. We thought that the rains would have potentially stirred up the waters
some, but it was extremely clear. The coral cropings were covered with an abundance of sea fans, coral columns, coral brains and multiple
sea life I had not ever seen before. Fish were everywhere. Now if they would
have just stood still so I could have taken a couple of portraits.
