Snorkelling with Sharks!

View from our Hotel
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One of the best adventures, in my opinion, that we offer the volunteers that come to Belize, is the the chance to go to the Cayes and go snorkelling on the Barrier Reef.

The island that we take the volunteers to is 35km Northwest of Belize City and called Caye Caulker (named after a wild fruit delicacy the coco plum) The Barrier Reef at Caye Caulker lies only 1.5km from the shore of the island and you can see the waves breaking upon it from the beach. In 1998 the entire length of the reef off of Caye Caulker was declared a marine reserve, strict guidelines were set in place, making it a great safe and environmentally friendly place to snorkelling.

Caye Caulker is a pretty small island just over 8km long, but it is one of my favourite places in Belize

The Rainbow Dock
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We reached Caye Caulker by Water Taxi and arrived on the Rainbow dock, just across the street from where we were staying. Caye Caulker is a pretty small island just over 8km long, but it is one of my favourite places in Belize, I love coming here to relax, swim and get a tan!

Once we had settled in we grabbed our swimming stuff and headed off for an afternoons snorkelling with Marios Tours. The snorkelling adventure had three stops, one in the coral gardens, one in shark ray alley and one at the coral channel where we were free to snorkell on our own. My favourite spot was definately shark ray alley. Last time I did this tour (with Ragamuffin tours) there was a big tropical storm and we were in the water with rain pouring down and sharks swimming below (only nurse sharks which are harmless creatures, they suck not bite!), this time the sun was shining and the water was pretty calm. Unluckily there weren't many sharks around only one, and it swam off! I love nurse sharks! I am a bit scared of sting rays though so swimming with about thirty BIG ones was quite an experience, they are all pretty tame though and used to people snorkelling around them.

The Lazy Lizard Bar at the Split
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In the evening we went for a drink at Lazy Lizard at the Split, this is the place where Hurrican Hattie literally Split the island in two in 1961. It is one of the best places on the island to swim and the sunset from here is beautiful.