Seal Caye and Placencia, Belize
After several hours of passage the Sea Lion dropped her hook just off a tiny piece of land called Seal Cay. This small spit of land is made almost entirely of conch shell debris where large mangrove trees have stabilized a bit of land that is surrounded by some of the healthiest hard and soft corals found in this area of the Caribbean.
A snorkeling Zodiac was launched and three of our natural history staff went in search of a good anchoring site. Once anchoring was complete, shuttles began bringing over anxious snorkelers! Visibility was amazing, and we all enjoyed yet another visit to the underwater world of the Caribbean. Floating near the surface of the water we watched pelagic comb jellies drifting by us like small alien space ships….carried by winds and current into the reef we explored. Below us we saw purple sea fans waving in the current as multi-colored parrot fish darted in and out of the corals….glancing over we found a large barracuda being cleaned at a customary cleaning station by a squadron of cleaning wrasses, a trunk fish continued digging in the sand harvesting it’s midday meal!
All too soon the Zodiacs were called back to the Sea Lion and the last snorkelers were ferried back to our waiting vessel.
Lunch was being prepared and at the end of lunch our Expedition leader, Cindy, made announcements about our afternoon visit to the small town of Placencia. This small town sits at the southern tip of a palm-dotted peninsula located approximately 100 miles south of Belize City. This site had been an old fishing site for the Maya people, one of the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. Fishermen continue to use this small village as a central location, but it is tourism that has come to influence the growth of this outpost in paradise.
The Sea Lion dropped her hook at 3:00p.m., and Zodiacs were launched in preparation for our visit to this old village site that had obviously moved towards tourism, although we all noticed the fishing boats pulled up on the beach at the south end of town.
In Central America, Belize is known as the crossroads on a refugee road traveled by people of many nations around the world. The Maya were the first to live and fish along these shores followed by both Creole peoples and then the Garifuna peoples of the West Indies. As our Zodiacs approached a dock in town, the sound of drums rippled across the water finding its way to our ears….smiles across our faces, we moved down the dock and gathered around a tall handsome figure settled under a palm drumming in a welcome to new arriving guests. We stopped, smiled and moved our feet in place and were swept into the world of Garifuna….of the Caribbean, a mixture of cultures welcoming us in to enjoy their world, even for a brief moment.
After several hours of passage the Sea Lion dropped her hook just off a tiny piece of land called Seal Cay. This small spit of land is made almost entirely of conch shell debris where large mangrove trees have stabilized a bit of land that is surrounded by some of the healthiest hard and soft corals found in this area of the Caribbean.
A snorkeling Zodiac was launched and three of our natural history staff went in search of a good anchoring site. Once anchoring was complete, shuttles began bringing over anxious snorkelers! Visibility was amazing, and we all enjoyed yet another visit to the underwater world of the Caribbean. Floating near the surface of the water we watched pelagic comb jellies drifting by us like small alien space ships….carried by winds and current into the reef we explored. Below us we saw purple sea fans waving in the current as multi-colored parrot fish darted in and out of the corals….glancing over we found a large barracuda being cleaned at a customary cleaning station by a squadron of cleaning wrasses, a trunk fish continued digging in the sand harvesting it’s midday meal!
All too soon the Zodiacs were called back to the Sea Lion and the last snorkelers were ferried back to our waiting vessel.
Lunch was being prepared and at the end of lunch our Expedition leader, Cindy, made announcements about our afternoon visit to the small town of Placencia. This small town sits at the southern tip of a palm-dotted peninsula located approximately 100 miles south of Belize City. This site had been an old fishing site for the Maya people, one of the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. Fishermen continue to use this small village as a central location, but it is tourism that has come to influence the growth of this outpost in paradise.
The Sea Lion dropped her hook at 3:00p.m., and Zodiacs were launched in preparation for our visit to this old village site that had obviously moved towards tourism, although we all noticed the fishing boats pulled up on the beach at the south end of town.
In Central America, Belize is known as the crossroads on a refugee road traveled by people of many nations around the world. The Maya were the first to live and fish along these shores followed by both Creole peoples and then the Garifuna peoples of the West Indies. As our Zodiacs approached a dock in town, the sound of drums rippled across the water finding its way to our ears….smiles across our faces, we moved down the dock and gathered around a tall handsome figure settled under a palm drumming in a welcome to new arriving guests. We stopped, smiled and moved our feet in place and were swept into the world of Garifuna….of the Caribbean, a mixture of cultures welcoming us in to enjoy their world, even for a brief moment.
