Manatee River and Goff’s Cay
After a quiet night’s passage to Lighthouse Reef, we awoke to calm seas. Guests going kayaking were on the river by 8:30 with an incoming tide to ride. Little blue herons and snowy egrets were plentiful as well as kingfishers and white ibises. The manatees were also cooperative, and everyone in the Zodiacs was able to see at least two surfacings. Manatees in Belize are doing well and are not yet showing the widespread propeller scars from fast boats that those in Florida carry. We poked back into protected narrow channels enclosed by the stilt root systems of red mangroves and listened to clams snapping closed. A special thrill for most of us was the chance to see spotted eagle rays swim by. These beautiful creatures have light colored rings and spots on a dark background and move with slow strikingly graceful flaps. On our way back to the ship, the sea was so calm we were able to observe small fish schools make ripples on the water’s surface.
Once aboard, Dr. William Lopez-Forment presented a program on bats, their natural history, and unnatural Dracula history. This was quite entertaining for all who attended.
Our afternoon was spent at Goff’s Cay, an idyllic island on Lighthouse Reef. This tiny dot on a map of any scale is made up of coral sand, coconut trees, and solitude. We loafed, swam, and snorkeled. The photograph shows a hammock between occupants, a snorkel lesson being given by our Undersea Specialist, Michelle Graves, and guests loafing on the beach. Empty chairs once held snorkelers that are now deeply immersed in colorful reef fish and undersea adventures. Another much larger spotted eagle ray allowed some to follow it for awhile. Ruddy turnstones, sanderlings, and a black-bellied plover still foraged along the shoreline as we loaded our last boat and headed “home”.
After a quiet night’s passage to Lighthouse Reef, we awoke to calm seas. Guests going kayaking were on the river by 8:30 with an incoming tide to ride. Little blue herons and snowy egrets were plentiful as well as kingfishers and white ibises. The manatees were also cooperative, and everyone in the Zodiacs was able to see at least two surfacings. Manatees in Belize are doing well and are not yet showing the widespread propeller scars from fast boats that those in Florida carry. We poked back into protected narrow channels enclosed by the stilt root systems of red mangroves and listened to clams snapping closed. A special thrill for most of us was the chance to see spotted eagle rays swim by. These beautiful creatures have light colored rings and spots on a dark background and move with slow strikingly graceful flaps. On our way back to the ship, the sea was so calm we were able to observe small fish schools make ripples on the water’s surface.
Once aboard, Dr. William Lopez-Forment presented a program on bats, their natural history, and unnatural Dracula history. This was quite entertaining for all who attended.
Our afternoon was spent at Goff’s Cay, an idyllic island on Lighthouse Reef. This tiny dot on a map of any scale is made up of coral sand, coconut trees, and solitude. We loafed, swam, and snorkeled. The photograph shows a hammock between occupants, a snorkel lesson being given by our Undersea Specialist, Michelle Graves, and guests loafing on the beach. Empty chairs once held snorkelers that are now deeply immersed in colorful reef fish and undersea adventures. Another much larger spotted eagle ray allowed some to follow it for awhile. Ruddy turnstones, sanderlings, and a black-bellied plover still foraged along the shoreline as we loaded our last boat and headed “home”.
