Seal Cay, Seine Bight
During the wee hours of the night, the Sea Lion left her anchorage at Punta Sal, and began a slow cruise heading north towards our morning’s anchorage along the southern end of the protective barrier reef off the coast of Belize. Leaving Honduras behind, we now anticipated snorkeling at the barrier reef that the country of Belize is so famous for!
Our morning was spent exploring this undersea world from anchored Zodiacs just off Seal Cay, a small collection of accumulated conk shells, raised just high enough out of the Caribbean waters to attract a few Red mangroves that collected detritus and formed a very tiny spit of land. Around this natural construction corals, both hard and soft have formed into strange but lovely structures that house a myriad of tropical fish and invertebrates. It is amongst these palaces, condos, and free standing sculptures that our snorkeling party floated over….exploring, awe-struck by the beauty and diversity of this sea garden. We watched large schools of blue tangs with iridescent blue fins swimming in and around the coral. An occasional spotlight parrot fish passed underneath our snorkeling party busily consuming bits of coral while a variety of damselfish patrolled their private algae patch, pugnaciously defending it from intruders.
The Sea Lion remained at Seal Cay for the entire morning allowing for several opportunities to be in the warm waters of the Caribbean, either swimming or exploring yet another shelf of coral, finding many more unusual fish sometimes expertly camouflaged within the coral, either by their form or color. In the early afternoon we lifted our anchor and began a slow passage, heading approximately thirty miles northward along the mainland of Belize towards a small spit called Seine Bight. Here we would make a landing at a hotel on the beach and would be welcomed in by drumming, dancing and singing; as is the tradition of the Garifuna people who inhabit this area.
As the sun moved west towards evening, the drums continued; an elder Auntie presented the stories and songs, giving us a little history before the drums, singing and dancing continued. We sat mesmerized, and then were invited to share the dance floor of sand and dance with our hosts. Smiles and laughter could be heard mixed with the sounds of surf and evening birds, as we joined our celebration of welcome. The Garifuna people, a mixture of Carib Island Indian and West Africans immigrating from the West Indies found a home here in Belize, a country known in Central America as a crossroads for refugees from around the world…..here, in the warmth and fertile lands along the rivers of sweet water the Garifuna peoples have lived and prospered for the last 400 years.
As the last rays of sunlight washed over the faces and bright yellow dresses of the Garifuna ladies and their dancing partners we were pulled into the Caribbean; and in turn the people and place would, at the very least for this evening, remain in our memories and hearts.
During the wee hours of the night, the Sea Lion left her anchorage at Punta Sal, and began a slow cruise heading north towards our morning’s anchorage along the southern end of the protective barrier reef off the coast of Belize. Leaving Honduras behind, we now anticipated snorkeling at the barrier reef that the country of Belize is so famous for!
Our morning was spent exploring this undersea world from anchored Zodiacs just off Seal Cay, a small collection of accumulated conk shells, raised just high enough out of the Caribbean waters to attract a few Red mangroves that collected detritus and formed a very tiny spit of land. Around this natural construction corals, both hard and soft have formed into strange but lovely structures that house a myriad of tropical fish and invertebrates. It is amongst these palaces, condos, and free standing sculptures that our snorkeling party floated over….exploring, awe-struck by the beauty and diversity of this sea garden. We watched large schools of blue tangs with iridescent blue fins swimming in and around the coral. An occasional spotlight parrot fish passed underneath our snorkeling party busily consuming bits of coral while a variety of damselfish patrolled their private algae patch, pugnaciously defending it from intruders.
The Sea Lion remained at Seal Cay for the entire morning allowing for several opportunities to be in the warm waters of the Caribbean, either swimming or exploring yet another shelf of coral, finding many more unusual fish sometimes expertly camouflaged within the coral, either by their form or color. In the early afternoon we lifted our anchor and began a slow passage, heading approximately thirty miles northward along the mainland of Belize towards a small spit called Seine Bight. Here we would make a landing at a hotel on the beach and would be welcomed in by drumming, dancing and singing; as is the tradition of the Garifuna people who inhabit this area.
As the sun moved west towards evening, the drums continued; an elder Auntie presented the stories and songs, giving us a little history before the drums, singing and dancing continued. We sat mesmerized, and then were invited to share the dance floor of sand and dance with our hosts. Smiles and laughter could be heard mixed with the sounds of surf and evening birds, as we joined our celebration of welcome. The Garifuna people, a mixture of Carib Island Indian and West Africans immigrating from the West Indies found a home here in Belize, a country known in Central America as a crossroads for refugees from around the world…..here, in the warmth and fertile lands along the rivers of sweet water the Garifuna peoples have lived and prospered for the last 400 years.
As the last rays of sunlight washed over the faces and bright yellow dresses of the Garifuna ladies and their dancing partners we were pulled into the Caribbean; and in turn the people and place would, at the very least for this evening, remain in our memories and hearts.
