Belize
Today marked the first day in what promises to be an adventure full of surprises and discovery, not only for all our guests on board but also for the whole crew of the Sea Voyager. Many of our crew are fueled with excitement at returning towards their homeland, Costa Rica, after many exciting weeks in Central America.
The trip we have just started on is a fifteen-day odyssey taking us from Belize to Panama, through five Central American countries, and involving everything from hiking to snorkeling to SCUBA diving to kayaking and Zodiac cruises.
We started off in the fascinating and relatively undiscovered treasure named Belize, a tiny country the size of Massachusetts but totaling 11 separate ecosystems – an amazing biodiversity, and all relatively pristine.
We explored a couple of these different ecosystems today, the pinewood savannas and mangroves that characterize the coastal plains and riverine areas of Belize. Our Zodiacs and kayaks all got us safely on board just before the skies opened and torrential downpours were swept against the ship by powerful winds. In typical Caribbean fashion though, the storm was short-lived and the day turned fair once more as we reached our afternoon’s destination, the almost caricature-like islet of Goff’s Cay. At this site we had refresher courses in snorkeling and check-out SCUBA dives, or even just relaxed in hammocks with a beer, enjoying this tropical paradise. The underwater life was spectacular here, as many tropical fish swam amongst otherworldly gardens of both soft and hard corals. A particular favourite of mine were the large masses of blue tang swarming over the spectacular elkhorn corals – they would cover the coral heads en masse, thus overcoming the tremendous territorial instincts of the reef farmers, the damselfish.
Today marked the first day in what promises to be an adventure full of surprises and discovery, not only for all our guests on board but also for the whole crew of the Sea Voyager. Many of our crew are fueled with excitement at returning towards their homeland, Costa Rica, after many exciting weeks in Central America.
The trip we have just started on is a fifteen-day odyssey taking us from Belize to Panama, through five Central American countries, and involving everything from hiking to snorkeling to SCUBA diving to kayaking and Zodiac cruises.
We started off in the fascinating and relatively undiscovered treasure named Belize, a tiny country the size of Massachusetts but totaling 11 separate ecosystems – an amazing biodiversity, and all relatively pristine.
We explored a couple of these different ecosystems today, the pinewood savannas and mangroves that characterize the coastal plains and riverine areas of Belize. Our Zodiacs and kayaks all got us safely on board just before the skies opened and torrential downpours were swept against the ship by powerful winds. In typical Caribbean fashion though, the storm was short-lived and the day turned fair once more as we reached our afternoon’s destination, the almost caricature-like islet of Goff’s Cay. At this site we had refresher courses in snorkeling and check-out SCUBA dives, or even just relaxed in hammocks with a beer, enjoying this tropical paradise. The underwater life was spectacular here, as many tropical fish swam amongst otherworldly gardens of both soft and hard corals. A particular favourite of mine were the large masses of blue tang swarming over the spectacular elkhorn corals – they would cover the coral heads en masse, thus overcoming the tremendous territorial instincts of the reef farmers, the damselfish.
