Utila and Southwest Caye
The best laid plans of mice and men and expedition leaders… sometimes turn out better than you could possibly expect!
Leaving the dock at Utila Town this morning as the sun rose, we made southwest toward a new destination. Cindy had secured permission for us to visit Southwest Caye, an idyllic little islet which the Polaris used to visit in the early nineties, and which the Sea Voyager had visited only once before at the very beginning of this season. On arrival a quick reconnaissance revealed, to our delight, everything we could have asked for and more. Sunshine sparkled on the golden sands of the beach and the clear aquamarine shallows beyond; tall palms shaded the center of the island and a profusion of brightly colored corals surrounded the whole in a tight embrace, as though the sea loved the place as much as we did.
Everything looked perfect and we were just heading back to the ship to begin the morning activities when Lucio shouted “Dolphins! Lots of them!” and just like that, all plans were suspended while everyone clambered into the Zodiacs and went out to play. Sixty or eighty spinner dolphins cut back and forth through the deep blue just off the caye, seemingly in quite a playful mood themselves. Again and again we came up alongside them and they veered over to ride our bow waves, leaping, splashing and spinning all around us. Looking over the sides of our boats we could see them racing through the water, as clear as though they were suspended in cut crystal, or trapped within a boundless pale blue gem.
In the moment I had on board before we set out, I had snatched up our underwater housing and digital video camera, so I spent most of my time bent double over the bow, struggling to hold the camera steady just below the surface against the pressure of the racing water. Fortunately the dolphins were extremely cooperative subjects, dashing back and forth right in front of my lens. Reflected upside-down in the mirror surface of the sea, they left trails of bubbles as they shot away with effortless flicks of their powerful flukes, only to return a moment later like coy lovers.
After a long, timeless interval among these bright beautiful cetaceans, we finally returned to the ship and continued with our planned activities. There was still time for a dive on the lovely, multihued reef, snorkeling in the shallows and lounging on the beach before we had to head off to our afternoons date with a quiet mainland river. And in the evening, the video I shot allowed us all to relive the morning’s highlight from a fresh perspective, suspended with the dolphins in their weightless gemstone world. OOOOOWEEEEE!!! We do have some big fun on these expeditions!
The best laid plans of mice and men and expedition leaders… sometimes turn out better than you could possibly expect!
Leaving the dock at Utila Town this morning as the sun rose, we made southwest toward a new destination. Cindy had secured permission for us to visit Southwest Caye, an idyllic little islet which the Polaris used to visit in the early nineties, and which the Sea Voyager had visited only once before at the very beginning of this season. On arrival a quick reconnaissance revealed, to our delight, everything we could have asked for and more. Sunshine sparkled on the golden sands of the beach and the clear aquamarine shallows beyond; tall palms shaded the center of the island and a profusion of brightly colored corals surrounded the whole in a tight embrace, as though the sea loved the place as much as we did.
Everything looked perfect and we were just heading back to the ship to begin the morning activities when Lucio shouted “Dolphins! Lots of them!” and just like that, all plans were suspended while everyone clambered into the Zodiacs and went out to play. Sixty or eighty spinner dolphins cut back and forth through the deep blue just off the caye, seemingly in quite a playful mood themselves. Again and again we came up alongside them and they veered over to ride our bow waves, leaping, splashing and spinning all around us. Looking over the sides of our boats we could see them racing through the water, as clear as though they were suspended in cut crystal, or trapped within a boundless pale blue gem.
In the moment I had on board before we set out, I had snatched up our underwater housing and digital video camera, so I spent most of my time bent double over the bow, struggling to hold the camera steady just below the surface against the pressure of the racing water. Fortunately the dolphins were extremely cooperative subjects, dashing back and forth right in front of my lens. Reflected upside-down in the mirror surface of the sea, they left trails of bubbles as they shot away with effortless flicks of their powerful flukes, only to return a moment later like coy lovers.
After a long, timeless interval among these bright beautiful cetaceans, we finally returned to the ship and continued with our planned activities. There was still time for a dive on the lovely, multihued reef, snorkeling in the shallows and lounging on the beach before we had to head off to our afternoons date with a quiet mainland river. And in the evening, the video I shot allowed us all to relive the morning’s highlight from a fresh perspective, suspended with the dolphins in their weightless gemstone world. OOOOOWEEEEE!!! We do have some big fun on these expeditions!
