Tag: Adventure

Shark Ray Alley Revisited

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I know I asked in my last post if I need say more, and the answer is yes. I cannot leave a post with no writing, so…

We had signed up for a snorkeling trip to Shark Ray Alley two days ago, and were told that we would be able to go, weather permitting. We woke up this morning disappointed that the weather didn’t seem to be permitting it. Fortunately, when we went to talk to the activities coordinator, he said that it would be going out. Unfortunately–yeah, this is one of those–when the group of us went down to get outfitted, we were told that it was rough and murky and we may want to cancel. David and Anita decided that the trip was not for them, but Sarah and I decided to tough it out.

As we waited to get onto the boat, one of the heaviest downpours of our whole trip drenched everything. We were undercover at the time, but the wind was blowing the rain on us as we huddled under the palapa on the dock. It looked like we were going to be getting wet on this snorkeling trip!

The rain stopped, and we boarded the boat. Within a minute, we were out from under the clouds and speeding along the shores on a pleasant, sunny boat ride.

At our first spot, our guide showed us large schools of fish, and lots of coral. The fan-coral is still my favorite, with its intricate designs, but there were many other types as well. I saw some larger fish that I had never seen before, as well. I was having some trouble with my mask fogging, so I actually saw more with the pictures and video that I took on the snorkel than I did while actually in the water. After about 45 minutes, we got back on the boat and headed to Shark Ray Alley.

Even as we were tying the boat up, we saw a dark shape gliding towards us just under the surface of the water. After the guides threw in a little bit of chum, the water started churning with the dozen or so sharks that came in for a free meal. That was when we were told that the pool was open, and I was the first to slide into the water. I almost landed on top of a shark.

It was fascinating being in the water with all of these large creatures that movies such as Jaws had taught us to fear. These were nurse sharks–humans were not a part of their diet. They were quite used to eating in front of people, though, so they were not shy. We were not allowed to touch the sharks, but I did get pretty close to them to get some of the pictures that I took. Even if I’m the only one saying it, some of them were pretty good.

I’m not quite sure how long we stayed there, I wasn’t really keeping track of time. I was taking hundreds of pictures and video, swimming along with six and seven foot sharks. I think I can safely say that this was my favorite part of the trip, and I have the photographic proof that will allow me to relive the experience whenever I want to.

Our last full day in Belize was finished off with another trip to Portifino for dinner. It was as good as before, but I was worn out and ready for bed by the time we got back to Captain Morgan’s Retreat.

NOTE: Video link to come…

Modes of Transportation

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After a a walk to the store and a hearty breakfast, Sarah and I took a pair of the resort bikes into town. These were not as nice as the one I had rode into town earlier–which wasn’t that nice to begin with–but they worked as transportation. Plus, bicycles have the added advantage of not having to pay to cross the bridge into town. On the way, Sarah spotted a large lizard. We don’t think it was an iguana, but it looked similar.

Once we arrived, we stopped at the Blue Water Grill to make dinner reservations, and get a little refreshment–the ride had dehydrated us. Sarah had an iced tea, and I had one of my favorites, a watermelon juice. We also ordered a large plate of fruit which we shared between the two of us.

We then walked over to a store near the small airport which sold swim suits, but they were closed on Sundays. We checked out a gift shop, and then went to the town’s largest grocery store. They did not have oranges, but they did have a horchata concentrate mix that we purchased.

We went back to the condo and did some more reading–I’ve finished both magazines I brought along, and am about a third of the way through my book. At around 4:30, our golf cart arrived. We had reserved one for a 24 hour period so we could go into town for dinner that evening, and do some exploring the next day.

We left for dinner at around 7:00. It was dark, and so we had to figure out where the key hole was by cell phone flashlight. All golf carts use the same key, so there is a bar that locks the steering wheel, that has a padlock on it. As apparently standard for the area, the key had to be in the lock and turned for the lock to be closed. Shifting is done by a knob under the seat, but there were only three “gears”: forward, reverse, and neutral. We found that we had one of the slower golf carts, and since the road was full of bumps and I didn’t want David and Anita to fall of the back, I was slowing down to almost a stop quite often. We actually got stuck on a speed bump once, and I had to back up and take it a little faster to make it over. The break was not particularly good; stepping on it with full force would gently slow you down, but so would taking your foot off of the accelerator. All in all, it was an adventure, and kind of fun.

Dinner went well, and we were able to get back to the resort after some confusion on the unmarked one-way streets through town. It was a good day.

Cave Tubeing

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Today was another early morning. We got up at 6, ate breakfast, and then boarded the boat for shore once again. Today, we were headed out to do some cave tubing. After dropping a couple off at the airport, we headed up to Cave River Resort, where we boarded the old bus once again. This time, instead of repelling gear, we took along inter tubes. We took a short hike through the orchard, and then got into a slow moving river and started paddling upstream. It wasn’t long before we reached the mouth of a large cave system.

 

Our goal was to tube and hike deep into the cave, exploring and examining Myan artifacts. The river was higher than normal, and the current was stronger. However, Sarah’s mom and dad, Seth and Mai,. and Sarah and I were able to make our way into the mouth of the cave, where we saw stalagmites and stalagmites, and large columns. It was a large cave, with lots of things to see. The ceiling must have been 30 to 40 feet up, and the river may have been up to 5 feet or deeper in places.

We traveled upstream past where you could see light from the exit. We were shown brain suckers–strands of sticky web that would attach to passing bugs. We also saw a scorpion spider–very creepy. We saw fruit bats, but were told there were also vampire bats, centipedes and millipedes that made their home in the cave.

 

We had to climb up onto a ledge to get into one of the chambers. There, we were shown a carving of a Myan fertility god. Our guide told us about how the Myans would come and make a sacrifice to the fertility god, and believed that by the time the woman reached the entrance of the cave, she was already pregnant. However, she had to sacrifice her first child to the god, or it would die of sickness, and she would never be able to get pregnant again. If she did sacrifice the child, she would have as many children as she wanted. Archaeologist dug for the bones of the children in the room next to a stalagmite that was carved to look like a pregnant woman, but found none. Another chamber, deeper in the cave, contained several bones from human sacrifices, and this is where the archaeologist believe the children were buried.

We went back and ate a nice lunch next to the underground river, and then boarded the tubes to float back out of the cave and into the jungle.

We purchased some cheese at the resort, and then headed back to our island. We had to pick up a few other people at the airport, and the planes were late, so we stopped to watch some children perform a tribal dance, and for some unknown reason they decided to pull me into it. They all had cool masks and shells, and I just had bare feet. Somehow I managed to make it through the ordeal–I wish I could say my pride was still in tact, but I am sure they were laughing at me behind those masks. We picked the late arrivals up from the airport and headed for the docks. The crossing was the roughest yet, but we made it and had another great meal. It was our last night on the island, and we were a little sad that we were leaving. However, tomorrow we will be heading to la isla bonita–San Pedro.

Snorkeling

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Today I got up early and watched the sun rise from our deck. The family met for breakfast, and then we boarded a boat for an ocean adventure. Sarah and I were going to do a three tank dive, and the rest of the group was going to snorkel. We got as far as the next island over before the boat broke down. They pulled up to a dock, made a few calls, and decided that for safety, they needed to cancel the trip. We were all disappointed as we headed back to our island, however it was better than getting stuck in the middle of the Caribbean.

 When we got back, one of the members of our party got Thatch Caye to comp us a snorkel tour. We went out to a reef called the Aquarium, and snorkeled for an hour. We were going to go to a second place but had to cut the trip short due to one person getting sea-sick. The time out there was fun, however, and the boat ride was a good sight-seeing tour. 

Once we got back, we had lunch, and then I decided to try paddle-boarding around the island. The west side went just fine, and I was at the northern point in no time. However, the wind was kicking up around here, and paddling was difficult. I eventually had to kneel on the board. As I went around the northern point to the east side of the island, the wind really kicked up, and I had to start dealing with chop. It was a struggle making it from the north point to the south point on the west side, and by the time I got there I was exhausted. I jumped into the water on a particularly white sand-bar, and cooled off before hopping back on the board, standing up, and traveling back to my starting point.

To celebrate my exertion, I went to the bar and had a Zombie. Omar, our bartender, liked the idea of the drink so much that he made it the drink of the day. I have a feeling that relaxation is big in my immediate future. I have a good book and a hammock that I intend to make use of. Perhaps I’ll share that hammock with another Zombie.

The Black Hole

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Today, Seth, Mai and I ventured off to do the Black Hole–a 300 foot repelling expedition in the Belizean jungle. I got up at 6:30, showered, and grabbed a quick breakfast. We then boarded the boat for the mainland. The resort van was waiting for us, and took us an hour into the mountains to a jungle resort. From there, we boarded an old stereotypical run-down bus. We took this a ways into an orange orchard, heading towards the jungle, where we promptly got stuck. Although it is not the rainy season, it has been raining quite a bit over the last couple of days. After five minutes of back and forth, we decided that we had made it far enough, called for a tow, and started walking.

 The jungle was muddy. The jungle was full of mosquitoes. We used DEET. Lots of it. We walked up a steep, muddy path through a dense jungle. It was very slippery, and there were several people who fell down. After about an hour of up and down, we arrived at a spot that they said was the Black Hole. However, we had to wait for the previous group to finish before we could continue, so we had lunch. It consisted of home-made tortillas, carrots, onions, salami, cheese, hard boiled egg, and cabbage–a build-your-own burrito. After lunch, we continued around to the other side.

The Black Hole is a 300 foot deep sink-hole in the middle of the Belize jungle. We were there to repel down into it, and I was up first. I had my harness and helmet on, and was locked onto the repel line. We were using a ladder connection rather than a figure eight, which pretty much meant that you had to force your way down. However, walking down the steep slope to the edge, and then looking down the 300 feet to the jungle below was an adrenaline rush. Walking off the edge, to the “hell-hole rappel”–sitting ,and lowering yourself with nothing to keep your feet on–was also a bit frightening. Really, just hanging there, hundreds of feet above the jungle, surrounded by cliffs and caves, was an amazing experience. I later described the trip as buying drugs. The drug of choice was adrenaline, and I was manufacturing it, but the Black Hole was the catalyst.

 

 Since I am writing this post–Mai-Tai in hand–you know that I made it safely to the bottom. I waited for the other people from our island to make it down, taking some pictures of the various caves. Once those of us from Thatch Caye were all on the ground, we left the second group and joined the first group. We were late for our pickup. We made pretty good time climbing out of the Black Hole, but it was still a long and slippery trek back to the bus. From there it was about a two and a half hour journey back to our island. We were so caked in mud that we had to wear plastic garbage bags so we didn’t get the van dirty.

   We were greeted with drinks and snacks, which I partook in before heading for a nice long shower–that included my jeans and shoes. We spent a little more time at the starfish bar, which is on a platform over the ocean, before heading towards dinner. I was distracted for a while with the slack line, and then enjoyed a nice meal of freshly caught fish. It was a wonderful day.