We spent three weeks sailing island to island, snorkeling. There is a barrier reef about 7-12 miles off the Belize coastline that keeps the inner waters calm, and that makes for some wonderful sailing -- wind without seas -- a great combination. We loved that.
And the waters around the cays were so beautiful and inviting, we snorkeled as much as possible. In addition, we went to one of the three atolls outside the barrier reef, Glovers Reef, for some more snorkeling. Hands down, our favorite outing was the first one at the Colson Cays -- after finding the coral heads near our boat, we jumped in and within minutes came face to face with a spotted eagle ray. With time we grew a bit more blasé about seeing these fabulous creatures as they are everywhere, but they are so big and yet graceful, it is hard to believe they are real. From the boat, we saw them break the water surface and crash back down -- and once we saw them fly while we were in the kayak. Amazing.
Of course we saw all our old friends, the tropical fish, and John loved the opportunity to take photos of them, as well as the beautiful coral formations. We also saw a couple of black grouper, with their very distinctive markings. The fan gardens at Glovers Reef were gorgeous and you never knew who would swim out from behind one of those. John spotted a shark in the deeper waters, luckily he wasn’t interested in us. We have hundreds of pics, but won’t post them all. Enjoy these photos!
English Cay: 17d19.681’N 88d03.086’W
Colson Cays: 17d08.428’N 88d05.247’W
Dangriga: 16d58.402’N 88d13.077’W
Garbutt Cay: 16d58.217’N 88d05.505’W
Commerce Bight, Dangriga: 16d55.851’N 88d14.361’W
Twin Cays: 16d49.272’N 88d05.958’W
South Water Cay: 16d49.069’N 88d05.099’W
Southwest Cays, Glovers Reef: 16d43.059’N 87d51.134’W
North Long Cocoa Cay: 16d33.659’N 88d06.308’W
