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Belize and Caye Caulker

3/15/2013

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When my friends came back from Belize I was so impressed with their photos. Jeanette was kind enough to share her blog about their trip with me. Maybe this will give you an idea for a new vacation spot!

Our second port was Belize City, Belize. When we got there we walked out of the port area and purchase 4 tickets via the Caye Caulker Water Taxi to the beautiful little island of Caye Caulker. The ride took about 40 minutes! This charming little island is what you would expect to see in a travel magazine! There are no cars on the island. People get around by way of golf carts and bicycles.
The colorful hotels and outfitters lined the sandy streets. Small boats sat tied to the end of long docks. Palm trees and coconuts lined the shoreline with the crystal clear water glistening behind them. Ahhhh, heaven!

We didn't have reservations for an excursion, but as soon as we got off of the taxi we found Star Tours where we booked a tour going to Shark Ray Alley. This turned out to be one of our favorite experiences ever and we are already planning a trip back there to stay a bit longer! The tour consisted of 3 stops: Shark Ray Alley, The Barrier Reef, and Coral Gardens.

We got in the little boat and drove for about 5 minutes before we were at our first stop, Shark Ray Alley. Sting rays and nurse sharks started swimming toward the boat. We talked to the girls about what it would be like to swim with rays and sharks, but I must admit that the sight of them swarming us was a little intimidating. Jillian, on the other had, was so excited that she put on her mask and snorkel and jumped right in the water. She is a brave little one! Chloe was right behind her. I was still on the boat and not a second later our awesome guide, Shawn, had a 4 ft. nurse shark in his arms! Spencer was brave and held him and then finally talked me into doing the same! The girls couldn't stop talking about how rough he felt. They thought a shark would feel something like a dolphin or sting ray! We let him go and went on swimming with tons of sting rays and fish and even saw a barracuda!
Our second stop was a guided Barrier Reef tour. Here Shawn told us that he would lead and we would follow. We swam out for about 30 minutes while he pointed out all the different species of fish and coral. Right before we were ready to head back to the boat we were at a depth of about 30 feet! It was amazing. Shawn said he had something to show us and to pay attention. We all looked closely as he basically called an eel out from the coral and then fed it! It must have been 4 feet long!
Later the girls went on to talk about feeling like they were swimming in an aquarium!
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Our final stop of the day was the Coral Gardens where we got to swim around on our own. It wasn't nearly as deep or filled with wild marine life, but the coral was quite beautiful!
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If you go to Caye Caulker I highly recommend Star Tours. Shawn was so informative about the reef and the marine life.
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For more information and pictures on the Western Caribbean and other locations check out Jeanette at her blog, www.TravelandPhotographyToday.com

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