O goodie: Snorkeling! 10/23/23

 

From the Placencia pier, our group boarded a boat named "Deep Blue" for a half hour ride to a protected caye on Belize's Barrier Reef.  Being on the water makes me happy; I stood on the top deck with the wind in my face, enjoying the beautiful morning.  We'd already picked up our snorkeling gear at Seahorse Dive Shop and were eager to hit the water, so to speak.  As I mentioned in my previous post, this barrier reef is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and part of an impressive coral system.  Today we'd spend time in the water both before and after lunch.  I was excited!

Land ho!  We'd passed many tiny cayes on the way to our stop.

And, here we are!

Herding cats 😀

We waded into the water and never did get too deep, although most of the time the depth was over my head, which is what you want, so you don't bump the coral.  The water wasn't stellar-clear, but it was clear.  Lots of little fishes!

We floated over many different coral formations, and I don't know their names.  Some of them were exquisite.  But bunches of the reef's corals were dead, with more bleaching going on.  As is happening most everywhere, sadly.  I tried to focus on the beauty.

Saw a number of these large and pretty fish.

The fish weren't too numerous, but they were colorful!

Sorry, I don't know their names.

Lunch was provided, which was good.  Ya get hungry toodlin' around out there!  We had rice and beans and chicken again.  It was quite the joke by this time that lunch would be just that:  rice and beans and chicken.  Well, it does take the mystery out of "what's for lunch?"  Ah, Jill found a hammock for a bit of rest between swims.  The island was as lovely as you imagine a Caribbean Sea island to be.

Jimmy and I walked to one end of the island, and came back to sit for a minute.  I watched this li'l Hooded Warbler scooting along the sand and it got closer and closer to me, went under my chair, and out the other side.  I got up and it followed me!  Almost fearless, like Galapagos birds.  We also spied a Black-headed blue warbler moseying from the base of one tree to another.  Cool beans!

After waiting the requisite one hour to digest our lunch like our mothers always said, we were back in the water, and to a different area.  A manta ray silently glided past me.  Kidding about waiting an hour!

I'm sure if you looked closely you'd see a fish or two.  But the composition of the coral and the sun and the colors is what hooked Jimmy and me.

One of the guides found a conch on the sea floor.  He dove down and brought it up for show 'n tell.  Though it was heavy, Jimmy carried it around for a while, then returned it to the guide who gently placed it back on the sea floor.  Fine-looking, isn't it?

We kept losing each other in the water as we each chased something that caught our eye, but Jimmy found me and popped over to say hi!

I took a couple of short videos, but they were so bumpy with movement, I deleted them after watching once.  Darn it.  Yeah, you have to remember we're out in the sea with lots of wave action.

I thought these guys were fun -- feather worms.  The guide demonstrated by dropping down to touch one of the feathery plumes, and it instantly went "floop" and disappeared into its hole.  Actually it didn't make any noise, just disappeared.  They catch prey with the feathery stems.

Another pleasurable hour passed while we splashed, and then it was all aboard.  I could've stayed in longer, but it was time to go.  As you see, another boat had anchored.

Lots of Brown Pelicans were about, diving headfirst into the shallow water repeatedly for a fishie or two, and one Osprey, as you see above.  It's huge nest appears to be in the next tree.

Uh-huh, saw this sign on our way to the bus.

No one went in to check ... as far as I know!

A short half hour run to the pier and we were on land again and on our way to the hotel.  A shower, dry clothes, and dinner awaited, and all were most welcome.  But, lucky us, tomorrow we get to go out again, to a new caye, for lots more underwater exploring.  Oh joy!  See you mañana!

Belize is where it's at, 2023

 

Belize is unlike any place we've been before.  You betcha, it's hot and humid, and, yup, this small country is primarily a tropical rainforest.  Much of the elevation is near sea level.  When we booked our trip (not long ago), we knew we'd be taking a chance on whether we'd even be coming here, October being prime hurricane season.  But, we really lucked out on that one.  

This is the restaurant where we ate our meals while at Jaguar Creek Eco-lodge.  Look at that wonderful roof thatching!  It's a foot thick.  (guessing)

I realize the pic is a bit fuzzy, but I wanted to show you the amazing Cahune palm tree, indigenous to Belize.  At its base is Damion, just to show you the size of the tree's massive fronds.  These are what's used to thatch roofs like the restaurant's.  Damion told me that the best time to gather the palm fronds is on the sliver moon -- the roof will last much longer.  Also, the thick thatch has the added bonus of insulation, keeping the blazing sun at bay and quieting the pounding rain.  Eco-friendly, too.

Notice the big brown blob to the right of Damion in the fuzzy foto?  It's palm nuts, each one about the size of a walnut, tightly packed in a cluster, above.  Every mature palm produces roughly 600-1000 nuts. Their outer shells are hard as bricks, but once opened, the nuts can be used in a variety of ways:  a source of food for critters like Pacas, oil similar to coconut, and so on.

Ours for two nights -- this cute Cabana #9.  Except for the bathroom shower wall, at right, screens with gauzy curtains made up the "walls."  We did have electricity and fans kept us cool/ish.  Hi Jimmy!

At one point in our daily travels, Damion stopped the bus, jumped out and picked something from an orchard, which he brought back to the bus for show 'n tell.

Here 'tis:  A Soursop fruit.  At Benny's Kitchen (close to Xunantunich) many of us ordered a soursop fruit drink, kinda citrus-y and especially delicious after a hot and sweaty hike. 

And finally, our fourth and final hotel for this trip:  Umaya Resort, near the town of Placencia on the Belize peninsula.  One morning I watched a worker throwing something into the pond, above, so I walked that way to see what he was doing -- pitching fish food to a throng of Tilapia.  With every handful, a feeding frenzy took place! 

Gazing out to the Caribbean Sea from the resort.

Our group faced the lagoon side of the peninsula.  Jimmy and I were on the second (top) floor of one building, and from there we watched iguanas grazing on the grass, birds flitting from tree to tree, and great, huge clouds forming over the distant Maya mountains, complete with rainbows! (below)

And some fantastically colorful sunsets.

Tomorrow (Monday, the 23rd) we have our first snorkeling adventure.  Did you know that the Mesoamerican Reef is second in size only to Australia's Great Barrier Reef?  It extends nearly 620 miles from the northern tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula toward the Bay Islands in northern Honduras.  And that includes the Belize Barrier Reef, which runs parallel to the country's coastline for about 190 miles, and was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996.  Oh boy!  That's where we're going!

ATM ... plus! 10/21-10/22, 2023

Today (Saturday) we'd be challenged. After breakfast, our little bus took us over eight miles of a winding, rough limestone road, through citrus orchards and cornfields, to drop us off at the starting point for our exploration of Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave. No cameras or phones were allowed inside the cave, so I can't show you any pics, except those before entering the cave, and those of others who somehow got photos.

Suited up, ready to go:  Israel, Fred, Florence, Anita, Cait, Andy, Jill, Margaret, me, Karen, Jane, and Jimmy.  We had to don life jackets and hard hats with headlamps, sturdy shoes and sox.  We brought backpacks with dry clothes to change into after we emerged.

I'll quote our Road Scholar info page for today.  "This arduous, rewarding activity will begin with 45 minutes of hiking that includes river crossings (the first through chest-high water, pulling yourself along with a rope, as you see above) and wading in knee-high water.  Once at the cave entrance, we will swim through the opening and start a four-hour journey inside the cave.  This activity will require endurance, strength, agility and balance."  Photo by Suzy.

At the cave entrance.  Pic by Larry Waight

I can tell you that this was probably the most taxing activity I've ever done.  We had to swim and climb and clamber and squeeze and hoist ourselves over boulders through the cave labyrinth of interlocking chambers.  We had two certified ATM guides who assisted us; otherwise, we'd have been lost within the first two minutes!  As you would expect, the cave is pitch black.  On a scale of 1 to 10, this cave is about a 6 in terms of difficulty, due to the long hike and "some climbing."

Aside from all that, the cave itself was impressive with natural beauty; i.e., stalactites and stalagmites, columns, draperies and bacon.

"The volume of archaeological discoveries in the ATM is truly stunning. Over 1400 human artifacts have been discovered, all of them dating from 250 to 909 AD. The combination of pottery, tools, weapons, and vessels for water tell a tale of a broad and advanced society, and the scope of the discoveries make it one of the most worthwhile finds in archaeological history.  Many of the stories that can be gleaned from the ATM Cave are rather bleak in nature. It's believed that as part of their sacred rituals, the Mayas used the cave to conduct human sacrifices. Well-preserved human skeletons are just as prodigious in the cave as handmade artifacts are, but the most famous of these finds is the 'Crystal Maiden'."  (Above, Wikipedia)  It's now believed the remains are of a young/ish man.  We scrambled one last time into a nook to see the calcified skeleton.  And then ... and then, we made our way down and out of the cave.  (with only minor scrapes and bruises!)

* * * * *

We were so wiped out from our ATM adventure, as well as our many ruins-climbing of previous days, that all but two of us elected to do the "less strenuous" Caves Branch cave tubing adventure the next day (Sunday) rather than the hiking/rappelling at Black Hole.  Called Footprints Cave after calcified Mayan footprints were found deep within the cave, they were too far in for us to view.  We were looking forward to this different cave tour!  

Gathering together at Caves Branch,

just a hop-skip-jump from our Eco-lodge at Jaguar Creek.

Again with the helmets/headlights, life vests, and this time:  tubes.  From left, Jimmy, Margaret, me, Anita, Jane, Cait, Jill, Andy, Florence.

Ready to tube into (against the current!) the cave mouth.

Our two experienced cave guides assisted us as we tubed through the "refreshing" water.  Not cold, mind you, the water felt cool in the tropical heat.  We put aside the tubes a couple of times and set off on foot when the water became too shallow.  The cave floor was rocky and, of course, wet, and walking wasn't easy.  Not as much as yesterday, we still had to clamber over boulders and rocky formations.  I took my waterproof red camera.  We chased bats off their ceiling perches.

At one point, the guides picked up two wet sedimentary rocks, scraping one against the other, and "painted" our faces with red and black (mine was blue) lines.  Enjoyed this!  We were trying to look fierce in the pic, haha, above.

Several times we stopped to examine Mayan artifacts, as above.  It was kind of thrilling to be able to see and touch these items. 

Like the famous Waitomo (glow worm) Cave in New Zealand, Caves Branch has a gnat fungus.  Anita touched one of the gossamer strands, and a tiny "caterpillar" dropped down, surprising, even stunning, her.  She jumped back! 

The cave decorations made us ooh and aah.  Helmet lighting wasn't conducive to good pictures, sorry to say, but you get the idea.

Climbing up to this point, we could see this amazing large piece of pottery which was off-limits to us, but a guide (I think it was Hector) climbed up to take a photo for us to see.  On two sides near the top were markings that may be a signature.

And then there's this Mayan facial mask.  Eerie with a headlamp shining on it.  Fertility god?  Fertility chamber?  This was as far as we went inside the cave.  We made our way down to the water and our tubes, floating downstream for a bit with headlamps off (so dark, I didn't like that).  What an adventure we're having.

Believe it or not!

Lunchtime in the cave!

Our guides brought in lunch in their packs and set it up, complete with lit candelabra.  We made our own burritos and wolfed them down! Talk about different, talk about a cool, fun thing to do!

While we consumed those burritos, we waded in shallow water with the catfish.  We also spotted a cave crab and some kind of big cave spider (bleah), but that may have been in the ATM cave.  Whatever ...!

And finally, we floated on out into the sunshine to our exit point, with a walk to the bus and back to our lodge, a shower and dry clothes.  Man-oh-man, two days of caving.  Are we lucky or what?  We'd already packed our bags as we were again transferring to a new hotel on the coast.  Through the Maya Mountains to the peninsula and the Umaya Resort.  What a trip this has been so far!

Xunantunich, 10/20/23

San Ignacio Resort in San Ignacio is a beautiful place, full of lush greenery and lots of birdlife.  The sun gets up early here and so do we.  Of course, Jimmy and I are looking for coffee, which we invariably find, but I also come armed with binocs and a camera.  We sit outside on the deck to slurp and spot.  One of the restaurant workers is a birder and he helped me find the birds I heard and he also got the great Toucan pics for me.  We had to pack our bags and have them outside by 7:30/ish, as the group is moving again.  I will miss this wonderful hotel, but I'm sure the next one will be great, too.

Most of these are new birds for me.  Top left to bottom left:  Golden-fronted Woodpecker (who refused to turn around), Red-lored Amazon parrot, Keel-billed Toucan, Brown Jay, Toucan again!, Kiskadees.  All before breakfast.

Xunantunich, you wonder.  We practiced saying the word.  And then Israel gave us an easy way to remember how it's pronounced:  Shoe-nah-toon-itch, accent on nah.  Kinda like that.  It's an ancient Mayan archeological site in Western Belize, about half a mile from the Guatemalan border.  Today we'd check it out.  We picked up Jason, the local guide, in San Ignacio.

While we've enjoyed days with no rain, somewhere in the highlands it rained and the Mopan River had risen.  We needed to cross the river by (hand-cranked) ferry to get to the site, but our little bus wouldn't be allowed on because of the river's swift current.  So ... once across, the group set off up on a mile uphill climb to get to the ruins.  Yowza, hot and humid.

Nevertheless, here's the group, smiling and all sweaty and glad to have arrived at Xunantunich. Front row, from left: Anita, Karen, me, Margaret, Cait. Back row from left: Jimmy, Jill, Fred, Florence, Jane, and Andy.

Apparently Xuna served as a ceremonial center to the Belize Valley region and at its peak, nearly 200,000 people lived there.  In Mayan language, the name means "Maiden of the Rock" or "Stone Woman."  Above you see the group in front of El Castillo (the castle), which we're fixin' to climb.  As we heard it and as Wiki reports:  The "Stone Woman" refers to the ghost of a woman claimed by several people to inhabit the site, beginning in 1892. Dressed completely in white with fire-red glowing eyes, she generally appears in front of El Castillo, ascends the stone stairs, and disappears into a stone wall.  We were hoping to NOT see her today!

Instead, we saw this Spiny Iguana (and several others).

Part-way to the top,

we ascended these steps to get to the next level.

Most of us posing on a narrow stone ledge.

This wee fruit-eating bat was resting in an alcove ceiling.

Wow!  Below El Castillo you see two people walking away.  Wow!

The ancients built high on ridges so they could monitor anyone coming near.  And then they built these impressive temples and palaces, one layer atop another, and everyone in our group talked about how difficult it must have been for folks back then to climb to the top.  They were short people.  We guessed they'd go up and down the same way we did (on the steep stone steps) -- with hands and feet.  Hauling and placing these massive limestone blocks to begin with ... ohmygod!  (Yes, I'm making the Yuba River famous)

These guys were coming down a different set of stairs.

At this point, Jason (in aqua shirt, facing the group) was telling about human remains found in this particular structure behind him.  Excavations continue at Xunantunich.  The tree in front is an All Spice tree, or Pimienta.

Roadside Hawk, left, and it looks like a Rose-bellied Lizard at right.  I spotted these guys on our way down to the ferry.

Ours was the last group to cross the Mopan River on the ferry, because of the water's height and current.  The fella in the orange shirt at left is cranking the ferry across.  The other guy dropped into the hole to retrieve the sign.

Lunch was at Benny's a short distance from the ferry, and nearly everybody ordered the Pipil, with empanadas as an appetizer.  And Soursop juice to help revive us from the heat.  Very good meal.  Goodness, we were pretty drained from our day.  Back on the bus, we rode toward Jaguar Creek, our next hotel destination, an Eco-Lodge nestled in the rainforest.

Well, now!  Jaguar Creek has 12 cabanas connected by boardwalks to each other, the restaurant, lobby and more.  Our cabana has one bedroom with a queen-sized bed, as well as another bedroom with double bunk beds, living room, and bathroom.  It's gorgeous.  But what it doesn't have is hard walls or air conditioning!  Or radios, clocks or TV's or hairdryers.  The outside walls are screened.  Ceiling fans stir the air and upright rotating fans blow the air where you want it.  This is the jungle!

Jaguar Creek flows on the property and guests could tube on the creek if the water was higher, but, alas, not at this time.  Everywhere you look are flowers, hummingbirds, butterflies, and lots of greenery -- like being transported to Jurassic Park.  The shower looked inviting, and it felt good to wash off, and it didn't take the group as a whole to disappear into the night and their peaceful cabanas and comfy beds.

We'll be here for two nights.  Tomorrow, Saturday, we'll tackle the ATM cave.  (Actun Tunichil Muknal cave)  Wish us luck.