First 3 weeks part 3 - Belize

Right so now let's try and get fully up to date with my blogging. So from Play del Carmen we got a bus down to Chetumal on the Mexican side of the Mexico/Belize border to get a water taxi over to Caye Cauker, which is one of the Belizian islands sitting just inside the barrier reef. The 2 hour boat ride over was very bumpy and we were please to get there. There island is a small sandy street island where the only transport is golf carts and the motto there 'go slow'. In fact I witnessed a local telling a woman to go slow because he thought she was walking too fast.

So the morning after we arrived we headed to the dive shop to book our trip to the blie hole, after all that was the reason we went to Belize. So we had a 5.30 am start the next day as the blue hole was a 2 hour boat ride away. If you don't know what the blue hole is the google it to see some amazing pictures. The blur hole is a circular hole 300 metres in diameter and 124 meters deep with a deep blue colour to the water in it. On arriving there we could just about make out the feint outline of dark blue. The best way to see the surface of it is from the air. So we jumped in and started heading down to 40 meters where you see these amazing huge stalactites hanging down. It was quite eerie. Again photos to follow. 15,000 years ago the blue hole was a huge cavern where these stalactites formed. After the ice age when the waters rose the cave flooded and the roof caved in. When we were ascending again we were luckiy enough to see a school of about 6 sharks in the centre of the hole, which was an added bonus. It was definitely woth coming to Belize just to dive the blue hole.

After this we headed over to half moon caye island were we did some amazing wall diving. It was just a wall of fantastically coloured corals dissapering into the murky depths below us. After this we headed to the island for lunch and the prommise of lots of boobies. Before you start getting too excited they were actually red footed boobies, which are actually birds. And it was the only nesting site in the whole of the Carribean. Well if you're a bird watcher maybe you will be just ad excited!
After this we did a final dive on a different part of the wall and then headed back to Caye Caulker. It was definitely one of my best ever diving experiences to date.

The next day we headed out for some more dives much closer to the island, which were only mediocre dives. But what made up for it was stopping by at shark ray alley between dives. As you can probably guess you can see sharks and rays here, and not just one or two but dozens. I was standing the the water and rays were just swimming up to me and the just darting round me at the last minute. Again photos to follow.

So for the rest of the time on the island we just spent our time relaxing on the beach, swimming, a bit of kayaking and eating.

So Emmanuel, James, and Dan left last weekend and it was time for me to go back to travelling by myself again. So I promptly sat down and read for a couple of days! I finillay decided it was time to move on somewhere else and decided to head down the coast to Placence to do some more diving. So one boat ride, a taxi, two bus rides and eight hours later I was there. There was only one hostel in Placence so I headed there. Although when I got there it was deserted and a bit grotty, I couldn't find any member of staff at all. So I headed down to the next place, which was even grottier, but cheap and I got my own room. I was in no mood to trawl around all the hotels so I thought I'd just stay there for one night and find somewhere else to stay in the morning. So I dumped my bags and went for a wonder to find some food. I didn't like what I saw of Placence so decide that there will be plenty of other places to dive. So next morning I got up bright and early and decided to head up to Guatemalla instead. I'd had enough of Belize and thought it was time for a change. I've heard people say that there is no point in going anywhere else in Belize apart from the Cays, and I have to agree with them. So three bus, one taxi and one mini bus ride later I arrived at Flores in Guatemalla yesterday afternoon. Flores is a little island on a lake connected to the mainland via a 500 meter bridge. It is very nice here, and quite hot.

As for my plans from here, who knows! I don't know what I'm going to be doing tomorrow, or where I'll be. All I know is that I'll end up at the bay of islands in Honduras for some more diving at some point. Whether that will be in a few days or a few weeks, well that will depend on how much Guatemalla suits me.

Well that's got me all caught up with my bogging and I'll try not to leave it so long between posts next time. Oh yes and some photos to follow soon.