When Janice asked me, the day after we arrived in Belize, if I thought I might want to take the boys snorkeling when Scott and Dietmar got here, I wasn’t all that keen on the idea. They’d only been in the pool a couple of times and were still very cautious. Of course, by Saturday, they were snorkeling in the deep end and diving for torpedo toys, so we decided to give real snorkeling a go on Sunday. We piled in Genie’s boat for a trip to Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley.
Here’s Genie. He lives a few lots south of us.
When we got to Hol Chan, there were some fish around and under the boat.
We put on our gear and headed into the water. Here’s Scott and Finn.
We took a few minutes in the very shallow part to get our bearings. I still wasn’t sure how the boys were going to do. Finn was a little apprehensive. Ezra took to it immediately.
Then we were off!
Genie planned for about a 40 minute swim but we cut that short to about 15 minutes. Finn wanted to go back and when I reached the boat with him, I realized that Scott and Dietmar were also ready to stop. But even in the short time we were out we saw tons of cool sea life, including a nurse shark chomping on a fish under a rock, lots of coral, and many different kinds of colorful fish. Ezra could have gone on for days.
Next we headed to Shark Ray Alley to swim with the sharks. When we first got there, there were lots of fish in the water, but no sharks.
Then they showed up.
It was incredible to watch a fearless Ezra snorkel around with those sharks. Of course, they are nurse sharks and don’t bite, but still! He loved when they swam right around his legs. We also saw a pretty big ray which was very cool.
After a little bit of time there, we got back on the boat and headed way north to Tranquility Bay for lunch. Of course, Finn dozed off.
The resort at Tranquility Bay is a collection of little bungalows — it’s super cute.
Here’s the restaurant.
The view north. The water was beautiful.
Lunch was good. The server took my leftovers to feed the fish which the kids (and heck, all of us) had fun watching.
They hang out under the dock but moved faster that imaginable when he hung that plate over the edge.
They also had a dog there — Foodie, who was appropriately named because he would eat anything. The kids fed him some of Finn’s quesadilla.
And then we headed home. Ezra found a new perch for the ride.
Great day!