By Eliane
Caye Caulker, Belize is an amazing base for snorkelling trips because:
- It is a lovely and beautiful place to stay in.
- It has friendly people.
- It is a party place so everyone can have fun.
- It has good value snorkelling trips with incredible fish, coral and crystal-clear water (by Australian standards).
- It has a great ice-cream place right in front of the main dock!
The snorkelling trip was the highlight of our stay at Caye Caulker. Our guides were called Captain Keith and Marf. They were both very helpful and Captain Keith was very passionate about keeping the coral and other marine life alive.
On the way we stopped to see some tarpons. Tarpons are big fish about a metre long and are very strong. Their tails were strong enough to break a bone inside or out of the water. They are inedible because there are so many bones and it’s illegal to catch them anyway. Marf and Dad were putting their hands out over the water so the giant fish jumped up to try and get them. It was very stressful to watch because they were only just pulling their hands away in time.
Finally we were off, off to the first snorkelling spot…the shipwreck. This particular ship had been carrying tons of concrete so it was not surprising that it sunk. It had been under the water for a while so there was sea fan and other corals growing on it. It was really cool because you could see the ladder and some of the inside through the holes in the roof.
One of my favourite places we went to was the coral gardens. In the coral gardens we not only saw amazing corals but amazing fish too. The guides showed us a beautiful little fish that had tiny electric blue dots all over it and we met a sting ray that thought Mum and I were quite interesting so it followed us half way back to the boat. There were loads of different types of corals as well, there were little blue ones and big red ones, purple sea fan, brain corals and heaps more.
Lastly, Shark Alley. Shark Alley was my favourite by far, as soon as our boat arrived they started circling the boat. They were magnificent, beautiful brown nurse sharks. Some were one metre some were one foot, but they were all beautiful. Nurse sharks are quite different from the normal sharks for they do not have razor sharp teeth ideal for biting, ripping and tearing instead they have suckers. Their suckers are extremely powerful, they are strong enough to kill someone. But luckily they don’t go for humans so we were able to swim with them. As you can see Caye Caulker is the best place for snorkelling by far. I love it.
There and back again 