Belize: Exploring the barrier reef
I didn’t know anything about the Belize Barrier Reef before arriving in Placencia. Maybe it’s because I’m from the bald prairie, but scuba and snorkelling weren’t activities on my radar. But once I got here it became pretty hard to ignore the draw of the underwater world, so I signed up for a snorkelling excursion with Splash Dive Centre to Laughing Bird Caye (LBC).
LBC was declared a national park in 1991 and is part of the Belize Barrier Reef — a World Heritage Site. Two park rangers live on the island at all times (they go in two-week long shifts) to ensure the area is protected.
I’d never snorkelled before, so I was pretty nervous about it. But I figured even if I couldn’t get the hang of it, I had a book and could read on the beach. Happily, I did get the hang of it and snorkelling at LBC was one of the very best days of my life. When I got out of the water for the day another snorkeller remarked, “Look at your grin! You’ve got the biggest smile right now!” Despite being a total prune after hours in the sea, I wish I could have started the day over and done it all again. I was amazed at the diversity of the fish and invertebrate I saw in just one day. The species I’ve been able to identify, include:
Nurse shark
Needle fish
Barracuda
Gray angelfish
Christmas tree worm
Spaghetti worm
Caribbean spiny lobster
Nassau grouper
Bluestriped grunt
French grunt
Princess parrotfish
Horse-eye Jack
Blue Tang
Tarpon
Rock Beauty
Stoplight parrotfish
Sergeant Major
Four-eye butterflyfish
Elkhorn coral
Staghorn coral
Purple sea fan
Brain coral
Given how much I enjoyed the day, the scuba instructor at Splash suggested I should try scuba diving. Scuba scares me way more than snorkelling did so I remain unsure about that. But I have started the online theory portion of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors ‘Open Water Diver’ certificate. Stay tuned to see if I overcome my scuba fear and take the literal plunge!
xx Rachel
Every year the tiny island shrinks a bit more — it’s currently 1.8 acres.
Brown Pelicans dive non-stop for sardines off the beach at Laughing Bird Caye.
Even on this tiny island masks are mandatory except when eating, drinking or diving. Fines for not wearing masks in public places are considerable — around $500 BZD ($320 CAD).