4 girls arrived together ... they had met on the water taxi and all ended up here for a couple of nights. they said they wanted to go on a snorkel tour with Wilbur ... i asked him if i could come along .... as his assistant :) ... he agreed ....
i was pretty excited because i've been here 29 days and ....
the morning looked a little cloudy, ..... and about the time we were ready to leave it started POURING ! ...i checked the weather and it said 100% chance of rain :(
after 25min it stopped but didn't look promising .... i don't do rain ... and i was willing to cancel the day ... but the girls all said 'let's go' ... so we left ... 5min out and a big black cloud covered us and it started raining again .... but it didn't last long, and it cleared up with a pretty blue sky :)
we arrived at Hol Chan Marine Reserve .... Hol Chan is Mayan for Little Channel ... it is the channel that leads through the Reef into the deep blue ... it's been a protected Marine Reserve for many years so there are lots of fishes and other marine life there ...
as soon as we got into the water, i spotted a Green Sea Turtle ... are you ready for a few turtle photos ?
up for air ...
and back down again ...
Permits ... yes, i saw Kermit the Permit :)
a school of SchoolMasters hanging around the soft coral ...
Nurse Shark
i love these TileFish .... they 'wiggle' when they swim, kind of like an eel or snake ... and build their homes in the rubble and sand on the bottom ...
it was rough snorkeling in the channel today, pretty choppy ... but it was GREAT being in the water again!
we were finishing up Hol Chan, we saw another 2 turtles ...
we left there and Wilbur asked if we wanted to go to San Pedro to sightsee and have lunch .... or .... do extra snorkeling .... i was happy to hear them all say they wanted to snorkel :) ...so we headed to another spot, where the fisherman clean their Conch. there is usually an old LoggerHead Turtle that hangs around there knowing he will get some food. when we got there, the turtle was not there ... but Wilbur picked up a couple of dead Conch shells and started banging them together ... calling the old guy in ... sure enough ... he came 'running'
.... we watched him for a little while, but he eventually left, pouting, ....since he didn't get any food.
....we snorkeled some more, then in the distance, i saw him again ... it looked like he was trying to eat a Sea Urchin. i headed that way to investigate ... the closer i got .... i realized it wasn't a Sea Urchin ... but instead, it was a little BurrFish .... this is a photo of another one from a few years ago so you can see how cute they are and how iridescent their eyes are ...
these little fishes have the ability to inflate themselves when threatened ...and this little guy was DEFINITELY being threatened ! ....he was as round as a beach ball, with his tiny little yellow fins going as fast as they could ... but they were worthless and he had no mobility because he was so round.
this turtle was relentless .... he wanted to eat that little fish ... but the little fish was too big and he couldn't get is mouth around it ... but that not stop him from trying !
Wilbur and i tried to distract him and get him away, but he was having no part of it. we continued interferring and trying not to get bit ourselves, thrashing around in the water. this went on for 10-15min ....
here is the video of this nerve-racking event .... i hope it plays for you ... i can't view it with the internet connection here :(
Finally Wilbur gently picked the little guy up and held him out of the water ... the turtle was confused and started to swim away ...but the little fish needed water and when Wilbur put him back in the water that turtle made a U turn and rushed in again ...
...trying to pin him down to the sand so he could get leverage and bite him .... i was frantic. we wanted to get the little guy over to a reef where he would have some protection, but we were too far away .... Wilbur yelled, 'we need to put him in the boat in a bucket and take him somewhere else' ....
i took off for the boat ...swimming as fast as i could ... whipped off my fins .... climbed up the ladder ... got the bucket ... filled it with water ... and handed it to Wilbur just as he arrived with our little friend
this is him in the bucket after he relaxed and un-inflated himself ... the white marks are scratches from the turtle ... Wilbur said he will be fine ... :)
He said that we saved both of their lives because Turtles often die when trying to eat these fish because they get stuck in their throat and then they can't breathe. he told us of a fisherman-friend of his who was 'approached' by a turtle "asking for help" ... the turtle had an inflated BurrFish in it's mouth, couldn't spit it out, and couldn't swallow it ... it was going to die. the fisherman took a knife and stuck the BurrFish, it deflated, (it was already dead) .... and he took it out ... the turtle left without saying a word :)
Whew what an event we were able to experience ! ..we went back in the water to snorkel a bit more ... and visited with some some other fish
Smooth TrunkFish
2 TrunkFish ... you can see how unusually shaped they are with a flat 'bottom' ..
a Porcupine Fish ... they also have the ability to inflate themselves as a defense against predators ... i LOVE these guys coz they have such big human-like eyes and a sweet smile ..
then we went to Shark Ray Alley, also part of the Marine Park.... where the Nurse Sharks and Southern StingRays are used to being fed by the tour guides (which they aren't supposed to do anymore). when we approached they all appeared; but when they realized we had no food, they continued on their way ...
a few of them were still hanging around the corals though ...
a Rainbow ParrotFish with ElkHorn Coral ...
this is Wilbur releasing the little BurrFish to his new home ... where there is lots of coral for him to hide in ... typically you see these fishes in the turtle grass in shallow water ... but he might be happy to just chill a bit in the safety of some nice corals ...
a Sargeant Major in some ElkHorn Corals ...
a Pork Fish .... not a very nice name for such a pretty fish !
a Nassau Grouper ... although you see lots of Grouper on the menus in Florida ... you won't see any here ... they are protected because they have been overfished ...
they also have the ability to change their color depending upon their surroundings ...
our next stop is called Coral Gardens .... just as i got in the water i saw a Spotted Eagle Ray in the distance ... he wasn't interested in visiting, but i got a few photos before got too far out in front of me ...
they have great little faces .... kind of like a dog with long nose ...
also saw this juvenile Yellow Tail DamselFish ... they don't get their yellow tails until they mature ... but they more than make up for it with their iridencent blue spots on their little black bodies ! ..they are FAST, really hard to get a photo ...
a 4-Eye ButterFly Fish
before we got out of the water, i saw another Spotted Eagle Ray in the distance ...
Wilbur said it was the same one ... but i disagreed ... and i'm sticking with my story :)
the sea was getting rougher and the waves higher .... we'd done a lot of snorkeling and we were heading home ... but Wilber wanted us to see the sunken barge ... i'm not much for 'ship wrecks', but back in the water we went ... it was actually pretty cool .... lots of corals had grown on it over the years ... with white sand covering what is probably the ugly rusty spots ...
and you can look through the holes ...
there was a Nurse Shark resting inside this one ...
...and we returned to the Dock after a long day .... my legs were actually tired from snorkeling ... obviously i am out of practice !!!!!!!!!
***
Update: the Great SeaHorse War of Pause vs Tour Guides has been 'lost' temporarily. while i was snorkeling today, the Police came to Madi's because a complaint has been filed against me :) ....and, Madi's business may now be in jeopardy, so i'm staying away from the dock and the tour boats ... but my behind the scenes activities will not be stopped.
***
I also took the Water Taxi to San Pedro on the 19th and renewed my Visa for another 30 days .... i was going to have lunch with Darrel ... as i waited for him to finish up a tour, i walked south all the way to Banana Beach Resort where 8 of us girls stayed in Dec 2010, my first trip to Belize .... i don't remember it being that FAR away from town ... or else i'm just getting old ... it's still a beautiful 'resort' ... great memories with great girlfriends !
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