The joy is in the light blue sea

I haven’t been anywhere else where the locals all universally admire the ocean and the amazing life it holds beneath the water. Belize is home to one of the world's most sought after coral reef locations. Some may argue it is second to Australia. 

Hop on any tour boat, the big and fancy, the small and dirty, the old and crusty, it doesn’t make a difference, the beauty is the same. I was on El Gato (falls somewhere on the spectrum of small and dirty and old and crusty) with two guides and only 4 guests. Our snorkel guide was a middle-aged man who couldn’t get enough of the beautiful water. He would often continue swimming long after the guests returned to the boat.

Before going on the snorkel excursion, I was nervously anticipating swimming with the nurse sharks. Despite being told they wouldn’t bother me, the fear of sharks has been ingrained in me and was hard to push aside. Yet, just minutes after pulling the boat into Shark Ray Alley, I saw my first shark in the water and boom I plunged in. I was quickly swimming up to the sharks to get a closer look, eventually reaching my hand out to feel the skin.

Swimming with the nurse sharks

A loggerhead turtle swims by

The snorkel guide was like a kid on a playground. He swam all around the reef pointing out interesting fish and fire coral. He played a friendly game with an eel, he swam through a reef cave, he grabbed a nurse shark and went for a quick ride. He was a visitor in this under water world, but you could tell he was a frequent visitor and a friend.

Come to Belize if you want to go slow, if you want to feel at peace with the ocean and its inhabitants, and if you want to have an easy breezy island vacation.

Loving the ocean blue!