Wednesday, July 28th - This morning at 8:30, we walked next door to the Blue Tang Hotel and picked up our gear for a day on the Sirena Azul - a wooden, gaff-rigged sail boat - about 40 feet long with a 14 foot beam. It used bamboo for the masts and booms/spars. They say it will take up to 20 passengers plus the crew of 3 - today there were 9 passengers and that was plenty! Our captain, Pablo, looked like the main character from Hemmingway's 'Old Man and the Sea' - or maybe he'd just been on a 3 day bender...
You've got to love a country where there is no fear of lawsuits. We haven't signed one waiver for any of these tours we've taken!
We sailed out to the reef about 45 minutes and grabbed a mooring ball at Hol Chan. This is a popular diving and snorkeling site. We had Rayne practice snorkeling in the pool last night. She was a bit anxious on our way out but once she got in the water, she was a natural. We jumped into about 8 feet of water with a sand & turtle grass bottom and swam over to the reef. Waves were breaking on the other side of the reef, but it was nice where we were. We immediately saw a 2 foot barracuda, lots of corals and TONS of fish. There were divers down below us and we had fun swimming through their bubbles. We snorkeled about 45 minutes here. Rayne got really good with her surface diving and didn't want to leave.
Next stop was Shark/Ray Alley. Our guide had caught a Bar Jack on the way out and now used it as chum. Several 4 foot nurse sharks and a few smaller ones and a bunch of Horse-eyed Jacks began to swarm. We quickly geared up and jumped into ~ 7 feet of water. Next thing I know, our guide has grabbed a 4 foot nurse shark and we all take turns petting it! Meanwhile, a couple of rays about 2.5 feet across have shown up. There were other boats out there chumming as well - so the sharks were making the rounds and then they'd come back. I've never felt more comfortable in the water with sharks! Once again, Rayne didn't want to leave...
Back on board we settled in for the run to Caye Caulker. Beers & soft drinks were available and later our guide, David, whipped up some lobster ceviche that was wonderfully tasty!
About an hour later we arrived at Caye Caulker, San Pedro's little rasta brother! This place is very laid back and you can buy all the weed you want. We went right into the Rainbow Restaurant and ordered lunch - nachos and fajitas. Lunch finished, we headed off down the main steet to swim at "The Cut" which is next to the Lazy Lizard - a popular hangout/bar/joint. A hurricane had opened the cut and made a nice swimming area. Steve & I felt at least 20 years older than most of the people there. We took a nice swim and then headed back into town. Past the pier where our boat was moored, we found an ice cream shop. I think Rayne has decided to try Oreo ice cream throughout Belize. We ambled back to the pier as it was time to sail back to San Pedro. About 2.5 hours and a lot of Rum Punch later, we arrived back where we had started.
On the sail back, we got to visiting with Rod, one of the guys we'd met at the pool yesterday, and learned that he was a retired pastor.
After visiting with he & Dave some more, Steve learned that they too were Pilgrims from Walk to Emmaus. As Rod so aptly put it - it's not a small world, it's a Designed World - AMEN!
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