Belize (Jan 2023)
Be sure to scroll below to view our photos and videos after our story for this trip.
Our Return to Belize
Drone view of Turneff Atoll on the first day of diving
Almost a decade ago, my wife and I fell in love with Belize. In fact, we bought property there in hopes of building a modest home near the ocean where we would spend the rest of our active lives diving her pristine reefs and atolls. As the saying goes though, best laid plans of mice and men; new nests in Houston and Playa del Carmen, and a world-wide pandemic later resulted in several years since we last found ourselves in Belize. January’s trip brought both intrigue and a surprising amount of anxiety; intrigue since we were joining a fish conservation group to learn and help with their activities, and anxiety from the same feeling akin to meeting with a high school sweetheart after many years.
And just like hugging your old lover and feeling like not a single minute has passed since you last saw each other, the anxiety instantly disappeared when we walked in and out of the terminal at the international airport in Belize City. The terminal and the town’s surroundings looked exactly the same as they did when we last visited. Heck, we even ran into the same person that rented us our car years ago. Things were definitely looking up.
No rental car needed this time though; our trip was exclusively spent on a liveaboard. Admittedly, I’m not keen on them since spending all your time aboard a boat deprives you of experiencing the culture on land. I only partake when they’re the only or best option for visiting certain dive locations. But given that we had previously spent notable time exploring Belize’s mainland, I relented. The thought of spending a full week with 5 daily dives to explore Lighthouse Reef and Turneffe Atolls was too good to pass up. Permission to come aboard, Captain!
From the onset the magic of the Belize reef system—on the second largest barrier reef in the world—showed its literal colors. Yes, there was visible damage to the reefs caused by global warming, but they remained in notable good health nonetheless, likely due to the constant monitoring from the park rangers—most of the reefs in Belize are highly protected, with some elevating to the highest levels of national stature. Every single dive we saw large schools of fish with plenty of shark and ray sightings. The photo and video opportunities were nonstop.
The highlight of the trip was when an eagle ray took over as our dive guide for 12 minutes. We crossed paths with the ray 15 minutes into our dive as it came directly towards us while making eye contact. At the risk of reading too much into the situation, the eagle ray purposely glided in my direction to perform a 180-degree turn within arm’s distance. I slowed my drift to see if it was merely running away but quickly realized it had no intentions of leaving. Therefore, I calmly followed, anticipating that it would eventually accelerate away from us into the deep blue.
It never did.
Instead, it glided directly in front of us for 8-9 minutes at 70 feet along the wall. Almost as if it knew our dive profiles, the eagle ray suddenly turned 90 degrees up the wall at what was likely going to be our turnaround point anyway. Leading us up to a depth of 30 feet, the eagle ray turned another 90 degrees at the top of the wall towards the boat. At that point the ray led us for another 2 minutes before deciding it had completed its role as the substitute dive guide and veered off into the abyss.
Awesome experience!
Eagle rays—like this one—were abundant on every reef and wall at both Lighthouse & Turneff Atolls
It goes to show you that no matter how many dives you’ve logged you can still be amazed on any given day, which is why I love being underwater. In Belize, that amazement happens whether you are looking for it or not; whether you’re actively looking for the apex predator in town, or if you’re busy trying to survey reef fish.
On that note, a little more about the fish conservation group and the citizen scientists performing data gathering activities on this trip. On one hand it was a great experience learning about their methods for collecting data and their processes for keeping said data—used world-wide by scientists and conservationists—as pristine as possible. On the other hand, I couldn’t comprehend their dedication and sole focus on surveying reef fish while showing indifference to the eagle rays, turtles, and sharks swimming around them. It made me question whether my selfless pursuit of contributing to marine conservation was somehow misguided by the “wow” factor I feel around sharks and rays as opposed to the “other stuff”. It was an early opportunity for self-reflection, and I took it for what it’s worth; an eye-opening experience to witness firsthand the breadth and diversity of this thing called marine conservation. I realized that I’m neither right nor wrong for focusing on what excites me because there are so many areas that need enthusiastic attention. Just as the sight of a shark excites me beyond belief, the next person can yawn at my shark while turning their attention to a frogfish with the same enthusiasm. Perplexing, but understandable and humbling. I cannot thank that group enough for the lessons and unintended education they provided me at this early stage of my transition.
And so our trip came to an end as we arrived at port in the timeless town of Belize City. The diving experiences, while new, were somehow old, comfortable, but not taken for granted. Belize, we love you, and we’ll be back again soon. And unlike that old high school sweetheart, there will be no anxiety next time as we promise we won’t let so much time go by before we see you again. CaaS
Check out these photos from our trip:
Check out these videos from our trip on our YouTube channel:
