I got a nasty flu overnight, probably from a too cold air conditioner, but the next morning we were ready at the diving centre for our snorkelling trip at 8:30am. About 15minutes later we got picked up by Chris, a very nice young guy who would be our guide for our trips to Zones A and D. We clicked right away. The fact that we booked so early meant that we were the only two persons on the boat. We took that advice seriously when the diving manager had told us to book early and added a very special wink. I think he liked me because we had a long and pleasant discussion when I booked our trips. The boat was amazing, much bigger than expected and with two 200 horsepower outboard motors it is built for very high speeds. The boat was clean and well maintained. Exactly at 9am we left for our first snorkel destination. Chris drove the boat with skill and respect for the surroundings. He didn’t show off with crazy speeds and it only took a few minutes to get there.

After Chris secured the boat to one of the docking ropes, he explained the rules and regulations and how to behave while snorkelling. He also told us about the species we could expect and how to follow him and check on him during the trip. The place was amazing because as soon we got in the water the fish came towards us. We followed Chris who guided us well and showed us many species.  We saw sharks, horse-eyed jacks, permit, barracudas, stingrays, green moray eels and many more. The first tour was about 1 hour and then we took a little break on the boat and had a drink and little snack. Amazingly there were hardly any other people around which made our snorkelling trip very exclusive.

There was plenty of time left so we did a second tour. This time Chris guided us onto more individual species so I could take a few close-up photographs of fish that are popular to catch on fly, such as permit and horse-eye jacks. Peering intensely into the viewfinder of my camera while bobbing up and down on the surface for almost 35 minutes made me quite dizzy and I decided to turn back while Chris took my camera and took a few more pictures while continuing with Ina. Once in the boat I really got seasick and I know a lot of people who have suffered the same fate. I had taken motion sickness pills but they didn’t work, probably because I was too much on the surface and there were no places to reach the bottom where you could stand still. (By the way, don’t buy seasick pills in Belize. They charged us a fortune. 40 dollars for only 8 pills.)  Ina and Chris returned about 10 minutes later but I was so sick I simply had to lie down. Ina had a lot of fun and she enjoyed herself immensely under the perfect guardianship of Chris.