Borders, boggy spots and beaches

On Saturday 2nd September, we bade farewell to Mexico and Billy our Mexican driver and crossed the boarder into Belize. Belize is a little country the size of Wales that until 1981 was a British Colony, the result of which is that English is the national language. We were greeted at the Boarder by the Dragoman truck which will be our home for the next 6 weeks. It is here that I also got my first experience of bush camping. That is to say we camped in a field with alot of long grass and therefore biting insects with no facilities. The next day we prepared to get going. We all sat on the truck... and the truck refused to move. It turned out the ground was a giant ant nest and the truck simply sank into it. Well after three hours of the boys digging the truck out, it was clear we were going nowhere. We eventually had to be towed out by a JCB digger. Alas the damage had been done. Everyone had been eaten alive by the ants but those who had been under the truck were covered head to foot with ant bites. They resembled a group of decaying diseased people. The next couple of nights were incredibly painful.

We drove to Belize City and caught a water taxi across to Caye Caulker. This is a little island in the Caribbean Sea. It is truly a beautiful place. The Bounty adverts could have been filmed here. The place is tiny, there is one main street which takes 10 mins to walk down and no cars are allowed. The locals drive golf buggies and the taxi service are tricycles with seats for two at the back. After a couple of days doing nothing but relaxing and eating fresh lobster, I decided to be a little more adventurous and went snorkeling. I have never snorkeled before but the barrier reef here is supposed to rival the Great Barrier Reef in terms of wildlife. I was not disappointed.

On our first jump into the sea we came across a herd of manatees. These mammals are a cross between a seal and a sea cow. They are slow, heavy and very docile. They were just milling about around us. One was asleep on the ocean floor underneath us, automatically rising to the surface to breathe every 5 minutes or so. Our second snorkel was in a Marine park were I saw all kinds of brightly coloured fish as well as coral, stingrays, barracuda's and nurse sharks.
Swimming with the sharks and stingrays was not in the least bit scary (and yes I do know what happened to Steve Irwin). After saying that we did keep a bit more distance to the stingrays than we did to the sharks. These sharks were only 1min length and alot more interested in the sardines that the local fishermen feed to them.

The highlight of the trip though had to be the turtle. We had ben searching for a turtle for around an hour and had given up when we spotted one. The turtle is a endangered species and our guide on average only finds one for every 7 trips he does. Once spotted we jumped into the ocean and spent the next 20 minutes swimming along side him. He was an incredible creature and I feel so fortunate to have been able to do it.

With much regret we left Caye Caulker and returned to the truck. The area on which the truck had been parked was rather wet when we arrived due to a recent and long lasting thunderstorm. Unbelievably the truck was bogged again and yes there were alot more ants around. After some rather strong language the JCB digger was called immediately and we were towed out. We have a three day stop over at San Ignacio now. We will all be checking the ground before we park up.