Amberguise Caye

This weekend was awesome to say the least. It started early Saturday morning, we had to get up to wash iguanas. There were roughly 35 iguanas that had to be captured and then bathed. We started early in the morning so the iguanas would still be sluggish. We rounded them all up and got to work scrubbing all the dirt, ticks, and mites off of them. Some seemed to enjoy it while others wanted nothing to do it. That whole process took a little over three hours , we then had to move more baby iguanas from the nursery into a large enclosure. We were all getting antsy by then because it was almost 11 o’clock and we were suppose to be on our way to Belize City to catch a water taxi. When we were finally done with iguanas we booked it home as fast as we could, grabbed our bags and jumped in the van. Cynthia, one of the program coordinators, offered to drive us to the city so that was nice not having to deal with taxi’s or busses. Since we were running a little late, Cynthia drove like a madman to get us to the taxi on time, fortunately we made it there with a few minutes to spare. It took about an hour and a half by water taxi to get from Belize City to San Pedro on Amberguise Caye. It’s a small touristy town offering lots of snorkeling and dive trips. Since it’s off season we got great prices on everything. We were told to stay at this hotel called Rudy’s. It was right on the beach and the rooms were only $30 a night, they weren’t anything special. We immediate set out to book a diving trip for me and a snorkel trip for the girls. I had done my research earlier and I had come across this place called Ecologic Divers. For two dives, all my gear, a hot towel after the dive and refreshments I paid only $75. Yay for visiting during the off season! After all that and the girls trip was squared away for the following morning we went to explore the town.

Snorkeling tiki man!

Sunday – Since I was the only one diving, I was on my own to find breakfast and make my way to the dive shop.  The people at the dive shop were really friendly, and they quickly got all my gear ready for me and loaded up in the boat. I was joining a dive master and two of his students that were finishing up their final dives to get certified. We drove a little ways off the shore to the reef, geared up and jumped in the water. I was super excited that it was warm enough to not have to wear a wetsuit. The water was also crystal clear, and I could see the bottom from the boat. On the first dive I saw a massive spotted eagle ray, some nurse sharks, an eel, a huge grouper and a zillion brightly colored fish. The coral was pretty cool too, there was brain coral and all sorts that I couldn’t identify. On the second dive I saw another shark, a lobster, and loads more coral and colorful fish. I really wish I knew the names of what I saw. I did take pictures but I’ll have to wait till I get home to get them developed. After my amazing dives, I met up with the girls had lunch and went shopping until 4:30 when the water taxi would take us back to the main land.  

Sunset on the island.