Belize Day 11: Corona del Mar Hotel and Hol Chan Marine Reserve


The Corona del Mar Hotel is a pleasant place to stay on Ambergris Caye. We reserved a penthouse room with a fabulous ocean view. The staff makes you feel right at home. Adie, the head housekeeper, always made sure our room was spotless. When we first noticed some "funky stuff" discoloring the wall, she came in and scrubbed it spotless. Frank, the handyman, always greeted us with a big smile and said, "it's another beautiful day in paradise." He is a good guy and shares pictures of his family and the home he built. Frank's house does not have electricity or as he calls it "current." He's been waiting years for the government to run power down a side street to his home. Locals like Frank and Adie make your visit enjoyable. That's why we like to stay in smaller hotels.

Paradise comes with a price. While the days are beautiful, a demon lurks in the night. We were awoken on the first night to floodlights pouring into our room and the endless sound of loud generators running. We learned that two hotels down is the unloading area for barges. That's where they bring in all the supplies to the island. It was midnight when the first of several arrived over the week. Some nights they ran the generators and other nights they didn't. I was glad we brought earplugs. I can get a little cranky after a bad night's sleep.

Shark/Ray Alley and Hol Chan Marine Reserve

The afternoon brought the promise of swimming with sharks at Shark/Ray Alley and Hol Chan Marine Reserve. We tried a different tour group called Aqua Dives. They picked us up at our hotel dock and took us on a short ride. The boat drops anchor off the southern tip of Ambergris Caye in Shark/Ray Alley. A few dark shadows appeared in the water. Sharks! Now you may think it's crazy to plunge into shark filled waters. Let me assure you however the ones swimming in these waters are not man eaters. They are called nurse sharks and are about as dangerous as a Labrador puppy. (Even Samantha Brown of the Travel Channel swam with them and she can be a bit of a priss.) Sadly, by the time we dived in the water, the nurse sharks had all moved on.

We snorkeled there for a while but never actually encountered any other sharks. It was a big let down. Our guide had to spend most of his time helping two older people who could not keep up with the rest of the group. Sigh. The boat moved on to Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Hol Chan is Mayan for little channel. There is a trench in the barrier reef that is about 25 yards wide and 35 feet deep. 



We snorkled through the seagrass beds. Along the way, we found an octopus hiding in a small coral formation. Then Diane caught a glimpse of a shark. It vanished almost immediately. We dropped into the Ho Chan trench and witnessed the most beautiful coral formations. The coral has large finger-like projections that had a diverse population of colorful fish swimming through it.

The sun was setting as the boat took us back to the dock at the Corona del Mar Hotel. Too tired and hungry to walk to town, we order a pizza from PepperOni's and sipped on a cold Belikin beer.

Next: Hairbands & Husbands

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Build a GoPro Water Ski Rope Mount

Image
One of the best views of water skiing is to mount a GoPro to the ski rope. Here is how to build the rope mount. Parts needed: 2-foot piece of 3/4" PVC pipe Duct tape GoPro bicycle clamp Foam noodle Wrist strap Zip tie Since the 3/4" pipe won't slide over the knot on the ski rope, you will need to cut the PVC pipe down the middle. (like a clamshell)  Fit the two halves over the rope and duct tape them to the rope and the V part of the handle. Duct taping to the V section is key to keeping the camera upright.  Attach the GoPro bicycle clamp to the pipe. Make sure you have a safety leash hooked to the camera and rope so it doesn't end up at the bottom of the lake or river.  I used a wrist strap from one of my still cameras and threaded the thin end through the GoPro latch and zipped tied the other end to the rope.  Add a section of a foam pool noodle to the rope to ensure good floatation. Duct tape the noodle closed. Add some duct tape on each end of the rope ...
Read more

Belize Day 4: Actun Tunichil Muknal cave adventure

Image
Eating termites. Swinging from vines. Exploring a sacrificial cave. Sounds like a scene from the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. And that is exactly what it felt like. This was our adventure into the ancient Mayan cave of fear called the Actun Tunichil Muknal. The guide Juan Carlos and driver picked us up at our hotel in a beat up Chevy van. The rig looked like it had seen a lot of hard road. It wouldn't be long before we learned for ourselves why it looked that way. Juan stopped in town to pick up a young couple that would be joining us, Ryan and Susan. The van then rolled down the two-lane highway till it reached a dirt road turn off. From there, we drove over a washboard dirt road through a valley surrounded by jungle. This part of the ride definitely would test the fillings in your teeth. Pot holes the sizes of craters. Creeks flowing over the road. Yet as I prayed my capped teeth wouldn't fall out, I noticed something unique outside the window. There were families washing t...
Read more

How to flip a Sleekcraft boat over in your garage

Image
How do you flip a boat over in your garage? That was the challenge my neighbor had while restoring his speed boat. His 92-year-old father came up with this brilliant system of pulleys and supports that made it fairly easy to turn the boat upside down. We start to raise the boat off the trailer. An engine jack was used to raise the bow. Note the yellow strap from the pulley to the dash. This was to prevent cracking the bow. Close up of the bow pulley system and how the strap slipped off the top wheel.  We should have cut a groove in it to make sure the strap stayed centered. A wooden support frame was built to hang the pulley system and connect it to the transom. We carefully turn the boat upside down. Stern leg bracket: The is the piece that connects the back legs to support beam. The legs were 2x4s and the support beam was two 2x6s. Safely turned upside down.  UPDATE 05/17/2021 The boat restoration was completed a few years back and came out amazing. Here are fe...
Read more