Bask in Belize
Posted By Brian E Clark on 1 May 2000
We rolled off the dive boat, drifted down through the crystal blue waters of the western Caribbean and quickly found ourselves in what folks in the scuba world like to call "inner space." All around us were blue and white coral heads, huge barrel sponges and hundreds of odd-shaped fish. If we looked into nooks and crannies, we could see spindly shrimp, good-sized lobster and a few brilliantly colored nudibranchs - gussied-up, sea-going slugs.
Then, out of the distance, three spotted stingrays appeared, slowly drifting with the current. Two moved off, but one stayed put as we moved in slowly for a closer look. The eyes of the creature rotated to keep us in view. It waited for 30 seconds as we kept a respectable distance then gracefully flapped its wings - which spanned nearly six feet from tip to tip - and swan away in a fluid, sensuous motion.
Back on the surface an hour later, Divemaster Winter Morrell told us he'd once seen a fleet of 17 rays soaring over the sandy bottom at that spot, not far off the shores of Blackbird Caye, Belize - a small, English-speaking nation tucked into the eastern shore of Central America.
"They don't call it 'Sting Ray Motel' for nothing," said the former British paratrooper. "On good days, and that's most of them here, you can see incredible underwater creatures."
When Morrell left the military a few years back, he knocked around the world looking for places he wanted to settle. "I could have gone just about anywhere," he said. "But the diving doesn't get much better than here. For a Divemaster, this is pretty close to heaven."
Over the past decade, I'd heard similar stories about Belize. Famed for its diving, bird life, fishing, rivers and Mayan ruins, it was high on my list of places to visit.
So my wife, Kathleen, and two diving friends cleared our schedules and met up in Belize City late this past summer. Though we'd been warned that the former national capital was run-down and dangerous, we were pleased to find friendly people and a relatively clean city. The many red-roofed buildings and homes with gingerbread trim were a pleasant accent. They looked as if they could have been on one of many Caribbean islands that were former British colonies.
Because we wanted to do more than dive in Belize, we hired a taxi and set out the next morning for Altun Ha, a Mayan ruin that dates back nearly 2,000 years and covers 25 square miles. It is located less than an hour from town and has temples honoring what the Mayans considered the four primary sources of nature: sun, rain, wind and moon.
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