Journal Journeys: Rain Forests & Reefs cruise
Oct 12th, 2009 by wwftravel
© 2007 - Tony Rath of Tony Rath Photography
Paulina Grove traveled on 2008’s Rain Forests & Reefs tour to Central America. Here’s what she wrote about Half Moon Caye and Lighthouse Reef off the coast of Belize:
Just after breakfast, the divers of our group had an orientation with the dive master, and soon were headed out to one of Belize’s amazing natural wonders, the Blue Hole. This collapsed cave, made famous by Jacques Cousteau, is more than 1,000 feet in diameter, 400 feet deep and is endowed with fantastic corals and stalactites.
Protected since 1982 as a national monument, Half Moon Caye gave us the rare opportunity to explore a small patch of intact littoral forest. The plants and trees that make up this coastal habitat must be very good at growing in sandy soils and catching and retaining water in order to survive. Ashore, we saw nesting red-footed boobies and frigate birds who breed on this small picturesque island. We set off on hikes with our naturalist, spotting hermit crabs and Cape May warblers. A thicket of ziricote on the western side of the island is just right for the boobies and frigate birds that breed here annually between December and August. A 20-foot high tower in the middle of the breeding ground allowed us a canopy-height view where we could easily observe birds in various states of courtship and breeding.
In the afternoon we had the chance to put our snorkeling skills to test at the “Aquarium,” a coral formation on Lighthouse Reef. Not long after starting out, we had an incredible encounter with six bottlenose dolphins that swam unbelievably close. In addition to the colorful fish, the reef featured many growths of healthy staghorn coral, a species that has suffered in the Caribbean from the extreme wave action generated by hurricanes.”
© Zegrahm Expeditions. Reprinted with permission.
