SNORKELING HIGHLIGHTS and PETA
If you read about my prescription mask months ago, you may recall that I’m claustrophobic so I do not scuba.
In Belize we worked on the dolphin project part of each day and were told, “The snorkeling is great here in the lagoon. There are 46 species of hard coral growing in Belize plus many varieties of soft corals and sponges. We will snorkel around so you can see different places. The marshes and lagoons are just full of diverse marine life.”
I have to start by saying that I’m no expert but I have snorkeled in may places around the world, including the Great Barrier Reef twice, and the very best has been in Belize.
We did snorkel every day, always in a different location. Sometimes the water was pretty deep, other times over a reef it seemed shallow enough to drag your belly over it if you didn’t suck that tummy in. The snorkeling was always great. One day I hung suspended staring at a barracuda. We both just stayed still and looked each other in the eye. Eventually I backed off and swam away.
The water was warm and crystal clear. Each day I thought the snorkeling could never be as good as the day before. But it was!
At Lighthouse Reef it was like swimming in an aquarium! Every kind of coral must grow here. I saw all kinds I had never seen before. What a thrill to just stay suspended over the reef and watch all the activity. This is positively the best snorkeling I’ve ever done.
This might be a good time to relate one of my favorite adventures.
Peta is a female bottlenose dolphin who lives among the atolls of Belize. She used to be called Peter until he was discovered to be a she.
At Lighthouse Cay we all swam around for about an hour over the reef in the aquarium-like clear warm water, but although Peta is known to hang out here she was nowhere in sight.
We were all actually back on the boat when our researcher yelled, “Peta! There she is. She came to see us after all.”
Before anyone got back in the water we were told, “Peta loves to play. Because too much splashing and kicking is a signal to her to play, move in the water slowly. She is big and she could create a dangerous situation if she gets excited. You may enter the water 3-4 at a time and swim around with her for a bit, then when those get out of the water another 3-4 can go in.”
While I was in the water Peta headed for her favorite spot—the anchor. I watched her nose around in the sand and eat her find of fish. Then she came back to the surface and swam close to give me a friendly nudge as she circled by. I swam around the boat several times with Peta within an arm’s reach, but I never tried to touch or harass her in any way. What a thrill!
No one knows for sure where she goes or what Peta does at night, or even if she socializes with other dolphins. She is always seen alone and she obviously likes to socialize with humans.
In fact she got between a so-so swimmer and the ladder blocking the swimmer’s exit from the water as if saying, ‘stay a bit longer and play’. When the swimmer began to panic the researcher jumped in the water to divert Peta’s attention so the swimmer could get aboard the boat.
Swimming with Peta was the highlight of an absolutely fabulous exciting day!
