Paradise, the Belize Barrier Reef

“Welcome to paradise, mon!” Our snorkel guide, Abdiel, flashed a bright smile as he slowed his boat to meet us. Just ahead, waves from the Caribbean Sea were breaking off the Belize Barrier Reef, the second-longest barrier reef in the world. The water was a surreal shade of blue, the color of refreshment crystallized by the summer sun. He was right, it was paradise.

The boat rocked gently as we put on our gear – flippers, facemask and a snorkel. In a fifteen-minute boat ride, Abdiel, took us from San Pedro, Belize - paradise on land, to the barrier reef - an underwater paradise.

I swung my flippered feet over the side of the boat, ready to launch myself into the water when Abdiel’s voice stopped me. “Hey! You want to touch the sharks?” Sharks? What! There are sharks? Logic told me that sharks near one of the world’s most exotic diving sites was impossible, but my flippers were back in the boat nonetheless. Abdiel wasn’t kidding. Just feet from the boat, there were five sharks eating bits of fish that he had tossed into the water.

“What do you expect? Dis is Shark Ray Alley, gayl,” he said in a heavy Kriol accent, an English dialect spoken in parts of Belize. Shark Ray Alley, we soon learned, was one of the reef’s most popular dive sites, chiefly because it lives up to its name. Along with the sharks, stingrays glided around the boat on wingspans up to four feet. Assured that these were harmless nurse sharks, our group entered the water, one by one. Soon I was swimming alongside a school of sharks, reaching out to feel their sandpaper-rough skin whenever they let me get close enough. Meanwhile, the stingrays were almost affectionate, circling the slow snorkelers like attention-starved cats. Shark Ray Alley is just inside the reef in Hol Chan Marine Reserve, a reserve established in 1987 as a protected area subject to commercial and sport fishing regulations. Abdiel encouraged us to take our time while exploring the reef’s colorful inhabitants: groupers, parrot fish, angel fish, barracuda, eels, hogfish, lobster, and of course, the sharks and rays. “Dis is de reef, not de highway.” Once again, Abdiel was right. The ocean is no place to rush. The reef deserves much more than a passing glance.

Every kick of the flipper brought me to shockingly bright colors, perfectly crafted shells and collections of fish uniformly drifting together along the coral. The deepest part of Hol Chan Marine Reserve is 30 feet. Thanks to the clear water, it’s possible to enjoy even the deepest parts of the reef. Exhausted by the sun, the swim, and the experience of temporarily becoming a part of one of the world’s most exotic ecosystems, we climbed back into Abdiel’s boat and he tossed each of us bags of fresh drinking water.

As the boat made its way back to San Pedro, the bagged water washed the Caribbean’s saltiness from our lips as we shared stories from the dive. The barracuda, the feel of the shark’s skin, the sight of Abdiel spinning a stingray above his head underwater. They were memories we couldn’t lose, sights that could never be outdone, stories we couldn’t risk slipping from our lips and being washed away, like the salt of the sea.

Abdiel tied up his boat, and one by one, helped us step onto the dock. As we returned to dry land we thanked him for the experience. “No problem, mon. The sea is my office, and this is my job,” he said.

And, yes, it was paradise.

Written and photographed by Amanda Southall

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Written by Amanda Southall

Last 3 posts by Amanda Southall

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