Day Three:
This is when things get a bit hazy. I think that’s the best things about vacation – when you truly relax and you have no watch and no concept of time and every email gets forgotten.
That happened to me on Day Three. That’s where the days blend together and things are a bit blurry.
My husband and I had just become recently diving certified before we left Vancouver Island so we had done between 4 and 6 dives each. We knew we wanted to be certified for Belize.
It can be difficult to know where to dive when you travel but the reviews don’t seem to lie. There were actually quite a few places to go while we were in San Pedro that were recommended vs when we went to Caye Caulker, it was much more difficult to find a reputable dive shop. There were quite a few horror stories.
We booked a day trip that would allow us to go out diving and my sister would still snorkel 
which we did our dive. We went to Hol Chan Marine Reserve which is close to Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker, off the coast of Belize. It covers approximately 18 km² (4,448 acres) of coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangrove forest. Hol Chan is Mayan for “little channel”. It was well worth the trip and the dive. It is only about 30 feet but we saw lots of brain coral, conch, Moray eels, Black Groupers, schools of TONS of fish, stingrays and so much more! It was perfect for our first Carribean Sea dive!
We then moved onto Shark Ray Alley. It was pretty intimidating at first and you jump in with your snorkel which they get the chum ready and as soon as they chum is out, all of the nurse sharks and sting rays come in hot. The nurse sharks have these beety little eyes which make them look a bit frightening but they were harmless. The rays were so affectionate with some of the guides. They were like puppies of the sea and love to come up and rub all up against you.
This part of the trip was amazing. I would absolutely recommend Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley. They were by far a highlight of the trip!
