Feburary 6, 2006: Day of Rest

We left camp at the crack of dawn this morning for our trip to Caulker Caye. Henry had arranged for us to take the water taxi from Belize City to Caulker Caye an outlying tiny island. The high speed taxi ride was through bright turquoise water, and we were met at the dock by a fireman who was a friend of Henry’s. He introduced us to Ash from the French Angel Expedition Office, our snorkeling guide for the day. We had a great trip out to the reef in his 21 foot, canopied, runabout and spent several hours in the water. He fed sting rays in the water and we could pet them as they soared around us. We then moved to a mooring ball very near an active reef. There were parrot fish, trigger fish and a myriad of other beautiful creatures God put here for us to enjoy. We saw sea urchin, large purple sea fans and huge brain corral. It was wonderful.

After the snorkeling, we walked around the small town, enjoying the white soft sand, coconut trees, royal palms and lobster pots. We all stopped for a chocolate covered frozen banana on our walk to the end of the island. Then we sat at the “Sand Pit”, a restautant and drank coffee. We met a gentleman leaving the restaurant who had a beautiful parrot that was riding on his bicycle handle bars. We laughed as he told us that the parrot would make the sound of the phone ringing and then the sound of him answering it – it must be an island answering machine. The wind had kicked up and it was really quite cool. The palm trees were bending as if a Nor’easter was setting in as we left for the trip home.