Civilization!

It has now been a full week of Blue Ventures Dive Camp and we are back in San Pedro to do a supply run.  All the volunteers and directors made this 1.5 hour boat ride in the pouring rain (in an open boat) to secure provisions for the coming week and hardware for repairs to be made around camp.  We will spend the day here in civilization before returning later this afternoon.  As for me, I needed to extend my visitor's visa, bring some laundry to be cleaned, and of course, write this post and do some other research online.  I have a few hours until we will all meet back together for lunch.

Traveling through the mangroves to get to San Pedro

For the expedition. we have on camp: an expedition manager, a scientist, a cook, a boat captain, a night watchman, a dive instructor and the volunteers.  Our exact numbers have dropped as volunteers have left and staff people have moved to prepare the next part of the expedition in Sarteneja.  At our peak we numbered 11 people, and now we are down to 4 staff and 3 volunteers.

Almost everyone!  Minus our cook who had to return home for a family emergency

If dive camp were to be summed up in 3 words, they would be: rustic, exhausting, and ITCHY!  In regards to rusticity, our camp is literally located in the middle of the Bachalar Chico Reserve near the southern border of Mexico.  The nearest town is San Juan, Mexico, a 1 hour boat ride away.  We have no human neighbors to speam of, so the only other people we see are the occasional tourists and fisherman who pass through our waters and the fisheries department who check in on us every few days.  The buildings on camp are constructed from small trees and palm fronds, with some screen in various stages of decay to form a rudimentary barrier against insects.  Our camp has a generator to supply us with electricity every night from 6-9, which also fires a pump to fill the water tank for showering and washing up, drawing from our brackish well.  We have to be quite self-sufficient here, sporting our own compressor for filling dive tanks, tanks of gasoline to fuel our generator, compressor and boat, a compost pile, burn pile, and huge jugs of fresh drinking water that we will be bringing back from San Pedro.

My hut--shared with 2 other volunteers

Showers on the left and bathrooms on the right.  Can you guess which bathroom is for men and which for women?

Our well

In terms of exhausting, our daily schedule is quite rigorous.  We get up at 5:30, and usually complete three dives by lunchtime, and one more before dinner.  In addition to four dives a day, we also have duties around camp to keep things running smoothly.  When we are not one of the divers, we are responsible for manning the radio in case of emergencies, either on the boat of on shore.  Plus, we take turns raking the beach, cleaning bathrooms, maintaining the dive alcove, and emptying the compost.  Furthermore, we are meant to be studying.  The goal of the project is for all volunteers to ultimately become trained in four different levels of marine life identification in order to be able to complete wildlife surveys.  First you study fish, then once you can correctly identify the 40 priority species by photograph, you must be able to identify them under water.  Once you have passed your fish tests, you more on to coral, then gorgonians, then recruits (young fish).  To put this all in perspective in terms of the time needed to build this knowledge, the volunteers who had already been here for 3 weeks when I arrived, were only just passing their fish tests earlier this week.  This is a huge task.  I have been studying with any spare minute I can find, trying to commit to memory the significance of a black spot on the cordal peduncle, the pointed anal fin, of coloration pattern of the different species.  I took the test for the first time 2 days ago and missed 7, boo, again yesterday and made 4 silly mistakes, so hopefully later tonight or early tomorrow will be my lucky third try.   Clearly I will not be getting to coral, gorgonians or recruits before I leave camp.  So between, diving, boat marshalling, studying, and doing chores, you can imagine how little time I have to relax.  Making this all harder is the general temperature and sun intensity.  After a few hours in the sun on lookout on the boat, I was ready for a serious nap.  So by 9pm, I am ready  for bed.

Yesterday's schedule, which was quite light given that today was the day off, so we had a light afternoon, and a party to send off another volunteer!

In terms of ITCHY, that was the first word I thought of to describe camp.  Given we are located in a mangrove, our camp is a breeding ground for sand flies, mosquitoes and doctor flies.   As it is wet season here, we have seen the number of mosquitoes shoot up, even within the week I have been here.  I have had my share of mosquito bites, as my family well knows, but this experience, honest to goodness, is the worst for mosquitoes I have ever had.  Just to paint a picture for you, I need to wear deet 24/7.  Everywhere.  Every time you come in off the water--reapply.  I bought a new can of insect repellent before coming to camp, and it was empty within the first 6 days.  As a further example, I got up late yesterday, and was on the first dive.  This meant I needed to set up my dive kit quickly in order to get to the briefing.  I rolled out of bed with 5 minutes to get into my suit, set up my kit and get to the meeting.  I grabbed my gear (BCD, regulator, fins, mask, weight belt and booties) and went to set up.  In the 30 seconds it would normally take to slip my BCD over the tank and fasten it, I had to swat about 15 mosquitoes off of me when I had done that step, and subsequently after each next step.  On the one hand this constant swatting added time, but it sure does force you to get very efficient about assembling your kit!  Sand flies (no-see-ums), are brutal.  They are so small, that you don't see them until they are done biting you, leaving a bite that lasts for days.  The best way to stop them is to wear a generous coating of baby oil, so that they drown before being able to bite you.  Though less common, my least favorite are doctor flies (essentially horse flies), because they are the most painful.  On top of all this, I have my own added itchiness.  Given I have to wear baby oil to keep off the sandflies, I made the mistake of going for a long walk down the beach to go snorkeling with some of the other volunteers.  1 hour 15 minutes later, I started to break out in a heat rash...   alllllll over.  It seems that the oil doesn't let your skin ventilate properly, leaving you with a persistent, and uncomfortable rash that apparently lasts for days!  Thank goodness I brought Claritin with me, because without it, I don't think I would be able to sleep at night!

Despite all of these challenges, camp has been interesting, and a nice new challenge for me.  It is not without it's peaks. Our location is definitely beautiful, and we do share the space with some friendly neighbors.

There are always Friggits, Cormorants and Pelicans perched out here

These guys are all over our beach

My favorite spot on camp

We call him Gordo

A huge hermit crab!  He's about 4" wide!

A little Amber Jack that swam with me for the whole time I was snorkeling!

Conch we found while snorkeling, carefully put back in it's place, of course

Even though my brain was fried from boat marshalling in the morning, it has it's perks.  I hopped in with my snorkeling gear and made some new friends while we waited for the divers to surface!

yes, those are dolphins.  I snorkeled above them for 3 minutes!

Loads of Adventures

It has been a few days since I last had access to both a computer and internet simultaneously.  I am now settled into a hostel in San Ignacio, borrowing a fellow traveler's laptop to send this update.  Since my last post, we have had many adventures, both on land and on sea, and our ranks have doubled.  As Irene and I left Placencia (our first destination), we headed to a small town further up the coast called Hopkins, where we met two lovely girls (Stephanie from Texas, and Fiona from England), that became our traveling companions through Hopkins and into San Ignacio. 

Together we have had great fun and shared many laughs.  Here are some of the highlights of the last few days.

1.  Diving off the barrier reef in Placencia and Hopkins.
We saw soooo many fish, and such healthy coral and sponges.  It did my heart good to see it.  Unfortunately, my little submercible digital camera couldn't capture nearly a fraction of what we saw.  The water here is full of beautiful parrotfish, grunts, squirrelfish, triggerfish, angelfish, grouper, snapper, and lots more that I am not yet familiar with.  We also have happened upon about 5 sea turtles over these dives, ranging in size from about 1.5-4 feet long.  One even swam right up to us and passed us by without hesitation.  Another favorite moment was swimming amid a huge school of about 200 snapper, each atleast 2 feet long!  I also watched as a school of French Grunts swim tighty together, shifting form and direction as if they shared one mind.  Another favorite moment was swimming down at 110', and seeing about 6 blacktip sharks swimming just slightly beyond our sight.  But absolutely, without a doubt, my favorite diving moments so far have been seeing spotted eagle rays.  We were very lucky.  I have already seen about 15 so far this trip.  They are so large and graceful...  it was moving to watch them flow effortlessly through the water.  Even a good photograph would nto do them justice.

Rube worms in a brain coral

HUGE vase sponge--about 4 feet tall!

Island where we rested and lunched between scuba dives

Me!

Our semi-friendly Loggerhead turtle

Hard to see, but about a 4' long spotted eagle ray

2.  Cave Tubing at Jaguar's Paw
While not nearly as exciting as my two previous days under water, spending a day winding through cavernous limestone caves on a meandering river on an inner tube was a great way to spend the day.  The water was cool and refreshing, and the current was just strong enough to keep us moving at a comfortable speed.

Carrying our tubes through our first river crossing.  Irene is cut in half, Fionia is in tyeh blue t-shirt, Stephanie in the middle.

One of the views out of the cave

3.  Caving Actun Tunichil Muknal
Wow.  We just did this today.  I am truly at a loss for words to describe our experience.  I have been through many caves before, and had my share of adventures, but this was truly unlike anything I've ever done.  Actun Tunichil Muknal (referred to as ATM for obvious reasons), is home to some of the oldest ancient Mayan artifacts in the area.  They have found many clay pots (both whoe and fragmented), and the remains of 14 human sacrifices.  The cave was believed to be holy, a gateway to the rain god Chaak (pronounced like 'chalk').  In this enormous meandering cave, sacrifices were made to end droughts; sacrifices first began with blood-letting, later graduating to voluntary human sacrifice.  It was a 45 minute walk to the cave entrance, and then a 1.5 hour swim/scramble to the furthest reaches of the cave.  At times we were bouldering up small rock walls, at others swimming in deep pools, and still others squeezing through narrow tunnels neck deep in water.  It was trhilling.  But thankfully we had a terrific guide who knew exactly how to direct us for maximum safety.  It was an arduous but exciting day, but it kept forcing us to think about the Mayan experience so long ago, and what it must have been like for them to make the long journey inward.  For us we had experienced guides, helmets, headlamps, dry bags, and the knowledge that we would be home in time for dinner.  What must it have been like for the first Mayan to penetrate the depths of these channels back in 125BC?

Stephanie, Irene, Fiona and Me, getting ready to enter the cave

Once we waded through deep water for 45 minutes, we entered the cavern.  These are tall stellagtites and stellagmites

What remains of one of the 40-year-old sacrifices

Young woman--one of the more reccent sacrifices, made in 950 AD

Loads of Adventures

It has been a few days since I last had access to both a computer and internet simultaneously.  I am now settled into a hostel in San Ignacio, borrowing a fellow traveler's laptop to send this update.  Since my last post, we have had many adventures, both on land and on sea, and our ranks have doubled.  As Irene and I left Placencia (our first destination), we headed to a small town further up the coast called Hopkins, where we met two lovely girls (Stephanie from Texas, and Fiona from England), that became our traveling companions through Hopkins and into San Ignacio. 

Together we have had great fun and shared many laughs.  Here are some of the highlights of the last few days.

1.  Diving off the barrier reef in Placencia and Hopkins.
We saw soooo many fish, and such healthy coral and sponges.  It did my heart good to see it.  Unfortunately, my little submercible digital camera couldn't capture nearly a fraction of what we saw.  The water here is full of beautiful parrotfish, grunts, squirrelfish, triggerfish, angelfish, grouper, snapper, and lots more that I am not yet familiar with.  We also have happened upon about 5 sea turtles over these dives, ranging in size from about 1.5-4 feet long.  One even swam right up to us and passed us by without hesitation.  Another favorite moment was swimming amid a huge school of about 200 snapper, each atleast 2 feet long!  I also watched as a school of French Grunts swim tighty together, shifting form and direction as if they shared one mind.  Another favorite moment was swimming down at 110', and seeing about 6 blacktip sharks swimming just slightly beyond our sight.  But absolutely, without a doubt, my favorite diving moments so far have been seeing spotted eagle rays.  We were very lucky.  I have already seen about 15 so far this trip.  They are so large and graceful...  it was moving to watch them flow effortlessly through the water.  Even a good photograph would nto do them justice.

Rube worms in a brain coral

HUGE vase sponge--about 4 feet tall!

Island where we rested and lunched between scuba dives

Me!

Our semi-friendly Loggerhead turtle

Hard to see, but about a 4' long spotted eagle ray

2.  Cave Tubing at Jaguar's Paw
While not nearly as exciting as my two previous days under water, spending a day winding through cavernous limestone caves on a meandering river on an inner tube was a great way to spend the day.  The water was cool and refreshing, and the current was just strong enough to keep us moving at a comfortable speed.

Carrying our tubes through our first river crossing.  Irene is cut in half, Fionia is in tyeh blue t-shirt, Stephanie in the middle.

One of the views out of the cave

3.  Caving Actun Tunichil Muknal
Wow.  We just did this today.  I am truly at a loss for words to describe our experience.  I have been through many caves before, and had my share of adventures, but this was truly unlike anything I've ever done.  Actun Tunichil Muknal (referred to as ATM for obvious reasons), is home to some of the oldest ancient Mayan artifacts in the area.  They have found many clay pots (both whoe and fragmented), and the remains of 14 human sacrifices.  The cave was believed to be holy, a gateway to the rain god Chaak (pronounced like 'chalk').  In this enormous meandering cave, sacrifices were made to end droughts; sacrifices first began with blood-letting, later graduating to voluntary human sacrifice.  It was a 45 minute walk to the cave entrance, and then a 1.5 hour swim/scramble to the furthest reaches of the cave.  At times we were bouldering up small rock walls, at others swimming in deep pools, and still others squeezing through narrow tunnels neck deep in water.  It was trhilling.  But thankfully we had a terrific guide who knew exactly how to direct us for maximum safety.  It was an arduous but exciting day, but it kept forcing us to think about the Mayan experience so long ago, and what it must have been like for them to make the long journey inward.  For us we had experienced guides, helmets, headlamps, dry bags, and the knowledge that we would be home in time for dinner.  What must it have been like for the first Mayan to penetrate the depths of these channels back in 125BC?

Stephanie, Irene, Fiona and Me, getting ready to enter the cave

Once we waded through deep water for 45 minutes, we entered the cavern.  These are tall stellagtites and stellagmites

What remains of one of the 40-year-old sacrifices

Young woman--one of the more reccent sacrifices, made in 950 AD

Day 3--Cockscomb Jaguar Reserve

We woke up yesterday excited for a new adventure.  We had decided to visit the Cockscomb Jaguar Reserve.  Originally we were supposed to be apart of a tour to visit the park, but in the end we decided to do the trip ourselves by taking the local bus and a self-guided tour.  The decision let us make our own schedule and also saved us about $100!

After a leisurely bus ride (in the old US school buses that are repainted and fitted to be public buses) to the park, we started in through the access road.  We came upon a restaurant/taxi service/tarot card reader/gift shop.  We procured some delicious vegetarian burritos for our lunch, sipping on freshly squeezed juice (papaya for Irene and orange for me) and petting some of the cutest animals we had met thus far.  The family had a brown and white rabbit named Biscuit, an orange and white cat named Garfield, and a new puppy, yet to be named.  We are both animal people, and have been keeping a keen eye to the health and wellness of the animals around us here.  Luckily for these owners, their animals were well-loved and taken care of there, because if they hadn't been, I have a feeling we would have taken them with us! 

Ummmmm  could he be any cuter?  Really?  He is yet unnamed, but definitely our favorite Belizean pooch, and luckily, the best taken care of!

Again, really?  any cuter?  NOPE

After we got our animal fix for the day, finished our juice and paid for our lunch, we got a taxi ride for the 7mi trip into the reserve.  As we sat in the back of his pickup truck, we had the chance to admire the view all around us.  On our right was lush rainforest and a river, and on our left were fields and fields of crops--mostly bananas and oranges.

Our ride into the reserve in the back of a truck.

We arrived about 20 minutes later at the Visitor's Center, paid our admission fees and procured a map of the trails.  We decided to head up the Tiger Fern Trail, which led to what the Park Ranger said was their most impressive fall.  The hike was 3km each way, but strenuous.  We were up for the challenge.  We were already wearing our bathing suits, but had also brought with us sarongs, cameras, snacks, lots of water and bug spray.  Off we set down the trail, in awe at the lush greenery, new sounds and new smells all around us.

The lush green of our rainforest trail.

Given my knee history, I did have to pay close attention to my footing, as the ground was wet and often slippery.   This did, however, leave my fascinated by the whole world of the forest floor.  It was unlike any forest floor I had ever seen.

leaf-cutter ants hard at work

The leaves were all so enormous, and most were near black from always being wet

I still don't know what these nuts are, but they are larger than a golf ball

I was struck by the veins in this leaf.  I had never seen patterning like this before.

 

Despite my attention to the ground, I did happen to catch some for the lovely greenery above me, too.

We saw this plant everywhere, usually growing in a ring around a standing tree, in the middle of the trunk.  Because of that, we named this the "tree tutu"

The color of everything is so vibrant here!

After an hour and 15 minutes of hiking, often needing all fours given the slippery leaves and mud of the rainy season, we finally reached our destination.  It was more than we could have hoped for.  We stopped for a much needed swim here, and a delicious snack.

The goal of our hike was WELL worth it--a cool, refreshing pool at the base of a 75' waterfall!

The fruits of our labor--we devoured the huge papaya we had lovingly carried with us.

Refreshed, we gathered our things for the hike back, returning to the Visitor's Center ahead of time, leaving us time to take a quick shower, and catch a little sun before our taxi came to fetch us back to the bus stop.  We arrived back at the hotel safe and sound, and slept well after the day's adventure.  For anyone planning a trip to Belize, I would say Cockscomb is a DO NO MISS!