Just offshore we raft together and anchor in the shallow waters, trading paddles for snorkels and fins. Six or so of our group settle into kayaks to explore a handful of the hundreds of patch reefs off Glover’s with our guides Mario and Mike. Basecamp on Gloverâs Reef is spartan and right on the beach. Like us, she’s a temporary castaway on this sliver of sand suspended in the Caribbean Sea. Nearby, camp cook Miss Annette emerges from a powder-blue building to say a shy hello before ducking back inside the kitchen to prep lunch: grilled snapper with homemade tartar sauce, bean salad and chewy coconut-ginger cookies. My seaside home is a spartan-yet-comfy setup with a kerosene lantern atop a tiny table painted the precise shade of turquoise as the water. The dozen white safari-style tents staked among the palms are a bit of bliss in the sand, cooled by breezes buffeting through screened windows. But not in a reality-TV kind of way where people eke out a Robinson Crusoe-type existence and shun creature comforts. Exhilarated, we surface to share our amazement at what we’ve witnessed.īack on shore at Southwest Caye, our basecamp on Glover’s Reef is the picture of lo-fi living. A few of us try to keep up with these stealth creatures, but they disappear into the darkness. I glimpse twin triangles to my right: eagle rays flying in formation like fighter jets. Cartoonish-looking tube corals act as hideouts for fish. Someone points out silly-looking black-and-white tiger tails-a type of sea cucumber-almost two metres long. But as I swim out of the sinkhole’s shadows and into the beams of sunlight illuminating the clear water, massive purple and ochre fan corals wave in concert with the current to calm my nerves. As we jump off the boat to circumnavigate the inner rim of this abyss I’m aware that in the dark domain beneath my fin-clad feet are black-tipped sharks, stingrays and other outsized creatures that grow with wild abandon in this protected area. “Keep left,” says Rodney, one of three guides accompanying our group. Photo by Getty ImagesĬousteau’s opening allows our boat, the only one there on this day, to enter the sinkhole’s inner chamber. Belize offers a colourful underwater world with corals and tropical fish. It’s where we set off to explore the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the second-largest barrier reef in the world. My journey with the British Columbia-based outfitter starts in Dangriga, a 15-minute flight from Belize City. I’m staying a world away, spending six days at isolated off-the-grid basecamps on Glover’s Reef and Lighthouse Reef as part of a 10-day guided excursion with Island Expeditions. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.Vancouver Sun Run: Sign up & event info.
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