The engines revved as we left the harbor, our bodies got into the rhythm of the boat slicing through the waves and the salty wind and spray covering our faces. Belize is paradise. And when you are in paradise, at the top of the list of things to do in Belize is to get out on the water – preferably, get under the water. We took a Belize snorkeling day trip with Splash Dive Center to the outer reef cayes that lie between Placencia and Belize’s Barrier Reef – second in size only to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Marco, our snorkel guide, gave us snorkeling tips as we headed out to the Silk Cayes. The Cayes are a string of tiny (and I mean teeny-tiny!) islands formed by fisherman dumping their conch shells in one shallow are of the reef. Sand eventually built up around the conch piles and slowly Mother Nature turned it into a little island.
Anchoring at Silk Cayes
A public park complete with grill, picnic tables, and palm trees!
As we pulled up to anchor I gazed at the tiny slice of paradise with its light blue water, white sand, and 4 little palm trees. I wanted to be stranded here forever. The island was actually a small park with a little grill, restrooms, and a few picnic tables. Dive boats and locals came to the park island for a day in the sun.
This was quite possibly the smallest and coolest ‘park’ I’ve ever been to.
Marco took us out to snorkel around the reef just off the island as well as around the island after lunch. This was Allie’s first time snorkeling, and we both eagerly followed Marco as he pointed out colorful fish, crustaceans, and coral to us. Among the purple, orange, and tan coral we discovered a whole world under the sea; we were mesmerized. Our time under the water seemed to go by in a blink, and soon we were out of the water and famished.
Splash cooked up a BBQ lunch and we ate under the palm trees around the picnic tables. After some lounging around the white sands of the island, we were off to check out our last snorkel site – the feeding grounds. Like clockwork the fisherman stop in the same place everyday and clean their fish, throwing the remains back in the sea near the Silk Cayes. Where there are fish remains, there are hungry sharks, turtles, and stingrays – and of course we jumped in with our snorkels to see them.
Sherry Ott is a refugee from corporate IT who is now a long term traveler, blogger, and photographer. She’s a co-founder of Briefcasetobackpack.com, a website offering career break travel inspiration and advice.
Additionally, she runs an around the world travel blog writing about her travel and expat adventures at Ottsworld.com.com.
