Laughing Bird Caye
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Laughing Bird
Caye
Captain
Bo-Bo
Moth as Director of Entertainment
organised for us to go on a snorkeling trip with Captain Bo-Bo (his local nickname for having been born with twine
toes – something he assured us he had grown out of, but grown into a shell fish
allergy. This is very sad living in this area of abundant lobster, crab and all
things to make the perfect fruits de mer).
We shared Captain Bo-Bo’s launcha
with Mark (in from England) and Hugo (English but in from his home in Brisbane),
two school friends ‘doing’ Central America for Mark’s 50th birthday trip. Amy
(from Texas who is just waiting to see if she gets a job monitoring woodpeckers)
and Megan (Maine but living in Texas, working as a nurse but missing the snow
and seasons of living further north).
Laughing Bird
Caye
We paid our $10 National Pak fee and
listened whilst a Ranger told us about this lovely sunshine spot:
Laughing Bird Caye is the beautiful Belizean isle eleven
miles off the coast from Placencia Village and is the southernmost island in the
central lagoon of the Belize Barrier Reef (second largest reef in the world
behind the Great Barrier Reef in Australia). This long
narrow isle stands on an elongated ridge of reef known as a faro - an angular
atoll on a continental shelf, also known as a shelf atoll. Like an atoll, a faro
is steep sided and encloses a central lagoon. The Laughing Bird Faro is
separated from the mainland, the barrier reef and other cayes by deep channels
on all sides.
The uniqueness of this structure contributes to both the abundance and variety of coral habitats and marine life. The Caye gets its name from the Laughing Gull (Larus artricilla). This bird use to breed on the Caye, but due to a growing human presence, the colonies have moved to nearby undisturbed cayes. Due to the uniqueness of the Caye, this Faro was declared a protected area in 1981 under the National Parks System Act. On the 21st of December 1991, Laughing Bird Caye National Park was declared. In 1996 the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System was inscribed on the World Heritage List with Laughing Bird Caye National Park designated as one of the premiere protected areas within the World Heritage Site. We saddled up in fins and masks and set off to explore one half of the caye. The water was crystal clear and the corals were
healthy and thriving
The big chap
gnaws his favourite hole and the little chaps line
up to feed on the bits
A handsome
boy came for a look and lots of little ones
too
Just restin’
My experiences swimming off Roseau,
Dominica in ‘itch arse’ bloom made me stage exuant left swiftly when I saw this
chap the size of a dinner plate. I was getting cold by now so this was a great
excuse to get in the sun and warmed ready for lunch.
ALL IN ALL SMASHING TO BE IN
CLEAR WATER AGAIN
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