Taking the plunge

We woke early, grumpy, got ready, and tried to rid our bodies of poop before the long day on the boat. We had learned that the restaurant tended to take forever so we pre-ordered our breakfast the night before. It still took forever.

The wind blew hard and our guide Adam drove the boat a long way out to sea over the choppy water. I was a little scared on the ride out, but became more comfortable once we dropped anchor and the fishing began. The boat rocked so violently at times that it was difficult to stand steadily enough to cast our lines.

Charlie caught a fish within seconds of his first cast, and then caught three more in rapid succession. 

Charlie's first fish

I caught one keeper.

I also caught a baby throw-back and, unfortunately, a piece of coral. Adam showed us that this particular variety of coral stings you if you touch it.

The rocking of the boat had begun to wear down my sense of equilibrium and I started to feel a bit queasy. Luckily, this was around the same time that the fish stopped biting so Adam suggested that we get into the water. I gladly accepted because I did not want to get seasick, but I am not a strong swimmer and jumping into that rough sea was daunting. I donned flippers and a snorkeling mask, climbed down the ladder, and took the plunge. The water was the perfect temperature, not cold at all, but the experience took my breath away anyway. Before I could blink, the waves had carried me a good 20 feet from the boat. I kicked and paddled hard, trying to swim back towards the boat. Adam saw me struggling and threw out the life preserver that was tethered to the boat. I stuck my arm through the middle and opted to just stay there and hang on. Large waves came regularly, knocking the boat around and causing the life preserver rope to suddenly go taut and jerk me around violently by my arm. I ended up with a gnarly bruise on my bicep that lasted several days. Charlie is a strong swimmer and later admitted to me that the rough sea was even a hard swim for him.

Meanwhile, Charlie and Adam suited up and dove in to search for lobster and conch. They swam far and wide from the boat, often disappearing from my view for minutes at a time behind large swells or because they were diving. It was disconcerting to feel abandoned out there.

It was difficult to get the hang of breathing through the snorkel when the waves were so rough because they continually dumped water down the breathing spout. Eventually I just opted to hold my breath as long as I could while sticking my face in the water so that I could appreciate the blue world below me. I spotted some interesting coral and a few shiny fish. One two inch-long black fish with yellow fins stayed just a few feet below me, sharing my holding pattern the whole time. At one point, I was lucky enough to see Adam swim by, spear gun in hand, in pursuit of a small grey nurse shark. When I saw this, my eyes widened, and I pointed and yelled something akin to "Whoa!", despite being under water. Adam was not actually hunting the shark - he was just chasing it toward me so that I could see it.

After the boys had successfully collected several conch, we got back in the boat, drove it to a slightly shallower area, and repeated the procedure. This time I saw a whole school of eight inch-long shiny silver fish with rainbow colored fins. The water here was still too rough to breath through the snorkel mask, so I just gazed at the coral when I could and rested in the water while Charlie and Adam collected more conch, a small lobster, and Adam speared a couple more fish. We only spent a short while at this second location before climbing back in the boat. By then I already felt tired enough to call it a day. But Adam said, "One more stop."

Conch penis (yes you read that right). Charlie ate it, of course.

Our final stop was Shark-Ray Alley, part of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve off the southern tip of Ambergris Caye. This is one of the best places to see, you guessed it, sharks and rays. A couple of larger vessels had anchored and there were severals snorkelers in the water. The water was calmer here and I tentatively swam around, staying close to the boat. I was finally able to get the hang of breathing through my snorkel and it made the experience much more enjoyable. Adam cleaned the fish we had caught, tossing the guts in the water to attract underwater scavengers, and then jumped in himself. A 4 foot-long nurse shark arrived for a snack and Adam dove down and grabbed it by its tail. The shark thrashed with all his might until Adam released it.

Adam was a fast and skilled swimmer, so he untied the life preserver from the boat, had me hang onto it and then towed me around so that I could get a better look at the area. I felt like a helpless idiot. I kicked and paddled with my free arm to try to ease his burden, but even then I could tell I would not have been able to keep up unassisted. Occasionally, he dove down deep to point things out to us and then would surface to tell us what it was. The coral here was gorgeous. I loved seeing the giant brain coral, angel fish, and another unidentified fish with cobalt blue skin. A little while later another shark and a large, tailless ray known locally as "Benjamin" arrived to eat the chum that Adam had through into the water. They stayed a long time, so Charlie and I stayed in the water together, watching them, while Adam prepped a picnic with our fresh catch.

Our final stop was a small, quiet beach south of San Pedro. The only occupants were some seabirds and lone dog sleeping in the shade of a picnic table. There, Adam offered us drinks and then assembled a medley of our fresh fish, lobster, and conch, mixed with onion, peppers, lime, barbecue sauce, sour cream, butter, chili powder, and cilantro. He cooked it in foil over and open fire and served it to us with fresh tortillas. It was one of the most simple yet delicious meals I have ever had.

A seagull pays obeisance to a pelican.

Quiet beach

Hungry swimmer

Bellies full, we returned to the resort to laze about for a while. We felt a little guilty lounging around on the porch of our cabana in full view of Adam cleaning the remainder of the conch that he and Charlie had found. We took the conch to the kitchen and they made it into a ceviche for us for dinner, served with a huge pile of tortilla chips. It was perfect.

And here is the preliminary result of hanging on to the life preserver in rough seas. The next day, all the normal colored parts between these bruises filled in, so I had one great big purple splotch on my arm. Worth it.