4 Weeks in Guatemala: Snorkelling

We went on a half day tour of 3 different snorkelling areas with Carlos Junior on a nice speedboat. Unfortunately Moira has her nasty eye infection still- but at least she has some fresh medicine from the chemist - so Moira came out for the boat ride today. The sea breeze was beautiful out there about 5 minutes out from the beach. We started on a fairly sparse bit of coral but if you stayed quietly for a while the fish came - and the coral was nice.

The second place was shallower and the area was full of tame Rays which Carlos fed with little fish and they swam around us and you could stroke them.

There were a few small nurse sharks in there but they had mostly been chased off by previous snorkel lers - but we did see one small one when we had got back in the boat.

Then we went to an area of sand for swimming or snorkelling on our own and we enjoyed the coral gardens and the medium sized fish. Some lucky ones saw a massive parrot fish and a turtle, but not us - but we did see a scorpion fish, which is more rare.

Then we went on a lovely speedy trip around the island to see the rich people's houses and then the mangrove swamps where occasionally they get small crocs and it is a nursery generally for small fish.

Carlos served us tots of local white coconut rum and fresh fruit to keep our energy up - yum!

Then Carlos took us to the mini blue hole which is a mini sink hole which opened up in a previous earthquake under the sea and is about 70 metres deep. Then he took us to the entry to a very big undersea cave system to see the baby tarpons (about 3 foot long). These are fished for sport here when they are fully grown but they were amazing even as babies and came up for fish - accompanied by the local Pelicans eager for a fish. It cost about £23 each for a half day, not bad, we did all thoroughly enjoy the day and had very pleasant company to chat to with the lovely Carlos and his comical banter.