Snorkel Expeditions

After taking a shuttle from the cruise ship to Captain Ken's house, we descended down his back steps and onto the catamaran from which we would embark upon our snorkel excursion into Christmas Cove.

Captain Ken's crew gathered everyone's excess gear and stowed it down below, readying the vessel for our thirty minute ride out to the snorkel site. On board were two deck-hands; a nice local black guy and a girl from the Jersey Shore. Captain Ken was a medium-sized guy with an even tempered disposition, a mustache and a hat well-weathered from life on the sea.

Everyone found a spot on deck where they could sit comfortably and ride-out the voyage.

With calm seas, low humidity, partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the 80's we couldn't have hoped for a better day.

"There are jelly fish this time of year," cautioned Captain Ken.

Captain Ken presented the snorkel lessons and I listened in, because you never know too much. You will always learn something  especially in regards to local marine-life and possible hazards  in the water.

"Don't stand-up on the coral formations or touch the coral in any way." the Captain instructed the group. "Oil from your skin will kill the coral, and I am sure that when you  come back next year, that you will want to see living coral formations.." "Besides there are things on the sea floor that can cut right through your fins."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After jumping into the 15' water we practiced swimming in our gear as we made our way towards the rock island that held the promise of living coral formations. Visibility was good as we took pictures with Snorkel Dude's 8 Mega Pixel Olympus underwater camera.

As we rounded the rock island in a clock-wise manner the ocean floor dropped to around thirty feet. On the sea-side of the rock island Snorkel Dude discovered a pass through the center of the rocks that looked navigable.

Alina made the mistake of following  Snorkel Dude and panicked once she found herself in shallow water less than two feet deep. She grabbed onto rocks and managed to get up onto her feet. Snorkel Dude saw her standing up out in obvious distress and swam back provide assistance. He felt rightfully responsible for her peril and attempted to guide her through the maze of jagged rocks and spiny sea urchins. When you are employing the buddy system and have a partner with less experience, testing their limits is never a good idea. With a little persuasion Alina finally laid down flat and propelled herself within inches of the sea urchin spines and blade-like rock formations. At this pint Alina had seen all she wanted to see of he underwater beauty and headed straight for the boat.

Alina was bleeding as she removed her fins and pulled herself up the ladder onto the boat. Captain Ken was in an inflatable dingy on safety patrol but couldn't see Alina, as she stood in obvious distress on the back-side of the small rock island.  She received multiple sea urchin spines inside her legs and on her hands. One under her fingernail, and all of them still visible, now three months later. Her knees were cut by sharp rocks and she chummed the water with a stream of blood. Needless to say, Alina won't be joining us in Belize.

"You can't pull them out, (referring to the sea urchin spines) because there are barbs attached." Advised Captain Ken. "You need to soak your hand in kerosene and then light it with a match," suggested another person. "Smack them with a hard spoon," replied a third person. "They are basically just cartilage deposits that need to be broken-up. The kerosene keeps the temperature down so your body won't char  and smacking them with a spoon helps to break them break the spines apart."

All of this advice was given to Alina in her moment of pain. She dabbed the blood off with paper towels from the galley and applied some vinegar which seemed to make the wounds sting even more. She didn't know if the ensuing nausea was from the rum punches on the way home or poison secreted from the sea urchins.

Snorkeling in shallow waters around rocks is dangerous because waves and swells may lift you up and drop you down onto rocks that harbor barnacles and sea urchins. Don't forget the buddy system.