October 31st, 2006
Laughingbird Caye in Southern Belize
At Laughingbird Caye, Friends of Nature have sunk an old tug in 80 feet of water and the anchor line leads directly to the stern, offering a perfect place to do your first deep and wreck dive. Beware of sand flies ashore. Bring something strong, they can eat you alive.
On the windward side of the island, just in the center of the island, is a mooring. In the photo above, that would be the side which has lots of coral formations in the left to center part of the photo. If you anchor your boat there and descend, you will get to the bottom in picture perfect clear water.
Usually there are feather cucumbers in this area. Head east fifty feet and then turn in either direction. To the north will lead you along a beautiful ridge of canyons along a sandy coral spectacled bottom, often occupied by eagle rays and upside-down jellyfish, before bringing you to a wonderful fifteen foot built-in safety stop.
To the south leads you along a sandy bottom where large coral formations crop up and several very unusual species can be found, for instance, the best-to-avoid scorpionfish (see images page). Either way is worth the price of admission.
On-shore, watching the pelicans dive bomb the shallows is a great way to spend lunch, but my favorite was to take a piece of bread and throw it in the shallows on the west side of the island. See for yourself.
Our Favorite Shore Trip
The Blue Creek Cave, pictured here at right at bottom along with our friends, Rich and Traci.
This is an amazing adventure as you swim up the inside of a cave to an underground waterfall with spelunking helmuts on. On the way back out, we all shut off our lights and the inside of the cave was virtually pitch black. We floated towards the opening in this blackness until the opening allowed the light to penetrate it’s way to where we were. Spooky, but exhilarating.
It also includes a wonderul trip through a rainforest to arrive, where you can visit groups of canopy reearchers from the Audobon Society as they climb their way up to the tops of these rainforests to study.
You may have noticed a photo of Yim kneeling with a young Mayan girl on the About Us page. This girls mother prepared us lunch on this trip by grinding corn in the river for freash tortillas. We were invited in to their home and ate with them under a thatched roof. Their hospitality was disarming.
Contact Dave Vernon in Placencia Village for this trip.