Belize Blog – Belizeadventure.com

Anderson Cooper, in a report recently on 60 Minutes, visits with coral reef specialists at a remote coral reef off the coast of Cuba: The Gardens of the Queen. This reef is special in that, due to its remote location and the fact it has long been protected from over-fishing and other human/industrial depredations, it is one of the few reef systems in the world that is still thriving. In this regard, and because of it’s location in the Caribbean, it is remarkably similar to what is found at Glover’s Reef, also a world-class marine reserve.

The reef as described in the 60 Minutes episode could be about Glover’s Reef, where our island is located off the coast of Belize. View this episode to see what can be found at a healthy Caribbean coral reef.

Watch and enjoy the abundant, colorful marine life on Youtube:

Our island is located off the coast of Belize at Glover’s Reef Atoll, a National Marine Reserve. In order to protect the marine life there, the Belize government has prohibited fishing at Glover’s reef for tourists except for sport fishing, or catch-and-release. The only exception is if you are a native and own one of the few fishing licenses issued for Glover’s Reef.

There is one other exception: lionfish — anyone can spear them because they are an invasive species from the Pacific Ocean (the Caribbean is an Atlantic sea). Lionfish are very detrimental to the native species population, and killing them is encouraged. Watch this short video of our guide, Victor Myers, spearing one.

The lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific region, have infiltrated their way into the Caribbean. Their introduction is believed to be a result of hurricanes and tank releases during the early 1990’s. They have been spotted along the eastern seaboard spanning as far north as Rhode Island to as far south as Columbia. Protected by venomous spines, lionfish are voracious predators. When hunting, they herd and corner their prey using their pectoral fins, then quickly strike and swallow their prey whole. With few known natural predators, the lionfish poses a major threat to coral reef ecosystems in the Caribbean region by decreasing survival of a wide range of native reef animals via both predation and competition. While native grouper may prey on lionfish, they have been overfished and therefore unlikely to significantly reduce the effects of invasive lionfish on coral reef communities.

Help us do something about this problem! Bring your spear gun with you on one of our island trips!

Planning a trip to Belize in the near future? Not only do we have some of the most extensive historical weather info on Belize and specifically out at Glover’s Reef, but if you’re like me, sometimes you just want to know what it’s like right now.

I just stumbled across this cool site that has instant weather info and an awesome, live webcam. Granted they’re both based out of San Pedro, Belize, but that island is only about 90 miles north of Glover’s Reef over open water, so it’s pretty close to the same weather we get at Long Caye.

While many people go to the Caribbean for nothing more than sitting in the sun with a cocktail in hand, there’s more that the Caribbean has to offer. For one, not just a couple seasons of warmth, but pleasant weather year-round. With such clear waters to go with that, the Caribbean is one of the top diving destinations in the world. Here, courtesy of Cheap Air’s blog, is a list of a few of the best destinations to scuba dive in the Caribbean:

Aruba: If you’re less into marine life and more into wrecking diving, then put Aruba at the top of the list. Many cite Aruba as one of the top wreck diving destinations in the world, with opportunities for both experienced and novice divers. One of the most notable wrecks is the Antilla, a 400-foot German freighter. Since the location of the ship has such little current, it’s accessible by divers of varying skill levels.

Belize: For a full diving experience, head to the waters just off the shores of Belize. Belize isn’t in fact an island, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t offer some of the best diving waters in the world. The Belize Barrier Reef helps make up the second largest barrier reef in the world, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. However, no diving trip to Belize is complete without a visit to Glover’s Reef.

Turks and Caicos: The Turks and Caicos are often overlooked as a diving destination, making the diving spots often a lot less explored than many other destinations. It offers a good mix of marine life and wrecks. Not far off from Turks and Caicos are drop-off spots, where the elevation can drop off thousands of feet below sea level. This is recommended for the more experienced divers.

Cayman Islands: The Cayman Islands make their way onto this list because it offers great opportunities for divers of all levels. There are tons of diving operators, many of which make it easy and cheap to get your diving certification. I recommend the Cayman Islands for the person just getting started who is more interested in the experience and a first-hand look at Caribbean marine life.

Grenada: Grenada is another destination that often gets overlooked by travelers. However, for the diving enthusiast, this is another destination that should be at the top of your lists for its wreck diving. Some of the more notable wreck sites in Grenada include the Titanic of the Caribbean, a 600-foot cruise ship, and the Isle of Wrecks. Many of these wrecks are recommended for more experienced divers since currents can be strong.

There are five underwater ridges off the coast of Belize, formed by fault lines resulting when the Yucatan and Nicaraguan “blocks” (limestone plateaus) separated and rotated on the axis of the Central American “spine” of mountains, part of the chain running from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.

The most developed of the five is also the one that interests us here at Slickrock because it is the basis of the southern part of the Barrier Reef, Glover’s Reef, and Lighthouse Caye.The underwater ridge gives the atolls of Belize their conspicuous NE-SW orientation. The coral reef grows on top of these underwater features.

The ancient coastline of Belize used to be where the Barrier Reef is now. As the area sank slowly, the coral growing along the coast and around the island continued to grow toward the surface of the water.

Coral needs light to exist and grows rapidly if necessary to stay within 30 feet of the surface.

The Barrier Reef is on the edge of the continental shelf with Glover’s Atoll being beyond the edge of the shelf.

The trench outside of Glover’s Reef descends to 9000’ within five miles of Long Caye.

You can read more about Glover’s Reef on our website.

Slickrock Adventures’ Water Sports Mecca for Boomers who never grew up

It’s not surprising if you’ve never heard of Glover’s Reef, in fact that’s more or less the point of our program on Long Caye, a remote, private island getaway. You won’t find crowds, room service, air conditioning, night clubs, or access to your Facebook page. What you will discover is the best collection, hands-down, of sport toys in Belize, with expert guides that teach each sport. Rather than supply a single type of kayak, we have numerous models for small women, tall men, total beginners, and experienced boaters, in both single and double configuration. We also have a fleet of surf kayaks, fishing kayaks, surf boards, paddleboards, and a full range of windsurf gear for never-ever sailors up to sailboard fanatics. NOT to mention the best kitesurf school in the country, AND the only surfable break in Belize!

Our beach huts and other facilities are built to blend in with the island ecosystem. The fridge is permanently loaded with cold Fantas and Belikin beer. And it is all powered by the sun and wind; an adventurous tropical paradise where Gilligan would feel right at home. It’s the five-star version of adventure travel – right down to the excellent Garifuna chefs who cook your meal and then sit down at the table with you to dine.

The Glover’s Reef ecosystem is famous the world-over for the diversity of its sea life and the pristine condition of the coral. As special places become more discovered, it figures that the hardest-to-get-to areas remain pristine… and Glover’s Reef is the most remote of Belizean island areas. Thirty-five miles offshore and sixty-five miles from Belize City, Glover’s is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a national marine park.

Due to the remote location, our boat only travels to the island twice a week (once a week in shoulder seasons), so guests must be able to travel on these days, with the shortest package being 5 nights (3 on the island). Contact us for more info!

(Thanks to Vladimir Brezina for the cabana picture.)

In the departure area of the Belize international airport (BZE) there is an impressive display of photos of many Belize islands taken from a plane. These images are of very high quality. Years ago we contacted the photographer, Jimmie C. Smith, to purchase the use of several of his photos for our Belize brochure.

Several times in the past years he has gone down to Belize with professional camera gear and hired a private plane to fly him around. His aerial photos of Belize islands are the best we have seen.

You can visit his website to purchase images of Long Caye and other islands at Glover’s Reef. One cool thing about one of his Long Caye photos is that it was taken before Hurricane Mitch. The little island off of ours that used to be there is in the image. You won’t be able to see this view now, that island was destroyed at the same time that we lost about 75 feet of our shore. You can see before and after photos on a blog post we published back in June: http://belizeadventure.com/2011/06/memories-of-hurricane-mitch/

I left Moab at 6:30 am this morning and drove to Grand Junction, Colorado. “Junction” is the big city to us. Moabites go there to see doctors and buy stuff. Today I finalized our color Belize brochure for printing. (It is already available to download from our home page.) When I return from Belize a week from today, I get to pick up a few boxes of them on my way home. We won’t do the big mailing until September, when everyone really starts thinking about their winter vacation.

I’ve never been to Belize in July. Years ago I went in August. This was when Cully and I flew down to look at Northeast Caye at Glover’s Reef to see if we wanted to rent it. It was something like 1992; I was around 36, which would make him 41 at the time. We stayed with the Lomonts at their resort on Long Caye (the island we now own) and they took us over to NE Caye to look at it. It was abandoned… it had just four semi-run-down buildings which we later fixed up. We took one look at it and said ‘we’ll take it.’ It was a huge change, from camping for free on islands on the southern Barrier Reef (Laughing Bird Caye, Silk Cayes, Pumpkin Caye and Ranguana Caye) to paying $5000/month. But it was our OWN ISLAND. What an amazing thing… we never regretted it.

I remember sitting on the porch of what is now our #11, watching a humongous thunderstorm over Honduras. The mountains there are very high, and my memory is we could see their silhouette in the lightning flashes. I wonder if we really could? I’ll have to ask Cully if he remembers that too.

So I am curious to see Belize in July. The forecast is Scattered T-Storms, Scattered T-Storms, Scattered T-Storms. Maybe I’d better go shop some more and find a good travel umbrella.

The reason I am going at this peculiar time of year is to take a travel agent tour. The Belize Tourist Board is hosting a ‘Fam’ tour for ‘Priority Wholesalers’, and oddly enough, they targeted me as one. In 5 days 12 of us are going to tour 28 hotels! We will stay each night in a different part of Belize: San Ignacio, then Mountain Pine Ridge, Placencia, Hopkins, and finally Ambergris Caye. Along the way we will supposedly also have time to also tour Cahal Pech Mayan ruin and go snorkeling at Shark Ray Alley off Ambergris. I hope we survive it.

I am really looking forward to meeting the other travel professionals on the tour. When you live in Moab but run a business in Belize, you don’t get to talk shop with anyone, ever.

I’ve learned one thing already and I am not even to Belize yet. When you have been avoiding getting a smart phone and you finally decide to make that leap, from simple texting and talking and saving contacts to typing on a virtual pad and accidentally putting your phone in airplane mode and downloading apps and syncing your email… DON’T do it the day before you leave for a big trip when you are dependent on the phone. The learning curve is astronomical! I have been stopping at every Verizon store I see to corner unsuspecting clerks. Once I get to Belize there’s no Verizon store, so I guess I’ll have to break down and open the book that comes with it.

Now that the season is in full swing and I am on the phone all day talking about Belize and our island, I am reminded how people searching the internet for Belize vacation trips just don’t understand what it means to go to a very remote part of the globe. Everyone wants to go to an exclusive location with no one else around, but they all expect it to be easy to get to. Guess what: if it’s easy to get to, there will be a lot of other people there. The harder a vacation spot is to travel to, the less people you will find when you arrive!

Our island, Long Caye at Glover’s Reef (pictured at left, above), is 35 miles off the shore of Belize, and is due east from Dangriga, Belize, which is about 50 miles south of Belize City. If you travel from Dangriga to Glover’s it’s a 35-mile boat ride. If you go directly from Belize City as we do, it’s a 65-mile diagonal route. Glover’s Reef is an atoll out past the Belize Barrier Reef (see our blog post What is an Atoll? or our Belize maps page on our website), so the first part of the boat ride is inside of the Belize Barrier Reef and the second part of the ride is outside the barrier reef. Regardless of whether you start in Dangriga or Belize City, you still have to do this open sea crossing to get to the atoll. It’s far, and it can be rough, and few private boats or really any boats at all that don’t own an island at Glover’s go out there. Glover’s Reef Atoll is the most remote ocean location in the entire country.

This is why if you want to go to Glover’s Reef, and you don’t want to charter you own boat (at a cost of approximately $650 US) you have to go on the days that the ferry to your island destination is scheduled to go. We operate our boat two days a week, on Saturday and on Wednesday. Some facilities at Glover’s only offer trips once a week. Our boat is based in Belize City, and the price of our travel package includes this boat ride. The price is based on a shared boat between 2 groups. The just-arriving group goes out on the same boat that takes the departing group off the island. Because of this, the boat must leave Belize City first thing in the morning to make the 3.5 hour ride out there, get unloaded, get reloaded, and get back to Belize City before dark. No international flight arrives that early, so you have to arrive the night before and stay in Belize City so that you can get up early to catch that boat ride.

If the boat you are using is out of Dangriga, you have to get there first; by bus, private vehicle, or plane. The roads in Belize are also rough in spots, so getting there by vehicle takes a while. Don’t be fooled by the term “highway”, such as the Western Highway or the Hummingbird Highway. We have seen some improvement to the roads in Belize since we first started guiding there in 1986, but this is still largely a rural road.

When joining any tour company that accesses a remote island by boat, make sure lifejackets are required, and make sure that the boat has more than one engine (if a single engine fails, you are in trouble). If the boat is covered, you will be much more comfortable in bad weather, and the larger the boat, the better. Our boat is a 41-foot, fully-covered, triple-engine outboard. We purchased Batfish in 2004, and have upgraded the engines and hull several times. We haven’t regretted this purchase for a minute since then. The importance of having the right boat for this kind of crossing cannot be over-emphasized.

So when planning your vacation, don’t purchase your air tickets and then look for a package to a remote island. Do it the other way around. Decide where you want to go and who you want to go with, and base your schedule on theirs. It’s the only way to join a company who offers trips to the least visited parts of this amazing planet.