After a restless night of anticipation and excitement, I woke up 5 am to have plenty of time to meet up with the rest of our tropical field biology class to make it to our flight at 6:15 am. It was a good thing that we arrived early because their was an unforeseen mix up with the requirement of notarized permission slips for our youngest travelers, and someone forgot to print out their boarding pass (you guessed it…it was yours truly). I am incredibly glad to have such supportive and kind classmates that waited for me. Thankfully, we all arrived in Belize in one piece and took a trip to the local grocery store for some snacks. While noticing the dense, green vegetation and beautiful pastel house colors of Belize City, I had a fascinating conversation with Dr. Correa’s mature and kind 10 year old son. He told me that while snorkeling it is extremely important not to touch marine life. I said that one time while snorkeling he touched a fireworm. He described the fireworm perfectly. It was small and wiggly with a light orange/pink coloring with small white bristles on the sides. After touching the fireworm he said he had burning feeling that felt like glass in his hand. This is probably this annelid’s self defense mechanism so moral of the story- don’t touch marine life but admire their beauty from a distance. I was presently surprised tolearn more about the taxa I researched on the first day!
While buying some plantain chips recommended by Dr. Solomon, I received my first Belizean dollars. One of our leaders, Claudius told me that the woman on the dollar was Queen Elizabeth as the Belize used to be called “British Honduras.” This dollar also pictured the mahogany tree (state tree), tapir (state animal), toucan (state bird), and the black orchid (state flower). Learning the history of Belize was very fulfilling!
The boat ride to Glover’s Reef was longer, hotter, and more bumpy than expected but there was a part of me that wished that it wouldn’t end because it filled me with a deep sense of nostalgia. There were so many aspects about the boat ride that reminded me about the Marshall Islands, and I really miss it. The salty sea spray, waves crashing upon the boat, and even the appearance of the atolls were similar. The Caribbean atolls are typically much more ancient that Pacific atolls because there is not current major tectonic plate movement. I learned from Dr. Correa and Claudius that Glover’s Reef is the second longest reef in the entire world which spans from Mexico, to Honduras, and to Belize (where most of it is located). I feel so incredibly amazed that we have the chance to snorkel this reef tomorrow!
P.S. HAPPY WORLD OCEANS DAY! 🙂
~ Maegan Aljure