We flew into Belize city today at around noon, excited to kick-off our trip! After our plane ride we stopped by the sky city supermarket, where I got some plantain chips – a local favorite. Then, we headed off on a ~3 hour long boat ride to the Glover’s Reef Atoll research station.

The boat ride was beautiful and pretty calm most of the way, but we did have some very choppy waters in the middle of the trip! The choppy waters followed the point where we crossed the fore-reef zone, where waves were breaking on the coral formations!  At one point, I saw a fish jump out of the water between two waves and appear to ‘fly’ into the next one! Not sure what type of fish this was but I will definitely look into it.

picture from the boat:

After landing at the research station we were greeted by a mass of crabs! They are all over this place and range in size from tiny to formidable. I’ve been told that crabs are to this island as squirrels are to Rice campus!

I did not see any soft corals today, as we haven’t started snorkeling yet, but I will be on the lookout when we do! I am exhausted, and covered in a fine layer of bug spray + salt, and excited to get in the water tomorrow!

– Ava