Hi Blog,

This morning, we had breakfast at the Tropical Education Center and promptly left at 9 AM. We had about an hour bus ride to Belize City, where we stopped at a store, had lunch, bought some souvenirs, and waited until our boat came at 1 PM. On our way, I saw the vegetation change from rainforest to savannah, which was cool. For lunch, a couple of us split two margarita pizzas while Elise & I split an Island Sunrise smoothie. We asked for an extra cup but sadly, it was $1 USD and I did not have cash on me. The food court area was a part of a resort and had a gift shop attached to it. For my friends, I bought four magnets representing Belize which I thought were pretty cool & cute, while I bought a beach skirt (which can be tripled as a dress & a cover up) for myself. At around 1 PM, we all headed out from the food court into the dock, where the boat was waiting for us.

The boat ride was spectacular. There were no seats left at the edges of the boats, so I sat in the middle; nevertheless, the view was amazing. We saw the water change colors from murky brown to green to turquoise to deep blue, then back to turquoise. The boat ride lasted about 3 hours, and was calm for 1 hour, until we transitioned into the deep blue waters where the currents became stronger and the boat essentially turned into a rollercoaster ride. At this point, I started to get a little seasick, so I tried my best to keep my eyes on the horiozon. Soon enough we reached Glover’s Reef, where the water was mainly turquoise. I could not belize (haha!) that this stunning place was where we were going to be staying for the next 5 days.

 

As soon as we got out, we immediately saw nurse sharks in the water as well as a lot of bone fish. I was astonished by how all of the sea life were just hanging out in the water as opposed to the rainforest, where everything seems to be hiding. As we stepped onto the island, we were also greeted by hermit crabs, and some of them were quite huge!!

After settling and putting our stuff down, we went to the dock to sit, lay down, and appreciate the landscape. It was mindblowing to see the surrounding crystal blue waters accompanied by the refreshing sea breeze along with the company of my classmates.

 

At 8 PM, we had presentations, which everyone did an amazing job at, then we had a session where we went over our dive gear to make sure everything was functioning correctly.

Tomorrow, we will be able to actually get in the water, which I am so stoked about! Since all of our observations were from the dock or on the island, I have yet to spot a surgeonfish with my own eyes, but I am hopeful that I will be able to see some tomorrow!!