Tag Archives: bonefish

Belize Day 9: Sun Rays and Coco Craze

Ever since the plane touched down in Belize, I’ve been craving a fresh coconut. Now at Glover’s Reef, I’m a tree’s length away from complete happiness. As soon as we hopped off the boat, my eyes bounced from the nurse shark swimming under the deck to the mangroves lining the island to the coconut tree towering above the deck. I set down my bags and hugged the tree, trying to inch my body up. I tried a running start. I tried throwing pieces of dried coral at the coconuts. Nothing. Luckily, there were some old coconuts lying around on the ground. My friends came over to help, feeling the same coconut craving. We tried pounding the coconut with a conch shell. We tried throwing the coconut hard onto the sand. We tried banging the coconut on the edge of a cement stair. Luckily, this finally made a dent, and the warm, probably fermented, water dripped out for everyone to get a taste. 

TRS_0001 (Climbing for Coco – 05/24/25)

Our class regrouped in the central hammock area for a tour of the island (we – and the crabs – have the whole island to ourselves!). We walked through a trail lined with sand lilies and dotted with crabs and discovered a bowl of fresh mangos in the dining area. Nothing can beat the fresh fruit, marine biodiversity, and sea breeze of this little island. The only parts that will take some getting used to are Clivus, the composting toilet (a glorified porta potty,) and the jumping, biting sand flies. 

(The Crabs’ Island – 05/24/25)

(Clivus – 05/26/28)

The self-sufficient ecosystem here is incredible. Because the soil is sandy (it can’t hold freshwater) and saltwater constantly washes over the island during storms, the only vegetation that can grow here is the hardiest, most saline-tolerant, and undemanding plant, like a mangrove. Around the island, baby mangroves continue to take root and expand the island just for storms to shrink it back down – the island– it’s a never-ending struggle. 

(Baby Mangrove – 05/24/25)

I love hanging my feet off the deck and watching marine animals swim through the clear water. Before dinner, the whole class sat down on the dock in a line, identifying a school of bonefish and needlefish while breathing in the salty calmness. We’re all super excited to get past the dock and into the water tomorrow! After we get comfortable in our gear, we’ll boat to our “open aquarium” (the reef) where I’m really hoping to be able to identify some sponges, see parrotfish gnawing at coral, and experience the vibrant ecosystem. 

(Relaxing by the Dock – 05/24/25)

 

Peace,

Lily H. 🙂

Day 13: MPAyyyee & Bonefish!

Hi Blog,

Today started with a class discussion at 8 AM to plan out our project for the day, which was to compare reef health (coral species richness, fish species richness, presence of algal overgrowth, coral bleaching) between MPAs (marine protected areas) and non-MPAs. In order to do this, our class split into seven groups, and each surveyed different sites at four locations (two non-MPAs, two MPAs) using quadrats. We laid down the quadrats and took pictures of them at three sites per location. Since I’m unable to duck dive, Lily took on the role of placing and retrieving the quadrats while I was in charge of documentation with the underwater digital camera.

Quadrat sampling!

I started to get nauseous again despite trying Dr. Solomon’s magic seasickness drops. Nevertheless, I persevered and finished collecting the data needed for our project. We surveyed in the ocean from 9 AM to 12 PM. No surgeonfish seen during this snorkel though, which was quite a bummer.

While we were returning, though, Noelle spotted a dolphin in the water! Although I wasn’t feeling the best, seeing the dolphin immediately brightened up my day — it was so close to the boat!!

Exciting dophin sighting!

After this, we had lunch, which was noodles and soy sauce. Then we met back at the wet lab to analyze our pictures from the survey and create/present a poster based on our findings. Our results suggested a trend toward higher species richness and fish abundance in MPAs, which aligned with our hypothesis that MPAs would have higher biodiversity and better reef health. I must say, I am quite proud of our poster title: MPAyyyee where my corals at? I think our creative freedom really shined through on this one.

As a bonus, one of the staff members caught a bonefish and kindly showed it to us — and even let us touch it! Instead of being scaly as I had expected, it was rather smooth and slimy, which was a surprising texture. We released it back into the water, but I have hope that one of us TFBs will be able to catch it with bare hands before we leave. Will it happen? Find out tomorrow!

Bonefish!

With love,

Day 9: Travel to Glovers Reef

Hi Blog,

View from the dock!

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.

 

Lily conquering a coconut tree!

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.

 

Dock chill time!

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!!