I Belize in MAGIC! MITSUGIRLY revisits the Western Route. My Novel.

[mitsugirly]

Everywhere you look...stingrays. These are the same type of stingrays that they had at Maya Chan when we went. The are really small and have beautiful markings. I think they are called yellow stingrays, but I'm not sure.

 

 

 

 

 

I really couldn't believe how many there was in the area. I had never seen anything like it before.

 

pouinriYUp4

 

There were plenty of damsels in the area as well.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

Kendra spotted a fireworm...she's really good at spotting things.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Anyone who says there's nothing to see at this place is crazy. Is it Roatan? No. But there is PLENTY here to see...both coral and fish and sea life. I just love snorkeling this place. It is honestly probably one of the easiest places ever to snorkel. The water is very calm because it's protected due to the rocks that run parallel to the beach. It's very shallow and at any time you can stand up. It makes for a great beginner area for kids as well. Great family place to snorkel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this shot!

 

 

 

I spotted some pretty nice sized banded butterfly fish.

 

 

 

jeY-bFUBTh4

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

See how shallow the water is? Super easy snorkeling.

 

 

Then Kendra motions me over and starts pointing...

 

 

Um ok, it's a hole. I see. But what am I looking for? She kept pointing. Every once in awhile you'd see a head pop out. It was an eel. I tried so hard to get a good picture but any time I got close, it would back deeper into the hole. It's right below my name in both pictures. How is it she is just so good at spotting things?

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

Blue head wrasse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SuiteTraveler]

Hi Kim! Congratulations on Sakari's accomplishments! I think she will do awesome in the arts program! I'm really enjoying reading your review! Very sorry to read what happened to your son inlaw in Honduras. I guess you know that Roatan is considered one of the 10 most dangerous ports in the world. The biggest issue there is that criminals can operate without any concern about being caught. On the other hand I'm so glad you got out to a really good dive site! This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the amazing things you can see on a really great dive! Anyway thanks for another great review!

[mitsugirly]

There seriously is a lot of nice coral here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Look at how many fish are here in the area. Lots of blue striped grunts.

 

 

 

 

 

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[mitsugirly]

 

 

And then I spotted it...the BIGGEST lionfish I think I have ever seen. I tried and tried to get a good picture of it, but it was just too far in the rocks/hole. Like the pictures don't even begin to show the massive size of this thing. I have seen some really big ones in the fish store before, but this thing takes the cake. I tried pictures with the flash, pictures without the flash, and video and nothing could capture this fish! UGH

 

 

 

 

 

The lighthouse off in the distance.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

And our ship.

 

 

 

Barracuda lurking in the distance. One thing that I noticed the last time I was here is that there were a lot of barracuda's all the way out by the rocks and this time would be no different.

 

 

 

 

I think these little "trees" are so cute. I bought a couple for my reef tank and some of them remind me of a broom.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

Well that's a really odd shape!

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

Still, look at the water level. It's not deep at all. We are swimming parallel to the beach and all the way out by the rocks.

 

 

 

 

I promise you Kendra had bottoms on. For some reason the reflection of the water and the wave made it appear as if she had a thong on or something. LOL

 

 

 

Finally! Some Christmas tree feather dusters! I usually see a bunch of these everywhere we go but not so much this time around. They are my favorite!

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

And it's just not snorkeling unless you find a conch.

 

 

Then Kendra starts flagging me down....LQQK! Squid!

 

 

I have seen a lot of squid before, but one of these had the longest snout ever. Is that a snout? What would you call it? I guess it's a beak. He must have been a grandpa and starting to sag.

 

 

There were only 2 of them. Usually we seen a large group, but not this time. Just a lonely two of them.

 

At one point the one with the long beak was in the front and going one way and the smaller one turned around and was swimming backwards and watching us. Then it quickly turned around and the zoomed off for a distance.

 

 

 

In this video, you can see the one in the front with the really long beak.

 

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[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

Well hello there little fella that kept poking out to check us out.

 

 

 

Then as we started to swim back to the shore...more stingrays (this is a different area, we are now on the opposite end).

 

 

Anyone know the name of these wrasse? If not, they are a slippery dick wrasse.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

And one last snorkeling photo for now. We headed back to the shore.

 

 

So as you all can see, this is a pretty decent place to snorkel. There's not much to trying to snorkel in this area because you can just float around, stand up when you need to and have a variety of things to see. I thinks it's pretty good.

 

 

I'm going to stop for now and will pick up with the rest of our day at Blue Kay some time tomorrow. Hopefully you are still enjoying the review and pictures. :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ralphinsc]

Absolutely love the review as always! Our last cruise ended up missing Costa Maya and I so want to get back there! Your reviews help encourage me to want to snorkel more and give scuba a try. So much to see!

[amsred2]

When ....oh when are you gonna come to the West coast and do a review? I have done the Mexican Riviera several times and could never find the great reviews you have posted here. I don't have the patience or talent you have for writing these reviews and no one has really done any as extensive as yours on the west coast. However, I assure you there is some great snorkeling year round on this side of the US! I have snorkeled most of the east coast, the Caribbean, Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta. Most of my favorite sites have been in the Caribbean I admit ( Wonders of the Great Belize Barrier Reef is really up there) but my all time favorite snorkel/excursion was the hidden beach and Marietas Islands in PV. This was a good one too.... https://vallarta-adventures.com/en/tour/marietas-eco-discovery

 

 

Man do we ever need your writing and photography skills to describe this place.

 

I have photos somewhere (not nearly as good as yours) if I really need to entice you?

 

Please!

[mitsugirly]

West Bay in Roatan is such wonderful snorkeling when the weather is good. It's my husband's most favorite spot. Glad your dive was great since it wasn't a good snorkeling day. Hopefully you can return and experience the beautiful beach. We've always went there from the Coxen Hole cruise port.

Love your reviews!

 

 

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I agree and hope some day we will finally get to snorkel or scuba West Bay. We've been to Roatan several times from Coxenhole and Mahogany so hopefully next time we return, it will be from Coxenhole and closer.

 

 

Thanks so much for the comments.

 

 

Loving your review! THANK YOU! Great pictures, descriptions and overall, awesome job! As an instructor, please allow me to give you a few tips (based on common issues I've seen over the years) that might help for next time.

 

1) You're likely tired for one of two common reasons - a) swallowing/gulping air instead of breathing it (happens all the time when divers are new and or excited) and b) kicking from the knees and using your arms to swim. Kick with your knees locked and the power coming from the hip and never use your arms. You're just using way more muscle power than you need. Not that an hour dive is anything to sneeze at by any means. I've had new students drain a full tank in under 25 minutes!

 

2) If you are having ear trouble, coming up and down is actually not only really bad for your ears (and making it all worse), it's also really dangerous. YES, you CAN get decompression sickness in only 30ft of water. Your first 33ft is your most dramatic change in pressure! Trust me DCS ain't pretty. And even your extra special travel insurance likely won't cover those treatments! The books will tell you that sudafed is a nono, but uh.... I don't know a pro diver that doesn't have a bottle of the 12 hour kind handy. Use that information as you will.

 

Thanks for the tips. I can tell you I don't kick from the knees and always have my legs straight. I've always done this when snorkeling, so it's something I'm use to. The only time that I use my hands is to take the pictures or sometimes if I'm getting too close to the bottom and I'll breathe in and head up a little and for some reason, I always stick my arm out to push myself along a little quicker (of course the other arm is always out because I'm busy taking pictures).

 

 

I have also been practicing on my breathing and know long slow breathing in and out calmly to use less air. I'm always watching my air and tank amount and I think with each dive it's getting better and better and I'm using less.

 

 

Just to be clear I have never had ear problems, going up or down. They just automatically pop when I swallow and never hurt. But for some reason, just this one time when I was trying to see the eel, it just wouldn't pop. This is my first experience with any problem with my ear.

 

 

Yea, I've read and been told about the sudafed. I have never tried it before though. I do use nasal spray (but that's my everyday normal life in order to breathe and that's been since I was very young).

 

 

 

It really HAS changed. We were only in Costa Maya once, in March 2006. In August 2007, Costa Maya and surrounding area had a direct hit from Hurricane Dean. Not positive, but it was Cat 5 at some point but I don't know if it hit Costa Maya as a Cat 5 or 4. We were paying close attention to this hurricane since we had a scheduled vacation in Negril, Jamaica (west coast) about three weeks after this hurricane. Before hitting Costa Maya, it hit the eastern/southeaster part of Jamaica. Fortunately for us, Negril, pretty much escaped unharmed and made out with some cosmetic damage (landscaping). The only thing we noticed when we were there was that the water wasn't as clear as it normally is there (they mentioned that at the resort), but it was still a very pretty shade of blue.

 

 

Back to Costa Maya. Dean destroyed it in August 2007 but it was rebuilt and they started accepting cruise ships in again. I didn't *discover* CC until April 2010, but from pictures in reviews, including yours, the rebuild from Dean looked very similar to what it looked like when we were there in 2006. Colorful buildings, but they definitely did a lot of refurbishing and it had to be fairly recent. Jamman has a review going and they were also in Costa Maya and I could tell there were big changes from his and Patti's review.

 

We were in Roatan in April 2014 (first, only visit there) and also went to West Bay (Bananarama) and although it was sunny, it was very windy and the water was just too rough to get in, with a lot of seaweed on the beach, and since the water was so rough, there was not much beach in front of Bananarama and the other places in that section. I'm curious as to how often the conditions at West Bay are like that. Oh, thank you for confirming that was a porcupine puffer fish that I have pictures of. Still following along and enjoying every minute of your review...shame on me, too much to do but I'm hooked, as usual.

 

Yes, the locals there did bring up the hurricane from 2007. But I was there in 2014 and it looked like the pictures I put in this review for comparison. It was nothing like it is today. I'm trying to figure out when and why did they re-do it some time after 2014 and not one local had an answer for me. They acted as if it had been like that since before 2010 and I know better. This port is nothing like it was the last time I was there. I like it a lot better now.

 

 

I also want to thank you for the review. Will be doing this itinerary, again, in March and want different ideas. As usual, you are a huge help.

 

You are very welcome and thanks.

 

 

Thank you! This is great advice!! Definitely something to keep in mind as I continue to ponder over this. He's not the most well behaved and I fear that I would have a terrible time and ruin it for the others as well. I also don't want to cancel, as this is supposed to be a big celebration (our "Holy ship we're 40!" celebration haha) so its making for a tough decision

 

And Congratulations to Sakari! She is one incredible kid!

 

I've read all of your reviews! Sometimes I think I live vicariously through you! haha

 

Do what's best for you and your family. There's nothing worse than having a terrible time because of the experience your kid has. Trust me, I know. We took a family vacation to Smokey Mountains back when Sakari was a little over a year and it was the worse vacation ever. Her crying and whining and she was trying to learn to walk and didn't want held, but couldn't walk so had to be held (picture doing a cave tour at Ruby Falls and being down in the caves and her screaming and echoing). She was just terrible that vacation and we vowed to never take her again until we knew that she would do good. And we didn't until her first cruise (and that was pretty much a trial run). LOL

 

Thanks for reading the reviews and have a wonderful cruise either way.

 

 

Same here on NCL! (So Belize is different, but still)

This is a lifesaver for this type A planner.

 

Hopefully some day I'll get to experience Harvest Caye. It's on my bucket list of course.

 

 

your really making me want a salt water coral reef tank again. I used to have a 75 gal Oceanic show tank years ago. Lots of Live rock, Corals, Anemones. feather dusters, Clown fish, Lion Fish, Various Damsels, yellow and blue tangs, hippo tangs, triggers, gobies, shrimp.

 

I had several tanks back in the 80's and loved them. But I was young and inexperienced and didn't realize you couldn't put this fish with that fish and so on. Back then I had a 90 gallon fish tank and a 125 reef tank. I had actually went on vacation to Myrtle Beach (my mom lived right on the beach) and I gathered a bunch of rock that had been washed up on shore and brought it home to stock my reef tank. In about a month there were all kinds of feather dusters and stuff on it. It was pretty amazing.

 

 

I just recently got back into saltwater this last year and I have missed it so. Things are so different this time around (last time I had bio balls and such for the filtration) LOL

 

OMG, those fish are amazing! I don't know if I could ever get that close to a stingray. You're brave.

 

Yea, they were beautiful and for the most part, the fish you come across when snorkeling are more afraid of you than you are of them. The stingrays are really small. I tried to pick one up and couldn't catch it. They are quick when they need to be. Did you catch my last review where I managed to pick up the huge gray stingrays? HEAVY!

 

Hi Kim! Congratulations on Sakari's accomplishments! I think she will do awesome in the arts program! I'm really enjoying reading your review! Very sorry to read what happened to your son inlaw in Honduras. I guess you know that Roatan is considered one of the 10 most dangerous ports in the world. The biggest issue there is that criminals can operate without any concern about being caught. On the other hand I'm so glad you got out to a really good dive site! This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the amazing things you can see on a really great dive! Anyway thanks for another great review!

 

 

 

Thanks! I'm having a few second thoughts about the art program now after doing some research and I'm heart broken. But at least she has "the title".

 

 

Glad you are enjoying the review and yes, Honduras is know for being dangerous and we are always aware of our surroundings but I'm just not really sure what happened. Someone did something and it wasn't good!

 

Absolutely love the review as always! Our last cruise ended up missing Costa Maya and I so want to get back there! Your reviews help encourage me to want to snorkel more and give scuba a try. So much to see!

 

Thanks so much. Definitely snorkel more and give scuba a try. There's just so much to see under there and simply amazing!

 

When ....oh when are you gonna come to the West coast and do a review? I have done the Mexican Riviera several times and could never find the great reviews you have posted here. I don't have the patience or talent you have for writing these reviews and no one has really done any as extensive as yours on the west coast. However, I assure you there is some great snorkeling year round on this side of the US! I have snorkeled most of the east coast, the Caribbean, Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta. Most of my favorite sites have been in the Caribbean I admit ( Wonders of the Great Belize Barrier Reef is really up there) but my all time favorite snorkel/excursion was the hidden beach and Marietas Islands in PV. This was a good one too.... https://vallarta-adventures.com/en/t...-eco-discovery

 

 

Man do we ever need your writing and photography skills to describe this place.

 

I have photos somewhere (not nearly as good as yours) if I really need to entice you?

 

Please!

 

 

You are in luck! We are going in another 3 months and 26 days to the west coast. Now I need tips from you about where to snorkel/scuba. We will be in PV 9-6pm, MAZATLAN 8-5pm, and Cabo 7-3pm. :D

 

YES YES YES, show me your photos please!

[mitsugirly]

After returning from our snorkeling, we decided we would get something to eat.

 

 

 

 

I wanted to try different things and couldn't make up my mind. I went with a chicken quesadilla, and also ordered chips and salsa, but I was also craving guacamole. So I ordered all 3 things. I had no idea they would be huge portions and I wouldn't be able to eat it all...or even come close.

 

One thing I did notice is that they added the tip to the bill automatically, even though it says "optional".

 

My bill was $374.00 (pesos), which ended up being close to $25. LOL I believe the hubby had a burrito earlier and he said he spent around $10-$12 with everything he ordered and drinks. Kendra put in her order and was around $325 (pesos). She would decide to post her receipt on her social media site with some type of caption about it being a very expensive burrito (knowing she'd get a reaction from a certain person) and Billys dad blew his stack. He would end up on a rampant rage about them out here on vacation blowing money like it grew on trees and how crazy she was for spending that much on a burrito and....and...and... and she was sitting back and laughing. So, since we like to mess with him, I had to post my receipt as well with a caption of telling her she got off cheaper than me.

 

 

 

We like to mess with him. No worries, he messes with us all the time but we got him good. By the end of the day, Billy had told him the truth and calmed him down. LOL Party pooper!

 

I went back to our chairs to find that we actually no longer had all of our chairs and a couple to the left of us and a couple to the right of us had taken 4 of the chairs. Um....ok. When we first came, we only ended up getting 2 of the chair mats. One for the hubs and one for Billy because they are the ones that will sit there all day and eat and drink. Us girls and kids will stay out in the water most of the day. So, normally I don't even purchase a chair at places that we go to because it's pointless. However, we knew we were going to eat at some point, so still needed our chairs...we just didn't care if they had the mats on them. Well, I guess the original guy that came over when we arrived decided to put a couple on each side of us and take our chairs we had our things at. Maybe he felt that since we only bought 2 mats that we only needed 2 chairs for the 7 of us. #rollingmyeyes

 

My food came and I gasp. Wow, that's a lot of food and I had no idea it would be that much.

 

 

 

The quesadillas were great, the salsa and chips were great, but the gauc...um, I have no idea what was in this. I have never seen gauc like that. It had some red stuff in it and some stuff on top and these little black things and it tasted weird. Not weird "bad" but weird-weird. Like I couldn't eat too much of it because it was just weird. Kinda tangy maybe? I don't know. Just weird. No one makes gauc like Mexico and some how I managed to get some that just wasn't what I was expecting. Darnit!

 

Kendra got a burrito and the kids some fries and chicken.

 

 

We had a visitor. She was very friendly and looked like she had recently had puppies.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

She was so patient and did not beg and just laid there. We would throw her a piece of chicken or a chip. She was a little picky and if anything landed in the sand, she would not eat it. Ok, making note...no sand on food allowed. But if you allowed her to take it from your hand, she would eat it.

 

 

She eventually decided to cross the line (rope) from the other beach club to our beach club. She was officially a member and one of us.

 

 

 

 

Maybe she belongs to the owners at BK or one of the workers. She was a very smart dog and knew sit and lay and I think one other thing but I can't remember it now. Very cool dog!

 

Our view from our chairs:

 

 

Behind us:

 

 

After getting our bellies full (all of us AND the dog) Sakari wanted to show me her snorkeling finds.

 

She managed to find 2 very small brittle starfish.

 

 

 

We do have a huge brittle star in our smaller clown fish tank and her name is "Katie" and I have no idea why Sakari named her that. Normally Sakari comes up with the simplest names. A starfish would be star. A tang would be banana because of the color. Our goby is sandy because she eats sand. But Katie? How does this relate to her shape, size, what she is, what she does...I don't get it. Sometimes Sakari is odd.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

She had to show me her lionfish she found.

 

 

 

Then I would take her back out to the grassy area and show her all of the stingrays. They were all still there...everywhere actually. She loved it.

 

 

We had an amazing day at Blue Kay and although it has changed a bit, it's still an amazing place. We spent every last minute that we could here. But we knew there was an all aboard time of 1:30pm and it was time to pack up and leave.

 

We headed up to the bar/restaurant area and ask Robert to call us a cab. He made a call and told us to follow him.

 

Goodbye Blue Kay.

 

 

 

We walked along the malecon to the place next door and on the side of it is where the taxi would pick us up in the parking lot.

 

 

The pool that use to be senor frogs and is now something else. Anyone know what it is now?

 

 

We were in the taxi at 12:55pm and on our way back to the port. During our 6 minute ride back...when encountered this...

 

 

They were coming up from our side of the road off a beaten path. This path would require them to go up a slight hill and onto the street. They did it individually and sort of shaky as well. Then they would line up in the middle of the road. We waited and waited for each one to get up the hill, cross the road and assume their position in line.

 

Our 6 minute ride back to the port was a little longer this time to say the least. You know how everyone always says to allow plenty of time to return to port in other ports because you never know if there's construction or an accident or something? No one told me to leave early in this particular port because what could possibly hold you up here? Well, now we know!

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Back to this beautiful port again...

 

 

They do have an area with lockers:

 

 

 

 

This port is just gorgeous now!

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

I'm telling ya, it has a Jurassic park feel to it.