We biked to the nearby Canosia Township Wildlife Sanctuary. While there, we spotted three Baltimore Orioles fly overhead. This was very neat since I don't think I've ever seen one in the wild. They're not too commonly spotted. At least where I go.
We biked along and at a spot where it's just the "road" (more like ATV/snowmobile trail) between two bodies of water, we surprised a Snapping Turtle crossing, to go into the water.
We stopped part way to take a break and eat the apples we brought with. While there, we heard a bird close by. Once I found it, it turned out to be a Chestnut-sided Warbler. We continued on our way, working our way around two muddy lakes in the trail, to come out on a dirt road. While biking on that road, I heard another Warbler close to the road, so stopped, and was able to get some better photos since it was closer.
The bike ride back to the house was tough. It was against the wind in the blazing sun. All in all, it was a 3 hour, 16 mile bike ride. Joe's pretty tired, not only because of the bike ride, but because of the sun. Definitely a fun day.
-Miranda
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Woke up to find a Rose-breasted Grosbeak at the suet feeder. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
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The Snapping Turtle. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
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A female Mallard landing. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
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Chestnut-sided Warbler. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
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On Wednesday we headed north to Playa Del Carmen. The next morning, we hopped on a bus to the airport and flew home. So, back to work and finishing getting the house set up, painted, etc. Now that the snow is gone we'll get to do some yard work and decide on a bird feeder set up, which will be fun. We have quite a few birds here so far. As it warms up we'll hopefully get to see some of the warblers that pass through.
-Miranda
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We arrived in Orange Walk on Monday, a little creeped out. The bus stop in Belize City was very run down and the buses were just old school buses. Not at all what we were expecting. The bus was so crowded that the isle was filled with people standing.
We arrived in Orange Walk after 2 hours and got off at a terminal that was almost no more than a bus stop. We had no idea where we were, so we just followed the line of locals assuming they would head in the general direction of "stuff". We eventually found the town center, but still had a heck of a time finding a place to eat. We eventually found a small restaurant where, no matter what you order, the meal costs $7.50 belize. This means for both of us, drinks included, we only paid $7.50 got lunch. The food was good too. There was a hotel next door, so we just stayed there.
The next day we did the Lamanai River Tour. Basically, you take a boat up the New River to the Lamanai ruins. The river trip was great since we got to see lots of birds and some other wildlife. We stopped at one spot where a couple Spider Monkeys live. The guys that run the boats always bring a banana for them, so they hop into the boat, check everyone out, then hop back out. Pretty interesting.
The ruins were neat. The boat guide was also the guide for the ruins, so it was interesting to hear some about the ruins. These ones were inhabited a lot longer than most Mayan ruins, until the 16th century.
The river ride back was mostly just to get back, though we did see the shape of a West Indian Manatee. Couldn't see if very well, but pretty neat nonetheless.
-Miranda
A crocodile. It's pretty small. Only about a yard long.
The spider monkey, hanging out on the boat.
One of the temples.
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Caye Caulker is definitely more laid back feeling than San Pedro. The roads aren't paved and there were basically only gold carts and bicycles, no cars. We found a hotel then tried to figure out what scuba companies were going to the Blue Hole the next day. We found a company and got all set up and ready for the next day.
We woke up and got to the dive shop around 5:30am. The boat ride was a bit rough in parts, but after the two hours, we arrived at the Blue Hole in the Lighthouse Atoll. I was surprised there was only one other boat there. We got ready and headed down into the water. Here's a link on the Blue Hole if you want info about it: Blue Hole
We reached the cave at 100 feet a lot quicker than I expected. The stalagmites were big and pretty neat. Once we came back up, we sat on the boat for a bit then headed to our next dive spot within the reef system. This dive was amazing! It was a wall, so it kept going really deep. The coral was stunning. The best we've seen. We saw a turtle and quite a few barracuda along with other fish. After coming up, we docked at Half Moon Caye for lunch.
That island is a bird sanctuary apparently. Red-footed Boobies nest there. After lunch we walked the trail to the birding platform. There were frigate birds all over the place along with a smattering of Red-footed Boobies. It was noisy and super neat.
Our last dive of the trip was near Long Caye. This dive was called the Long Caye Aquarium and for very good reason. There were fish everywhere! Some of the dive was pretty shallow, but we did go to a wall where we went a little deeper. Joe ended up even spotting a Spotted Eagle Ray, which was so beautiful.
Once the dive was over, we headed back to Caye Caulker. Fortunately, the water was a lot smoother. While on the way back, was passed a small pod of dolphins! We watched them a bit then kept on going.
Definitely great last dives.
-Miranda
Ariel photo for Blue Hole (from link posted earlier)
The view from our hotel room door.
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The blue hole from the boat. Kind of hard to see, but the water was so pretty. (Click for larger photo)
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So many birds! All the white and black spots are birds. The black are frigate birds, the white are either frigate bird young or Red-footed Boobies. (Click for larger photo)
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A Red-footed Booby hanging out on a branch. (Click for larger photo)
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Since we couldn't go diving for a few days because of the wind, Joe decided to go windsurfing. There were a couple places within walking distance to rent a windsurfer from, so we headed there. He ended up going for it and was pretty warn out by the end, but did a good job. We came back a couple days later and he went out for another hour. So he did get some fun out of those windy days!
This morning we did get to go out for a dive. It was pretty hectic since no one had been able to dive for quite a few days. They had two boats go out. We had two groups on our boat (12 divers). The swells were definitely not even close to as bad as they were on Monday, but there were still definitely some large ones. I assume that's part of the reason they ask divers to descend right after they get off the boat instead of waiting for everyone. Of course that means that those that get off the boat first already have some of their air used up before the last people get down there. In other dives we've done, this wouldn't be a big deal. When someone runs low on air (1000 or 700 lbs depending on the preference of the dive master) the dive master sends that person and their buddy (or another diver that is low on air) up to do their three minute safety stop. This company apparently just goes by whoever has the least amount of air... This made for two pretty short dives. We normally do around 45 minute dives, even when our maximum depth is 80 feet. This time, both dives were barely over 30 minutes... So we felt a bit gypped in that regard.
However, the dives were pretty nice. The coral was gorgeous and on the second dive we saw so many nurse sharks, a couple really big ones. One very large Moray Eel was swimming around, right up to some of the divers. It was very obvious it had been fed in the past. Still pretty neat though.
We're leaving tomorrow morning for Caye Caulker, an island just south of here. We'll hopefully do more diving off that island as well.
-Miranda
Joe windsurfing.
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