You ready captain?

I made my way back to Amigos Del Mar. I was early, so I layed down on a sun chair for a few, taking in the sun and the sounds. I started wandering a little when I started getting too hot. I found a little itty bitty water turtle floating in a bucket of seawater, I don’t know who captured it or why they captured it, but man was it adorable. I had always wanted to see these; well preferably floating freely in the water. But it was really cool to be able to touch them. They had flipper-like booties. So cute! A man came over and asked me if I was on the 2:30 tour. He had to go pick some people up on the boat and asked if I wanted to come with. Of course! Soon as I got in, he asked me if I had ever driver a boat before. No… Well, would you like to? So, I came up to the wheel thinking he would stand beside me and help me when I wasn’t doing the right thing or going in the right direction. Nope. He went and sat up at the front of the boat. I freaked out a little. “See how easy it is?” he said to me. To the right, now a little to a left. See that dock right there? We’re gonna go in for it. Luckily, he came up and stood behind me as I pulled the boat up to the dock, still not totally sure if I was doing it correctly. He grabbed the wheel at the very end. Wow that felt invigorating! The other guests got on the boat, and the guide called to me again. “You ready captain?” I was behind the wheel again. We were going back to the port where we came from so they could check in and we could grab the equipment. And again, I captained the boat when we headed straight for the reef. I was feeling pretty special!

Once we got to the reef, I did, by far – the best snorkeling I have ever done. I saw bright, beautiful coral, a nurse shark (not gonna hurt no one, don’t worry), barracuda, beautiful eagle rays, TONS of schools of fish, I even saw my turtles. The guide even played with a bright green eel that would only get coaxed out of his cave when he got mad. And the guide sure did make him mad! I had seen pictures of the bites that those things can cause, and they are not pretty. Although I have never been diving, I was imagining that the snorkeling I did that day had to be so close to what you see when you are diving. It was absolutely unreal. Totally worth the $40US I paid for the trip. When we finally climbed back on the boat, it was 4:36 and we were still far out to sea. Whoopsies. The guide booked it and dropped me off very close to the entrance of where the airport was. It was 4:46 and I made it to the airport at 4:50. Just in time for boarding! On the way out, I was getting a lot of question from some of the other passengers on the boat. First, why would you go back to Belize City? And then, so you’re here for work? What are you doing here for work? And so on… a family, or anyways a group of three (maybe in their 30’s) that were there (2 women and one man) were from Waltham and they took lots of interest in my job and such. When I almost didn’t make it back to the boat, they mentioned to me where they were staying, what their last name was, and that they were staying in a really large suite and I was more than welcome to crash with them if I didn’t make the plane. How compassionate is that! I was totally floored by their offering, but luckily made the plane anyways.

Speaking of making the plane, not only did I make the plane, but I sat co-pilot! Literally, if I had reached out and turned the wheel to the right, we would all have been going down. That’s how much power I had in that seat. We landed twice; once at Caye Caulker (the island I had been at before) and next at Belize City. I watched from the pilot’s seat as we came down for a landing. It was absolutely breathtaking and incredible. What a day, and it wasn’t over yet.