ext212 > americas > belize 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 Hol Chan with a second disposable underwater camera: - A highlight of our trip: swimming with three manatees - King crab and the cutest grouper - The school of yellowtails that surrounded us made us crave sushi - A parrot fish - The boy, always on my side 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

Manatee! Manatee! And another manatee! Three of them were swimming near our boat even before we anchored and suited up. Our group hurriedly jumped in the water to follow Carlos. We were only a few yards away from them! Carlos led us to them but stopped us so as not to scare them. We stayed still floating as the boy and I grinned at each other behind our masks. We watched the large placid sea cows swim lazily, nuzzle each other, and rise to the surface for air. We were part of a larger group of snorkelers today, mainly Americans and a couple from New Zealand. The rest of our snorkeling trip at Hol Chan, we saw more widlife than the previous day. There were crabs, parrot fish, lobsters, the cutest groupers and plenty of yellowtails! We even swam with a sea turtle! Swimming in a marine reserve, we appreciate the beauty of marine life in their natural surroundings. But rather than thinking of conservation, swimming with the fish had an unintended effect: we were thinking about consumption. As perverse as it sounds, seeing those fish only made us hungry. You know how the waiter in a Chinese restaurant will show you your fish before cooking it to demonstrate its freshness? There´s no better display of freshness of your seafood than a fish that swims or a crab that crawls. Save the Manatee We were told that a manatee eats about 1,000 pounds of turtle grass a day! Check out the Save the Manatee Web site. Carlos Tours On Front Street. If you want to see a manatee, you gotta sign up with Carlos the night before you want to go. He knows his shit and you end up trusting him and his assistant, also named Carlos. Our snorkeling trip cost BZ$70 each, about US$35, and we stopped by San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, for lunch.