Placencia continued…a special little snorkelling trip to Laughing Bird Caye

Having survived the last 3 nights of absolute battering from tropical storms in the tent we delayed the snorkelling trip until Sunday to give the waters time to calm and settle.

Lucky for us the operator still only had us 4 on his boat, so we also inadvertently get a private tour to the area of protected reefs. Off we go, slight shower on the way, then perfect conditions, flat and stunning azure blue waters (some say clearer than Cornwall’s) surround the array of tiny island cays that seem to float over the surface in the heat haze.

All snorkelling is accompanied by the guide to ensure the ‘no take’, ‘no touch’ rules are adhered to. We already spot a Nurse Shark as we receive our brief from the resident ranger (2 weeks on, 2 weeks off), sounds idyllic, but one could throw a ball from one end to the other with the left across the width.

In we go through 1 of 3 entry points.

Clearly talking is a challenge when biting on a snorkel but there would have been a stunned silence anyway - the reef was all but dead!

The few fish that remained were stunning and we did get great excitement with the massive eagle ray that so gracefully glided past us, the huge lobster, rainbow and traffic light parrot fish that went about their business continuing their part of the bargain with the corral.

Our guide wasn’t keen to engage in the bleaching conversation and understandably so, these trips to the pristine reefs were her families livelihood. The ranger and conservationists who had just finished their weekly coral replanting work were: 2016 saw 2 bleaching events which destroyed most of the array of corals, the finger and staghorn being the most obvious as they lay broken like a burnt forest now covered in algae. The ferns also cling to life with a tiny fraction of their spans showing off their beautiful purple colours.

“The continuing sea temp rises are not helping our replanting efforts” he explains, “and not just us and the Great  BR but also Indonesia, all reporting the same.”

The boys were a little taken aback to say the least, but agreed it was very important to see first hand. It’s easy to hope what we hear is not all true nor happening that fast.

[In David Attenborough’s ‘A Life On Our Planet he explains why these warning signs are akin to canaries in a coal mine].

Tomorrow we’re off to Guatemala so a reasonably early night for the boys and Han and I went out for a few reassuring rums!