From New Hampshire to Spanish Creek & Altun Ha

After a very early start, the Tropical Communities class boarded a plane to Belize with few issues. The warm and humid air greeted us as we stepped off the plane and our journey in Belize began. We boarded a bus as we were greeted by our tour guide, Mr. Tillet, a charming and knowledgeable Belizean. He brought us to our first destination, after a bumpy and rough ride: Spanish Creek Reserve. On the way we saw many animals, including parakeets, toucans, cows, horses and more. Upon arrival, the family who cares for the bamboo farm gave us locally picked fresh fruit, juice and bread pudding. Once we all lathered on the bug spray, they took us on the back of their tractor to the Palapas, huts with a bamboo thatched roof, where we would spend one night of our adventure.

After settling in, the family of the reserve led us on a hike through the bamboo farm. Along the way we got to taste raw sugar cane, cassava, kumquat and more. This hike took us to an unfinished palapa that overlooked the mainland’s mesmerizing tropical rainforest. We ended our walk at El Charron, a beautiful river that many of the locals use as a swimming hole. It was refreshing and warm when compared to the frigid New England waters. When returning, a dinner of rice, beans, chicken and homemade tortilla was waiting for us. After our long day of travel and adventure, we ended our day in the cozy palapas.

We awoke to the sounds of the jungle and gathered our luggage to start on our expedition to the Altun Ha Mayan ruins. On the way we paused to watch spider monkeys hanging from nearby trees. This ancient site is one of the largest preserved Mayan ruins in Northern Belize and is home to a jade head which is one of the largest artifacts representing ancient Mayan civilization. Millions of years old, the ruins stand to represent the culture, beliefs and ideologies that the Mayan people once practiced. The site gave us perspective on what the Mayans were able to accomplish without modern-day tools.

To continue our journey, we made our way to Jaguar Paw cave, where we floated through the cave system on water tubes. During this experience we were given the opportunity to taste a termite, an insect that is cherished in the tropical rainforest for their properties as an insect repellent. We were educated on other products, such as the cashew, that are exported out of Belize for money. During tubing, we learned more about Xibalba, the Mayan underworld. The cave’s natural rock and crystal formations were astonishing to witness firsthand.

Our trek continued as we boarded two, small airplanes. On each, a Colby-Sawyer student was given the opportunity to sit in the co-pilot seat with the captain. The ride was approximately 15 minutes and flew over the second largest barrier reef in the world. We landed in San Pedro and drove to our final destination of the day: TREC (Tropical Research Education Center). There, we prepared for our first day on the ship Goliath and snorkeling. 

The Start of Our Snorkeling Adventures

Our first day snorkeling began at 9 a.m. when we arrived at the dock of the Goliath. There, we met our captain, Dr. Ken, and our guides, Juan and Carlos. Unfortunately, the boat was not running properly, so instead, we boarded a speed boat that took us to our first snorkeling location, Pillar Coral. After we were in the water for a short period of time, the winds and current began to pick up, so we had to move locations to Tres Cocos. There, we began to get the hang of things as we separated into two groups and followed our guide around the reefs. We were able to see all the fish, coral and creatures that we learned about all semester at Colby-Sawyer. Some exciting species we saw were a southern stingray, lionfish, boxfish, squid and octopus. It was really exciting to see all these species up close and personal in their natural habitat.

We noticed that along with all the bright and healthy coral, there was much evidence of coral bleaching as well. Coral bleaching is the removal of mutualistic algae caused by stress (ocean acidification, increased ocean temperatures, disease and other factors). In class, we discussed extensively the impacts that climate change has on coral reef health, and it was an eye opener to see how our actions are affecting marine life negatively. We learned that we can help protect the corals as tourists by wearing reef safe sunscreen, not causing abrasions on the coral and not stirring up too much sand that covers the corals. All of these seemingly small actions can prevent coral infection and bleaching.  

After a long day of learning and rough seas, we returned to TREC to take a dip in the pool. We then met as a group to debrief all of the species we saw and talk about our experience. We finished our night with a walk down the beach and a delicious dinner prepared by our cooks, Maggie and Maria.

On our beach walk, we were also able to see the impact that climate change and human activity has had on the island of Ambergris Caye. The beach was covered in a seaweed called sargassum. The sargassum blooms in the Atlantic have grown greatly and have now moved toward the beaches of Belize’s 200+ islands. Every morning in Ambergris Caye, workers on trucks come by to shovel sargassum off of the beach and transport it to a distant landfill.  The sargassum covers the white sandy beach, has a strong smell and has caused issues with the marine life, introducing new invertebrates and harming existing organisms.

The next morning, we again boarded a speed boat and headed for Mexico Rocks, which is calmer and part of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, a protected reef.

When we jumped in the water, we could immediately see the difference between a protected and an unprotected reef. Dozens of fish surrounded us and swam alongside us. We observed some rare and beautiful species — we even saw a nurse shark! At another spot in the reserve, we followed a Hawksbill sea turtle to see it munching on turtle grass and swimming to the surface for air.

 

 

 

The third stop was at an underwater cave where we had the opportunity to free dive and observe some different fish swimming there. We even saw spiny lobsters hiding beneath the coral. We then moved to our final stop, located outside the reserve. There, we observed some uncommon and vibrant fish, specifically a queen angelfish.  

After a long day of exploring the seas, we headed back to TREC. On our journey back, we were greeted by a pair of bottlenose dolphins that were playing around the boat. We arrived back and spent the night preparing for our service projects in the morning, which would include presenting art and science projects and as well as completing maintenance at two schools. We were excited to explore the island of Ambergris Caye more and see the town of San Pedro!  

 

Written by MacKenzie Rokes, Shania Perham, Katy Bischoff and Eryn Bradley