In light of the rum drinks last night, today began way too early; 6:30 a.m. to be precise.  However we were assured the early start would be worth it as today was the day to snorkel and dive in the Blue Hole and by leaving early we could beat the rush of dive boats out of Belize City and the inner islands.  The Blue Hole is one of, if not the, most famous dive sites in Belize.  It is a fairly large circular coral reef surrounding a deep hole.  The divers were going to descend part way down into the hole, about 130', while the snorkelers meandered around the coral perimeter.  For the divers it meant only about six or seven minutes at the deepest point but apparently included some odd stalactites and of course big fish.  For us snorkelers we had some pretty amazing coral, certainly the most diverse and interesting that we have ever seen.  The variety of fish was a little disappointing as they were fewer and less colorful than one would expect in these waters.  [That may explain why this is not usually a snorkeling location.  Due to the bad weather for several preceding days (hey, it apparently rained pretty hard here as well as in San Ignacio), the normal schedule for the Blue Hole had been disrupted and thus the usual divers-only outing there was combined with our smaller snorkel group's destination.]  After about 45 minutes snorkeling around we poked our heads up to discover that indeed several day boats had arrived.  We grudgingly agreed that the early wake-up was a good idea.  When all of us waterlogged guests had been retrieved we motored over to Half Moon Caye for more snorkeling, diving and lunch.

The snorkeling this time was off the beach at Half Moon Caye and was not particularly exciting, with average fish and coral, more cloudiness, and an above-average current with which to contend.  Thus with little regret we exited the waters and found our lunch set up on picnic tables.  After lunch we had about an hour to hike around the caye which led us to some great tropical beach views and then to a bird observation tower.  From the tower we were face to face and in close quarters with a pair of red footed boobies while a little ways away was a huge gaggle of frigate birds littering the tops of the island foliage and displaying their signature red gular pouch.  That was quite a spectacle.

Our time on Half Moon Caye was followed by yet one more snorkeling round in an open ocean area called Long Caye Wall.  Here the coral was less exciting than at the Great Blue Hole, but the variety and abundance of fish picked up so all was good.  After an hour or so we headed back to Turneffe to put more hard work into justifying our drink package.  Three snorkels of 45-60 minutes each in a day in a challenging open ocean environment paired with a bit of rum and a fine dinner sent us off to an early sleep.