It looks like we may be one step closer to swimming with the whale sharks. We just put down our deposit for an April trip to Belize with my parents. We're going to spend some time scuba diving on a coral atoll before heading down to the southern part of the country to see if we can spot the whale shark, the world's largest fish.
We're going to be staying at Long Caye (pronounced "key"), an island owned by a company out of Utah called Slickrock. The padres and I stayed here in 2001 after our trip to Costa Rica. Long Caye is perched directly on the edge on the continental shelf; consequently, there is a drop of approximately 2,000 feet down to the sea floor. That wall, which starts only 30 feet below the surface, is a fabulous ecosystem and contains lots of fish, sharks, turtles, and eels.
Reader be warned, however: Long Caye probably isn't the place to go if your definition of vacation includes cable tv and a spa. While you have your own cabana on the beach, there isn't any electricity and they have communal composting toilets. Definitely not for everyone. But your dinner is pulled directly from the ocean each night and you can't beat the star gazing from a hammock on the beach.
