Belize: Snorkeling the Second Largest Barrier Reef in the World

Face to Face with a Shark

This morning, we started our day with breakfast at 7:30 a.m. After some eggs, bacon, and potatoes we set off on a boat to Hol Chan Marine Reserve for a snorkeling tour.

We saw so much interesting sea life, including barracuda, puffer fish, lobster, and the royal blue tang (also known as Dory from Finding Nemo!!!).

Finding Dory!

We traveled a little bit farther out in the water to the area where the sharks were and began our snorkeling tour with the sharks. The tour guides fed the sharks so they would stay around our boat, and then we swam with them! They were swimming right underneath us, within a few feet. When we got back on the boat, we went to one more area of the ocean for more snorkeling.

We saw stingrays, more lobster, and plenty of other beautiful sea life. After our snorkeling was finished, we traveled to a swing bar on a secret beach.

Secret Beach

Catching some downtime!

This was an area on the beach with swings, hammocks, slides, and volleyball nets all in the water! Our group played two very intense games of beach volleyball. We had tacos for lunch and spent some time hanging at the beach before heading back to the hotel. After we got to the hotel, we set back out on a 15-minute walk to get some ice cream in the town.

Our night ended with a bang when the whole group had a karaoke night! From singing Billy Joel to Taylor Swift, everyone was able to participate and sing their hearts out. We even got Dr. Jackie and Mr. Kolaris to sing with us!

Karaoke ended with a finale led by the boys singing American Pie, all eight minutes of it. We all then closed out the night by sitting on the dock and gazing at the moonlight for our final Belize adventure all together.

Final Goodbye!

All the kids then traveled to their rooms to pack and prepare for the long travel day ahead. We would like to say thank you to our tour guide Jake and all the amazing chaperones on our trip, who made it the best Intensive Learning trip we could have ever imagined. 

2024 Programs, Belize 2024