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Yesterday, we had a surprise on our way to Placencia. We made a detour to Gales Point because we had never been there before and it is supposed to be a good place to see manatees. Manatees are our favorite animals in the world! We did our first online expedition working with manatees in Florida (The Crystal River Florida Manatee Expedition). At the end of the narrow peninsula that is Gales Point we stopped to visit the Manatee Lodge and ask about manatees. We were surprised to meet our friend, Bob Bonde, who who helped us during our manatee expedition in Florida in 1999. Mr. Bonde is the world expert on manatees. He is in Belize tagging and studying the manatees that live here. He says there are about 1,200 manatees living in Belize. He invites us to join him. We would love to, but we are here to search for whale sharks. Maybe sometime we can join Mr. Bonde on a follow-up of our Florida manatee expedition. We arrived in Placencia after dark, so we couldn't really see much of Placencia. We will be staying at various locations in Placencia. Right now we are at The Inn at Robert's Grove. This a very, very nice resort hotel right on the beach. This is a lot nicer than the expedition base camps I (Wayne) had when I was working with Scripps Institute of Oceanography down in Baja Mexico. There all I had was a tent on a hot sandy beach, with no trees and lousy food! Robert's Grove is a five-star hotel with excellent food and we have a huge suite with a big bedroom, living room, and kitchen! This makes our expedition a whole lot nicer! (Vivienne at the Belize Tourism Board is treating us really nice!) Today is our preparation day before we start our underwater search for whale sharks tomorrow. After unpacking all of our Aqua Lung scuba equipment, and underwater cameras. We head out to explore Placencia and meet the people that will take us diving to search for whale sharks. Placencia has been a quiet, tiny little fishing village for many years. Recently Placencia has become the place for tourists to come who are looking for nice beaches and great fishing and diving. There are lots of hotels, resorts and guest houses for tourists to stay now. The busy tourist season is during the winter when tourists from the U.S. and Canada come here to escape the cold and snow. The summer is less busy and quieter, which is fine with us. We did not come here to do all the tourist stuff. We are here to find whale sharks! Tomorrow should be the day that we finally see whale sharks!. Best fishes, |
TODAY'S DATA Placencia, Belize Position: 16º 33' N / 88º 21' W Karen with our friend, Bob Bonde. Mr. Bonde is the world expert on manatees. He is here to tag and study manatees in Belize.
Wayne working on the expedition website in his "office" at The Inn at Robert's Grove.
This is the beach at the end of the peninsula at Placencia, a former sleepy little Belize fishing village. |
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Day 3
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