WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29th --

We had decided the day before to go on an all-day snorkel trip to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve with Ragamuffin Tours, even though James was worried that he would be seasick on a sailboat. He is fine on motor boats and catamarans, but sailboats and large, slow ferries are no good. The australian lady at Ragamuffin assured him that no one ever got sick on their boats, since all the sailing was inside the reef and very calm, and she had dramamine just in case. There was also some worry about rain that day, but it seemed fairly nice when we got up, so all systems were go. James went down to the ragamuffin office to confirm while I showered or slept in or something -- can't remember.

After we packed up all our stuff, we went to grab some breakfast. Where did we eat that morning? Uh oh, I'm starting to forget these little details -- which is why I started this diary. Anyway, no big deal. Oh, right, I went to find some breakfast while James was off confirming the trip, and I found the bakery. I picked up some cinamon rolls and banana bread at the bakery. After we met up, we stopped at the Herbal Tribe for coffee and a little extra snack. James got a bagel and cream cheese and a smoothie, I just wanted coffee. We never did end up getting the coffee, though, 'cause the machine was acting up or something. The service was terrible -- James tried to cancel the bagel, but the waitress didn't understand English, apparently, and brought it anyway. Then the whole coffee thing... very frustrating.

After breakfast, we went over to the Ragamuffin hut to check in. We ended up waiting on the beach there for around a half hour, which felt like forever. I laid down in the sand, James stood in the knee-deep water a few feet off shore watching the birds. There were frigate birds, pelicans and other seabirds, and they were attracted to a nearby pier where fishermen were gutting some fish. Molly and Sally chatted with the two ladies we had met on the way to Tikal, who were also on our snorkel trip. I went by and chatted for a minute as well -- the women had travelled to Caye Caulker from San Ignacio the day before, like we had, but had made a side-trip to the Thousand Foot Falls -- they said it was a really hellish day. I told them that I had read on a trip report about the trip to the falls, and that it was a really awful, long road with not a lot of payoff at the end. They said that was it exactly, and said they wished they had talked to me before they left. Ah well -- my research paid off for us, haha!

So, finally we loaded on the sailboat and set off. I was sitting hear the back, James was on the side of the boat. I was worried for him, hoping the dramamine would work. The wind was blowing fairly well, so it seemed like we'd make good time. It ended up taking about an hour, though, to get to the first snorkel site, and sailing got a bit boring after a while. James said afterwards that he would've preferred taking a motorboat and just getting there, but I thought it was nice that we weren't expending fossil fuels and polluting the reef...

We visited three sites -- the first was just coral and fish, it was outside the marine reserve so we were on our own. I went off by myself most of the time. The second site was "shark and ray alley," we saw a couple rays and nurse sharks, but also big schools of fish, which was neat. The third location was the main Hol Chan area, there were a bunch of boats there. It is a break in the reef where the channel is about 30 or 60 feet deep -- I forget. The snorkeling there was great. Lunch was pretty mediocre and small -- James and the girls had a choice of fish or chicken on a hamburger bun, I had a slice of American cheese with an iceberg lettuce salad and some macaroni salad. I put the iceberg salad on my sandwich, didn't touch the macaroni. James was starving that night, his sandwich was pretty small. The trip back seemed slower than the trip out - I think it was a little less windy. The guides made us some rum punch with fresh fruit and conch ceviche - but they made me a little vegetarian portion, as well, which seemed a lot like salsa, esp. since it's served with chips. What's the difference between ceviche and salsa, anyway? I couldn't eat much -- it was pretty spicy.

We were all exhausted, so we all went back to our rooms. Sally came by after a little bit and knocked on our door -- Molly had falled asleep but she wasn't tired. I answered the door in my nightgown, which was a little embarrasing, and we made plans to meet up for dinner at the Herbal Tribe later on. I got in bed to take a nap, and James went to run some kind of errand, I forget. Oh, yeah -- he took the laundry to the cleaner. It took a little while, and I asked him what was up, and he made up some story which turned out to be a lie. He was, in fact, out buying me a ring.

We slept for about a half hour, or I did, anyway. James was exhausted but I think he might've been too anxious/excited to sleep. When the alarm went off he jumped out of bed pretty quickly and we got dressed. He wondered aloud whether there was any sunset left to see, and I said I didn't think there was, as the sunset was around 6:10 and it was now 6:30. He went out to the roof deck anyway to check, leaving the door open. So I followed.

More later...