I got out of bed this morning after a much needed rest. Before stepping into the office I walked along the dock (yes, I live at work) and immediately noticed literally millions of sardines in the shadow of the dock. Crevalle jacks were darting in and out of the bait ball while a huge barracuda lay motionless a couple feet away getting cleaned by a juvenile Spanish grunt about 2 inches in size. About 5 large bonefish silted up the bottom of the shallow end irritating several upside down jellies. As I walked in front of the dive shop I carefully examined the bottom through the unusually crystal clear water and noticed 3 juvenile yellow stingrays. The largest was about 3 inches across. Yes, that's right, inches not feet. They seemed to be hatch lings in their settling stage. The sun was slowly rising over the horizon and I felt like I had just discovered something new for today. I remember working with Richard Foster filming fish migrations for National Geographic last year and I know he would have loved to be here with millions of fish just under the dock. We searched Turneffe Atoll for schooling fish and after a week, including 2 days at the Elbow during the full moon, he probably got 15 minutes of usable video but he got plenty of stock footage and was happy. If I had only known then.
How many people can say that they look forward to an exciting morning on the way to the office?
Photo Credit: Sunrise at Belize Adventure Lodge by Tony Rath.
