The Life of a Belize Sea Kayak Guide 3 of 3

Continued.... The Life of a Sea Kayak Guide - by Jack Wilde

The next few days will be a busy blur. Get up at first light, clean and stock the dining hall, the washrooms and shower house. Fill the water basins and the drinking water jugs, make sure the coffee and hot water are ready when the first guests arise. Then, its breakfast. After the mess from breakfast is put away, we have a lecture or a workshop. Coral reef ecology, fish identification, reef safety, chart reading and basic navigation are just a few of our talks. These talks are our way of bringing the whole experience into context and giving it meaning far deeper than looking at pretty fish. But the fish are pretty too.

As the week progresses it is interesting to see the changes in people. They really start to unwind, to feel a part of the place. They start going to bed earlier (it's dark out, what else is there to do?), and getting up earlier (who would miss such a glorious sunrise?). They notice the rhythms of the sea, the tides, the winds, and the phases of the moon (what a glorious sky at night, speckled with stars. It takes your breath away. and we are often treated to the streak of a meteorite, and the various flashes of pale green bioluminescence all around under the dock.

Even when you look to the land, a glow in the sky reveals a mysterious settlement somewhere over the horizon, and the flashes of lightning may be a thunderstorm over the Maya Mountains, or perhaps just the static discharge a warm humid night reveals and we know as heat lightning.
Too soon it is nearly over. Farewell toasts are made email addresses are exchanged and people begin to mentally prepare to return to their life as they once knew it. New friendships have been forged and it is no surprise to see familiar faces return next year, perhaps to the same place, or one of the other trips that Island Expeditions runs here in Belize. For me, it is back to town to a hot shower and salt-free clothes, to footwear and internet, and perhaps a doze in the hammock before it starts all over again tomorrow.