Laughing Bird Caye

On approach, Laughing Bird Caye is breathtaking: a narrow island, lined with multiple palm trees, with a single thatch hut where a resident park ranger awaits to welcome and inform visitors. It’s not so bad once you’ve arrived, either: brilliant white sand, iridescent turquoise water, pelicans overhead. This 10,000-acre protected marine park is more than a sight for sore eyes: It offers some of the best snorkeling in Belize, particularly on the leeward side of the island where large tropical critters thrive. Barracuda, nurse sharks, bonefish, and rays swim alongside smaller fish in colorful, healthy corals. Laughing Bird Caye, part of the Belize Barrier Reef and a designated World Heritage Site, is a popular snorkel day trip from Placencia Village, just 11 miles away.

After lunch on Laughing Bird Caye, we were treated to a visit by a curious Lemon Shark. The boat driver told us the shark was not dangerous and we all proceeded to continue snorkeling, despite the shark’s presence. Later on, I watched a show back at home about the top ten most dangerous sharks in the world and the Lemon Shark was number ten.