Superb snorkel!

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. The weather was perfect, the current at the cut in the reef neutral (so swimming wasn't a fight) and we were the first boat to Hol Chan Marine Reserve this morning so there was no tourist traffic. Add to that our excellent guides and a lot of good swimmers and the result was a tremendous morning under the sea. I couldn't begin to recount the marine life, coral and other sights we saw, though you'll get a sense of the variety from the pictures. I always have such high hopes for the water camera, and am usually disappointed - the pictures never, ever capture the beauty of what we see. Nonetheless, you'll get a murky green idea of it, thanks to Matt and Maddie, who took turns chasing critters in both camera and video mode (unedited video to come shortly, I hope). Everyone did well - our first-timers were intrepid (Max even joined 4 other kids on a deep free-dive through a small cave in the reef - yikes!), old hands saw new sights, and everyone loved the turtles and screeched in their snorkels when the first shark appeared (nurse sharks - don't worry!) The more still they were able to be, the more of the less flashy but no less spectacular life they were able to notice along the reef. Our guide Lloydy teased a huge green moray eel out of its cave (yuck!) and brought a southern ray and a small shark to the surface so the kids could examine and pat them. Overall, a tremendous experience. I don't expect they'll soon forget it.