Zander Snorkels in Belize

After weeks of swim lessons with Alex, who is a great swim instructor, and snorkel practice with dad in the pool, we headed for Belize. I have to admit he was the best dressed little snorkeler there. Upon arriving in Belize Jake and I each took Z for a little shore snorkeling and he did good, but there was not a lot to see, so he lasted about 15 minutes each time. Jake arranged for a snorkel boat ride out to Hol Chan Marine Reserve, and it was a perfect place to put his skills to the test.
We started out in water that was only about 4 feet deep and started our swim, Zander kept his face straight down not moving a bit, holding dads hand on one side and moms on the other. After about 10 minutes he started to wave at the fish, we had to move his chin for him to realize he could look around a little bit. Then we swam over a Green Moray Eel and his grip got even tighter, still his head did not come out of the water. After seeing some Barracuda and some schools of fish we got to about 30 feet of water and he finally stopped, I think we both thought he was scared, he only stopped to tell us he saw an Eel. We continued for another 25 minutes and saw crabs, coral, Parrot fish and more. Upon arriving at the boat he said "We can't stop I did not see a turtle yet". So the the grasses we went to find the turtle, sure enough he saw his first turtle.
From that site we headed to SharkRay alley, as soon as the boat stopped there where 4 nurse sharks and lots of Rays right at the boat, Z wanted to watch safely from the boat. The divemaster was awesome, he brought one of each up close for Z to touch, however he was fine with just looking.
What a great family memory we had in the waters of Belize, we look forward to many more.