Belize Coral Survey Dive Sapodilla Cayes

A reel of footage from a dive in the Sapodilla Cayes, Belize. This is a dive site where a scientist is measuring the growth of conch shells. He can't be there every day, so tourists do it for him. The site is quite deep--over 100 ft. down, with intense pressure. In fact, it is the deepest known breeding site for conch, and an important indicator of the health and restorative capacity of this Belizean reef. Bottom time was limited to 14 minutes, for safety. During that time I found and cleaned the plastic tags on conch, and my partner jotted them onto a slate using a No. 2 pencil while I measured the lip flare, over-all length, and horn-separation with calipers and a tape measure. On the way up I saw a turtle, but didn't get any footage. This is part of a forthcoming piece for Condé Nast Traveler on the Caribbean's reef crisis.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Patrick
• Symmes
• Sapodilla
• Cayes
• Belize
• Coral
• Survey
• Dive.