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Belize 2008

Tentative Itinerary   

Belize 2008 Itinerary:

Friday, December 12^th 5pm – 9pm Orientation Meeting in NS 225 to discuss trip preparations, Coral Reef Ecology,  Belizean Culture , trip logistics and academic expectations.                          

Monday, December 29^th 5:30am meet at San Diego International Airport American Airlines Ticket Counter to check in for our 7:15am flight to Belize City, Belize via Houston.  Instructors will use the time in the terminal to answer student questions, review assignment requirements and acquaint course participants.  Arrive Belize City at 3:55pm, move through Belizean Customs and board regional flight to Ambergris Caye, Belize.  Arrive Ambergris Caye at 5:30pm. We will be staying at Neptune, the headquarters of the Belize Marine Tropical Research and Education Center  (TREC) and have our first island orientation, institute rules and briefing on snorkeling the Caribbean reef.

Tuesday, December 30^th 7:00am breakfast; 8:00am meet in the common room to walk together to the boat dock for safety meeting.  After a safety meeting regarding boat rules and boat safety we will board the vessel Goliath for a short cruise to Tres Cocos where students will receive a short introduction to snorkeling and the tropical reef community.  Students will go in small groups and with buddies. Each group will be lead by one of four instructors and field experts who will lead them around the reef to show them reef creatures while they become comfortable with their snorkeling gear.  12 pm Lunch aboard the Goliath.  1pm continue snorkeling the Tres Cocos area until 4pm.  Dinner is served in the common room at 6pm.  Students attend instructor presentation on reef organism classification from 7-8:30pm.

Wednesday December 31^st 7:00am breakfast; 8:00am meet in the common room to walk together to the boat dock; snorkel Mexico Rocks and surrounding reef until 3pm with a one hour lunch break.  Students will be lead by one of four instructors and reef ecology will be discussed on deck.   After dinner students will meet in the common room and walk to the beach to perform a beach seine, collect fish and discuss the ecology of near shore fish.

Thursday, January 1^st 7:00am breakfast; 8:00am meet in the common room to walk together to the boat dock; Full day instructor-led snorkeling, Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley where the ecology of cartilaginous fish and sea turtles will be discussed on deck.  Students will receive lunch on board and return to shore around 4pm.  After dinner students will meet in the common room to listen to student presentations regarding a topic in tropical reef ecology.

Friday, January 2^nd 7:00am breakfast; 9:00am we will meet with gear packed to travel to the mainland via ferry whilst looking for and discussing manatee ecology.  After arriving on the mainland we will travel in a bus to the Mayan Ruins of Xunantunich.  Mayan culture and history will be discussed as well as tropical rainforest ecology.  Lunch will be served and time will be spent looking for rainforest inhabitants most notably trogons and other bold tropical birds.  The town of San Ignacio will be visited for a look at current Belizean culture as well as to accommodate any errands group participants may need to accomplish.  After dinner is served students will meet in the common patio to listen to an instructor presentation on tropical forest ecology.

Saturday, January 3^rd 7:00am breakfast; 8:00 we will board a bus to travel to the mountains where we will hike to Cha Chem Ha Cave.  Mayan culture and history will be discussed as well as tropical forest ecology.  After lunch we will travel to the Panti Medicine Trail where scientists are currently doing research on medicinal plants as well as educating visitors on the uses of medicinal plants in historical and contemporary context.  After dinner students will meet to listen to student presentations on Mayan culture or tropical forest ecology.

Sunday, January 4^th 7:00am breakfast; 8:00am we will take a bus to the mountains to paddle canoes into Barton Creek Cave.   Geology of the mountains will be discussed as it relates to the overall ecology of the area as well as cave ecology.  After lunch we will take a bus to the Belize Zoo where native species of animals can be observed and discussed.  After dinner students will meet to listen to student presentations on Mayan culture or tropical forest ecology.

 Monday, January 5^th 6:00am breakfast; 7:00am we will meet with gear packed to take a bus to Orange Walk where we will board a boat to travel down the New River to the Lamanai Mayan ruins.  Along the way marsh ecology will be discussed and observed.  At the Mayan site tropical biology is discussed as well as Mayan history and culture.  After lunch we will travel via ferry to Ambergris Caye.

Tuesday, January 6^th 7:00am breakfast; 8:00am meet in the common room to walk together to the boat dock for a full day instructor-led snorkeling of Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley.   Lunch will be served on board and reef ecology discussed.  After dinner we will meet in the common room to walk down to the dock together for an instructor-led night snorkel of Tres Cocos.

Wednesday January 7^th   7:00am breakfast; 8:00am meet in the common room to walk together to the boat dock Full day instructor-led snorkeling a mangrove and Coral Gardens.  Lunch will be served and Conservation Biology will be discussed on deck.  No evening presentations will be given on our last night.

Thursday, January 8^th 8:00am breakfast; Students will meet in the common room at 9:00am for the final student presentations.  Gear will be packed and ready to go at 11:00am after which students have some free time to explore San Pedro in groups.  We will meet at Neptune to board taxis to the airport at 1pm.  We will take a regional flight to Belize City international airport where we will board a 4:40pm flight to San Diego via Houston.

Note: This is a tentative itinerary subject to change depending on weather conditions or safety considerations.