June 19, 2024
After a hard goodbye, this trip has come to an end. We shared hugs and some tears were shed, but the kids are safely on the way home! These past two weeks have been unforgettable.
Since we last checked in we have been in Belize! After our long day at the airport we arrived in the beautiful country of Belize where we have gained a new appreciation for the ocean and the wildlife inside! We met our wonderful hosts, Mark and Sheila, and began to settle in for the Belizean leg of our adventure.
After arriving at the hostel, the kids were quick to jump into the pool that was just for us! Charlotte and Ethan had a fun idea of the game categories, which everyone loved! We ended the night with Moonup and pizza. The next day we woke up for a big day of SCUBA! For our first day of scuba training, we took a 45 minute boat ride out to a small island in the Caribbean. The kids overcome their nerves and learned important skills to use at the bottom of the ocean! In the calm waters, the students began to learn the basics of scuba and became more comfortable with the activity. By the time lunch rolled around, it seemed like everyone was experts! Sydney and Tipton even flipped in the water with their tanks! We completed the day by doing a deeper training dive and practicing the skills we learned on the shoreline. After a long day exploring the ocean in a completely new way, the students were sun kissed and exhausted! We finished the night with David cooking burgers, with Eleanor, Maddie, and Clara working as amazing sous chefs!
The next two days were spent practicing our skills in the water and perfecting them before the final dive! We went to many different islands off the coast of Belize, each with features that stuck out! Those including the coral, colorful fish, and even the sharks which were swimming around us! Milo absolutely loved to pet the nurse sharks (which were harmless by the way!) We ended the next two days of SCUBA with smile on our faces. On the last day of SCUBA we got to go for a dive that everyone will remember forever! We got to see a sea turtle which was massive! Apparently his name was Eric and he was 80+ years old! He was very curious about Bridget, and even went right up to her face! Everybody expressed how amazing it was and said it was their favorite dive! What a perfect way to end our leg of SCUBA!
On the last day to celebrate everyone’s certification and how amazing our trip has been, we treated ourselves to a catamaran day! We got to relax and soak up the sun while cruising through the Caribbean! We got to drink many different combinations of juice and were treated to many sodas too! We arrived in the boat on an island with crystal clear waters, and even stingrays swimming around! Eleanor had the amazing idea of playing beach volleyball before lunch, which everyone loved! We ate our best lunch yet of beach barbecue, including chicken, pork, ceviche, potato’s, and much more! With full bellies we spent some time hanging out in the ocean before we headed back on the catamaran! Ellis led the group in jumping off the boat into the water! We listened to good music and made our way back to land. On our final night we had our banquet dinner! We played mini golf, swam, and ate a HUGE dinner with dessert after of course! Lastly we had our final Moonup and packed up before our day in the airport.
We are so grateful we got the opportunity to spend time with these amazing kids and learn all the little things about them. These past few weeks have been nothing short of amazing and we hope that we can reunite some day!
With so much love,
BCR 1B out!
Catherine, Alexa, and David