We had a guest from Europe and they really wanted to see manatees. We ware sailing for two weeks all around Belize, we anchored at many mangroves where you can spot manatees but unfortunately nothing. 
Every time when I could spot one  they missed it.  I kept talking to them how cool it is to see manatees and what amazing animals they are but sadly they couldn't spot any.
They were just laughing and kept telling me that "manatees don't exist".
       In the old time sailors reported to see mermaids all around in this waters.
As we know now most probably it was a manatee what they see. But again sailors did add a lot of rum to the water to kill bacteria. A mixture of the time spent at sea and a lit of bit alcohol might make things look different a bit.
     In Belize  we have the West Indian Manatee. This is the largest of all manatee species. Between 800-1200 lbs. They are vegetarian gentle giants. It is really hard to spot them as they can hold they breath up to 20 minutes. When they come up for air you will just see they nose for few second and they are gone again. It is all about your patience and time and a little bit of luck. One of my favorite anchorage is the Sapodilla lagoon, that is a great spot to see manatees and other wildlife. Nothing can make your morning better when you wake up and there is a manatee family around the boat.  I think most of the tourists  miss a lot just because they follow the plan that was done before the arrival. Just want to go to "point A" to "point B" and tour companies really happy to do that. Fast and done, get the next ones.  When you are on a sailboat one thig what you will not do is hurry and I think  that's why we always see amazing wildlife and cool things on our adventures. If we don't see manatees, don't be sad, for sure we will see something else maybe a mermaid... you never know:)

Dolphins are everyone favorite! We all love to see them playing around the sailboat while we are on the way or at anchor. Luckily in Belize we see often dolphins many times big group of dolphins come and play around the boat and we can watch them for hours. 
There are some different type of dolphins in Belize:
Atlantic bottlenose dolphin
Atlantic spotted dolphin
Spinner dolphin
Rough tooth dolphin
However most commonly seen are the bottlenose dolphins. 
When we have a day with a light wind sailing nothing can highlight the day more when the dolphins are coming. We see them from far away we know that they will come and check us out. I was always wondering why they are coming? What is they purpose? I can see how they are watching us as we sitting the side of the boat.  I believe that they are the same way interested about us as we interested about them. Often we can already recognize them by they fin so maybe they also can recognize the boat and they just came to say hi.  Dolphins are super intelligent when you start learning about them it is scary that they have a higher more advanced communication level as we do. I feel that we humans don't give them enough respect, we treat them as just an other animal in the sea.  In many countries still kill them or keep them in captivity for entertainment purposes. Just makes me sad.
I hope when you are sailing in Belize with us we will see dolphins along the way and we can share with you this great experience!  

       I'm sure many of us have seen barracuda while snorkeling, it is very common fish all around the seas. As we are not scientist we will just talk about personal experience. No facts.
 My guest often asking me what they should be careful with,
sharks, barracuda, any poisonous fish around? My answer always that, nothing really can harm you around Belize just do not touch anything just look. We don't swim where are crocodiles and sharks don't really attack people. Not like I have seen any shark ever in Belize waters. But barracuda, you can see a lot. I use to be terrified when I see one. I totally don't like them. Its not because they can harm me, it is really rear that they would attack humans but what scary about them, that a barracuda is not scared from you. Most of the time they just looking into your eyes and sometimes start following you. What is a normal behavior from a barracuda as they think we are a bigger predator and they are hoping for a free meal. Snorkeling many years in the sea I got kind of ok with them I keep a safe distance and admire they beauty and power.  
Most of the time the danger what can happen with us while we snorkeling it is only in our head...