{"id":1501,"date":"2011-09-13T10:59:54","date_gmt":"2011-09-13T09:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bvblog.wpengine.com\/?p=1501"},"modified":"2011-09-19T16:04:18","modified_gmt":"2011-09-19T15:04:18","slug":"a-truly-belizean-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"A truly Belizean experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rachel Murphy, Blue Ventures volunteer, Belize<\/p>\n

Even at 4.30am as we walk through the village the air is hot and humid. An occasional startled dog starts barking enthusiastically in a bid to warn off intruders, breaking the otherwise silent morning. Belize in August.<\/p>\n

One week spent in science training; learning and revising fish species and seeing how the science fits in with the local community has now led us to the eagerly awaited departure to dive camp. We leave today and rise early to pack the boat for the first run to Bachalar Chico<\/a>. In the week leading up to this we have managed to see a lot of the work Blue Ventures does in the small village of Sarteneja<\/a>. The village is in the top north east corner of Belize and the community is searching for alternative livelihoods. Previously they relied mostly on fishing for their income, however now, with declining fish stocks, they need to look elsewhere. The community has developed a tourism scheme for the village, based along sustainable development ideals. During our week in Sarteneja we were able to support this as Blue Ventures makes use of the \u2018homestay\u2019 network \u2013 a group of women who have guests stay in their houses for a sustainable source of income and to give visitors a truly Belizean experience.<\/p>\n

We also spent a fun afternoon at the SACD<\/a> (Sarteneja Alliance for Conservation and Development) running a programme of activities for the local children, currently on school holidays. Through artwork, games, and question and answer sessions, we encouraged them to recognize the incredible biodiversity of Corozal Bay. This bay right on their doorstep is home to manatee, birds and marine wildlife, and has recently been discovered to be a nursery ground for Bull sharks. The bay holds significance for the whole Belize barrier reef in the populations of species it supports. We then looked at the various threats posed to each species and what could be done about it. We sent the children home with \u2018park ranger\u2019 badges. Much to my delight, my homestay \u2018Mum\u2019 told me her son had come home and announced he now had a job to do \u2013 protecting the bay!<\/p>\n

We also slotted in a trip to Wildtracks<\/a> \u2013 a manatee and monkey rescue centre. We were introduced to the soon to be released Twiggy, a manatee, who had come to the centre nearly two years previously as an orphan. She impressed us with her skill in emptying a baby bottle filled with milk in roughly 15 seconds.<\/p>\n

All in all it was a thoroughly exhausting and satisfying week and we left Sarteneja full of anticipation for dive camp, itching to get in the water and to start spotting some of the fish we\u2019d learnt.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/dt>\n
Manatee rehab at Wildtracks<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rachel Murphy, Blue Ventures volunteer, Belize Even at 4.30am as we walk through the village the air is hot and humid. An occasional startled dog starts barking enthusiastically in a bid to warn off intruders, breaking the otherwise silent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":1502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-belize"],"yoast_head":"\nA truly Belizean experience - Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Rachel Murphy, Blue Ventures volunteer, Belize Even at 4.30am as we walk through the village the air is hot and humid. An occasional startled dog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A truly Belizean experience - Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Rachel Murphy, Blue Ventures volunteer, Belize Even at 4.30am as we walk through the village the air is hot and humid. An occasional startled dog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-13T09:59:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-09-19T15:04:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/media\/Manatee-Rehab-at-Wildtracks.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Blue Ventures\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@blueventures\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@blueventures\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Blue Ventures\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/a-truly-belizean-experience\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/a-truly-belizean-experience\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Blue Ventures\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/46395a949d7d2e45ec64f013d1a518f4\"},\"headline\":\"A truly Belizean experience\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-09-13T09:59:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-09-19T15:04:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/a-truly-belizean-experience\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":466,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/a-truly-belizean-experience\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/media\\\/Manatee-Rehab-at-Wildtracks.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Belize\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/a-truly-belizean-experience\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/a-truly-belizean-experience\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/a-truly-belizean-experience\\\/\",\"name\":\"A truly Belizean experience - Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/a-truly-belizean-experience\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/a-truly-belizean-experience\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/media\\\/Manatee-Rehab-at-Wildtracks.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-09-13T09:59:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-09-19T15:04:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/46395a949d7d2e45ec64f013d1a518f4\"},\"description\":\"By Rachel Murphy, Blue Ventures volunteer, Belize Even at 4.30am as we walk through the village the air is hot and humid. An occasional startled dog\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/a-truly-belizean-experience\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/a-truly-belizean-experience\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/a-truly-belizean-experience\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/media\\\/Manatee-Rehab-at-Wildtracks.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/media\\\/Manatee-Rehab-at-Wildtracks.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1200,\"caption\":\"Manatee rehab at Wildtracks\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/a-truly-belizean-experience\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A truly Belizean experience\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog\",\"description\":\"Voices from the front line of marine conversation\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/46395a949d7d2e45ec64f013d1a518f4\",\"name\":\"Blue Ventures\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/99072653ed4e1f204616d77356585e0f411fa627415743152caeb90fceef3bf1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/99072653ed4e1f204616d77356585e0f411fa627415743152caeb90fceef3bf1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/99072653ed4e1f204616d77356585e0f411fa627415743152caeb90fceef3bf1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Blue Ventures\"},\"description\":\"Blue Ventures is an award winning marine conservation charity. We rebuild tropical fisheries with coastal communities. On our Beyond Conservation blog you can hear voices from the front line of marine conservation written by our staff and volunteers.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blueventures.org\",\"http:\\\/\\\/instagram.com\\\/beyondconservation\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.blueventures.org\\\/en\\\/author\\\/bv\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A truly Belizean experience - Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog","description":"By Rachel Murphy, Blue Ventures volunteer, Belize Even at 4.30am as we walk through the village the air is hot and humid. An occasional startled dog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A truly Belizean experience - Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog","og_description":"By Rachel Murphy, Blue Ventures volunteer, Belize Even at 4.30am as we walk through the village the air is hot and humid. An occasional startled dog","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/","og_site_name":"Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog","article_published_time":"2011-09-13T09:59:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-09-19T15:04:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1200,"url":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/media\/Manatee-Rehab-at-Wildtracks.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Blue Ventures","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@blueventures","twitter_site":"@blueventures","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Blue Ventures","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/"},"author":{"name":"Blue Ventures","@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/46395a949d7d2e45ec64f013d1a518f4"},"headline":"A truly Belizean experience","datePublished":"2011-09-13T09:59:54+00:00","dateModified":"2011-09-19T15:04:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/"},"wordCount":466,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/media\/Manatee-Rehab-at-Wildtracks.jpg","articleSection":["Belize"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/","name":"A truly Belizean experience - Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/media\/Manatee-Rehab-at-Wildtracks.jpg","datePublished":"2011-09-13T09:59:54+00:00","dateModified":"2011-09-19T15:04:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/46395a949d7d2e45ec64f013d1a518f4"},"description":"By Rachel Murphy, Blue Ventures volunteer, Belize Even at 4.30am as we walk through the village the air is hot and humid. An occasional startled dog","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/media\/Manatee-Rehab-at-Wildtracks.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/media\/Manatee-Rehab-at-Wildtracks.jpg","width":1600,"height":1200,"caption":"Manatee rehab at Wildtracks"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/a-truly-belizean-experience\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A truly Belizean experience"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/","name":"Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog","description":"Voices from the front line of marine conversation","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/46395a949d7d2e45ec64f013d1a518f4","name":"Blue Ventures","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99072653ed4e1f204616d77356585e0f411fa627415743152caeb90fceef3bf1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99072653ed4e1f204616d77356585e0f411fa627415743152caeb90fceef3bf1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99072653ed4e1f204616d77356585e0f411fa627415743152caeb90fceef3bf1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Blue Ventures"},"description":"Blue Ventures is an award winning marine conservation charity. We rebuild tropical fisheries with coastal communities. On our Beyond Conservation blog you can hear voices from the front line of marine conservation written by our staff and volunteers.","sameAs":["https:\/\/blueventures.org","http:\/\/instagram.com\/beyondconservation"],"url":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/author\/bv\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}