When we weren’t in the water, the main creatures that we observed in Belize were the black spiny-tailed iguanas. These guys were always around, sunning themselves on the grounds of our hotel. They were particularly fond of watching the hotel guests swim in the pool. They’d sit patiently all day watching the action. Occasionally they would bob their heads up and down, perhaps as a defensive warning aimed at the big bald photographer recording their every move. Male black spiny-tailed iguanas can reach a length of four feet three inches. Females are slightly smaller. With the ability to run over 21 miles per hour, they are the fastest lizard species on earth.
Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens at 270mm, ISO 400, f/4 at 1/100th of a second

With my extreme wide angle lens, I wasn’t able to get any true close ups of fish, although I’ve always liked the landscape-y wildlife shots better anyway, even underwater. This one was taken at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve in Belize, a beautiful place full of spectacular coral gardens. One small fish that kept allowing me a close approach on my free dives was the bluehead wrasse. At only about 4 inches in length, they pack a lot of color into such a small body. Interesting fact about the bluehead wrasse is that females can change sex later in life and become males. As for all those other fish in the background, they are blue-striped grunts. There’s also a little yellowtail damselfish swimming out of frame to the lower right in the shadows.
Sony RX100V in a Fantasea housing, 8.8mm (24mm full frame equivalent) with wide angle wet lens, ISO 125, f/4 at 1/320th of a second

Before we got to the beach at Ambergris Caye, we spent three nights in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest in western Belize, close to the Guatemala border. On one of our days, we took an excursion to the Caracol Mayan Ruins for a bit of culture. Of course, I took my long lens just in case — hoping that some wildlife would show up during our tour. Sure enough, just as we were finishing up with our guide, a large troop of howler monkeys stopped by in all their howling glory. If you’ve never heard a howler monkey howl, it’s quite an experience. In fact, some of the more aggressive dinosaur noises from Jurassic Park are actually howler monkey calls dubbed into the mouths of angry dilophosaurus and other prehistoric beasts.
Nikon D500 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/2000th of a second

Here’s another one from Shark Ray Alley in Belize. We saw quite a few of these southern stingrays and a few spotted eagle rays, as well. I liked that the light was hitting this guy’s eye and you can see the pale green iris. There’s also another nurse shark back there in the distance with the school of horse-eye jacks.
Sony RX100V at 8.8mm (24mm equivalent) with wide angle wet lens and Fantasea Underwater Housing, ISO 250, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second

Karen and I are just back from a great week in Belize. As I mentioned before we left, this was more of a relaxing-on-the-beach vacation and not really a wildlife trip (although I always try to sneak off for a few creature shots whenever I can and you’ll see some of those, both in and out of the water, over the next week or so). We stayed for three nights inland in the rainforest, and then four nights at the beach on Ambergris Caye. Just offshore are some of the best snorkeling spots anywhere in the world, including Shark Ray Alley where I photographed this nurse shark. Don’t worry Mom, these sharks are relatively harmless. They don’t have the big teeth of some other sharks, but rather a powerful suction action perfect for capturing smaller fish. Nurse sharks can grow to be about 14 feet long and weigh up to 730 pounds, but most of the ones we saw were smaller than that. In addition to all the sharks, we also saw sea turtles, stingrays, and all manner of fish. By the way, those big fish swimming alongside the shark are called horse-eye jacks. For all my underwater shots on this trip, I used the Sony RX100 V pocket camera in a Fantasea housing, with a wide angle wet lens attached. I was really happy with the results from such a small set up.
Sony RX100V at 8.8mm (24mm equivalent) plus wide angle wet lens, ISO 400, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second, Fantasea Housing