Adventure in Belize along the world's second longest barrier reef

Matt Jackson - 

"If you want to see feesh, you come to the right place," says our guide Carm. His enthusiasm is palpable. "We gonna show you lots of feesh!"

There are 10 of us here to take part in a seven-day, multisport extravaganza with Vancouver-based Island Expeditions. We're spread out across the white sand of Tobacco Caye, under the leafy fronds of palm swaying in the breeze.

We are hinged on Carm's every word as he recites off a list of tropical fish that reminds me of Bubba listing off shrimp recipes in the movie Forrest Gump: grey angelfish, queen triggerfish, spotted butterflyfish, French grunts, blue tangs. The list seems to go on forever.

"And now we gonna go to the dock and I show you some of them," says Carm. This is a preview, he tells us, for what's coming tomorrow morning, when we take to the water for the first time with masks, fins and snorkels. The water is so clear beside Belize's barrier reef -- the second longest reef in the world - that you can see many of the fish from the end of the dock.

With expectation etched on our faces, we walk past a small beach bar with a thatched roof and a grinning bartender.

However, as our group wanders out onto the dock, the first thing we see is not what we had expected: several feet of lime-green eel slithering alongside a fishing dory that's been tethered to the wharf. As promised, the clarity of the water ensures that we see the moray's sharp white teeth in perfect detail.

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