Manatees in Belize
Earthwatch Team IV
March 2001
All photos on these pages were taken by me, Jeff Rees, while a volunteer on Earthwatch Team IV in March, 2001.
Many thanks to Caryn, Katie, Pam, Landy, and Jerry for providing us with a fun, educational, and overall wonderful experience!
Our trip started in Belize City, where we were picked up by boat and brought out to the island. This is the local fishing fleet moored at the mouth of the river. The local fisherman will go out in these boats for a week at a time and sleep on deck.
Here is a view of the camp as we approached it from the water. This was going to be our home for the next two weeks.
Click on any of the photos to see a larger version.
Here's another view of the camp showing the dorm on the right and the kitchen/lab on the left.
This is a nautical chart of the area. The camp is about eight miles from Belize City. The areas in which we studied the manatees were mainly the channels (bogues) in the mangrove islands in the upper right.
This is one side of the kitchen/lab, the "Pink House", as it is known locally. It shows the rain collection tank, the solar cells on the roof, the storage batteries, and the generator.
