title: Belize Moon

(see the full-size close-up below)

Few things were more enjoyable than sailing wing-and-wing aboard the 45-foot catamaran Stingray on a magical tropical night sailing to adventure down the barrier reef of Belize. When there are brush fires on the islands, a full moon takes on strange hues. This one lit our path as we steered a course toward the southernmost outpost on the barrier reef. From there we were to dive a hole in the bottom of the ocean where as you descended the blue cone of light from the opening overhead, we passed giant stone stalactites over 12 feet long and large sharks came out of the darkness to swim around us. It was an underwater Ice Age cavern over 100 feet deep. At the bottom was a stalagmite, and beside that the remains of a charcoal fire site.

This is a close-up image from the full-size print, showing the detail involved