Welcome to all! We expect to have a wonderful time traveling by ship and visiting parts of Belize and Guatemala. Here are a few quick notes for those who wish to identify the different species we'll encounter during the week. No, you don't have to be interested in names of species, but I'm including this information because I'm sure some folks are interested.
To whet your appetite, here's a species list from my trip there in 2010.
A good book for birds is Birds of Belize by H. Lee Jones (2003, Univ. Texas Press), and I'll have a copy with me.
For snorkeling, the best general book is the plasticized Fishwatchers Guide, West Atlantic Coral Reefs by Charles C.G. Chaplin (1972, Harrowood Books). You can get an excellent used copy for $3 or $4 from an on-line source, and that is certainly worth it. I'll also have a copy of Reef Fish Identification, Florida Caribbean Bahamas by Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach (2002, New World Publications).
I'll add more notes later, but I wanted to make these available right away.
Ernest Williams, Hamilton College
