Meeting Back Up With Zev In Key Cauker

     Zev was still in Roatan and we had planned to meet up so he ended up flying to Key Cauker on a very small plane. I did not really know when he was showing up and as I was walking down the beach I heard my name and he came running towards me. It was so good to see him again, it had been almost a month. I got him a place in my dorm room there and we hit the beach all day with everyone.

     The next day we went on a boat trip out to the reefs to swim with the sting rays. The boat was run by a awesome Rasta guy with a very unique boat that he built himself.

     The captain was very funny and friendly and Zev, Josh and about 6 others from our hostel set out on the water bumping reggae music out of a old tape player the captain had on board. It was his only tape and I imagine it had been played thousands of time. Along the way he made some great seafood BBQ and chip dips in his little kitchen by the engine.

     We arrived at the reef and you could see about 20 huge sting rays swimming under the boat. The water was only about 5 feet deep. Captain jumped in first and one of the sting rays swam up to him and he picked it up out of the water and told us its name and how he had been out there doing this for 20 years and knew each sting ray personally. He asked us to jump in, I was hesitant at first but jumped in and was instantly baraged with all the sting rays rubbing into me. It was quite freaked out at first but soon came to terms with it and the Captain showed me how to properly pick one up. I held out my hands and of on them swam right up to me and nuzzled against my chest like a curious cat. It was quite a cool experience.