Spotted eagle rays are amongst my favorite fish in the sea. While working as a scientific diver in Florida, I would consider myself lucky to get even a glimpse of these beautiful cousins of the shark. Here in Belize they are very common though - I regularly see at least one nearly every time I snorkel on the outer reefs and seagrass beds. On this day, we were diving along a 90ft wall called The Aquarium, which sits on the western side of Lighthouse Atoll, near the Great Blue Hole. This fearless ray emerged from the depths directly below us and continued to make its way up and over the wall. It felt like an omen of good tidings.













