Belize Day 4

This was it - the Big Day - we were going to dive the Blue Hole in Belize. Because deep dives are the first dives for any given day, that was our first stop. First, we had to get out there.

It was about a three hour boat ride. After the choppy weather on the first day, none of us were looking forward to three hours in a boat in open seas. We were fortunate however, in that the water was calm, and while it was a long ride, it was mostly uneventful.

I say mostly because we did see dolphins playing in the water, though they scattered when we circled to observe them. We saw some flying fish, and far in the distance, a water spout. Out at sea, we could stare for miles and miles without seeing anything, until a new island or would appear.

Most of the ride though, we caught up on sleep, listened to iPods, chatted with each other, or checked out gear.

FInally, we arrived. The only sign was that the boat slowed as the captain threaded his way through the opening of the reef around the hole itself. I tried to make out the hole, but didn't quite have the elevation. Photos I took look just like ocean - flat and endless, except for a boat of snorkelers across the way.

We went over the dive plan and our groups, then geared up and splashed in. I checked the computer - it was on air and working fine. 

We descended to about thirty feet, cruising along a relatively shallow edge until we came to the drop. The Blue Hole drops into the ocean and gets wider the deeper you go. Looking out, we truly were staring into the abyss. It bottoms out at over four hundred feet, deeper than any of us could safely go. We swam forward gradually, descending as we went, into the darkness.

As discussed, around ninety feet of depth, we began to inflate our buoyancy compensators to slow our descent. I leveled out, and my eyes adjusted to the darkness. Before me was a large hole in the wall, with columns in front of it, like a naturally carved temple. Other divers swam around. I turned to find my dive buddy - there he was, above me. In the distance, a pack of reef sharks swam by.

I swam closer to the columns, and watched my depth. About a hundred and thirty-five feet, nearly twice any depth I been to prior to the previous day's test dive. I only had a few minutes before I had to ascend. I slowed down in order to better appreciate the world around me. 

Mostly, that was, "holy cow I'm nearly a hundred and forty feet below the surface of the ocean". There were some fish, but not many. I marveled at the geology we were swimming in - formed thousands of years ago, before the ocean levels rose, this was a dry cave that collapsed. Well before we were recognizably human, centuries before humans had anything approaching a civilization, these caves had already gone through enormous shifts in geology.

There was a beeping sound. I looked at my computer. I only have five minutes left at this depth. I began my ascent. Simply moving up ten feet gave me three more minutes. I found my dive buddy, and we stayed together, gradually ascending, working our way back to the shelf.

On the surface, when I reviewed my log in the compute,r my max depth was a hundred and forty-two feet. I doubt I'll be doing that again any time soon.

After such a dive, and a long ride out, we needed a lengthy surface interval, so we made for an island to have lunch at. It was a nature preserve, home to several species of migratory bird, as well as lizards and hermit crabs. 

After lunch, we walked along a path, seeing iguanas, hermit crabs, and in the sky, heron and egrets (or, one or the other,memory fails). We were on an enlarged sandy bank pretending to be an island, the accumulation of coral, ground into sand, surrounded by ocean.

We went out for two more dives, which were arguably the best dives of the trip. They were shallow, and we saw a wide variety of creatures, flora and fauna. Barracuda, sharks, rays, fish, tons of fish; coral of all kinds, and sea snakes receding into the sand like retracting grass.

When we got back, the long ride seemed negligible. We cleaned up and went out for drinks and dinner. For some of us, it was the last day of diving. We had another day in paradise, sans diving, before returning to our regular lives. Pina Colada, Mojitos, plain cerveza, and plenty of food, and we crashed out, dreaming of fish.

Belize Day 3

As rough as the first day of diving was, it would have been hard to have a difficult second day. Fortunately, conditions improved.

Unfortunately - for me, at least, and my buddy - my dive computer got stuck in a free dive mode. I was double-checking its other settings, and somehow got into free dive. I got it out of that move - or so I thought - but by the time I was at 16 feet of depth, it was clearly indicating that I was free-diving; that is, diving without scuba gear. I motioned to my buddy to go up, and we did.

This was frustrating for a couple of reasons. First, I was diving Nitrox for the first time, and already nervous about that - I spent an inordinate amount of time double-checking the computer to make sure it was set up for Nitrox, and in so doing made an error that put it in a completely different mode. Second, this dive was the group deep dive to 100 feet, to ensure no one got narc'd - suffered from nitrogen narcosis. 

Later, we learned that our guide had motioned for us to dive off my buddy's computer, but we mis-read his signals as telling us to go up as buddies. I think that what happened was that after I set the computer to dive mode, I held the buttons to back out of that screen too long and it cycled to free dive, and happened to be there when I hit the water.

In any case, it wasn't anything that ten minutes of cursing and alone time couldn't heal. The captain radioed the shop manager, who came out on our next dive and took my buddy and I to 120 feet, which we did without incident (and without Nitrox - I saved those cans for the next day). I'm very grateful for that.

This second dive - my first, the group's second - was very rewarding. The guides served up chum to attract nurse sharks and rays. As the three of us dove deeper, we wound our way down through canyons, and then on around, gradually making our way back up. We spotted a ray circling overhead, and a turtle swimming towards us, escaping the others. Finally, we were seeing wildlife. Even during my safety stop, I saw a turtle land on a ledge below me, and his camouflage kept him well hidden. Keeping track of him became my game for passing the time at the safety stop.

After the morning dives, a small group of us opted for an afternoon dive, heading out to Hol Chan Marine Reserve. We dived shallow, no more than 30 feet, but saw plenty of fish, some rays, and coral. It was a great dive that made up for missing the first morning dive. Afterwards, we went to Shark Ray Alley, where our guide once again chummed up the water, and we snorkeled with nurse sharks, jack fish, and rays. It was beautiful.

As it happened, that night was scheduled for the optional night dive, so I got that in as well. After returning to shore to rest and get some food, we went out in the evening and were in the water at night. Using our flashlights, we cruised along at shallow depths. There was strong current to fight as we entered the water, but once away from the boat and at depth, we were in a small valley that was out of the current. We say sleeping rays, some parrot fish, and an octopus or two. There was a moray eel, but I missed him.

This was my busiest day. I had three dives, a snorkel, and I at least got in the water for another dive. In a way, it was good to have a little frustration with my computer, and even more so on what was a less consequential dive. I figured out what I got wrong, and was much better prepared for the dives to come.

Belize Day 2

The first day of diving, for most sport divers, is a day of getting re-acquainted with the sport. There's all the gear to manage, there are steps and checklists to become familiar with, and there's the act of diving itself: moving slowly through the water, and breathing at a rate that doesn't use up all the air too quickly.

The weather was rough on this first day. A stiff wind had kicked up and was sustained, causing some taller, stronger waves. On the way out, it was like hitting speed bumps every couple of minutes, and on site, the boat rocked considerably. Once in the water, most of this goes away, but while we waited to enter the water, it was pretty brutal.

Our first dive was at Gardenella, for about 40 minutes. I descended to a max depth of 62 feet, but kept between 45 and 55 most of the time. We saw a few fish, but mostly coral. I did see one sea turtle, and off in the distance, a ray.

Our second dive had rougher water and fewer sites. The site was Cypress Garden, and we descended to a depth of 74 feet - slightly more than standard open water, and technically requiring a deep dive safety stop at max half depth. Our guide found some tiny little spider-like creatures, and a flutefish, but otherwise, it was mostly coral.

Coming back to the boat was a little jarring. As we floated at the surface, we could see the boat and dive platform moving vertically five or more feet vertically. The protocol for the boat was that they would throw a line for us to hold on to and take our fins off prior to coming in. This worked well, allowing us to align and plant our feet on the ladder before climbing up. 

E got sick, as did another diver. We all felt a bit queasy, and were a bit disappointed by what we saw. Overall, these were slightly rough acclimation dives. After such an auspicious start, we hoped for better diving in the days to come.

Belize: Day 1

Getting to Belize was pretty straightforward most of the way: from LGA to ATL, and then ATL to BZE. The last leg was the most interesting: taking a "puddle jumper" from BZE to SPR (San Pedro), the little town of about 12,000 on Ambergris Caye.

This was aviation as it started: small planes, little corrugated metal hangars, a small building amounting to little more than a lobby. Our luggage was rolled out to the plane on a hand-drawn cart; the luggage compartment looked like an addition to the hull. Our plane seated twelve, which included the jump seat next to the pilot. The door opened to become the ladder to the ground.

This flight in itself was uneventful, except for flying much closer (under 2000 feet) than a jetliner. We saw the water, numerous islands, and seated behind the pilot, the runway as we approached. We appeared to slide a little to the right as we came in - presumably the effect of some wind.

At the airport, we collected out luggage from a sheltered area, then walked all of two or three blocks to the hotel. Once checked in, we went to our rooms, arrayed around aU-shaped courtyard that opened to the sea. From there, we could see the dive shop, our boat, and the reef far offshore.

We stayed at the Sunbreeze Hotel, and dived with "Hugh Parkey's Scuba Adventure" or some similar name. I would recommend both. The hotel's staff and associated restaurant were great, and Kevin, the manager of the dive shop, was a square dealer. At one point, when I cancelled a deep dive to to a computer error, he came out and did a dive with me and my buddy, so that we could dive the Blue Hole the next day.

The first day was mostly spent traveling, followed by the business of arriving. I got to know my roommate, a camera assistant in the film industry I'll call E, and other divers - notably MG, MF, JS, and R. On most dives, we were together as a subgroup, and we dined out in the evenings afterwards.

San Pedro is a small town. There are all of three streets; the town map indicates which are paved and which are not - a feature which may need to be updated at some point, as there was some development going on. Most traffic is either golf cart or bicycles, though some small vans and the occasional car were spotted as well.

For dining, you have to get away from the hotel. The hotel food is good, but it's also relatively expensive (that is, reasonable for Manhattan, but overpriced compared to where the locals eat). Look for Shelly's; Briana's, and then a small green shack selling Papusas out front. These stuffed, grilled tortillas are a staple there, and this particular place had a great stewed chicken. Anywhere you go, try the grilled fish. It doesn't get much better, especially as "local sourcing" goes.

Some folks had been there a few days earlier and spoke of seeing sharks, rays, eels, and other beautiful sea creatures.

By the end of the evening, we were all tired. Belize is on Mountain Time compared to the US, so us New Yorkers were two hours ahead - after a long day of travel, ready to hit the hay by 2200 local (10 PM). We went to sleep,