And The Weather Cooperated!

Up at 5:00am, on the dock by 5:20 awaiting our pick up off to the dive shop to be fitted for gear, and off to the BLUE HOLE shortly after 6:00!!!!

Yep, we found a dive company heading out. Scott booked us all in for Friday and Bryan decided at the shop he couldn't miss out on this and signed up for diving instead of snorkelling. He's so happy he did!

So, the saga that turned into a fun, fabulous day on and in the water began back home while researching diving companies. Trip Advisor is a great resource but you do have to take some reviews with a grain of salt. Some people will never be happy no matter what, while others focus on entirely the wrong thing. Scott and I read through the reviews on many, many San Pedro dive shops and we looked specifically for PADI certified shops because we both think that shows their dedication to safety and the experience of divers. Of course, while this is likely 90% true, as with any certification, a piece of paper does not always indicate high quality.

Anyway, long story short, we contacted the PADI-certified shops and only Ramon's do the Blue Hole dive, presumably because a very large boat is required to cross the ocean. However, Ramon's was not taking anyone out to the Blue Hole this entire week and told us to talk with Amigos del Mar. This shop has some negative reviews on their Trip Advisor site, some notable safety issues, so we were skeptical but to come to Belize, as divers, and NOT do the Blue Hole was ludicrous. Between the three of us, we could look after each other and make sure we were safe so we signed up with Amigos.

The trek out took over two hours, half of which was in the open water with surges 4-5 feet - it was rough and I'm surprised no one got sick. We arrived at the Blue Hole and it's this relatively small water feature surrounded by shallow coral (not land, as many people think from satellite photos). One thousand feet in diameter, just seeing this phenomena that has amazed me for years, even making me name my IT consulting company after it, was breathtaking. I was a little emotional to say I actually made it to the Blue Hole.

The divers were split into two groups and each group had two dive masters. They gave us an extensive dive briefing, noting the safety components for this highly technical dive. After all we would be hitting about 130 feet, a depth that can cause nitrogen narcosis in people and that doesn't allow for much wiggle room if something goes wrong. It was imperative we keep with our buddy and maintain a good eye on our air levels.

And so we jump in the water and start to swim to the drop point and suddenly there is frantic whistling that I know, as a former lifeguard, is not good! We aren't entirely sure what happened but one diver there with a different company was brought up unconscious, foaming at the mouth and the coast guard was there helping him up. It looked like he was diving alone or maybe with one other person which was stupid but someone hauled him away and another grabbed his scuba gear. What we heard was he freaked out down below (presumably hit with nitrogen narcosis), took out his regulator and then pretty much proceeded to drown. We heard they got him breathing on the two hour trip back to the hospital so I think he'll be fine (depending on how long he had been without oxygen) but geez, what a way to start our toughest, deepest dive ever!

One lady in our other group fainted from all this, luckily at the surface, and couldn't do the dive.

Anyway, we dropped down into the hole and came across the stalagmites that had been formed thousands of years ago. Stalagmites do not form in water so it's presumed they formed before the ocean was created and water flooded the hole. The Blue Hole is actually a very deep cavern with smaller caverns off to the sides around 130-180 feet down. The largest one was huge, that we saw, maybe 80 feet in length and 15 in diameter). Not much for sea life down there, just a couple of sharks, but the formations were neat. We could only remain at that depth for 8 minutes so it was a quick dive. I'm so happy so say I've dove it now though!!!

Back on the boat, we all headed over to Half Moon Caye where the snorkellers were dropped off and the divers continued to the other side of the island for a reef dive. This dive was only 60 feet and mainly entailed following the reef wall, looking at small reef fish (the colourful ones, like tang, triggerfish, angelfish, etc.). We saw some small reef sharks and had a few groupers join our dive group. Near the end we saw a turtle, and as he was swimming toward me (I had hoped he'd come say hi) he looked agitated and was nipping at his sides. Poor guy had a couple of fish stuck to his back that were clearly bothering him - I wanted to go knock them off. Then he was in the middle of some reef sharks, who we all thought were going to attack the turtle! Thank goodness that did not happen or I may never have dove again!

After that dive, the boat took us back to the island where we were served lunch. Previous dive trips have consisted of bread and deli meat but Amigos del Mar served up a yummy spicy chicken and fish dish, along with fruit, rice and beans (of course) and peppery potato salad. We had some time to head over to the red-footed booby bird sanctuary and, upon reaching the lookout, saw hundreds of the magnificent birds sitting in tree tops or flying around - it was nesting season so they were out in full force.

After lunch, we headed to Long Caye Island for our last dive of the day, another reef dive. Same sort of sights, a lovely queen triggerfish who stayed with us the entire dive and a not-so-lovely moray eel out on a swim. I freaked a bit when I saw him but realized he wasn't likely to hurt me so far away. Bryan ran out of air quickly on this dive and went up early and Scott wasn't far behind. Somehow I conserve my air quite well as I always have a lot left over at the end, which is a good thing! The dive master was feeding the fish leftover rice from lunch and the little buggers started pooping right beside me! Ugh!!

The boat ride home was long but the crew brought out rum drinks (panty rippers, of course) and started the music so it made the trip feel shorter. Plus we were moving with the waves so the bumpiness was lessened.

Back at the dock around 6:00, we got home, showered up and headed out. Scott was drunk and on a mission to find the dive people so we headed to a bar by the dive shop called Cholo's, where we did run into a crew member. The rest were busy prepping the boat for the next day so Scott was disappointed not to buy each of them a drink.

After that, we went in search for a restaurant called Hurricane's that some of the other divers said they'd be at. Scott was the main event on the dive boat so I suspect we were given deceptive information on where these people were actually going to be...We found Hurricane's, though, a dock restaurant with awesome views of the water. Of course it was dark by this point but you can imagine. The place was empty save for a couple from Louisiana - the woman was totally drunk and practically sleeping at the bar so he had to hastily take her home. This left the three of us and the bartender, a nice young man who owns and runs the place with his dad, a local boy with a keen interest in kite surfing and fishing and a good talent for playing guitar. He told us some stories about his kite surfing lesson and then played us a few songs on his guitar. We had some great food, yet again, but hungry Bryan was complaining that it took too long. He gets "hangry" easily.

After dinner, we made our way back towards our condo. Something I've eaten or experienced in the past day or two has messed with my stomach and I really haven't slept well all week, so I dropped the guys off at their neighbourhood pub, Wayo's. We have spent some time almost every night in San Pedro there, as it's so close. I got some sleep while the boys stayed until the bartender kicked them out around 1am.

Today was pretty low key. I got up, hit the gym behind our condo, puttered around and got some sun. I got Bryan up around 12:30 because I was starving by then, so we tried this genuine family restaurant on a side street. The restaurant is attached to the family's house with their older kids working and their younger ones playing in the yard. Their pet kitty was hanging out by our table, waiting to be fed.

I can't really tell what this place is called but the food was really great!

Bryan had a grilled chicken dish, which he did share with the kitty.

My chicken fajitas were so yummy, and I discovered a new dish called "plantain fajita" - just mix the veggies with the plantain inside the tortilla! A little savoury, a little sweet! :). I think I'll serve it in my beach bar!

Scott slept until 3:30 today but we managed to get him up for a walk and dinner. I wanted to try one of the most popular and highly rated restaurants here so we went to Blue Water Grill. It's quite a walk from here, but really only 12-15 minutes. We ordered their conch and shrimp cerviche and pork dumplings as appetizers, and got some fresh, warm soft focaccia bread as well.

 

I didn't try the dumplings - pork - but I loved that peanut sauce with the greens it came with! Neither Bryan nor Scott protested to my eating the greens. They enjoyed the dumplings and the cerviche was quite good.

For dinner, the guys both ordered their steak special, served with potatoes and a few sauces. Since the steaks were mostly devoured, I think they really enjoyed their meals. Bryan said I could rate this restaurant highly on Trip Advisor for him.

My spicy shrimp dynamite grouper was delicious! I think the shrimp was puréed into the dynamite red sauce, mixed with a healthy dose of hot sauce. This complimented the slightly bland, tough grouper fish well and was served with a mini seaweed salad. I can only hope they chose fresh seaweed rather than use the mountains of rotting stuff lining the beaches here!

Back at the condo by 8:00 PM, I think tonight will be another early one. Both boys are now sitting on the couches, engrossed by the tv. My stomach isn't quite up for any alcohol tonight so I'm okay laying low. Tomorrow we have to get up by 10 to clean and pack up, find a restaurant for breakfast and catch our 1 PM water taxi over to Caye Caulker.

I can't believe we are heading to our last stop of this trip already. I'm already dreaming of coming back for a longer time period to experience more of this country and dive a few more sites. If only we could wrangle a month down here while working remotely...Internet isn't that bad at all for reliability or speed.

 

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