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From Brian Snavley . . .
08 Feb 04 - Local reef dives
1)Dardanelos - 66ft-45min.
2)Tuffy - 60ft-50min.
O9 Feb 04 - Blue Hole - Half Moon Caye
1)Blue Hole - 130ft - 30min.
2)Half Moon Caye - 56ft - 50min
3)The Aquarium at Long Caye - 50ft - 50min
These Dives were done with Ambergris Divers...they were thorough and fun wish my stupid underwater cameras gave me proof of these dives...
The diving was awesome. Unfortunately my stupid underwater cameras just didn't quite capture the majesty that IS the underwater world. but I still have plenty of pics from the Mayan ruins. The whole country is in a state of burgeoning development and there are ruins that are literally undug and waiting to be discovered when the funds become available. can't wait to tell you about it all.
I dove the Blue Hole!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The second day of dives and there I was.....130 feet straight down into a collassal sink hole that goes over 400 feet. otherworldly, man....ooootherworldly.
I actually had to quit thinking about what I was doing for fear of freaking out and just had to concentrate on anything else.(other divers...that BIG fish that just swam by...) I don't know, but I think I may have gotten a bit narc-ed, meaning the nitrogen began having a decidedly intoxicating effect on me. this is not an unnatural occurance when diving depths approaching 100 feet but it is something a diver needs to be fully aware of. The divemasters this day informed the less experienced of us about this possibility and said simply that if it happened, "stay focused and enjoy the high. It's legal and there's no hangover." So there I was...floating, going down...down... glancing left and right, up and down catching glimpses of my floating cadre, my submerged brotheren the only thing giving me comfort at times during this watery jaunt. I don't know if i was experiencing nitrogen narcosis during this time or i was just entering that survival zone where sheer adrenaline takes over, all I know is that felt a blissful feeling that is very, very hard to replicate above the surface. And just when I felt like i could have stayed down there forever, It was time to ascend and chill out for our safety stop. By then I had to constantly secure my reg because of the grin that was erupting from my joyous face. and as I broke the surface I thought, "I did it. I dove the Blue Hole." It was only the third dive outside the chilly quarry dives in Pennsylvania and I dove the freakin' Blue Hole.
This dive wasn't the most beautiful of my reef dives in Belize, But...WOW. It WAS one of those occasions that when I look back upon it in years to come I will count it right up there as one of those ....Life Moments. (If you know what I mean)
These dives were nothing short of majestic. swimming in and through beautiful canyons cut deep in the limestone bottom and surveying the wonderful walls was the most amazing thing that I've done to this point in my life. So many variations of coral and everywhere life is just teeming and it surges and it is vibrant and colorful. It is obvious and it is hidden, it is all around and it watches you with a million eyes. I saw millions of yellowtail snapper, grouper...I saw a Huge yellow and blue angelfish. pufferfish...barracuda, parrotfish and on three separate occasions I saw green moray eels. (one of them was a four footer free-swimming in the open water!) the list goes on and on.
Some insights I've had
1-fish don't just swim in a left to right fashion.
2-fish are not disinterested in your presence. they watch you and in many cases follow you!
3-spiny-lobsters are very hard to see in the coral.
4-barracudas don't have friends.
5-sharks always appear to be shadowy figures when you first see them.
6-nothing hides in huge vase corals...(I checked!)
7-the snorkel is not your regulator and when your BCD makes continuous burping sounds when you are at the surface trying to descend, you need to slap your forehead with a mighty "THWACK" and take air OUT of the vest ya nimrod!!!!
and oh, yeah
8-God just may live underwater.
Happy Diving
Here is a great web-site with all kinds of pictures of some of the sights to be seen while diving Belize. Here are some pics again, I wish I had better pics of my own
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