Belize Diving

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My buddy Steve and I enjoyed a week diving at Blackbird Cay, an island that is part of the Turneffe Atoll. We flew through Miami to Belize City where we then taxied to a local hotel where we met the resort boat that took us to the resort located about 30 miles off shore.

Blackbird is a nice little resort (the only thing on the island at that time) that caters to divers and fisherman. The accomodations are bungalows on the sand facing the Caribbean Sea. There were only 25 or so guests the entire time. The diving was fantastic; mostly drift diving on the barrier reef which is just offshore of the resort. No boat ride was more that 15 minutes away except for the day trip to the Great Blue Hole.

Don't expect to do much other than dive. There was electricity and good fresh water (their own reverse osmosis plant) but no phone or tv. They may have satellite now, I don't know for sure.

The day's schedule was pretty simple...get up, breakfast, dive, lunch, siesta, dive, relax, dinner, sleep. For a diver there's not a whole lot better than that (unless your wife is with you on the trip!).

Mid week there is a trip to the Great Blue Hole made famous by Cousteau's exploration. This required a fairly long boat trip to the eastern reef. The hole itself is a wonder of nature; the roof of an underground cavern collapses and fills in with sea water. Because it is more than 400 feet deep the water color is deep, deep blue. The sides are fairly shear but at about 80 feet they open up to reveal the roof of the ancient cavern complete with stalagtites. Not a whole lot of sea life (although the sight of 2 reef sharks circling in the beams of light is etched in my mind).

We did have the chance to tour Altun Ha, a mayan ruin just north of Belize City before our flight home. It's a cool place to see.

Check out the pictures.

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