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Published: December 10th 2007
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Caye Caulker
"Go Slow" says the sign on the jetty. This is taken very literally. Before I went to Belize I had tried to find some definitive information about the Blue Hole. If you do a bit of diving then this place is legendary. According to guide books and tourist info websites; the hole is not far off being the greatest thing on Earth. But when you read blogs on websites like this one, you can come across highly conflicting views. This is what I thought:
Booking the trip was straight forward despite the fact that I found myself on Caya Caulker during low season. All the dive shops took my name and asked me to come back at the end of the day to see if they had the minimum of eight for the boat to make the trip. At about 1730 one of the shops told me that there was sufficient divers and a boat would be leaving at six the next morning. Actually all of the diveshops are in communication and pool the divers together to ensure a boat leaves. Thus you would be very unlucky, even in low season, to not find a trip on the day you want.
The total cost; including all equipment, national park fees and lunch,
Mayan Pottery
This dates back to around 0 AD. You have to scramble 600m into a water filled cave to find it. was $190. Pricey, but then it is something special.
There was only four of us from Caye Caulker that got on the large speedboat coming from Ambergris Caye. The boat was already full and we were squashed up against the cylinders for the bumpy two and half hour ride out to the blue hole.
I brought equipment with me from the dive shop on Caye Caulker and it was all in pretty good nick. Getting kitted up wasn't easy though with all the people and the swell. Low season meant that the Blue Hole was not full of dive boats like it can be around Christmas and July/August, in fact we were the only boat. But the boat was full. I counted about forty people. After a very brief briefing the skipper pointed to a group of us; "you go with him." To another group; "you go with him." Leaving the rest to go with a third divemaster. No questions were ever asked about experience, level of qualification, date of last dive or previous maximum depth. Consequently the group I was in I know included three divemasters, a lad who had just got his PADI openwater, two girls
Sunset Over The Cayes
It made the long, rough speedboat ride back from the Blue Hole more bearable. who hadn't dived for two years and seven others. So fourteen plus one guide. This is the biggest group I have ever dived with. Considering this was a deep dive, a long way offshore I expected safety to be taken more seriously.
By the time I reached about 20m depth there were some just below the surface, others dissappearing down into the gloom and more dropping onto my head. The guide nonchalantly beckoned us to follow him oblivious to the fact that his divers were everywhere. Fortunately the visibility is amazing, at least 25m, so you can keep an eye on everyone.
We dropped down a vertical wall to a depth of about 44m. Here there is a large overhang where long and beautiful stalactites hang from the roof. The stalactites and indeed the Blue Hole itself formed during the last ice age when the area was above sea level. Being so deep, the light was a deep blue and it was quite eerie. Especially when you looked up and out from beneath the overhang to see the sharks circling above. As we circled back up some of the sharks came a bit closer. They were white tip
Belizean Jungle
Actually the gardens of a hotel in San Ignacio. reef sharks up to 2m long. They probably never came within 10m but the water is so clear you can look them square in the eye before they turn away.
The dive lasts only thirty minutes to allow you to get in another two dives during the day. These two dives will be on Lighthouse Reef. Curiously the group was divided into two when the depth here was only about 20m. This reef is without doubt the most beautiful I have ever seen. Normally on dives I am constantly looking around for turtles, sharks, rays, or something big and exciting. I didn't do that on Lighthouse Reef. The coral gradens themselves and schools of little brightly coloured fish were more than enough to satisfy me. I struggled to keep the regulator in because I was swimming with my mouth open in awe.
To sum up, I would highly recommend the trip. But ask a lot of questions when booking. If you have some sort of panic in the Blue Hole you either go straight up from 44m and are in serious trouble, or you go straight down to 150m and are in more trouble. It was hard to
Friendly Nurse Sharks
Then we hopped over the side and snorkelled with them. concentrate on enjoying the dive when you are considering the safety of the others.
Don't miss Lighthouse Reef.
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