Diving the Blue Hole - 40m Deep - Caye Caulker, Belize
Caye Caulker, Belize
A: Being the scuba diving enthusiasts that we are, we had no choice but to part with an excruciating amount of money and dive the notoriously renowned "Blue Hole" of Caye Caulker, Belize. Divers from all around the world stream to Caye Caulker just to add this dive to their resumes. So although the cost makes you choke on your own tongue as it slides through the salesman's lips ($190pp), we figured we’d never be here again and couldn’t pass up the opportunity. This seemly innocent phase, “we’ll never be here again, we’ll never have this opportunity again,” continues to reoccur countless times this trip and is the vain of our budgeting woos. Anyway, it was a 5:00am start, earliest we’ve had this whole trip and might I add that Steph is not a morning person. Her bubbly personality doesn’t shin through with out sun light and her tolerance to my usual ******** does not fly at this time of morning either, guess I’m just a morning person and she is not.
So with the free supplied breakfast of coffee, sweet bread and cheese in our bellies, we loaded our gear onto the boat wondering what lunch was going to be like. Well the boat ride out wasn’t pleasant, I now realised why we had to pay so much, it’s for the 1.5 hr rollercoaster ride that we endured for the first leg of the trip. Travelling in a 30 foot custom diving boat with 3 x 250hp motors sync on the back felt more like a drug run up the coast of the Caribbean that a diving excursion as we blasted full throttle out to sea. Head first into the oncoming tide, the boat was jolted into the air by wave after wave crashing down with an ear shattering crack. This sound made it feel like the boat was going to split in half and Steph was more then a little apprehensive about the situation (she relaxed after about 45mins into the trip).
So the first dive on the list is the Blue Hole, a natural sink hole off the coast of Belize amongst the Cayes. Approximately 1000ft across and 400ft deep the blue hole is almost perfectly circular and deep enough to reach China, as our dive master noted. Our planned dive dept is 40m the deepest Steph and I have done and actually completely outside the allowable limits of our diving certification, but this is Central American and tourist dollar is the trump card for everything here. So 40m here we come. Steph and I were extremely excited to meet the resident sharks of the Blue Hole, sometimes hammer heads are even encountered. Unfortunately no sharks were present, apparent during Dec – April the sharks are out matting and feeding which I think is completely irresponsible. They should be at their home the Blue Hole defended it from nosey tourist divers and being on display for my amusement. At a dept of 40m the sun light is almost completely extinguished and its quiet an eerie feeling. We were accompanied by a few fish but mostly only stalagmites are present. It’s also worth noting that at 40m deep you inhale 4 x the amount of air in every breath and the sign of a good diver is your air consumption. Low consumption = Good diver, High consumption = No so good diver. Well I’m happy to say that Steph is a good diver, I on the other hand, my body loves air. Apparently I’d have seconds, if it was available for desert. I consumed so much that on our assent I had almost completed depleted my tank and didn’t have enough air left to complete our safety stop. Fortunately, as I was swimming around, I came across a spare tank that just happened to be floating around. Not sure who owned it (it was our tour groups), but I took full advantage. I’m actually getting better at my air consumption, I later realised that both my tank valve and BCD control were leaking air all day, therefore limiting my diving time, oh well.
Second dive stop was “Half Moon Caye Wall” and this was a drift dive. We were dropped off by the boat in the middle of no where and fortunately, picked back up further down the wall after the current had swept us over a few hundred meters. So our underwater camera is turning into the best thing that we could have possible bought and I do believe that I am inline to become the Discovery Channels newest underwater photographer. Through out the day I took over 400 photos and 50 odd movie clips. Steph will happily tell you that I am the worst dive buddy ever, as my hyperactive underwater antics and tendencies to drift behind or take off after fish in search for the best possible photo leaves her constantly looking for me. I like to mention that although she thinks she doesn’t know where I am, my peripheral vision and eye sight is great and I always know where she is. I’m like a fish in the water, in my element. The highlight of this dive was the random sea turtle that we found resting in the coral. As we all crowded round to see, it was happy to just stare back at us before it gracefully decide to depart.
Lunch was on Half Moon Caye (island), home to a flock of red footed boobie birds and studying marine biologists. Too our surprise lunch was deliciously, Belizean stew chicken, rice, coleslaw and soft drink. Afterwards we walked the island to a bird watching look out and I was on the hunt for iguanas again.
Our last dive was at “Long Caye” and was another drift diving and our third for the day. Two dives is the most we have ever done in a day and although you are suppose to be slow and graceful when diving, it is actually very strenuous on the body and exhausted. We quiet frankly had, had enough and more then ready to head home. However we donned our gear and jumped back in and were not disappointed for it. The last stop was streaming with life; coral, fish, crabs, shrimp, lion fish, rays, moray eels etc, wow!! Needless to say, I went camera spastic and the true artist came out (check out my strategically place photos from behind coral). The high light of this dive was the moral eel that came out of nowhere and got a little aggressive when I got too close trying to get that prefect photo, as well as the tiny little shrimp that we found in a neon blue coral tube. That one shoot showed me, way I need a good underwater flash (next thing on the purchase list).
As we enjoyed the long trip home, we almost feel asleep (exhausting day). What a top day of diving and well worth the money that was invested.