AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye BNBelizeSoon's scuba excursions!

We started off our first full day on AC with a 2 local tank dives. My first drop down at Victoria Canyons I almost landed on a nurse shark!!! Wow, what a way to break myself in to diving with sharks!!!! Anyway, I got a good shot of him with my new camera even though I was shaking in my fins!

We dove Easter morning also, my birthday! Did a couple of more local dives, Amigos was awesome, they would pick us up on the BB dock and bring the BC's and wetsuits that we rented. They are a top notch dive shop and we couldn't be happier with them. They were always motioning me over for the good shot when a great photo op came up. We took the next day off from scuba to snorkel with my daughter at Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley, that was very exciting and for those of you not in the best of shape beware, Hol Chan was a very strenuous snorkel stop! There was a family with us with very little kids, I felt very sorry for them because the current was so strong that it made it a scary experience. The kids were sick to their stomachs after that and would not go out again. It was hard for me and my family also. The rest of the day we didn't deal with any current so it was a lot more relaxed but I think you should ask about the current before you get yourself into a dangerous situation like that was. What I do know is that I like scuba a lot better than snorkeling! It is much easier!!!
EXCEPT for the Blue Hole! The next day we loaded up for the Blue Hole trip with Amigos on the big boat. It was kind of rough getting over there but we were all up for it. My daughter and another gal on the boat were going to snorkel and the rest of us were in it to dive. My husband & I decided to do this dive after careful consideration... Going 130' was not the ideal situation for relatively new divers (our 22nd dive) but we felt confident with Amigos and got ourselves all pumped up for it. I have to say now that I am glad I did it BUT I will NEVER do that dive again. I took my camera down with me, dropping down was fine but for some reason (maybe I'm scared of the dark) I got kind of skitzoid down there. I even forgot to take pictures as we were weaving in and out of the stalctites (?? spelling), then the sharks showed up..... it was just eerie I tell ya! My heart was racing and all I could think of is that I had to make a safety stop before I could surface... what if something happened.... heart racing..... finally I calmed down as we started ascending and I could see the light... thank goodness, another minute or so and I think I would have been in a full fledged panic attack. Anyway, the safety stop the sharks showed up again, not so eerie when it's not dark but still frightening! I saw my daughter above snorkeling around and it she was pretty excited and amazed seeing us and the sharks! I think the only other time I kind of panicked like that was at the Santa Rosa Wall in Coz, it was a sheer drop off and I could only see black underneath me, I kept waiting for Jaws to show up and eat me...
The next two dives (Half Moon Caye) were probably the best dives of my life. The sea life there was totally amazing and we thouroughly enjoyed every part of those dives. Probably because I survived the blue hole... The trip home was pure hell! My daughter got seasick as the swells were higher than the boat. It was a miserable and slow trip back to BB but we finally made it, without the contents of my daughters stomach... she was chumming all the way back to the dock.
We did several more dives locally the next couple of days but the most amazing of those was a night dive at Hol Chan. I spotted an octopus, we saw eels, sleeping fishies, crabs, lobsters and a lot more. It was so amazing. This was our first night dive. What a thrill.
On the last day of diving for us we were at Victoria Tunnels, we say this HUGE nurse shark below us. That was a great way to end our diving time.
Again, I cannot stress how amazing Amigos was to dive with. I would highly, highly, highly recommend them to any divers out there. From the staff at the shop to our divemasters and boat captains they were the greatest!

I am having a little trouble with my puter , so I will post pictures later...

BNBelize.....You go baby!!!! Oh my goodness...you didn't tell me about the scary sharks...and probably on purpose because you knew that I'd probably have skipped my snorkeling in the beautiful waters harboring the creatures I totally respect but prefer not to swim with let alone see
You sneaky, sneaky girl :p :p
Great report for us non-divers as well as divers...felt like I was right there with you...minus the chumming of course ...Goody

BNBelize... Thank you so much for this dive report. I will be in Belize soon and plan on diving w/Amigos. Thanks for confirmation that I made the right decsion. Am planning a trip to Blue Hole and am looking forward to seeing the sharks! Hopefully I won't be chumming the waters in either direction!

bn belize soon.. sounds like your in to this ..glad your having a great time .and by the way a year back capt jeff had a problem with his puter the doctor .gave me something ..it got better quick have fun .... go live the dream and enjoy ..

great diving report...i have only recently taken up snorkeling...said i would never have the nerve to try diving...but i do love the thought of it...you make it sound like such an adventure!

can't wait to see your pics!

WOW, I sat here with my nerves on edge reading that Blue Hole story....Glad you made a safe recovery and had a perfectly good set of dives after.
Thanks for sharing

BNBelize, looks like you had what is called a "dark narc". In other words, you were suffering from narcosis at depth and rather than experiencing euphoria, you experienced fear. This was probably brought on by a couple of things besides breathing air at depth. First, you were nervous about this dive from the outset and so already had a certain state of mind. At depth as you were experiencing the nervousness plus the narcosis. In any event, don't count yourself out on any future Blue Hole dives. You will become a more experienced diver and may find that you very much want to do the BH again in the future.

(Here I am in Singapore with a quiet day, just getting ready to head for another awesome island and some diving).

Seashell, I guess there are worse kind of narc's than a dark narc to experience, eh? I kind of fugured that is what it was and it sure felt good to come into the light... I know it will get easier, I think the wall dive in Coz wouldn't be so scary now as I am feeling more and more comfortable under the water. I have to stop reading those scuba magazines... you know the articles that tell you about stupid things that divers do to get themselves killed... My hubby is going to start ripping that article out before I can read them...hehe
Just curious, my hubby and I will be celebrating our 20 anniversary next April and want to do the scuba trip of a lifetime, 2 weeks either on a live aboard or someplace truly awesome... any suggestions? We were considering Micronesia?? spelling???? Roatan???

bnbbelize... for your 20th and the scuba trip of a lifetime, I'd say either the GBR (Australia) or Yap/Truk/Micronesia area! I've heard Roatan is good, but I'd push for something over the top! Those ones are my dream destinations... Mantas, possible whale sharks, oooh.. Micronesia, you might see the leafy sea dragons!

I think I finally got my friend the shark loaded...