MichaelMc
Working toward Cenotes
I got to spend a week on Ambergris Caye with my non-diving brothers family, in a house two doors south of White Sands dive shop, April 1-8. No atoll dives due to weather, but three nice local dives. A friendly English country with basic infrastructure but not much that is very advanced.
Snorkeling: On the west side the Caye, Secret Beach was a great spot with clear 3-4’ water going a long way out, and a pier to find cool fish under. A good afternoon for family and four 9-14 year old boys. 30 minutes by golf cart from our house. Nice bar there for food, refreshments, and bean bag toss. We rented snorkel gear from White Sands. Later the house manager arranged a guide to surface snorkel at Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley. High winds had made them a bit rough, so those new to snorkeling had a hard time, but most had fun. A few life preservers as belts turned breathing anxiety into ‘what is that fish’ and laughs. Hol Chan for more wild life, Shark Ray Alley for many sharks and rays. I strayed further from the group. Floating 1-2’ over the reef beside a large school of blue tangs was a blast.
Diving: Winds shut down diving outside the reef most of the week. Mexican Rocks, inside the reef at all of 11’ deep, was fun with a turtle, nurse shark, and lots of fish and new to me coral, 11’ 41 min 20’ vis, DM Hue. The last day it cleared enough for two dives on the local reef, just north of White Sands. Very nice, a swim through, lots of coral intermixed with sand channels. A nurse shark gliding back and forth along reef. A barracuda getting cleaned. I’m not an expert on bleaching, but the reef looked nice. We started gearing up around 8:15, left the dock 9ish, home by 1 ish. Water and mask soap on the boat, 70’ 44min, SI at dock for tank change and pineapple, 62’ for 49 min, 50’ vis, 3 min 15' safety stops. I walked over to the shop, but others arrived by what appeared to be White Sands boats. My 5m suit required venting at 83 degrees and 11’, but left me happy at 81 degrees and 60’ with zipper open, though I like it warm. I swam in the front side of the group, some were bicycle kicking a bit, but most seemed ok.
White Sands: They did a good job. Boats were good. DM/Instructors were good. My two tank boat had maybe two groups of 6-7 people. My group had an instructor, Sam, with a trainee/DM following, trainee/DM brought a low air group up early. The shop said my group was limited to 60’ as one girl was finishing AOW, but that was fine. The DM let me venture deeper as I had a computer, and checked with me that I was fine at the end of the safety stop. I watched him do the AOW checkout and it was very professional, very careful. I think I was the only one with my own gear. At least everyone else's BC was the same. White Sands offered to fill a pony if I brought mine, but I did not get that organized prior.
Atolls: I tried to do a Turneffe trip, with Amigos del Mar, but it got cancelled for lack of people. A guide said the Blue Hole based ones get canceled less often; a deep dark hole might be the cost of getting to the atolls from San Pedro..
Casual diving: I was very happy with a routine of waking up, working for a few hours, walking down to the shop to go diving, coming back by late lunch, and then going snorkeling with the family. For all of two dive days.., but oh well, the weather was not kind.
Inland: We/I did the Zoo and the howler monkey sanctuary, via 90 minute water taxi and guide, they were nice to see. The rest of the family did a major Mayan ruin as well. 6am at the dock to 5-6pm return. Inland is very warm. Those are long days! School kids and people working in Belize City make that commute each day. That is rough!
Travel: We did Tropic Air to the Caye, very happy. I forgot to arrange cell service, and could have in San Pedro. No issues at airports, customs, etc, all very nice. I brought all my gear, except lead and tanks. Steel plate w/ attached lead, suit, fins, lights, SMB in one checked bag, regs, wing, masks, etc in carry on. 42 lb of dive gear. Luggage with cheap wheels and cobble/sand streets/alleys do not mix well, the wheels lose their thin rubber veneers.
Rental house: We stayed at Stella Di Mare. Very nice. Victor and his wife were very helpful. A dock, two kayaks, house keeping, pool, hot tub. Good enough internet to run jobs on my server in Berkeley, pretty cool really.
Seaweed: It didn't affect boat diving, but there was Sargassum on all the eastern beaches, and men shoveling it into wheel barrels to cart off every day. A strong motivation to study or work hard is seeing people work every day with pitchfork and wheel barrel to remove beaches worth of seaweed, and never finishing..
Country: The people we saw and talked with were nice. San Pedro and the airport seemed safe, as we were told. My first Caribbean trip. They have no railroads, three highways, our guide said two highway patrol vehicles, and the main cargo port has no advanced cargo handling. Google maps shows the port as unpaved paths through stacked shipping containers, a central building, and one crane on the pier. Those are the main impressions from the trip inland and later reading.
Pictures: no camera, sorry, mental images only.
- Small turtle swimming into anchor rope, divers helping free it.
- Floating on surface, just above bed of stag horn coral, beside a school of blue tang.
- Hovering around coral outcrops, juvenile damselfish like specks in the water.
Michael
Snorkeling: On the west side the Caye, Secret Beach was a great spot with clear 3-4’ water going a long way out, and a pier to find cool fish under. A good afternoon for family and four 9-14 year old boys. 30 minutes by golf cart from our house. Nice bar there for food, refreshments, and bean bag toss. We rented snorkel gear from White Sands. Later the house manager arranged a guide to surface snorkel at Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley. High winds had made them a bit rough, so those new to snorkeling had a hard time, but most had fun. A few life preservers as belts turned breathing anxiety into ‘what is that fish’ and laughs. Hol Chan for more wild life, Shark Ray Alley for many sharks and rays. I strayed further from the group. Floating 1-2’ over the reef beside a large school of blue tangs was a blast.
Diving: Winds shut down diving outside the reef most of the week. Mexican Rocks, inside the reef at all of 11’ deep, was fun with a turtle, nurse shark, and lots of fish and new to me coral, 11’ 41 min 20’ vis, DM Hue. The last day it cleared enough for two dives on the local reef, just north of White Sands. Very nice, a swim through, lots of coral intermixed with sand channels. A nurse shark gliding back and forth along reef. A barracuda getting cleaned. I’m not an expert on bleaching, but the reef looked nice. We started gearing up around 8:15, left the dock 9ish, home by 1 ish. Water and mask soap on the boat, 70’ 44min, SI at dock for tank change and pineapple, 62’ for 49 min, 50’ vis, 3 min 15' safety stops. I walked over to the shop, but others arrived by what appeared to be White Sands boats. My 5m suit required venting at 83 degrees and 11’, but left me happy at 81 degrees and 60’ with zipper open, though I like it warm. I swam in the front side of the group, some were bicycle kicking a bit, but most seemed ok.
White Sands: They did a good job. Boats were good. DM/Instructors were good. My two tank boat had maybe two groups of 6-7 people. My group had an instructor, Sam, with a trainee/DM following, trainee/DM brought a low air group up early. The shop said my group was limited to 60’ as one girl was finishing AOW, but that was fine. The DM let me venture deeper as I had a computer, and checked with me that I was fine at the end of the safety stop. I watched him do the AOW checkout and it was very professional, very careful. I think I was the only one with my own gear. At least everyone else's BC was the same. White Sands offered to fill a pony if I brought mine, but I did not get that organized prior.
Atolls: I tried to do a Turneffe trip, with Amigos del Mar, but it got cancelled for lack of people. A guide said the Blue Hole based ones get canceled less often; a deep dark hole might be the cost of getting to the atolls from San Pedro..
Casual diving: I was very happy with a routine of waking up, working for a few hours, walking down to the shop to go diving, coming back by late lunch, and then going snorkeling with the family. For all of two dive days.., but oh well, the weather was not kind.
Inland: We/I did the Zoo and the howler monkey sanctuary, via 90 minute water taxi and guide, they were nice to see. The rest of the family did a major Mayan ruin as well. 6am at the dock to 5-6pm return. Inland is very warm. Those are long days! School kids and people working in Belize City make that commute each day. That is rough!
Travel: We did Tropic Air to the Caye, very happy. I forgot to arrange cell service, and could have in San Pedro. No issues at airports, customs, etc, all very nice. I brought all my gear, except lead and tanks. Steel plate w/ attached lead, suit, fins, lights, SMB in one checked bag, regs, wing, masks, etc in carry on. 42 lb of dive gear. Luggage with cheap wheels and cobble/sand streets/alleys do not mix well, the wheels lose their thin rubber veneers.
Rental house: We stayed at Stella Di Mare. Very nice. Victor and his wife were very helpful. A dock, two kayaks, house keeping, pool, hot tub. Good enough internet to run jobs on my server in Berkeley, pretty cool really.
Seaweed: It didn't affect boat diving, but there was Sargassum on all the eastern beaches, and men shoveling it into wheel barrels to cart off every day. A strong motivation to study or work hard is seeing people work every day with pitchfork and wheel barrel to remove beaches worth of seaweed, and never finishing..
Country: The people we saw and talked with were nice. San Pedro and the airport seemed safe, as we were told. My first Caribbean trip. They have no railroads, three highways, our guide said two highway patrol vehicles, and the main cargo port has no advanced cargo handling. Google maps shows the port as unpaved paths through stacked shipping containers, a central building, and one crane on the pier. Those are the main impressions from the trip inland and later reading.
Pictures: no camera, sorry, mental images only.
- Small turtle swimming into anchor rope, divers helping free it.
- Floating on surface, just above bed of stag horn coral, beside a school of blue tang.
- Hovering around coral outcrops, juvenile damselfish like specks in the water.
Michael
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