Info wanted on diving Blue Hole

[annlaur]

One or two corrections in red:-


From Corozal there's no boat to Caye Caulker. There is a new service, currently running only Fri-Mon, a boat direct from Chetumal (in Mexico) to San Pedro

Thank you for the corrections. I was thinking on taking the boat from Corozal and stopping in Sarteneja on my way to the cayes… I guess that's no longer an option.
How about that new boat from Chetumal ? Any idea of where I could find its schedule ?

Another question about the Blue Hole : I want to make the trip for the subsequent dives but I don't want to go to 130 feet. Do all divers have to go to the bottom or, do some ops have one of the DMs stay with the least experienced divers at 90 ft ? If that's not an option, is it possible to skip the dive and snorkel the BH on the surface while others are diving ?

 

[jghflash]

There's really not THAT much excitement in diving the Blue Hole, other than the chance to say "been there, done that". Visibility is not that good, dive is short (obviously) at 130', there are generally a few sharks I am told (we saw 5 - 6). The photo op from under the ledge at 130' to silhouette some divers and bubbles is pretty cool. We did it a couple of weeks ago and the two dives on the way back to Ambergris Caye at Half Moon Wall and Chinaman Wall were great! Now I can say it......been there, done that!

 

[DeputyDan]

Thank you for the corrections. I was thinking on taking the boat from Corozal and stopping in Sarteneja on my way to the cayes… I guess that's no longer an option.
How about that new boat from Chetumal ? Any idea of where I could find its schedule ?

Another question about the Blue Hole : I want to make the trip for the subsequent dives but I don't want to go to 130 feet. Do all divers have to go to the bottom or, do some ops have one of the DMs stay with the least experienced divers at 90 ft ? If that's not an option, is it possible to skip the dive and snorkel the BH on the surface while others are diving ?

I have not done this dive - when we did our Belize liveaboard the divers voted to not waste time with it. Anyhow, the bottom is not 130 feet its several hundred feet deeper. And since the group needs to pretty well stay together it is a 130-140 foot dive not a 90 foot dive. At least that is what you should plan on.

 

[Downing]

The lip of the hole is at about 50 feet, and when I went that's where my group gathered before and after making the dive into the hole proper.

I have heard of folks hanging out at the lip while the rest of the group went into the hole. IMHO that's just a waste of air as there's absolutely nothing to see there except of course the lip and a whole lot of sand--unless you get lucky and some sharks cruise by which happened for us the second time we did the dive.

I also remember reading, maybe on this board, about a married couple who elected to hang out at the lip with a third guy, who decided after a few minutes to go on down by himself. The dive leader was pretty p.o.'d at him after the dive and rightfully so. Plan the dive and dive the plan.

It really is a "been there done that" kind of a dive. Unique to be sure but ultimately not nearly as interesting as a good reef or wreck. The first time we went there was a very experienced couple in our group who elected to stay on the boat and read paperbacks while waiting for the next two dives. At the time I thought that was a little strange, but now that I've done it twice if there's a next time for me I may just bring a book, too.

Btw, from the air the BH is absolutely stunning, but when you're in a boat right on top of it then it looks like any other spot in the ocean.

I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade here. It's definitely a cool experience. But I could dive The Aquarium or Half Moon Wall three times a day for weeks and love every minute of it. I can't say the same for the BH. It's not that kind of dive.

 

[peterbj7]

Dan is right. It's of academic interest to most people, but the bottom is at 375-c.500ft, depending on where you are.

And yes, all dive operators require the group to stay together, which means that everyone goes to the same depth. There is a shelf at 150ft with columns/stalagmites standing on it, and most people swim behind these just above the shelf. So most people go to somewhere around 140ft.

I have been on a boat where most people were using rental gear not equipped with depth gauges (or of course computers) and the divemasters told people on the boat afterwards that they had been to 130ft and it was a recreational dive. I was with the group all the time and I recorded 145ft, and my computer showed several minutes of deco. In fact, one of my two computers was still in deco when I surfaced with the other divers and I was heavily criticised by the boat captain for setting a bad example by going into deco. The truth was of course that everyone was in deco but no-one else was wearing a computer (no, not even the dive leader) but didn't know it!

By prior arrangement and with selected operators it is possible to make a shallower dive in the Blue Hole. I once took a family with three youngsters who weren't old enough to go to such depths (though they certainly wanted to, and had good enough skills). So I took the kids down to maybe 90ft, just below the overhang at the top, where they could see the stalactites but not the shelf. They loved it, and of course we had a much longer dive than their parents did.

 

[Leejnd]

I have been on a boat where most people were using rental gear not equipped with depth gauges (or of course computers) and the divemasters told people on the boat afterwards that they had been to 130ft and it was a recreational dive. I was with the group all the time and I recorded 145ft, and my computer showed several minutes of deco. In fact, one of my two computers was still in deco when I surfaced with the other divers and I was heavily criticised by the boat captain for setting a bad example by going into deco. The truth was of course that everyone was in deco but no-one else was wearing a computer (no, not even the dive leader) but didn't know it!

Not equipped with depth gauges??? That sounds...that's insane! I've never heard of anyone going on a dive without a depth gauge -- that's gotta violate PADI standards, doesn't it? I mean, no computer, ya...I've never received a computer on rental gear. But without a depth gauge you can't even use tables to calculate your dive plan. I would never set fin in the water without a depth gauge. And for such a deep dive too! That's nuts.

A similar thing happened to me at the Blue Hole as you are describing above: I'd brought my own gear, and had my computer, whereas everyone else in the group had rental gear with no computer (although they DID have depth gauges), and was doing their dive based on the DM's computer. When we ascended, my computer gave me 8 minutes of deco time...which the DM was REALLY pissed about! He wanted me to abandon my deco time and surface after 3 minutes, but I refused (hey, it's MY body...and this would have put my computer into tilt, and we still had several days of diving ahead of us). When I boarded, he started yelling at me - but I told him to stuff it, because I'd done the exact same profile as everyone else, so clearly everyone else had a deco obligation as well. I wasn't surprised that I went into deco - due to a couple of inexperienced divers in the group panicking at depth, we ended up staying down there for a couple minutes longer than the plan.

It's just another reason why I question the overall safety of all of these operators who do the Blue Hole - they all apparently take inexperienced divers, in too-large groups, with questionable profiles. I guess it's just the nature of the business there.

But back to whether or not someone should dive the Blue Hole - I personally am very glad I did it...and like everyone else, I probably wouldn't do it again. But it's important to understand that the reason it's a one-time-only dive is not because it's not worth dong - IMO it is - but because the view doesn't change. Unlike reef dives, where you never know what fantastic marine creatures you might encounter, the view at the Blue Hole doesn't change. Once you've seen it, there's no real reason to go to all the trouble (and expense) to see it again.

If I go to Belize again I would probably do a BH dive trip, and skip the BH dive, just so I could do Lighthouse Reef again. They were the best dives for our entire time in Belize!

 

[annlaur]

Thank you for the answers. Well, it turns out I may not be able to go to Belize at all this time (meeting a friend in Mexico who has no interest in diving), so that will be for another trip. Hopefully when I'm experienced enough to do the Hole… Or rich enough to do a liveaboard.

PS : in my previous post, I didn't mean to ask if it was OK for one diver to decide to stop their dive at 90 ft. What I meant was more along the lines of what Peterbj7 wrote about, a DM specifically assigned to a group of inexperienced divers planning a shallower dive.

 

[peterbj7]

Leejnd - I could tell you more stories that would terrify or at least annoy you. I could also tell you which dive shop that was whose rental equipment didn't have depth gauges, It's the same shop that took a girl/young woman down the BH even though her first ever experience on scuba was the previous day in a DSD. Both were some years ago and I like to think that they've improved.....

Have a look at a parallel thread at http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/advanced-scuba-discussions/313251-ok-bounce-dive-220-fsw.html.

 

[Papa_Bear]

I have done it a number of times and it is a fun dive and should be done so you have a half way stop and a lot of time at 20ft and 10ft for safety! Never had my computer go into deco! Even at 52 minutes as long as your accent is slow and takes the longest part of the dive! Here is video I shot in the Hole:
Two Tanked Productions HD & SD Underwater Productions and video services

 

[underwater5]

Papa Bear, thanks for the video and for your responses to posts in general. I have read a lot of your posts and find them very helpfull. I am concerned though about putting a business card on any dive, anywhere. Why did you feel a need to do this? and why would you ask other divers to include theirs as well?? Just curious.