Here's a trip report I submitted on another board a few years back:
We arrive in Belize City, breeze through customs and one of our divemasters, John, is at the curb to greet us with cool towels to wipe away the travel grime. A quick 20 minute ride through a very poor, poverty stricken city and we arrive at the docks, where 2 multi-million dollar yachts are docked, the Agressor and the
Dancer. Pretty thought provoking IMHO.
Were last to board and everyone is waiting on us. Our Hostess and dive instructor, Ann-Marie sits us down and does the standard paper work. She then asks if wed like to upgrade our cabin to one on the main deck with a picture window. I ask if the boat is sold out and she tells us it is, but another customer has offered to trade with us. She offers to have us tour both cabins and we do, and decide that between the slight diesel smell and the lack of windows in the cheaper cabin, wed be much more pleased to be in a main deck stateroom. We find out later that it was Peter Hughes himself who requested that we be upgraded and he be housed in the less expensive cabin.
Our bags moved in, we rush to dinner, where again, everyone is waiting on us. I dont remember what we ate that night, only that we had a choice of 2 or 3 entrees and there was plenty of wine, kegged and bottled beer and softdrinks for everyone. Obviously, its not a heavy drinking night, but it was nice that after a long travel day, there was a cold beer to wash dinner down with.
After dinner, crew introductions and safety briefings happen and Capt. Bert tells us that well be pulling out of dock at 10:30 (change in plans because we were late arriving, I believe) and that the crossing may be a little rough. Naturally, we all slept right through it.
Next morning dawns bright and clear. Were at Turneffe Island, Amberhead dive site. At 6:30am theres a knock on our door, right on time with the wakeup call request. I open the door and am handed 2 previously ordered mugs of coffee and tea. We throw on our
Sun Dancer II robes, and head for breakfast. Barbara, our chefs assistant, takes our order and fills us up with as much as want. In addition, theres continental stuff out too. Fresh fruit, cereal, bagels, muffins, etc.
8am, the dive briefing bell rings and we gather around a whiteboard that contains a map of the dive site. Anne-Marie then provides a detailed description of the site, complete with critter info and depth and current info. Its gear up time!
My wife and I are separated while gearing up. Its one of the drawbacks of being the last to board. We didnt pick our stations, we just took what was left. No worries though. After the first dive, Peter Hughes, who was gearing up next to my wife had switched our stations to allow me to be with her. Another nice touch and classy move.
Anyway, as I ramble though this, the dive was a nice warm up dive and my wife, who hadnt dove since 1996, has a great time. That is until the dreaded deco bar. At the end of the dive, we ascend to the rigid deco bar that hangs under the boat. You grab on, hold on and go for a ride. The boat swings in a wide arc and takes you on a high speed tour of the reef below. For some reason, this freaked my wife out at first and she ended the dive none too happy. We climb back onto the boat and rinse ourselves under the warm outdoor showers. Ann-Marie is right there with a warm towel and a back rub! Now this something I can get used to.
Between dives, its resting on the top deck in the sunshine and listening to my Ipod. Carlos, the chef, comes by with fresh baked cookies, which were awesome all week. At 10:30, its time to gear back up and go for another dive at the Amberhead site. My wife sits this one out and I partner up with Elsie, one of our divemasters. Elsie is awesome. She finds critter after critter.
After the dive its lunch time. Buffet style. The food is just what the doctor ordered after two great dives. During this time, the boat is underway and were off to our next dive site, Sayonara. After lunch, its time for a quick nap on top deck and then at 1:30, the briefing bell rings again.
Same thing as before. Dive site is drawn on the map. Divemaster gives a solid briefing and off we go. My wife is back for this one and finds absolutely no problem with the deco bar this time. After the dive, my wife and I head to our stateroom and proceed to nap. Unfortunately, we woke up after the dive deck was closed for entry for our 4th dive.
The dinner bell rings at 6:00pm and we eat and chat with some of the other guests. Towards the end of dinner, were asked whos going to be doing the night dive and nearly the whole boat raises their hands.
Back in the water at 7:30. Again, were at Sayonara, but its a completely different world once the
sun goes down. At the end of the dive, we climb up, shower off and are wrapped in those wonderful warm towels and given a back rub. Were offered hot chocolate and rum, which I gladly accept. That ends day 1 of diving.
We can extrapolate this over the course of 4 more dive days, just changing the dive sites and my rest schedule. I made sure I wasnt asleep for another dive after that first day.
We arrived back in Belize City on Friday at noon. Had lunch and were taken to Jaguar Paw resort to do some cave tubing. We hiked for about 20 minutes, jumped on our tubes and meandered down a slow moving river and into the darkness of the caves. Dinner that night was less formal than other nights and Saturday morning came too quickly for most of us. After breakfast, it was time to head back to the airport and fly home. Naturally, the flight home was uneventful.
Some highlights from the trip:
Tarpon Caves: fantastic swim through. Starts around 85 feet and lets out along the wall at 110 feet.
Blue Hole: have to put it. Awesome stalactites and at least 10 different reef sharks, some of whom came within 10 feet or so.
Half Moon Caye Wall: Eagle rays and morays including a tiny baby moray.
Half Moon Caye Red footed boobies and iguanas everywhere. Just make sure you get a dry seat on the ponga. I was the only one who arrived on the island soaked.
Sleeping on the
Sun Deck What a great place to just relax.
Back rubs!!
Cookies Between Carlos treats between dives and the bottomless barrel of cookies, I must have eaten a thousand.
The rigid deco bar What a great ride it is to just sit on the bar and watch the reef float by beneath you.
Mis-navigating during our last night dive and ending up a LONG way from the boat. No, I refused to have the haul of shame and have the tender pick me up, so I swam myself back to the boat. John, our dive master commented Man, I thought you were swimming for the Grenadines You have to do the accent for it to be funny though.
July 4th: Good old fashion American Bar-B-Que. Chicken, hotdogs and hamburgers and all the fixins
July 5th dinner: Surf and Turf! Nothing beats steak and lobster
Nothing! After dinner, the fashion show! Sure, its a sales pitch, but watching everyone dance around and generally make fools of themselves is too funny. It shows how comfortable people get with each other after 5 days at sea together.
In general, the crew work their asses off to ensure every guest has a great time. Most mornings, Carlos, Barbara and Jean were up at 3:30am, getting breakfast going. David, the night watchman, was in the water scrubbing hulls during the day and helping out wherever he was needed. Bert moved the boat each night after most of us had gone to sleep and then was up at breakfast every morning. Even after a full day, Anne-Marie spent her evenings doing classwork portions of classes she was teaching and was willing to get up early to finish them off if the students were too tired.
I know I havent provided a lot of details about each dive, because frankly, I could write a thousand pages if I get into details. I just wanted to provide a solid preview of what to expect if you travel with the
Dancer crew. Theyre great and I cant wait to meet the Star
Dancer crew next year.
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