Journey's End Resort
Ambergris Caye, Belize
Well, let's see...
We got there Fiday afternoon and the skies were still kind of grey and cloudy from tropical storm Chantal. The beaches were still kind of messy in places but they were cleaning them and had them pretty well cleaned on the next day. We got situated in our room , had dinner and drinks, and turned in fairly early to be sure to check in at the dive shop early on Saturday morning.
Saturday morning we did our first dive at Mexico Rocks. It was a shallow dive(my max depth was 11 ft.) to figure out the proper weights and I belive it was also a chance for the dive shop to check out the skills of their customers (they seemed to take everybody there on their first dive). It was big clumps of coral in a shallow sandy area. There were lots of juvenile fish and different types of coral. We played with a flounder we found on the bottom.
The afternoon dive was to a place they called Mexico Rocks/Pillars. My max depth on this dive was 74 ft. The water was pretty rough outside the barrier reef(6 to 8 ft. waves). The DM stopped the boat just inside the reef and told us to suit up and defog. He said once we got outside the reef we would quickly go to the back of the boat one at a time, put on the BC/tank and backroll entry into the water. He told us to go straight down and not to wait on the others because we would get slammed into the boat, but to descend to about 40 or 50 ft. and regroup there. It was a little nerve racking on the first dive seein' as this was my wife's and my first bluewater dive but, it wasn't bad and we felt comfortable with it after the first dive. It was a little more difficult to get out of the boat in those waves but still not really a problem. We saw fewer fish on the second dive but, they were larger(jacks,a 3' grouper and many fish we didn't recognize) The visibility was about 70-80 ft. and we saw lots of beautiful coral(brain,elkhorn, staghorn,fan,), tube sponges and a bunch of other stuff. When we got back on the boat, Kathleen(my wife)felt like she was gonna hurl(the boat was pitching in really big waves), but she didn't and she felt better once we got back inside the reef. That first dive outside the reef was the only time she felt seasick, the rest of the dives she was fine.
Sunday(the 26th,my birthay!) morning we dived at Love Tunnels. This was an excellent dive. The dive shop set up our gear and I didn't notice until we got to about 20' but when they set up my gear, they activated my computer and set it in Nitrox mode. It was already in dive mode when I noticed so I couldn't do any thing about it. It kind of freaked me out at first but I checked the FO2 pecentage and it was at 22% so I figured it would probably be OK. I pointed it out to the DM so he would be aware of it and then I just watched my NDL, ascent rates, and pressure guages very closely, and my buddy and I stayed close to the DM for the duration of the dive. The rest of my dives on this whole trip, I had to make in nitrox mode because my computer won't let you dive in air mode without a surface interval of at least 24 hrs. I just had to set my FO2 percentage to 21% O2, basically making it an air dive in nitrox mode on my computer. There were tunnels in the coral that we went through. Some were about 30' long and we had to go single file in places. Again I was a little concerned about the overhead envoirnment but, I could see light at the end of all the tunnels and our DM was an arms reach away. My wife and I did great with buoyancy. Never touched coral or the bottom, even when we were single file and 1' off the bottom. I hit a max depth of 101' on this dive and visibility was about 60' or so. Before this trip I was a little apprehensive about deep diving and what to expect,but we did very well. We just stayed close to the DM, checked our NDL and guages often, and watched our ascent rate. It was kind of tough maintaining 15' at the safety stop due to the surge, we had to keep tweeking our depth with inhales and exhales.
The next dive was at Hol Chan Reserve and then snorkelling at Shark Ray Alley. Hol Chan was realy cool. Lots of marine life. My max depth was 27' and vis was about 50 to 60 ft. We saw grouper, stingrays, moray eels tiny shrimp, and several types of fish and coral we didn't recognize. At one point we went through a short tunnel and there were thousands of tiny, silver fish all around you as you went through. They were like confetti and you couldn't see anything because they were right in your face. It was so cool! When we got back to the boat there was a HUGE jewfish under the boat. He had to be over 4' long. Then we went to shark ray alley. this was the only place we took pictures because we only had those cheap single-use 12' max depth cameras and we had forgotten them on our first dive(which was the only other shallow dive). Shark ray alley was about 8' deep and sandy and flat with some sort of sea grass or something growing in places. I didn't know it until we got there but, they chum to attract the rays. I wasn't real keen on this idea but, to each his own, I guess. So now I've been on a shark dive, also. Kathleen and I headed away from the boat to snorkel because there were other boats moored at the same place and with all the snorkellers and the feeding, it was a madhouse. We swam off by some coral and checked out the rays and nurse sharks. It was interesting to touch the rays and sharks(I've never done that before).
Monday we went on the afternoon dive only, because we stayed up late on my birthday drinking and salsa dancing with an older couple from L.A. (He was Columbian; she was Cuban.) When he found out it was my birthday, he ordered Champagne for everyone. As we got to the dive shop for the afternoon dive, the morning dive was just getting back. They told us they saw a hammerhead shark and a giant sea turtle on the morning dive. I hated to miss that, but I had the best birthday party of my life. For our dive, we went to Renegade. I had a max depth of 74', and visibility was about 50'(not as good this time). We saw a school of really blue fish and two really big lobsters (about 18" long or so). We had trouble descending the first 20 feet due to the surge. However, once you got past the first 20', descending was okay. We saw lots of coral and cool fish. This was a very relaxing dive.
On Tuesday, our last day diving we went to Amigo's wreck and Cypress. Amigo's wreck was pretty cool. My max depth was 69' and about 50-60 ft. vis. we saw several jacks, 2 nurse sharks, and a couple of large grouper. about half way through the dive we reached the wreck. It was a barge that they had sunk to attract marine life. We hung around the wreck awhile before ascending to our surface interval. There was lots of pretty purple coral growing on the edgees of the wreck. We spent our surface interval snorkelling at Shark Ray Alley. This time there were much fewer people and more sharks. Our final dive was at a site called Cypress. We saw another nurse shark, lots of jacks, and 3 big grouper followed us through the dive. There was also lots of different corals, including some big fan coral and a really big pillar coral.
The resort had some problems with the plumbing and the hot water in the showers ran out after about 30 seconds but, when your in paradise you don't sweat the small stuff. The food was excellent at the resort. The Chef was from Guatemala and was very nice. He and his wife joined in for the salsa dancing on my birthday. All the staff and the locals were very, very friendly. I love this place, and I definately will make it back there. This was the best vacation I've ever had as well as the best birthday I've ever had. Thanks again Natasha for hooking us up(oh, and Steve, the LDS owner says hello). This place truly is Paradise! :tree:
p.s.
Sorry this post is so long but, it's hard to condense a vacation that cool into one post
Ambergris Caye, Belize
Well, let's see...
We got there Fiday afternoon and the skies were still kind of grey and cloudy from tropical storm Chantal. The beaches were still kind of messy in places but they were cleaning them and had them pretty well cleaned on the next day. We got situated in our room , had dinner and drinks, and turned in fairly early to be sure to check in at the dive shop early on Saturday morning.
Saturday morning we did our first dive at Mexico Rocks. It was a shallow dive(my max depth was 11 ft.) to figure out the proper weights and I belive it was also a chance for the dive shop to check out the skills of their customers (they seemed to take everybody there on their first dive). It was big clumps of coral in a shallow sandy area. There were lots of juvenile fish and different types of coral. We played with a flounder we found on the bottom.
The afternoon dive was to a place they called Mexico Rocks/Pillars. My max depth on this dive was 74 ft. The water was pretty rough outside the barrier reef(6 to 8 ft. waves). The DM stopped the boat just inside the reef and told us to suit up and defog. He said once we got outside the reef we would quickly go to the back of the boat one at a time, put on the BC/tank and backroll entry into the water. He told us to go straight down and not to wait on the others because we would get slammed into the boat, but to descend to about 40 or 50 ft. and regroup there. It was a little nerve racking on the first dive seein' as this was my wife's and my first bluewater dive but, it wasn't bad and we felt comfortable with it after the first dive. It was a little more difficult to get out of the boat in those waves but still not really a problem. We saw fewer fish on the second dive but, they were larger(jacks,a 3' grouper and many fish we didn't recognize) The visibility was about 70-80 ft. and we saw lots of beautiful coral(brain,elkhorn, staghorn,fan,), tube sponges and a bunch of other stuff. When we got back on the boat, Kathleen(my wife)felt like she was gonna hurl(the boat was pitching in really big waves), but she didn't and she felt better once we got back inside the reef. That first dive outside the reef was the only time she felt seasick, the rest of the dives she was fine.
Sunday(the 26th,my birthay!) morning we dived at Love Tunnels. This was an excellent dive. The dive shop set up our gear and I didn't notice until we got to about 20' but when they set up my gear, they activated my computer and set it in Nitrox mode. It was already in dive mode when I noticed so I couldn't do any thing about it. It kind of freaked me out at first but I checked the FO2 pecentage and it was at 22% so I figured it would probably be OK. I pointed it out to the DM so he would be aware of it and then I just watched my NDL, ascent rates, and pressure guages very closely, and my buddy and I stayed close to the DM for the duration of the dive. The rest of my dives on this whole trip, I had to make in nitrox mode because my computer won't let you dive in air mode without a surface interval of at least 24 hrs. I just had to set my FO2 percentage to 21% O2, basically making it an air dive in nitrox mode on my computer. There were tunnels in the coral that we went through. Some were about 30' long and we had to go single file in places. Again I was a little concerned about the overhead envoirnment but, I could see light at the end of all the tunnels and our DM was an arms reach away. My wife and I did great with buoyancy. Never touched coral or the bottom, even when we were single file and 1' off the bottom. I hit a max depth of 101' on this dive and visibility was about 60' or so. Before this trip I was a little apprehensive about deep diving and what to expect,but we did very well. We just stayed close to the DM, checked our NDL and guages often, and watched our ascent rate. It was kind of tough maintaining 15' at the safety stop due to the surge, we had to keep tweeking our depth with inhales and exhales.
The next dive was at Hol Chan Reserve and then snorkelling at Shark Ray Alley. Hol Chan was realy cool. Lots of marine life. My max depth was 27' and vis was about 50 to 60 ft. We saw grouper, stingrays, moray eels tiny shrimp, and several types of fish and coral we didn't recognize. At one point we went through a short tunnel and there were thousands of tiny, silver fish all around you as you went through. They were like confetti and you couldn't see anything because they were right in your face. It was so cool! When we got back to the boat there was a HUGE jewfish under the boat. He had to be over 4' long. Then we went to shark ray alley. this was the only place we took pictures because we only had those cheap single-use 12' max depth cameras and we had forgotten them on our first dive(which was the only other shallow dive). Shark ray alley was about 8' deep and sandy and flat with some sort of sea grass or something growing in places. I didn't know it until we got there but, they chum to attract the rays. I wasn't real keen on this idea but, to each his own, I guess. So now I've been on a shark dive, also. Kathleen and I headed away from the boat to snorkel because there were other boats moored at the same place and with all the snorkellers and the feeding, it was a madhouse. We swam off by some coral and checked out the rays and nurse sharks. It was interesting to touch the rays and sharks(I've never done that before).
Monday we went on the afternoon dive only, because we stayed up late on my birthday drinking and salsa dancing with an older couple from L.A. (He was Columbian; she was Cuban.) When he found out it was my birthday, he ordered Champagne for everyone. As we got to the dive shop for the afternoon dive, the morning dive was just getting back. They told us they saw a hammerhead shark and a giant sea turtle on the morning dive. I hated to miss that, but I had the best birthday party of my life. For our dive, we went to Renegade. I had a max depth of 74', and visibility was about 50'(not as good this time). We saw a school of really blue fish and two really big lobsters (about 18" long or so). We had trouble descending the first 20 feet due to the surge. However, once you got past the first 20', descending was okay. We saw lots of coral and cool fish. This was a very relaxing dive.
On Tuesday, our last day diving we went to Amigo's wreck and Cypress. Amigo's wreck was pretty cool. My max depth was 69' and about 50-60 ft. vis. we saw several jacks, 2 nurse sharks, and a couple of large grouper. about half way through the dive we reached the wreck. It was a barge that they had sunk to attract marine life. We hung around the wreck awhile before ascending to our surface interval. There was lots of pretty purple coral growing on the edgees of the wreck. We spent our surface interval snorkelling at Shark Ray Alley. This time there were much fewer people and more sharks. Our final dive was at a site called Cypress. We saw another nurse shark, lots of jacks, and 3 big grouper followed us through the dive. There was also lots of different corals, including some big fan coral and a really big pillar coral.
The resort had some problems with the plumbing and the hot water in the showers ran out after about 30 seconds but, when your in paradise you don't sweat the small stuff. The food was excellent at the resort. The Chef was from Guatemala and was very nice. He and his wife joined in for the salsa dancing on my birthday. All the staff and the locals were very, very friendly. I love this place, and I definately will make it back there. This was the best vacation I've ever had as well as the best birthday I've ever had. Thanks again Natasha for hooking us up(oh, and Steve, the LDS owner says hello). This place truly is Paradise! :tree:
p.s.
Sorry this post is so long but, it's hard to condense a vacation that cool into one post
