I have seen some previous posters question as to whether or not this is a place you should go. If given the opportunity I say YES! We almost didn't do it, because I was a little aprehensive about the depth - since I had never been that deep before and some people told us that there really wasn't much sea life to see. Well...that's true that it's not hoards of fish and reef, but it was still very interesting. I just felt like I was back in time when I dove the cavern and saw those stalagtites. They were truly amazing.
This is what I wrote to a friend right after I was there:
The best thing we did by far was to dive a site called the Blue Hole. The Blue Hole was formed during the last ice age about 15,000 years ago. It is a circular, deep depression in the center of more than 75 square miles of shallow blue-green water. Its diameter at the rim measures 1,045 feet and its maximum depth is 412 feet. Except for two narrow passages on the eastern and northern rims, the Blue Hole is completely rimmed by living coral.
We had to cruise across the ocean from Ambergris Caye on a 48 foot boat for about 2 1/2 hours to reach the site. There were about 20 divers and three dive masters. We all had to descend together, since our bottom time was limited due to the depth we were diving (130-140 feet deep). We all dove to 45 feet and waited there on the bottom for the dive masters to check to make sure everyone was ok. There was one dive master at the front of the group, one in the middle, and one at the back. I was right behind the guy in the front.
I cannot begin to describe how amazing this dive was from this point. No words can truly do it justice. From 45 feet we went over a ledge head first and all you could see in front of you was blackness. I felt like I was flying or falling into outer space, out into the abyss. We went from 45 feet to 130 feet in about two minutes. At 130 feet we swam into this cavern. Inside the cavern are amazingly HUGE stalactites! Some of them are as giant as a room! It looked very prehistoric. The whole experience was very surreal. Our maximum depth reached was 140 feet deep. There were a few large sharks down in the cavern as well. We were only able to stay down at that depth for about 8 minutes. Then we had to ascend to 20 feet to begin our decompression safety stop.
All divers were sitting on the ocean floor at 20 feet. One of the dive masters poked me and motioned for me to look up. I think my mouth must have hit the floor when I looked up. Up above us the surface was BOILING with sharks! These were not little sharks either! There were about 15-20 gray reef sharks that were all around 10 feet long weighing probably 500-600 pounds!!! It was crazy! I cant believe I wasnt scared, but I was not scared. I was just so amazed that I just sat there staring in complete awe. The reason all of the sharks were at the top was because our boat was chumming them. They also had a tank dropped down with some regulators on it in case anyone ran low on their air during the safety stop. Im glad my air wasnt low, as the sharks were swimming very close to that tank! It was really interesting to take an up close look at these creatures. They kind of swam like robots - very jerky and fast! :sharks:
After the food was gone, the sharks swam away, we all surfaced and got back on the boat. We all spent the rest of the day just trying to take in what we had experienced. It was truly AMAZING! We all felt it would be very hard to outdo that dive! The only thing that I think might beat it would be to dive with the whale sharks or to dive in a cage with the great white sharks.
After that dive they took us to a beautiful island called Half Moon Caye where we had lunch. There is also a bird sanctuary there. After lunch they have you do two other dives. I think one was called Half Moon Caye Wall and the other was the Aquarium. They were also really great dives. Our only regret is that we did not get to dive the Elbow - heard that one is a must.
This is what I wrote to a friend right after I was there:
The best thing we did by far was to dive a site called the Blue Hole. The Blue Hole was formed during the last ice age about 15,000 years ago. It is a circular, deep depression in the center of more than 75 square miles of shallow blue-green water. Its diameter at the rim measures 1,045 feet and its maximum depth is 412 feet. Except for two narrow passages on the eastern and northern rims, the Blue Hole is completely rimmed by living coral.
We had to cruise across the ocean from Ambergris Caye on a 48 foot boat for about 2 1/2 hours to reach the site. There were about 20 divers and three dive masters. We all had to descend together, since our bottom time was limited due to the depth we were diving (130-140 feet deep). We all dove to 45 feet and waited there on the bottom for the dive masters to check to make sure everyone was ok. There was one dive master at the front of the group, one in the middle, and one at the back. I was right behind the guy in the front.
I cannot begin to describe how amazing this dive was from this point. No words can truly do it justice. From 45 feet we went over a ledge head first and all you could see in front of you was blackness. I felt like I was flying or falling into outer space, out into the abyss. We went from 45 feet to 130 feet in about two minutes. At 130 feet we swam into this cavern. Inside the cavern are amazingly HUGE stalactites! Some of them are as giant as a room! It looked very prehistoric. The whole experience was very surreal. Our maximum depth reached was 140 feet deep. There were a few large sharks down in the cavern as well. We were only able to stay down at that depth for about 8 minutes. Then we had to ascend to 20 feet to begin our decompression safety stop.
All divers were sitting on the ocean floor at 20 feet. One of the dive masters poked me and motioned for me to look up. I think my mouth must have hit the floor when I looked up. Up above us the surface was BOILING with sharks! These were not little sharks either! There were about 15-20 gray reef sharks that were all around 10 feet long weighing probably 500-600 pounds!!! It was crazy! I cant believe I wasnt scared, but I was not scared. I was just so amazed that I just sat there staring in complete awe. The reason all of the sharks were at the top was because our boat was chumming them. They also had a tank dropped down with some regulators on it in case anyone ran low on their air during the safety stop. Im glad my air wasnt low, as the sharks were swimming very close to that tank! It was really interesting to take an up close look at these creatures. They kind of swam like robots - very jerky and fast! :sharks:
After the food was gone, the sharks swam away, we all surfaced and got back on the boat. We all spent the rest of the day just trying to take in what we had experienced. It was truly AMAZING! We all felt it would be very hard to outdo that dive! The only thing that I think might beat it would be to dive with the whale sharks or to dive in a cage with the great white sharks.
After that dive they took us to a beautiful island called Half Moon Caye where we had lunch. There is also a bird sanctuary there. After lunch they have you do two other dives. I think one was called Half Moon Caye Wall and the other was the Aquarium. They were also really great dives. Our only regret is that we did not get to dive the Elbow - heard that one is a must.
