Day 12 (underwater)

So day one of the diving part of the trip. This is that part I was looking forward to most when i was in the UK, now I have been here 12 days I have been proved wrong. The country of Belize is amazing and worthy of a trip in its own right - the diving is a bonus.

Before getting here I had a few worries - borrowing some gear, getting the right stuff, being able to remember what to do etc, well it has gone much better than expected. The gear was soon sorted and in fact the only problem i have is with my fins which are too big, my boots flop around inside the housing of the foot part, the tightening straps didn't tighten far enough so my foot has some leeway and is not tall enough inside the gap to have a clean stoke when I am flipping about. But anyway that is not very important.

Breakfast was at 7:30 and then the dive initiation was at 8:30 which was very reasonable. We were on the boat by 9:30 and off to our first site. The wind was getting up out of the East so we headed west back across the central lagoon, and over to the eastern side. Venturing a mile or so got us back into choppy water but over some nice easy dive sites that I needed for my first dive in 30 months. I had a couple of problems in the first few minutes getting my buoyancy right and was often a metre or two high but gradually got back into the swing of things.

Now I am here for the next 6 days diving, what will probably happen is that i will give a list of dive sites and fish i have seen along with a bunch of stuff in between, just look away now if you are bored. Otherwise I am looking forward to the last night in Miami, so that may contain some excitement.

So today - dive 1 - I opted to avoid the camera today as i thought diving would be difficult enough. We swam though loads of coral and some part of sand on the sea bed, and saw an Spotted Eagle Ray & Trumpet fish.

Dive 2 was a little less clear at first although we soon got back to good visibility, because the weather is changeable, the wind is strong and pushing some of the sediment out of the atoll and over the reef. but it was a cracking dive for wildlife, seeing Lobster, barracuda, Sting Rays, Indigo fish and Blue headed wrasse.

Dive 3 gave clear water and some very large Crabs, Drum fish, Squirrel fish, Lizard fish and an Eel.

Our crew are the very entertaining Charles and Alex (our dive master). Dinner contained the requisite Belize dish of rice and beans, but the chicken was good and company excellent. (the new Bond movie should be very good.)