Today, the families were going in several different directions. Kim, Alex, and Reno were going zip-lining. I was going diving and everyone else was going to see the Mayan ruins.

I awoke early to get ready for my dive . I didn't sleep well last night. I was only at 60 feet once before. I wanted to dive before we went on the trip, so I would have some recent experience. It never happened. I also have a fear of sharks. Those two things kept going through my head as I tried to sleep. The Email I got through the dive shop told me to get off as early as possible. I had a map to the shop and set out as quickly as I could. When I left the zone around the port, locals came out of nowhere to pester me about tours and buying stuff. I also got the occasional begging for money. I feel bad, but if you give them money, it will reinforce that behavior.

I found the dive shop to be closed, so I went for a little walk-about. It was not really the touristy area of the city. I would walk until I felt uncomfortable. I turned around and wandered through some markets that were being set-up. Beth said they saw me when their bus pulled out of the terminal.

I sat in front of the dive shop and worked on this blog . I was a day behind. Finally someone from Sea Sports Belize arrived and got me ready for the dive. There were two other divers and their wives. The wives were going to snorkel while we dove. One was from Argentina and the other was from England/Sweden/US. It was nice to talk to them. We had John as our dive master.

We got ready for our first dive. I assumed we were starting at 60 feet and then going shallower. We actually went 80 feet. It took a long time for me to start drifting to the bottom. I thought I needed more weight. Finally I hit the bottom. I was starting to panic a bit. I was gulping air like crazy. I bet I used up about half of my air in the first ten minutes. After a while, I was so focused on taking pictures and looking at the coral that I started to calm down. After a while, I wanted to see how deep we were. We were at 65 feet. Later on I was told we were at 80 feet. We saw some cool looking fish. Every time we came close to a new fish species, John would write it on his board and point to it . We started out at the top of a reef wall and quickly went down to the bottom. There was a finger that went very deep. This is where we went 80 feet below the surface.

The Zebra fish has migrated from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean. They are an evasive species that is wreaking havoc on the Caribbean. The locals are trying to hunt them to extinction in the Caribbean. They look cool, but I would rather not see them here. Every so often, John would point out something hidden in the coral. John was always out in front of us and would occasionally turn around, with his arm crossed, and look us over. I was starting to get worried because I was getting close to 1500 psi. The first person to get there determined how far we were going to go. It wasn’t me, but I was close. We then moved up to the top of the reef wall and made our way back.

Another guy and I were at our 500 psi limit and were told to go up to the 15 foot marker and wait. On the way there, I thought I saw a small shark. It swam by and then came back. It turns out that it was a Ramora, one of those fish that attach themselves to the bottom of a shark. It had a flat head with ridges. That is where it attaches to the shark. It took a liking to the other diver. At first, it tried to get under his weight belt and then was working on getting into his BCD. As soon as he moved in front of his mask, he started to panic . He shot to the surface and then back down. Then we made enough movement that it scared it away. It stayed close, but never came back. When the other divers came up, they had problems with it as well.

We went into St. Georges Island for lunch. We went to a nice local restaurant. It wasn’t in a shack, but it wasn’t far from it. We were sitting on old chairs at a table with a plastic tablecloth. They had a spicy chicken lunch and rice. The food was very tasty and I enjoyed the atmosphere. Although I really like the food we have on the ship, this was by far my favorite meal. It was simple, but tasted very good. We had great conversation.

During lunch, a group of college students who are on an archeological dig on the island came in. The are exhuming the remains of the soldiers who fought off the last Spanish attempt to remove the British from Belize.

On our second dive, we went to a different part of the reef . This time, the surf was rougher. Sometimes we would ride up a high wave and then fall into the trough. It was like an amusement park ride. We were already soaked from the rain earlier, so the water spray wasn’t a big deal.

When we arrived, John said we were not going deeper than 60 feet. We again went out on a reef wall. We started at the bottom and went out until the first person used up 1500 psi of air. We saw a few new fish. On the way back, we saw a few dolphins. They were too far away to really get a good look. This time, I had more than 500 psi when we returned to the boat. John took us around to see some other stuff. I did stay out a little too long. By the time I got out, I had 250 psi. That was a little too close.

We were cutting it too close on time. Usually, we would be taken to the dive shop. Not today. We were dropped off right at the pier. Luckily the line was long and we were not going to be late. I ran into Kim, Alex, and Reno. They were already in line. I got two beers and joined them in line. Soon, everyone else started to show up. There was no time for shopping in this port.

I would highly recommend Sea Sports Belize. They had a great itinerary and John was great at leading the program. They arranged an awesome lunch. Next time I’m in Belize, I will definitely dive with them again!

The group that went zip-lining had a good time. I guess the zips were not very long and the rappelling wasn’t exciting. My daughter liked the Mayan ruins. My mom has always wanted to go to a Mayan ruin. This was a dream come true for her.