Belize Day 5 - Blue Hole Dive

Today was quite the adventure. We went on our big dive excursion to the Blue Hole. 

We planned for an early departure so we had to be up at 4:30am this morning. We packed most of our gear the night before so we only had to do a few things to get out the door. 

Another couple staying at our hotel is also going on this excursion so we gave them a ride to the dive shop. We all arrived at the dove shop at 5:30am. We proceeded to check our gear and eat a light breakfast before boarding the boat. 

In all there were 17 passengers on the boat, including 3 dove masters, a snorkel guide, and the captain. There were 9 divers and 3 snorkelers. We were on a 32 foot power boat. It had a canopy type covering, but otherwise was open air. 

Getting to the Blue Hole requires a long boat ride. It takes ~3 hours. The trip started out pleasantly enough with calm seas and clear skies. It didn’t take too long before we ran into rainy and cloudy weather. The weather forecast called for rain most of the day. I had been watching the forecast and was somewhat worried they might cancel our trip. They didn’t, but the rain did make it the journey a little less fun. Given our speed and the design of the boat there was no escaping the rain and we were all soaked. Some people brought rain jackets (Alison and I didn’t even bring a rain jacket to Belize, much less on this boat), but the jackets really only provided marginal comfort at best. 

We would go through periods of rain and then hit periods of calm. We enjoyed the calm reprieves. In one such reprieve we spotted a pod of dolphins swimming next to our boat. They were leaping out of the waves and put on quite a show. 

Spending three hours together on a relatively small boat gives you a good opportunity to get to know people. We met some of the other divers on our boat. It is a pretty small world because we soon discovered there were two other NYC marathon finishers onboard. A man who ran it in 2015 and a women who ran it in 2017. We all swapped stories for a while. 

We found out we were about half way when we reached the turneffe atoll. This area had beautiful shallow water and relatively calm seas because of the protection provided by the atoll. This was the calm before the worst of the storm.

On the other side of the atoll we had to cross open ocean to reach the blue hole. This area wasn’t rainy, but the winds were strong and there were big waves. Some of the waves were as big as the boat. The waves would crash against us and the sea would spray into the boat. Everything got soaked. The only good aspect of this spray was that the ocean water was warm. We all just hung on during this part of the ride. The seas were angry today. We never really felt in danger, but it was not out of the realm of possibility that the boat could roll. That would have been bad, but it didn’t happen. I found the whole experience to be exhilarating. Here we were in the middle of of the Caribbean Sea on a relatively small boat navigating massive waves. It was quite the experience. 

We made it to the Blue Hole. The Great Blue Hole is a giant marine sinkhole off the coast of Belize. It lies near the center of Lighthouse Reef, a small atoll. This atoll provides protection so the ocean was fairly calm here. 

Shortly after we arrived we geared up. Our first dive of the day would be in the blue hole. Since this boat is bigger we could simply take a big step into the water. There really isn’t much marine life in the blue hole. This dive is more about depth and seeing the stalactites that form deep within the blue hole. We entered the water and immediately began descending. We descended to a max depth of 138 feet. This is by far the deepest Alison and I have ever dove. At this depth we saw giant stalactites descending from the cavern wall. We swam through the stalactites. Before long we would have to start ascending. At this depth the pressure is immense so a diver will consume air much more quickly. Nitrogen is also absorbed into the blood stream. The deeper you dive the less time you can spend down there. 

Another effect of diving so deep is nitrogen narcosis. Nitrogen narcosis is a change in consciousness, neuromuscular function, and behavior brought on by breathing compressed inert gasses. It has also been called depth intoxication, “narks,” and rapture of the deep. If it impacts a diver it will usually happen at depths of more than 100 feet. Near the stalactites I was very much experiencing nitrogen narcosis and it freaked me out. I felt extremely impaired and I knew I was impaired. I began losing track of what was real and what was in my head and I started to hyperventilate and I blew through even more of my precious air supply. I signaled to Alison that I was not okay. She then kept a close eye on me. I focused on calming myself. I told myself to breath, keep swimming, and stay with the group. Within a few minutes I was feeling better and I signaled to Alison I was okay. She kept checking in with me frequently to be sure I was okay. 

Side note - Alison also experienced some nitrogen narcosis. For her the stalactites were moving, but it was a more enjoyable experience. 

We began ascending. When you ascend from depth you need to do it methodically. Coming up too fast can be dangerous and deadly. I felt much better as we slowly rose, but I was a little low on air. I found one of the dove masters and signaled to him how much air I had left. He helped me navigate at a safe speed to ~20 feet. Here we did a safety stop. A safety stop is where you will wait at a shallow depth for 3 minutes. This allows your body to decompress and clear some of the absorbed nitrogen. I monitored my air closely, but I had enough to last the 3 minutes before ascending to the surface. I ended the dive with less than 200 psi of air - easily my lowest ever. 

Back on the boat we drank water and ate fruit and other snacks before heading to our next dive location - Half Moon Caye Wall. Once we completed our hour long surface interval we were back in the water. 

On this dive there were lots of cool coral formations. Some areas we were able to swim through the openings. It is good we have worked on our dive skills so we are able to navigate and move well under water. We saw lots of fish and sea life. A couple of groupers followed us around and we would occasionally see a shark swim by. We loved this dive site. 

After this dive we took a break for lunch. We ate at Half Moon Island, which is one of the most pristine picture perfect islands I have ever seen. Lunch was great - they had boiled chicken, rice, and pasta salad. We also had a cake to celebrate one the crew members birthdays. After we ate we explored the island a bit. I loved seeing all of the hermit crabs crawling around the island. 

Lunch with a view

We loaded back into the boat and headed to the third and final dive site - the aquarium. This dive site had tons of beautiful coral and the focus was on the smaller things - fish, eels, coral and such. We did see some big stuff too. There were a few sharks and a big eagle ray. All in all it was a fantastic day of diving.

We loaded back into the boat and headed back. The ride back started sunny and smooth. Eventually we hit some stinging rain and occasionally some chop. Though the waves weren’t as bad as the way out.

As we got closer to San Pedro the rain and the waves picked up. That made for slow going. It took a long time. I don’t know if I have ever felt so wet for so long in my life. While the rain wasn’t fun, it would have made for a miserable day back at our hotel. Honestly I don’t mind diving on a rainy day because we are going to be wet anyway. This was easily the worst weather day on our trip and we were able to use this day to have a grand adventure. That is a silver lining. 

The adventure continued when we ran out of gas about 5 minutes from the dock. They called the shop and another boat was sent out with gas. It took a while but we made it back. We left before the sun came up and got back after the sun went down. It was a long day. As we got off the boat the dive shop staff had cups of hot chocolate  waiting for us. They are so great. 

These were our last dives in Belize. On our way out we settled up with the dive shop. We loved this dive shop. We will use them again when we come back to Belize. 

It was raining on land too. We drove the other couple back to our hotel and then dried off and put on clean dry clothes - that felt good. 

We then ate dinner at the main restaurant. It is quite good - I ate short ribs and Alison ate the catch of the day. It was still raining after dinner and we were exhausted so we called it a night.