walked to the San Pedro Water Taxi to find out that there is no 7am Taxi today :( ... but found out i could get on the Water Jet Taxi at 7am. it goes to San Pedro, and then continues on to Chetumal, Mexico. i bought a round-trip ticket for my return at 5:30pm. after i bought it, i thought maybe that might have been a mistake; but it was already done. ...turns out, it was the wrong decision, in a HUGE way :(
there was a short downpour when i arrived in San Pedro, but it didn't last long and i got to Ecologic Dive Shop early. i was greeted by Janel, the same girl who used to work for Belize Diving Adventures. we were happy to see each other, and she didn't charge me to rent the rest of my gear :) yeahhhh !
it was good to see Ken here in Belize, and we were excited to do our dive together. there were some gigantic waves today and getting through the channel and outside the reef was a challenge! we all got drenched by several huge waves that came crashing over the hull of the boat... it was quite a shocker! there were 2 groups of divers, 5 and 4. Ken and i were in the smaller group. i guess i didn't hold on to my mask and regulator tight enough when i did my back-roll-off-the-boat into the water, and surfaced with a mouth full of sea water ... not an ideal way to start my first dive. of course, i was a little shaken and it took me a few minutes to regroup and finally descend with the rest of the group.
the first thing i saw were these bright Blue Chromis ....that brightened my day ...
the interesting thing about this dive was that we were diving in kind of a 'canyon'. there were very steep 'mountains' .... funny thing ....it so much easier to say 'i'll just go up there and see what i can see' ... and you just FLOAT up.... not like having to HIKE up a mountain ... diving is so fun :)
looking down to a sandy-bottom channel ...
Bearded FireWorm, ... about 1' long, biggest one i've ever seen ... you don't want to touch this one...
here's a shark cruising around the canyon ...
...the dive was good, but we didn't see anything spectacular .... maybe i am just a little bit spoiled after diving in the Galapagos last year???
it was a real challenge to get back into the boat with those 8foot waves. but the guys 'know their stuff', and efficiently stripped us of our gear and fins quickly so we could scamper up the boat ladder.
when we got back in the boat from the first dive, they handed us each a WARM towel that had been soaked in Eucalyptus oil. WoW !!! ....now THAT was a nice touch!!!! since it is so rough out there today, the Dive Master gave us the option of NOT doing our second dive ... but we all decided to hang tough, not 'whoose' out, and go again.
we returned to the Dive Shop for our 'surface interval' (time period that you need to be out of the water before returning to do another dive); and they had chips and dip, cookies, fruits, and juice .... pretty nice!
the trip through the channel and outside the reef for the second dive was similar to the first, ... we got drenched several times again :( ...but i had a nice entry into the water and felt more comfortable on the second dive.
there seemed to be more marine life here ...
i saw this Spotted Drum Fish ... a rather elusive fish that isn't seen very often, but very striking once you see them, in black and white stripes ....and spots ! ...
i was so impressed, that i painted him on my door when i got back :)
and this PorkFish ... not a very flattering name :(
...i painted him on my door also, after i saw this :)
we saw more Nurse Sharks
and lot of Moray Eels ...
including this VERY large one. he was fully out in the open, when usually they just have their heads sticking out with the rest of their body hidden. i went down to get a video of the big one, and he started coming after me !!!!!!!!!!!!
i am pretty good at swimming backwards, i discovered! Ken got a video of the Eel lunging at me ..... and posted it on You Tube, here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7ioGaIQgWk&feature=youtube
thanks Ken .... good video of the Nurse Sharks swimming too !
i wasn't very happy with my photos this time around ... it's difficult to get any color or clarity at 60-70 feet :(
but here are a couple more ....
Black Grouper ....
Porcupine Fish ...
Darrel (my friend in San Pedro of 5yrs) met me at the Dive Shop when we returned. the 3 of us got something to eat and walked the beach the rest of the afternoon. i had forgotten the thing i liked about San Pedro .. lots of live music in the bars and restaurants on the beach .... enjoyed it !
at 5pm i headed to the Water Taxi for my ride home ... and i waited and waited and waited. i got more and more irritated and had a nice headache over my stupidity! ,,,we were waiting for the boat from Chetumal, Mexico to return and it was late, and then all those people had to go through immigration and customs .... it was after 7pm when we finally left. thankfully the Captain has good nice vision because it was way way dark on the ride home! ...i was NOT happy about the delay and cursed myself for making a stupid decision. i could have taken either of the other 2 Water Taxi companies home with no delay ... i won't forget that next time!
when i got home, everyone was ready to go to dinner and i was hungry. had Lobster again at Enjoy Bar :)
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