Belize scuba diving Jan 2011

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Jan 10 2011 Monday

Up at 3:30 AM for 4:00 AM limo to airport for 6:20 AM flight. Sunwing seems like a pretty efficient operation, about a dozen check in lines for a half dozen flights). and the lines moved pretty quickly. Arrived in Roatan Honduras 10:30 AM (one time zone west), sunny and 30C, more or less on time, but then the local 12-passenger Cessna flight to Placentia/Belize was a bit of an ordeal, …they have 4 planes which can handle half the demand, so you wait 4hours for the planes to return to pick up the remaining half (which I was in). As you arrive in Placencia, and look down, it looks like you’re going to land in somebody’s long driveway. It all works fine though, quick immigration etc …and you’re 20 minutes away to the hotel.

The hotel, is a big multi building resort, about 95% full, rooms are beautiful/deluxe but somehow I get the impression it’s a bit of a struggle for the tourist dollar, things like its all inclusive, but the second glass of wine at dinner is $12. I suspect competition drives down the weekly price, (about $100pp per day land portion) but that doesn’t leave much room for niceties (as in Club Med)…. so we’ll see.

Dives are far away, 2-3 hour boat ride, and costs are $200-300 per day for a 3 tank dive, leaving before sun rise getting back close to sunset, … sounds expensive and long. Those already here say it’s a ``class`` operation. We’ll see. Dinner was out on the pier restaurant, and as a new comer, it was pretty nice, dinner from chaffing dishes, … pretty good all round. The pier is literally at the end of the pier, 200 ft, kind of breezy, and a long way to go if you need to pee.

Jan 11 Tuesday

Up at 6:00 AM to catch the 6:15 shuttle to the dive shop … 20 minutes, a bit of formalities, checking dive cards for about 20 divers etc. Spartan breakfast on the boat, then a 1:40 ride to dive site, 77 ft. max and about 40-45 minutes, second dive 60 ft max also 40-45 minute, lunch on board, fish, rice and potato salad, … not bad, considering aboard a boat. Then third dive, about 55 feet and lasted about 54 minutes, best of the three, … saw very large (largest ever) nurse shark. Philip, the second dive master makes it his job to kill as many lion fish as he can, an invasive species, and might get about 6 or so on each dive, using a spear gun. Thelionfish is truly spectacular, with long feather-like extensions that spray out of its body, quite impressive.

Jan 12 Wednesday

Got a 5:45 AM call to say the day was cancelled due to wind. So it was a pretty boring day, windy but bright sunshine, and I attempted to read on a chaise lounge, under a palm tree for shade… but tended to fall asleep.

Jan 13 Thursday

Up for a 6:00 AM departure, and out on the boat at 6:30 even though it was a less than perfect day, rather cloudy and rough seas. It was a 2-hour ride to the dive site, and with the choppy seas a lot of people show initial signs of seasickness. The crew seems well trained and inspires confidence, - fortunately, and we got detailed instructions for getting back on board… all gear removed, before attempting the ladder. Particularly: wait for the right moment and the wave will almost push you on board. It all unfolded pretty well, but a couple divers were feeling ill, so they cancelled the second dive (to my chagrin). Today for the first time I added the “shorty” wet suit (bought at Costco, $35) on top of my 3mil full suit, … worked well, … liked it. The shorty along with the full hood I bought at Decathlon/France a couple years ago make a good outfit. Unfortunately, to my embarrassment, I’d forgotten about the extra weight I needed for the buoyancy of the shorty, … but Giovanny, young local black guide, had spare weight and helped me out. Overall, not everybody thought it was a great day, but I did.

January 14 Friday

A very respectable 9:00AM taxi pickup for 2 a tank dive about 2 hour boat ride away. Seas were somewhat calmer than yesterday, so there wasn’t that dimension Giovanni. The dives themselves were OK, nothing really outstanding. Jean, the big-talking French Canadian, who still hasn’t been able to get any value for his 18 prepaid dives with another company, joined us. Lunches are made with homemade biscuits (instead of bread) with either chicken salad or egg salad filling.

Jan 15 Saturday

Up for a 6:15 departure for the last day of diving (a three tank dive), … makes for a long 12-hour day, since we don’t get back till 6:00 PM. All three dives were in Glovers atoll/reef, a place that Id been ten years ago, when I did a kayak trip out of Glovers. The last three days have not been sunny, and for me, that diminishes the whole experience quite a bit. In the water, it’s surprisingly warm (with a full suit +shorty, but when you come to the surface its bloody cold. The dives themselves were fine, but nothing extraordinary. Gave a $20US tip each of the last three days.

Jan 16 Sunday

Our last day, and no diving for 24 hours before a flight, so we looked for something else to do, so did the Monkey River tour, up for a 7:15 departure and back by 2:00PM. I wasn’t expecting much and while it wasn’t wonderful, but not bad in a modest way. Six of us took the boat trip where the river pointed out natural stuff (birds, turtles, iguanas, etc) … all things I wouldn’t have seen without his coaching. The finale was the howler monkeys, which you could hear a kilometre away, you’d swear you walking up on an angry lion or such. Lunch, prepared by his wife, and then on the return trip we looked for manatees, saw a few mainly just their noses, as they came up for air. At the hotel I left a weeks tip, $40 with the dinging room staff (I was away 2 out of 3 meals doing Scuba), since I found doing it daily a bit difficult…what with having the right bill size etc.

Jan 17 Monday

First the little Cessna shuttle, and the Sunwing flight at 11:30 AM .... but delayed till 1:00PM , arriving YYZ at 6:00PM

Overall Id rate it pretty highly, but the weather for 3 of the 4 diving days was cloudy, windy, … but otherwise it was pretty good. The |Placentia Hotel was first rate; the rigmarole to get to it was an ordeal (kind of added 4 hours each way to get the Cessna shuttle).

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