Posted by Seth on December 26, 2009 under Trip Reports | 
Not a ton of time to post now as we’re between diving and dinner but I wanted to share a couple photos from our first day of diving. Suffice it to say that all the hype I’ve heard about Red Sea diving seems to be entirely justified. It really is quite impressive. I wasn’t all that impressed by the dive or social skills of the other folks diving on the boat with us, save one pair, but overall it didn’t cause us too much trouble. Over two hours underwater today and looking for a repeat tomorrow. Much happiness, indeed.
Posted by Seth on August 31, 2009 under Trip Reports |
The diving in Anilao, Philippines is ridiculously amazing. Off the charts beautiful. I spent just over 4 hours underwater today and am hoping to spend even more time under tomorrow. With the boat rides to the sites, eating the great food and trying to carve out a bit of time to sleep that doesn’t leave much time for writing great posts here. But I don’t really have to write all that much when I can just post the photos that show how wonderful the underwater environment is here. This is just a sample of the scenes I got to experience today. Minimal bandwidth on the internet connection here precludes me sharing more, but they will be posted soon enough. Enjoy!
Posted by Seth on June 4, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Sure, the Blue Hole may be the most famous single landmark (watermark??) off the Belizean coast, but that doesn’t mean that it has the best diving. In fact, I’d argue that the diving just offshore along the reef is significantly better, especially when the transit time to and from the dive sites is taken into account. Forget riding 2+ hours each way to get to a dive site. The reef is literally minutes from any of the many docks along the shoreline. The reef structure is still pristine, with coral fingers stretching for miles and clear, warm water all along the reef.
We dove with Chuck & Robbies Diving and couldn’t have been happier with the operation. If they weren’t running a particular trip (Blue Hole, for example) they’d make the necessary arrangements for us to get in on the other boat. And the stuff the did operate was top notch. They’re a relatively small operation so they max out with about 12 divers on the boat. Another two or three folks from the shop would be in the water with us, spotting animals and otherwise making sure things went well. I can’t recommend them as a dive operator highly enough.
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| Petting one of the nurse sharks on the reef |
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| A spotted eel pokes its head out looking for a snack. |
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| I’m a sucker for angel fish. I’ve spent entirely too much time and air chasing them underwater. |
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| This eagle ray was absolutely stunning. |
Another thing that the near-shore diving has going for it off Ambergis Caye is the Hol Chan Marine Park. The park is guarded by marine patrols and very strictly monitored. Yes, there is a surcharge for access but the operators work that into the package price so it doesn’t really matter. And if the extra $10 is what it takes for the dive sites to be so well preserved I’ll take it every time. Diving the Hol Chan Cut is an amazing experience. The water is shallow – the dive maxes out around 30 feet – so there is plenty of bottom time available to swim with the turtles, rays, eels, fish and sharks that call the area home. Depending on the currents the visibility can drop down a bit with silt in the water (also an effect of the shallow dive profile), but the animals are close enough that it doesn’t really matter.
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| One of many turtles, feeding on the grass in Hol Chan Marine Reserve |
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| A crustacean, taking up residence in one of the many homes available. |
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| Pretty fish & coral |
I’ve been missing the diving pretty much since the moment we surfaced on that last dive. With water this beautiful and so much marine life, all just minutes off the coast, it is easy to understand why.
Lots more photos from the diving in Belize – both at the Blue Hole and just off Ambergris Caye – can be found here.
Posted by Seth on May 29, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Belize is known as a diver’s Mecca. The world’s second longest barrier reef sits just a couple minutes off the coast of Ambergris Caye and the reef system is one of the better protected natural resources on the planet. But above and beyond the phenomenal diving that is generally available in Belize there is a holy grail of sorts: the Blue Hole. The Blue Hole is rather famous, mostly for the views of it from above. It is a huge hole – over 400 feet deep – in the middle of a limestone-based reef and shallows. It also appears from the air to be almost perfectly round which makes for some great photos if you happen to be flying over top of it. But if you’re flying over it then you aren’t diving down into it, and that is really where the fun begins.
Getting out to the Blue Hole is something of an ordeal. It isn’t cheap at about $250/person and it isn’t quick at over two hours each way just for the boat ride there and back from San Pedro. But the dive operators make sure to keep their customers busy throughout the (very long) day, from arrival at the docks at 5:30-6am through to the return almost twelve hours later. Oh, and did I mention that there is a lot of diving?
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| Looking up from 100′ below the surface in the Blue Hole |
There are three dives on the day trip. The first – the Blue Hole itself – goes down to about 130 feet below the surface, deeper than just about any other commonly visited recreational dive site. The Hole isn’t teeming with aquatic life (though we did see a shark, some lobster and tons of little goby fish) so that isn’t an attraction at all. But it does have some pretty amazing underwater rock formations that come from the erosion of the limestone that forms the Hole. Unfortunately, because of the significant depth that the formations are seen at, there isn’t a whole lot of time spent viewing them. Most folks will get to spend 5-8 minutes at that depth before beginning the ascent to shallower water where there is a seemingly interminable stop to let the nitrogen seep out of the bloodstream, all while floating over the abyss and staring at a lot of nothing.
After the Blue Hole there are two other dives that fill out the rest of the day trip – Half Moon Caye Wall and The Aquarium. For many who make the trip out to the Blue Hole these are the dives that they really go for. The reefs are pristine and teeming with life. From barracuda to angelfish to eels to nurse sharks to dozens of other species that make up a typical Caribbean dive experience, the range is simply amazing.
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| The scorpionfish does a great job of blending in on the reef. |
I was singing Heart’s Barracuda quite a bit on this dive |
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| Swimming with the turtles is always fun. |
These tiny blue shrimp were fun to watch on top of the coral head. |
In addition to all the diving there is a brief lunch break at Half Moon Caye. The Caye is a wildlife sanctuary and a national park and serves as a rookery for the red-footed boobie. There is an observation deck from which hundreds of the birds are visible. Probably not worth a trip in its own right unless birding is really your thing, but it makes for a nice distraction during the non-dive time of the day. And on the boat ride home there is plenty of rum punch of one sort or another being served. That certainly helps the long boat ride home pass more quickly.
Diving the Blue Hole is quite amazing and certainly is a “bucket list” item for folks who dive, but it was also probably the least fantastic dive of the week.
Lots more photos from the diving in Belize – both at the Blue Hole and just off Ambergris Caye – can be found here.
Posted by Seth on May 24, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Perhaps it is because I eat them so frequently in sushi restaurants, but I am not sure. What I am certain of is that eels have it in for me. On two consecutive days of diving I’ve had incidents with eels. The last one was in Ft. Lauderdale and that guy was none to happy to see me. This time it was in Belize and if it wasn’t the exact same eel it was certainly a close cousin.
I swam over the top of the coral finger and nosed down over the edge to find a green eel swimming pretty much straight towards me. The good news is that this one seemed willing to be distracted by the others we were diving with rather than focusing all its attention on just me. And while I haven’t really spent a lot of time studying the facial features and mannerisms of eels to decide when they are happy and when they are angry, this one didn’t seem particularly happy to me.
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| Another dive, another eel headed straight for me! |
Of course, it is possible that my judgment of its mood was based on the fact that it was swimming straight for me, occasionally with its mouth open. It turns out that I have a reverse gear when diving; I didn’t know that until yesterday.
And on this dive there was more than just the one eel. There were actually several. One little spotted eel hanging out in the coral was particularly photogenic:
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| A spotted eel poking out from the coral |
Lots more pictures of pretty stuff underwater, but sharing of them is going to have to wait until I’ve got more time to post and less time planning my next dive profile. Time to get back in the water!
Posted by Seth on April 30, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Sliding down the descent line the wreck slowly comes into focus. I reach the top of the wreck, ironically the bottom of the overturned ship, and notice one of the other divers calling me over to the edge; clearly he’s found something that I need to see. I let go of the line and swim across the 30 feet or so to the edge of the hull. Peering over the side I see the cargo of the ship – large cement pipe sections – and then the reason for my buddy’s call. Baby was headed right at me and she didn’t look all that happy.
Baby is a six foot long Morey eel that is a resident on the wreck of the Sea Emperor. The ship was purposefully sunk along the south Florida coast several years ago as part of an artificial reef project. It capsized during the (not so) controlled ditching and now rests in 75 feet of water just a few hundred yards off the coast of Pompano Beach. The cement pipe sections that were initially loaded into her cargo compartments spilled out as the boat sank, creating the basis for a decent artificial reef near the wreck. The site is home to several “special” treats, including a couple of Goliath Grouper (~300-400 pounds), rays in the 10 foot range and Baby, along with many other “regular” reef fish typical of the region.
Like most dive trips that I’ve done solo, the first 30 minutes or so on the boat are critical. That is when you meet the others who are out diving and get paired up with a buddy for the trip. I met Kyle and a couple of his buddies (bringing donuts certainly helped break the ice) and we chatted a bit. Eventually we agreed that I could tag along with their crew which turned out to be a great opportunity.
Kyle & company were quite experienced divers and very comfortable underwater. That was good news in more way than one. They had brought along some frozen baitfish for the dives, figuring that it would help ensure more lively interactions with the sea-life. They were certainly correct on that front. Having the fish helps us coax a couple spiny lobster out of their coral hideaways and also helped bring Baby out into the open water. It also brought a reef shark out for a passing view, but the shark chose to leave us alone. Only Baby really took the bait, so to speak, interacting quite readily with us during the 20 minutes or so we spent on the wreck. She was certainly not shy about trying to get at the lunch being offered and didn’t seem to care too much who was holding it; she came after all of us for it.
Seeing a six foot long eel swimming right at me, teeth bared, was quite a shock. I actually freaked out enough that I somehow managed to wriggle out of my weight belt – a very dangerous proposition while 50 feet below the surface. Fortunately my training kicked in, I remembered that the weights were more important than just about anything else and I managed to fin down to where they had fallen and grab them, stabilizing my position in the water. The bad news was that I was now seventy feet below the surface with my camera in one hand, by weight belt in the other and an eel swimming at me with its teeth rather prominent in the whole scene. It was also at this point that I truly realized the good fortune I had to be diving with these guys. One of them had seen my weights drop and was already moving into position to help keep me underwater. Plus they were the ones that got Baby into the open. Well done on both fronts.
The dive on the wreck was actually our second dive of the day, though it was intended to be our first; when we got out there initially it was too crowded with other divers so we did our dives out of order that day. Or first dive was on a small reef system called Crab Cove. The reef system runs north/south along the coast with scattered coral heads and a sandy bottom. There were lobster, angelfish (a favorite of mine) and even a blowfish among the coral but the colors were rather subdued, similar to what I’ve come to expect from diving in Florida.
More significantly of note on our boat was a group of divers from Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba (S.U.D.S.). This is a group focused on helping amputee veterans remain connected to the world through diving. The group was truly amazing, both the guys diving and the woman who organized the trip for the group. One of the divers was a very recent amputee – it has only been a couple months for him – but they were out there having a phenomenal time underwater just like I was. It didn’t take much for them to fit fins onto their prosthetic limbs and get out into the water, and they were truly enjoying the experience. It was rather uplifting to see that scene. I now have a new charity to support as I was incredibly impressed by the whole bit of what they were doing.
Diving in Ft. Lauderdale means picking either a dive shop or a boat operator. In many cases the dive shops just pay for your space on the boat if they don’t have a boat of their own so it may be that you are diving with a wholly different operation. It pays to do a bit of extra research when choosing a dive shop/operator to make sure that you understand exactly who you’ll be out on the boat with and who is actually responsible for what is going on. In my case the dives and the boat, operated by South Florida Diving Headquarters out of Pompano Beach, were OK, but neither was particularly great and there were enough rough edges that I’d be willing to find a different operator next time. Getting yelled at for mis-navigating a reef where we went exactly where they told us to go wasn’t particularly fun, nor was the fact that my rental gear almost didn’t make the boat.
South Florida may be most famous for its sun and surf, but the underwater experience is lively as well. There are natural and artificial reefs running from Miami to Boca Raton with enough options along the way to keep anyone busy for several weeks of daily diving. With a half day to spend underwater I only experienced a couple dive sites, but it was enough to make me appreciate the options available in the area and certainly enough to whet my appetite for future dives in the area.
