The Blue Hole

A long time ago, I became a SCUBA-diver. Most people gain their PADI certification in some warm island paradise, but I did mine in a very cold Sweden, way back in '90. It came to pass that I did very little diving (none, in fact) for the next decade and a bit. Recently, I found myself in one of the undisputably best diving spots in the world, the Caribbean coast of Belize, on the sunny Ambergris Caye, and I decided I couldn't leave without getting back into the swing of things, as it were. My partner is certified to the same PADI level, but has got more, and also more recent, diving experience. I could remember approximately sod all about putting the gear together, decompression stops, buoyancy control etc. I did, however, recall all the things that can go wrong; nitrogen narcosis, lung rupture, decompression sickness, not to mention the local sub marine fauna.

We decided to take a shallow reef dive as a refresher. My brother, a very experienced SCUBA-fiend, was on hand to cast a knowing eye over my fumbling attempts at connecting the regulator to the tank, tank to BCD, and determining the number of kilos of lead to strap to my waist to ensure I didn't just bob around like a cork.

This was to be a two stop dive & snorkel trip. We were scheduled for the dive first, but due to dive boat congestion we opted for the snorkel first, in the aptly named Shark Ray Alley. The water was warm, clear, and as I discovered as soon as I was submerged, full of Sting Rays and Sharks. We were assured that these were nice Belizean Rays and Sharks that posed no danger to humans. But please keep your hands and fingers tucked away in your armpits, as the rays have a sharp spine along their backs. Oh, and the sharks can sometimes bite your hands -- not dangerous, but it stings a bit, and the blood tends to mess up the boat..
Anyway, an intoxicating experience, swimming along the incredibly colourful reef, playing tag with the rays and sharks.

Next stop was to be our shallow dive at Hol Chan Marine Reserve. Our incredibly chilled creole dive master gave us a short briefing on what was going to happen before we geared up and giant-stepped off the side of the boat. We had to surface swim a bit to reach the site, and I was glad to discover that this felt at least vaguely familiar: push the button to deflate the BCD, breathe out, and gently descend into the blue. Equalise the pressure in ears, sinuses and the mask. Breathe. Inflate BCD slightly to achieve neutral buoyancy. Don't "swim", just use the legs. The colours are just amazing. More sharks, rays, snappers, groupers, you name it. An hour bottom-time passed in what seemed like the blink of an eye. As we never went deeper than 35 feet, we all surfaced with two thirds of the air left, especially as we didn't need a decompression stop on such a shallow dive.

We now had the bug, big time. As we landed ashore, we went straight to the dive shop to enquire about the BIG Belize dive destination, the Great Blue Hole. It's a curious circular hole, about 200 meters across that bottoms out at 450 feet or so. We couldn't really go to Belize, and not dive the blue hole. Unfortunately, this is labled an 'advanced' dive, which would involve me diving three times deeper than I'd previously ever dived, meaning that one may encounter nitro narcosis. Also, "corking" to the surface from 50 metres would likely be fatal. Diving to such depths means that the air in the tank doesn't last very long -- projected time at max depth is only eight minutes. This in turn means that one has to descend rapidly, and stragglers unable to equalise would have to return to the surface as the group would not have enough air to wait around. Still. We took some advice, and the dive guys said that as long as you can keep your "shit" together, it's not a technicaly demanding dive. Moreover, the day's outing would include two futher dives, investigating wall reefs - reefs that plummet down to obscene depths displaying a wealth of colours and marine life. We signed on the dotted line, somewhat hesitantly.

The next morning we were picked up from the pier outside the hotel at an unfathomably early 05.30am and raced back to the dive centre, and quickly kitted out and sent aboard the large dive boat that would be our base for the rest of the day. We were immediately struck by the professionalism and well-rehearsed slickness of the whole operation. It was clear that Amigos Del Mar were the real deal. There were to be about ten other divers and a sprinkling of snorklers joining us, and looking around it was clear from the array of dive computers and custom gear on display that we were definitely the least experienced divers on board. The journey to the Blue Hole would take approximately two and a half hours over some choppy seas, but we were amused by shoals of flying fish taking off from the wake of the boat, soaring along for hundreds of metres.
Suddenly the seas calmed, and the boat slowed down. We had arrived at the Blue Hole. From the boat it looked a bit sinister, and rather more black than blue, compared with the turquoise delights of the surrounding reef. Edgar, the commander of the vessel, held a concise briefing. Follow the dive-master's instructions. No waiting for stragglers. This is a deep dive, watch your air. Watch your depth. Meanwhile, some other guys are dropping air tanks and regulators on ropes down to a depth of 20 feet where we are set to stop for a 10 minutes decompression safety stop. Apparently, people frequently run low on this dive. The tension was rising as we were split up into teams, geared up, and shoved in.

A few hundred feet of surface swimming took us to the circular reef rim where we awaited our dive-master, Alex, and assembled the team. The hole itself is funnel-shaped, and we descended together to the start of the actual shaft. Peering over, all I could see was darkness, and my stomach churned over. When all had arrived, Alex started the pacy descent into the abyss. Although I wasn't aware of it at the time, several people had to return to the surface as they could not equalise in the allotted three minutes. Suddenly my depth meter said 100 feet, and the shaft widened itself into the most amazing cavern with huge stalagtites and other cave features everywhere. I followed Alex into the cave complex, still descending. At 140 feet, halt was signalled, and I knew we now had 8 minutes max of time before we had to make our way back up. To my relief I felt no signs of nitro narcosis. Suddenly the ascent was signalled, which coincided with my air reaching the 1000 psi limit. Very slowly we glided up through the shaft, arriving at our safety stop point. Now at 800 psi, a bit low but should be enough to last the duration. Eleven minutes later we breached the surface, and one by one climbed aboard. Although not much spectacular marine life was seen, the dive itself had been a sensational experience, and everybody was grinning.

There would now be a surface interval of approximately an hour whilst we travelled to our next destination, the Half Moon Caye Wall. This were to be a drift dive, depth limited to 60 feet, meaning that bottom time would be between 40 mins and an hour. The efficiency with which the operation was run was impressive, especially bearing in mind the normal central american manyana mindset. An hour later we were effortlessly drifting with the current along the most amazingly colourful reef teeming with life. This dive was less adrenaline and more of a chill trip compared with the blue hole iself. After nearly an hour's bottom time, our dive master inflated a small baloon attached to a stick with a flag on, which rose to the surface to signal the dive boat that we were about to surface. We held our 8 minute safety stop and surfaced next to the boat.

Once all teams had surfaced, we set sail towards the Half Moon Caye itself--a paradise island sand speck in the ocean fringed with coconut palms. Here lunch was served up followed by some leisure time wandering around the island looking at the local wild life. It houses a large colony of .. wait for it .. boobies, which contrary to what you may expect is a type of bird. Also on display was an impressive array of iguanas.

After a couple of hours we boarded again and headed for the last dive site of the day, which was going to be another wall/drift dive. This time the max depth was to be 50 feet, again increasing our bottom time. I was beginning to feel almost 'reefed out', faced with a barrage of colour, shape and motion. Suddenly, a high-reved engine noise drew our attention to the surface, where a boat was going round and round, with a dolphin playing in its wake. After it got bored, it was suddenly joined by two more, and the three of them swam straight towards us, curious. I put out my hand, and for a moment I thought that one of them was going to play some mischievous trick on me. It stopped just outside arms reach, appeared to grin at me, and turned around, showing me a clipped tail fin. A truly mesmerising experience. So long, and thanks for all the fish. From that point, we seemed to chance upon every creature imaginable, big sharks, moray eels, you name it. This dive was over far too soon. Once on board again, everybody was buzzing, and as we turned around, heading back to Ambergris, the dive boys broke out the crates of Beliken beer, and we set off into the sunset, blissed out, happy with a superbly organised trip.