Dives #7 and #8: (J&R Wall and Double Head Barrel outside of Belize City, Belize)
Dive #7: (J&R Wall)
These dives occurred in Belize from a cruise ship. If you don't know, the cruise ships "dock" in deep water and then have tenders to ferry passengers back and forth from the cruise ship to Belize City. Once on land, a short walk through the "cruise terminal" and I was off down the road to Sea Sports Belize. The walk was easy and everyone was very friendly pointing me in the right direction. I'll post more about the process in the "diving from a cruise ship" thread later.
Once inside the shop, they asked for cert card and I had to fill out paperwork (I thought I did that via email prior, but I digress). Then it was off to the back room where I was asked to set up my gear. Handed a BC and regs and pointed to a tank, I was on my own to set things up. Before I got started, I asked if they would allow me to add my swift transmitter to their equipment. They were more than happy to oblige.
Now it could be that it was a new "thing" and I was nervous, but it seemed like there was a rush to get things set up so that gear could be put onto the boat. After I put the tank on the BC and the regs on the tank, my gear was whisked out and I was asked to go back out front and wait while others set up their gear. They were allowing four (4) people at a time to set up gear. The group for the day was a family of 6 (maybe 8), a father/son team, a solo guy and me. The solo guy turned out to be an instructor from northern CA. In hindsight, I should have asked more questions about the "setup" process. I would have liked to had some time to look over the gear and familiarize myself as well as adding my SMB, whistle, and slate. Note to self, slow down...
There was a very bumpy boat ride to the site. The owner of the shop had suggested that dives should be called off, but the captain and DMs said we would at least get close and see what the conditions were. Worst case we might just swim around inside the reef. Once we got to the edge of the inside of the reef, things seemed a lot calmer. It was interesting to look out across the reef less than 20 yards and see how much different the water conditions were. I would estimate that where we were there were 2'~4' swells and outside the reef things were at least double.
We did an anchored boat dive, splashed off the back of the boat and descended to swim over the reef, then along the outside wall of the reef. The DM had us signal when at 1000PSI, at which point he took us back to the anchor line. The plan was for those low to ascend to a safety stop then surface while those who weren't low would be able to continue their dive. I wasn't first low on air, but I was likely second or third. The son of the father son team went through his tank first. Not sure if the father was in the same place or if he stayed with his "buddy."
Enjoyed the dive, didn't see a lot of fish, but the reef was really awesome. Went to 68.7' with an average depth of 35.4' for 34 minutes.
