Belize Aggressor III Captains Report July 13 - 20, 2013
Sea Conditions: flat with a light chop
Average Water Temp: 82F to 84F (recommended full body 3mm wetsuit)
Average Visibility: 60-120 foot (occasional 120+)
Average Wind: 5-10 knots
Crew this week: Jay, Mike, Chris, Jody, Randy and Anna
This week we welcomed Amy, Anna, Glen, Scott, Lee and Minnie, Steve and Ursula, Rafael and Roberta, and Marco. All of our anxious guests boarded at 3pm on Saturday and got settled in with their equipment. After doing our Captains Safety Briefing and introductions, we sat down to a wonderful meal prepared by Chef Anna. Afterwards, we departed from the Fort George Dock in Belize City and headed over to Turneffe Atoll for the evening.
Sunday - Turneffe Island and Lighthouse Reef Atoll
Dive sites: AM: Sandy Slope (2 dives); PM: Julies Jungle (2 dives)
We initiated our week moored to
Sandy Slope where we did our checkout dive and second morning dive.
The dives started off with sighting a small hawksbill turtle swimming with the guests and a couple of green morays poking their heads out of their holes. Second dive we found a couple spotted moray eels, scorpion fish, decorator crab, nudibranchs, a yellow stingray in the sand, and a jawfish with a mouthful of eggs. After lunch we did our crossing over to Long Cay Island and
Julies Jungle dive site where we encountered great barracuda, numerous parrotfish, lionfish, several groupers, filefish, cowfish, juvenile spotted drum, hogfish, colorful parrotfish, scorpion fish, garden eels, blenny, jawfish, lettuce sea slugs, and hiding lobster. After a big sunset and dinner, we prepared for our night dive. We entered the evening water and observed dozens of jacks, tarpon, chubs, stingray, an active and on the move octopus, inquisitive squid, shy spotted moray eel, pufferfish, a few hiding lobsters - and the night ended with dolphins making an appearance as we tied up at the night mooring.
Monday Lighthouse reef Atoll
Dive sites: AM: Long Cay Ridge (2 dives); PM: Hat Cay (3 dives)
We started off the day with a calm Caribbean morning and an abundance of sea life of all shapes and sizes, including a group of schooling jacks and a large free-swimming green moray directly under the boat. These locations are also known for their incredible wall dives cut by gorgeous sand canyons to explore. Huge barrel and tube sponges cover the underwater landscape and highlighted by all types of reef activity including, hawksbill turtle, large groupers cruising the area, spotted moray eel, trumpetfish, pipefish, triggerfish, parrotfish, and both neck crab and decorator crabs. Highlights included a great barracuda dive buddy, lobster enjoying their own fish dinner on the wall, jumping arrow crabs in the shallows, and a juvenile spotted drum dancing about the coral. For our night dive we found a school of squid, stingray, flounder, scorpion fish, arrow crab, octopus, a spotted moray eel, sleeping parrotfish, scores of nudibranchs, and even a spotted toadfish.
Tuesday Lighthouse Reef Atoll, Half Moon Caye
Dive sites: AM: The Blue Hole, Half Moon Caye Island Private Beach BBQ (2 dives); PM: Half Moon Caye Wall (2 dives)
We started the day off with a dive at
The Great Blue Hole. This site was made famous by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who declared it one of the top ten scuba diving sites in the world. In 1971, he brought his ship, the Calypso, to the hole to chart its depths. Today, our exploration was led past the deep and ancient stalagmites to relive its initial discovery. After the
Blue Hole we headed to Half Moon Caye Island. The island is the oldest site for wildlife protection in Belize and also the only breeding colony in the country for the thousands of red-footed booby birds that nest beside their pirating neighbors, the magnificent frigate birds. We spent some time walking around the palm tree lined beaches and combed paths where we came across a few hermit crabs and iguanas. We then enjoyed the scenery from the observation tower platform that is nestled in the canopy. We ended our island visit with a private beach bbq for lunch and a water taxi back to the mother ship. Our next dive site,
Half Moon Caye Wall, is known for its beautiful wall highlighted by a multitude of marvelous vibrant colors. Sightings today included great barracuda, lionfish, spotted drum, trunkfish and hiding lobsters. The mooring block was also full of life as we discovered numerous mini trunkfish, baby angelfish, sailfin blennies, shrimp, and a baby lionfish. Pipefish were also spotted in the grass along with numerous garden eels on the sandy bottom. For our night dive we found tarpon hunting under the boat, squid, bar jack, sharp tail eel, spotted drum, a big defensive crab, hiding lobsters, and a spotted moray eel.
Wednesday Lighthouse Reef Atoll
Dive sites: AM: Chain Wall (2 dives); PM: Cathedral (3 dives)
At
Chain Wall we observed Caribbean reef sharks, spotted eagle rays, and a large hawksbill turtle coming up the wall. We also sighted octopus, big grouper dive buddies, furry cucumber in the sand, and a very curious great barracuda. Our second dive site at
Cathedral was equally exciting and full of action with Caribbean reef sharks, spotted eagle rays, free swimming big green moray eels, octopus, schooling tarpon, hiding lobsters, spotted drum, and baby barracuda traversing the reef. After sunset, we had a very active night dive with hunting tarpon again under with boat, along with schools of Bermuda chub, horse eye jack, and pompano jacks. We also got to spend time with a squid, crab, lobster and shrimp lurking just in the shadows.
Thursday Lighthouse Reef Atoll
Dive sites: AM: Dos Cocos (2 dives); Aquarium to Cathedral Drift Dive (1 dive); PM: Long Cay Ridge (3 dives)
The first morning dive at
Dos Cocos started off with awesome visibility down the wall, with scores of fish and several huge groupers cruising the reef. Additional sightings included; Amys elusive big green moray eel, Scott & Glens spotted eagle ray, a pair of filefish, hiding lionfish, lobster, big pufferfish on the move and ended with a large group of jacks schooling under the boat. On our drift dive from
Aquarium to
Cathedral, we encountered a couple of spotted eagle rays, a baby black tip shark, a marathon swimming moray eel, and a little juvenile spotted drum. At
Long Cay Ridge in the afternoon we navigated along a beautiful wall and past sand canyons where we saw Caribbean reef shark, spotted eagle rays, great barracuda, trunkfish, orange filefish, cowfish, lionfish, hungry snapper, banded coral shrimp, spotted drum, decorator crab and a shy puffer fish which was valiantly trying to evade the divers. On the night dive we again encountered numerous hunting tarpon and Bermuda chub under the boats lights. Also found dancing squid, spotted moray eels, basket stars, bristol star, large lobsters, spider crab and various other types of hiding crabs.
Friday Lighthouse Atoll and Turneffe Island
Dive sites: AM: Painted Wall & The Elbow Drift (2 dives)
We splashed in at
Painted Wall for a dawn dive where we watched the underwater reef transition from night to day and saw green moray eels, spotted moray eels, awaking parrotfish, jawfish, garden eels, tiny octopus, various nudibranchs, neck crab and hiding lobsters. On the following morning dives at
The Elbow we stumbled upon a few southern stingrays, big lobsters, a crusty crab, pufferfish, and a baby triggerfish. In the afternoon and once back in Belize City, guests had the opportunity of participating in land tours to Altun Ha Mayan ruins, the Belize zoo, cave tubing, or zip lining before the evening cocktail party.
Congratulations to the following divers:
Gorilla Divers (completed all of this weeks dives): Scott, Glen, and Marco
Nitrox Certification: Anna and Marco
Thanks again to all our awesome guests!
Captain Mike