Bitsbeardo
New
Greetings. My GF and I just got our OW cert (SSI) in Dec '17. Little nervous after OW whether diving would be a life long interest or not. We booked a trip and went to Belize (Hamanasi in Hopkins) last month. We LOVED it!! Obviously, we had next to zero dive experience (other than what seems to be just a crash course during OW) but had a great time and were 100% sold on adventures underwater. We had 2 days of diving (2x 1 tank dives each morning) with our package but booked a 3rd day immediately after our first day.
We averaged around 45-50 mins per dive. Little over an hour rest period between each dive at a small research island called SW Caye.
Dives were mostly 60-80ft with quite a bit of wall diving. Clarity of the water was impressive though I do not having anything to judge it against. Saw a good amount of nurse sharks, several turtles, a lot of lionfish unfortunately, and our dive guide (and my GF) saw the outline/shadow of hammerhead in dark blue cruising along a wall, and plenty of amazing plant life.
The only downside/worry to the trip was that I was getting a good amount of bloody mucus during and while waiting get back in the boat after each dive. It lessened once I significantly slowed my descent and equalized more frequently. But still come up after each dive with a giant bloody "snot rocket" after each dive. On the 3rd day I actually gave the dive guide a heads up that that was happening but I felt just fine. Just so he would know and not become worried during the dive.
Also, my ears were clogged for the entire trip immediately following the first dive and for about a week after the trip. Never painful or became infected. Just muffled and popped when swallowing or trying to equalize. Any suggestions from the pros on how to minimize that??
Thinking about taking my Advanced OW this fall...navigation, night diving, perfect buoyancy, and deep water. Doing a Disney Cruise with family in January and diving in Nassau during a port adventure. Also looking for suggestions on good beginner diving locations for Spring 2019.
We averaged around 45-50 mins per dive. Little over an hour rest period between each dive at a small research island called SW Caye.
Dives were mostly 60-80ft with quite a bit of wall diving. Clarity of the water was impressive though I do not having anything to judge it against. Saw a good amount of nurse sharks, several turtles, a lot of lionfish unfortunately, and our dive guide (and my GF) saw the outline/shadow of hammerhead in dark blue cruising along a wall, and plenty of amazing plant life.
The only downside/worry to the trip was that I was getting a good amount of bloody mucus during and while waiting get back in the boat after each dive. It lessened once I significantly slowed my descent and equalized more frequently. But still come up after each dive with a giant bloody "snot rocket" after each dive. On the 3rd day I actually gave the dive guide a heads up that that was happening but I felt just fine. Just so he would know and not become worried during the dive.
Also, my ears were clogged for the entire trip immediately following the first dive and for about a week after the trip. Never painful or became infected. Just muffled and popped when swallowing or trying to equalize. Any suggestions from the pros on how to minimize that??
Thinking about taking my Advanced OW this fall...navigation, night diving, perfect buoyancy, and deep water. Doing a Disney Cruise with family in January and diving in Nassau during a port adventure. Also looking for suggestions on good beginner diving locations for Spring 2019.
