To Blue Hole or not Blue Hole...

[Downing]

Here's what I don't get about the Blue Hole and it has nothing to do with whether to dive it since I've dived it a couple of times, will dive it again this summer and many more times after that, I'm sure. The other two dives of the day are incredible by anyone's standards, and I'm not the type to sit on the boat while others dive the BH no matter how many times I've done it. There's always something new to see or learn on any dive.

And the boat ride from the BH to Half Moon Caye is one I'll never forget and can't wait to do again. The ocean there is fantastic: light green and so shallow you can see the bottom practically the entire way. There's a shipwreck on the reef, above water, what's the story?

You just have this liberating feeling of being on the edge of the world.

Why anyone would choose to never experience this is beyond me but to each his own, and I'm not about to knock the choices of others.

Oh yeah, what I don't get about the BH, sorry, got off on a tangent. It once was a cave with the opening on dry land but now covered by the ocean, causing the cave to collapse. Got it. But what makes the the hole so nearly perfectly round and vertical? The few caves I've been in were essentially openings on the side of a mountain and you went up and down through a few caverns and passageways. I have a hard time visualizing how if the "roof" collapsed on them that it would result in anything other than some sort of irregular indentation on the surface.

 

[Dawngrg]

I have to agree with TSandM. I have been twice to the Hole and the experiences very very different. The first, the viz stunk and the divers were scarey but I was new to diving and being cautious. Said I'd never do it again, a waste of time and money. Then , did it again and loved it. We arrived early to the site, big factor, saw several sharks and a few groupers. This dive was well supervised and the divers were very safety conscious. In both dives I never went below 135ft, and the bottom limit was to be 130 .The DM was very alert to both the sharks and the divers he was monitoring on the second dive. The first , not so much, I could barely make him out in the line of divers. He led and we sort of followed. The lighthouse area is amazing with fish, coral and current, well worth it again and again..

 

[martinbelize]

I've dived it probably 100 times, including going to the bottom three times.

If you want that sort of progressive introduction then just PM me.

Good to know ;-)

 

[ecologic diver]

well i dunno what to say i spent the last 2 weeks diving bh and it was awesome , my divers never went past 130ft dunno what you were ding down there dude. we usally dive it in small groups 3 or 4 pax to a dm justto keep things safe. it is a great dive if take the time to learn a bit of history and keep an open mind the other side of the coin is that its not just the one dive s a full days experience learning and letting your guides show an teach you things. we are not recognised as a "blue hole " center but do enough trips to know what we are talking about.

tanks
ian
ECOLOGIC DIVERS

 

[Gaz]

Here's what I don't get about the Blue Hole and it has nothing to do with whether to dive it since I've dived it a couple of times, will dive it again this summer and many more times after that, I'm sure. The other two dives of the day are incredible by anyone's standards, and I'm not the type to sit on the boat while others dive the BH no matter how many times I've done it. There's always something new to see or learn on any dive.

And the boat ride from the BH to Half Moon Caye is one I'll never forget and can't wait to do again. The ocean there is fantastic: light green and so shallow you can see the bottom practically the entire way. There's a shipwreck on the reef, above water, what's the story?

You just have this liberating feeling of being on the edge of the world.

Why anyone would choose to never experience this is beyond me but to each his own, and I'm not about to knock the choices of others.

Oh yeah, what I don't get about the BH, sorry, got off on a tangent. It once was a cave with the opening on dry land but now covered by the ocean, causing the cave to collapse. Got it. But what makes the the hole so nearly perfectly round and vertical? The few caves I've been in were essentially openings on the side of a mountain and you went up and down through a few caverns and passageways. I have a hard time visualizing how if the "roof" collapsed on them that it would result in anything other than some sort of irregular indentation on the surface.

Hey Downing

Can't be sure its the same thing but recently and prior to the recent events in Guatemala there have been several perfectly circular sinkholes formed in Guatemala and they are also almost a perfect circle and its not the first one in this town they had another almost perfect circular hole appear a few years ago.

 

[peterbj7]

Some do form perfectly circular, whereas others (like the Cheddar Gorge in England) can be quite irregular. Seems to depend on whether there's a river involved - the irregular Cheddar Gorge was largely formed by a river, but I can't think of a single circular sink hole that had a river involved at any point in its history. The one common element of course is water, but not total immersion.

 

[k374]

The dive is to the best part of 150ft (don't believe people who say it's 130ft, although you can of course stop at that depth).

What is the NDL at 150ft...around 3 mins? How is this type of dive even organized? Do they usually required AOW? Is it a bounce to 150ft and then back up? What about air consumption? Do they typically use AL100s? Are guests warned about narcosis? It seems pretty much on the edge to me...

 

[gsk3]

This thread is a bit old but has since been revived so I might as well comment. The thing that strikes me reading all the pro-BH-on-AL80 comments is that the only incident that is defined to matter is a death. To me, all of the things that Peter and others are describing and that seem to be quite common (bolting to the surface, running out of air, etc.) *are* incidents. No quality improvement scheme ignores the near-misses, because they are far more common than the relatively rare but significant outcomes (in this case, death).

My impression of what goes on is that incidents happen all the time, only the industry is so used to them that it has built up a rather impressive safety net (DMs, hang bottles). Ask any trapeze artist about their safety net, though, and they will tell you they don't want to use it. Safety nets are imperfect, and if you rely on them all the time they will eventually drop you straight through to the pavement.

I'd much rather stay within sane limits and only rely on the safety net (for me, always a trusted buddy first) on the off chance that I slip up.

 

[peterbj7]

I agree that the "recreational" BH dive is on the edge. I would hardly say bolting to the surface or running out of air are commonplace - in a large number of dives there I have seen each happen just once. In fact the first never happened when I was there, as long before the "victim" was even up as far as the shoulder (she was still below 100ft) a DM had caught up with her and controlled her ascent from there on.

Nonetheless my personal view is that many divers who do it, and emerge unscathed from their experience, should not have tackled it. But that's unrealistic - people DO do it, so what we have to do is minimise the risk of a incident having serious consequences.

 

[k374]

Nonetheless my personal view is that many divers who do it, and emerge unscathed from their experience, should not have tackled it. But that's unrealistic - people DO do it, so what we have to do is minimise the risk of a incident having serious consequences.


Well this video shows that:

YouTube - Blue Hole, Belize

I would say that these divers are not exactly the most experienced!