ScubaDoobaDo
Guest
We got back from 8 wonderful days in San Pedro on 4/18/04. We stayed at Banana Beach Resort and had a great time. What seemed to make this trip extra special was another message board I found months before setting foot on AC -
http://ambergriscaye.com/ It's a great and informational board also.
Banana Beach was great, kind of messed up our 1st nights :errrr: reservation but the next 7 just what the doctor ordered, roomy beachfront living.
We started off our first full day on AC with a 2 local tank dives. My first drop down at Victoria Canyons I almost landed on a nurse shark!!! Wow, what a way to break myself in to diving with sharks!!!! Anyway, I got a good shot of him with my new camera (Olympus C750 w/ PT-018 housing) even though I was shaking in my fins!
We dove Easter morning also, my birthday! Did a couple of more local dives, Amigos Del Mar was awesome, they would pick us up on the BB dock and bring the BC's and wetsuits that we rented. They are a top notch dive shop and we couldn't be happier with them. They were always motioning me over for the good shot when a great photo op came up. We took the next day off from scuba to snorkel with my daughter at Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley, that was very exciting and for those of you not in the best of shape beware, Hol Chan was a very strenuous snorkel stop! There was a family with us with very little kids, I felt very sorry for them because the current was so strong that it made it a scary experience. The kids were sick to their stomachs after that and would not go out again. It was hard for me and my family also. The rest of the day we didn't deal with any current so it was a lot more relaxed but I think you should ask about the current before you get yourself into a dangerous situation like that was. What I do know is that I like scuba a lot better than snorkeling! It is much easier!!!
EXCEPT for the Blue Hole! The next day we loaded up for the Blue Hole trip with Amigos on the big boat. It was kind of rough getting over there but we were all up for it. My daughter and another gal on the boat were going to snorkel and the rest of us were in it to dive. My husband & I decided to do this dive after careful consideration... Going 130' was not the ideal situation for relatively new divers (our 22nd dive) but we felt confident with Amigos and got ourselves all pumped up for it. I have to say now that I am glad I did it BUT I will NEVER do that dive again. I took my camera down with me, dropping down was fine but for some reason (maybe I'm scared of the dark) I got kind of skitzoid down there. I even forgot to take pictures as we were weaving in and out of the stalctites (?? spelling), then the sharks showed up..... it was just eerie I tell ya! My heart was racing and all I could think of is that I had to make a safety stop before I could surface... what if something happened.... heart racing..... finally I calmed down as we started ascending and I could see the light... thank goodness, another minute or so and I think I would have been in a full fledged panic attack. Anyway, the safety stop the sharks showed up again, not so eerie when it's not dark but still frightening! I saw my daughter above snorkeling around and it she was pretty excited and amazed seeing us and the sharks! I think the only other time I kind of panicked like that was at the Santa Rosa Wall in Coz, it was a sheer drop off and I could only see black underneath me, I kept waiting for Jaws to show up and eat me...
The next two dives (Half Moon Caye) were probably the best dives of my life. The sea life there was totally amazing and we thouroughly enjoyed every part of those dives. Probably because I survived the blue hole... The trip home was pure hell! My daughter got seasick as the swells were higher than the boat. It was a miserable and slow trip back to BB but we finally made it, without the contents of my daughters stomach... she was chumming all the way back to the dock.
We did several more dives locally the next couple of days but the most amazing of those was a night dive at Hol Chan. I spotted an octopus, we saw eels, sleeping fishies, crabs, lobsters and a lot more. It was so amazing. This was our first night dive. What a thrill.
On the last day of diving for us we were at Victoria Tunnels, we say this HUGE nurse shark below us. That was a great way to end our diving time.
Again, I cannot stress how amazing Amigos was to dive with. I would highly, highly, highly recommend them to any divers out there. From the staff at the shop to our divemasters and boat captains they were the greatest!
http://ambergriscaye.com/ It's a great and informational board also.
Banana Beach was great, kind of messed up our 1st nights :errrr: reservation but the next 7 just what the doctor ordered, roomy beachfront living.
We started off our first full day on AC with a 2 local tank dives. My first drop down at Victoria Canyons I almost landed on a nurse shark!!! Wow, what a way to break myself in to diving with sharks!!!! Anyway, I got a good shot of him with my new camera (Olympus C750 w/ PT-018 housing) even though I was shaking in my fins!
We dove Easter morning also, my birthday! Did a couple of more local dives, Amigos Del Mar was awesome, they would pick us up on the BB dock and bring the BC's and wetsuits that we rented. They are a top notch dive shop and we couldn't be happier with them. They were always motioning me over for the good shot when a great photo op came up. We took the next day off from scuba to snorkel with my daughter at Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley, that was very exciting and for those of you not in the best of shape beware, Hol Chan was a very strenuous snorkel stop! There was a family with us with very little kids, I felt very sorry for them because the current was so strong that it made it a scary experience. The kids were sick to their stomachs after that and would not go out again. It was hard for me and my family also. The rest of the day we didn't deal with any current so it was a lot more relaxed but I think you should ask about the current before you get yourself into a dangerous situation like that was. What I do know is that I like scuba a lot better than snorkeling! It is much easier!!!
EXCEPT for the Blue Hole! The next day we loaded up for the Blue Hole trip with Amigos on the big boat. It was kind of rough getting over there but we were all up for it. My daughter and another gal on the boat were going to snorkel and the rest of us were in it to dive. My husband & I decided to do this dive after careful consideration... Going 130' was not the ideal situation for relatively new divers (our 22nd dive) but we felt confident with Amigos and got ourselves all pumped up for it. I have to say now that I am glad I did it BUT I will NEVER do that dive again. I took my camera down with me, dropping down was fine but for some reason (maybe I'm scared of the dark) I got kind of skitzoid down there. I even forgot to take pictures as we were weaving in and out of the stalctites (?? spelling), then the sharks showed up..... it was just eerie I tell ya! My heart was racing and all I could think of is that I had to make a safety stop before I could surface... what if something happened.... heart racing..... finally I calmed down as we started ascending and I could see the light... thank goodness, another minute or so and I think I would have been in a full fledged panic attack. Anyway, the safety stop the sharks showed up again, not so eerie when it's not dark but still frightening! I saw my daughter above snorkeling around and it she was pretty excited and amazed seeing us and the sharks! I think the only other time I kind of panicked like that was at the Santa Rosa Wall in Coz, it was a sheer drop off and I could only see black underneath me, I kept waiting for Jaws to show up and eat me...
The next two dives (Half Moon Caye) were probably the best dives of my life.
The sea life there was totally amazing and we thouroughly enjoyed every part of those dives. Probably because I survived the blue hole... The trip home was pure hell! My daughter got seasick as the swells were higher than the boat. It was a miserable and slow trip back to BB but we finally made it, without the contents of my daughters stomach... she was chumming all the way back to the dock.We did several more dives locally the next couple of days but the most amazing of those was a night dive at Hol Chan. I spotted an octopus, we saw eels, sleeping fishies, crabs, lobsters and a lot more. It was so amazing. This was our first night dive. What a thrill.
On the last day of diving for us we were at Victoria Tunnels, we say this HUGE nurse shark below us. That was a great way to end our diving time.
Again, I cannot stress how amazing Amigos was to dive with. I would highly, highly, highly recommend them to any divers out there. From the staff at the shop to our divemasters and boat captains they were the greatest!
