Day 16- Night Dive Round 2

Last Thursday (two nights ago), Kelli and I went night diving again in Hol Chan. I was much more relaxed this time, thinking I knew exactly what to expect. Well, I thought wrong.

Pre-dive anxiety

Will (worker at Pedro's from England) dropped Kelli, Laurie (Peter's girlfriend and veterinarian on the island), Jill (a lovely lady from England), and I off at the Ambergris Diver's dive shop around 5pm. In true Belize fashion, it took us about 40 minutes to get our gear and get onto the boat. This time the boat was much larger than either of the boats we took on my previous dives. And filled with many more people. There were 16 divers, two dive masters, and one boat captain. Everyone on the boat was already suited up and busy putting together their equipment. They were all obviously more experienced divers than Kelli, Jill, and I (Laurie dives a lot) and had tons of sweet dive gear. Fancy lights, glow-sticks, huge high-tech cameras, layers of wetsuits, just to name a few. It was rather intimidating watching everyone get ready. Kelli, Jill, and I stuck out like sore thumbs in our rented wetsuits.

Kelli and I with Flip! We love him! (He's been our dive master for all of our dives)

It was a short, but beautiful ride out to Hol Chan. The sky was turning pink as the sun was starting to set behind the island. When we got there, our dive master extraordinaire, Flip, gave us the rundown of things to remember and a list of things that we might see; just as he did on my first night dive. One part of his speech always includes what to do if you get swept out by the current into open water. Hol Chan is shallow (the deepest point is only 27 feet) and is situated on a channel that runs through the reef and out to the open sea. If the current is strong, there is the possibility of getting swept out. Laurie said she's never seen it happen, but that he gives the speech every time. At the end of his speech, he told us that in his culture if people get in the water at this time (it was a full moon) they "turn fish". We were a bit confused at what he meant but then he laughed and said if it's true he hopes he turns into a whale shark! 

Eagle Ray

Parrot fish sleeping in the reef

Our group of 16, split into two groups of eight. Half of the boat went with the other dive master and my side went with Flip. As soon as I hit the water, I noticed the current. It was very strong. We all drifted a good distance from the boat as we waited for Flip. The current never let up as we made our way into the reef. It was rough swimming against the current and staying under control. It made for a stressful time. Since the current was so strong, I made sure I never let Kelli or Flip and his bright, neon yellow fins out of my sight. I stayed right behind Flip the whole dive and Kelli stayed by me. But because we were so close, we were constantly bashing into each other. I kicked Kelli right in the face and she scratched me on my cheek. It's so dark--you can only see what your light is on or what the people around you's light is on--so there were multiple other collisions and bumps. The current also made it hard to stay still to look at things, but I can't really complain because we got so lucky and had so much to see! Flip was constantly banging on his tank to direct our attention to some sort of creature. We saw about six or seven moray eels, two sea turtles, four eagle rays, a bunch of southern stingrays, a nurse shark, loads of giant parrot fish sleeping in the reef, two octopuses, and several basket starfish. I borrowed Dr. C's underwater camera and snapped a few good pictures, but once again it was really difficult with the current. 

Spiny Lobster

Octopus

Post-dive rush!

When we got back on the boat, Kelli and I could barely contain ourselves. We were absolutely giddy and practically screaming about everything that we had seen and experienced. The darkness, the current, and having such a large group made for an intense, chaotic dive that I won't soon forget. We didn't even notice until we were almost back to the dock that we were the only ones talking. All of the other, more experienced divers were silent while Kelli and I couldn't stop giggling.




You really can't begin to understand what a night dive is like until you do it yourself. It is a completely  different exciting experience than diving during the day. I'm so happy that I got to go twice and now I'm even more excited to dive the blue hole!