The irony of the safety stop...

Not only did this little side trip to Belize give me the chance to check off number 99 off my ‘100 Places’ list, it gave me the opportunity to try out diving again. I fully admit that I know very little about diving – I am very new to the sport, but the diving, even the snorkeling in Belize is FANTASTIC. Second only to Australia’s mammoth Great Barrier Reef, Belize is home to a barrier reef that provides an excellent array of marine life in crystal clear, and most importantly, warm waters.

Our first foray into the ocean was the every tourist must do trip to Shark and Stingray Alley followed by a visit to Hol Chan Marine Park. Harmless nurse sharks and Southern Stingrays encircle the snorkelers in hopes of a hand out…it’s gimmicky but still kind of cool. The next stop was my absolute favourite of the entire trip…Hol Chan is Mayan for little channel. There is a small opening in the reef here that forces water, rich with food sources, through a narrow opening thus providing a guaranteed meal for the fishes. Similar to humans…fishes will flock somewhere for a giant buffet. So in 45 min I had the chance to see a variety of groupers, tangs, damsels, wrasse and parrotfish. Snorkeling directly over the channel we could glance down and see a spotted Eagle Ray dining below. I had a bit of a fright when I free dove down to take a closer look at a Moray Eel – it turns out the human who had just been there gave him a little food treat, the eel, assuming that I was also bearing snacks turned on me and approached far too eagerly. I gracelessly attempted to back paddle while desperately trying not to inhale through my snorkel all the time convinced I was going to lose a morsel of flesh to those giant teeth. And of course there were the turtles…no shortage of tourist friendly, photogenic, endangered Atlantic Green Turtles.

As I mentioned, the snorkeling was amazing but to see most things up close it required free diving, which is exhausting and somewhat limiting – so I was eager to get out and stretch my SCUBA muscles. The one thing I dislike about diving is the boat…specifically sitting on the swells while in a boat with my inner ear rocking back and forth triggering the strong desire to vomit. I hate that. Not an issue if reef diving here in Belize, meet the group, suit up, 2 min ride to the dive site, dive, 2 min ride back to a dock, enjoy a snack while the gear is switched and then repeat – no time to get nauseas. You can complete 2 full dives in the AM and have the rest of the afternoon off!

My dives were awesome, far deeper than I was certified to be, but the clarity of the water was astounding. Spiny lobsters, giant crabs, ink squirting squid and huge grouper were a few of the highlights…along with more Eagle Rays, bizarre corral, puffer fish and turtles. Deep dives require a decompression safety stop before resurfacing, so my fellow divers and I hovered around 15 feet watching the ocean floor below when some more visitors appeared out of the shadows.

Sharks, much larger than the tourist friendly ones in Shark and Ray Alley, circled us, curious I believe as to whether the large shapes floating in their waters were friend of foe. Initially I wasn’t too worried as I was able to correctly identify our visitors as nurse sharks…it was only when a rather large black tip reef shark joined the pack that I started to get apprehensive. These sharks too are usually not fond of humans, but occasionally have been known to get aggressive. I focused on controlling my breath and my buoyancy while mentally writing my obituary…an avid traveler with generally no sense of self preservation, Amy Leah did have a love of all things ironic and although we are sad for her passing we feel that she would have certainly appreciated the quirk of fate of being devoured by a shark while at a “safety stop”…donations may be made to the Jacques Cousteau fund for the preservation of reef sharks…

p.s. swimming above a scuba diver is what I imagine swimming in soda pop is like...great bubbles..