Amber Gris Caye, Belize

Oh man.  Deep breath.  Diving in Belize is ALWAYS an adventure.  This time was no exception.

We woke up to cloudy skies and a downpour of rain.  We don't usually panic about rain because in the Caribbean it comes and goes, but every direction we looked, it was rainy and grey and scary.  I was sure that the dives would be cancelled, but John was sure they wouldn't.  While we waited for the tender to take us to shore, he visited the Internet Cafe and found out that the dives were still ON.  (Ethan "purged" the stinky smell from his swim suit by sitting in the chlorinated hot tub for a few minutes--always reason for a good laugh, especially with the smile on his face).  We had to just figure that we would be soaked all day as we boarded the tender with very wet seats.

As with the last time we dove here, John had arranged for a "Fly and Dive" package (just typed "Fly and Die" package which would have accurately reflected my feelings that day...).  We took a taxi to the airstrip, got our boarding pass for an eight-passenger plane, boarded the plane and prayed.

Again, I was taken back to the days of sitting in the back of a single-engine airplane (during the pilot lessons my step-father would give).  My mouth gets dry, my palms get sweaty, and I just don't look up. Especially with this flight.  Clouds, no visibility and rain.

Low and behold, by the time we reached Amber Gris Caye (about a 15 minute flight), the clouds were breaking up and we could see sunshine reflecting off the water...that is when we actually looked out the windows!

Like last time, there was a man to "pick us up" at the airport, or in other words, we just walked to the dive shop with him through back alleys and streets.  We really like the dive shop, even when they took us to the exact same dive sites as last winter.  Of course, by the time we got out on the water, the rain had caught up with us, and we were seeing ten foot swells.  Wait, did I say seeing?  We were riding ten foot swells, and Johannah was actually wearing her SCUBA mask to keep the water spray out of her eyes (in the words of Mark, that's so hawt...) It's nice to have been through this before and know that once we are under the water, it makes no difference.

The first dive was through a bunch of canyons.  I completely forgot to take any pictures.  However, I made up for it on the second dive where the divemaster baited nurse sharks and moray eels.  The videos at the end are AWESOME!!

Hannah was having trouble getting down because of her ears (she just needed to go down a bit slower).  The divemaster, who was baiting the sharks, went back up to Hannah, and the sharks followed, making for a very cool picture.

She obviously got down.

Craziest thing.  She's not holding down this shark.  It just laid there while she petted it.

This is my absolute favorite fish, the spotted drum fish.  I love the juveniles, and the adults, and we are always thrilled when we find one.  I probably took ten pictures of this fish alone.

Cheese is amazing at taking out his regulator and holding his breath forever for a picture.

A family picture!

A lot of this video is Glo (in the blue fins).  

For those who are wondering, the sharks feel like sandpaper.

The moray eel in this video is almost "tame" (at least by moray eel standards).  He lives in the rock nearby and waits for the shark bait.  He's more than happy to swim around with the sharks (and the divers, swimming in between our legs), looking for morsels of food.