Jillapalooza — Page 21 — IM IN UR OCEAN. EATIN UR CARDZ.

Boca del Rio, Dive 79

December 7, 2012

Dive: 79
Belize Dive: 13
Date: 12/7/12
Site: Boca del Rio
Avg/Max Depth: 48/87
Temp: 81
TBT/CBT: 0:51/65:10
Buddies: Nick, Curtis, Kristen

I didn’t plan on doing two dives today, but Rudy twisted my arm. And boy am I glad he did!

After seeing Curtis manhandle a shark, I decided it was something I wanted to try. I was trying to stay where they were swimming, which was a bit deeper than I wanted to be. They always look closer than they actually are, so I didn’t so much as touch one. I wasn’t paying attention to my computer and ended up going into deco for the first time. Seriously? I hear everyone else’s computers beeping at them. A little warning would have been nice.

It had me ascend to about 30 feet, which sucked because it was too far up to get a good look at anything. I hung there for at least 5 minutes. Once my timer was up, everyone else was ascending, so I went right into my safety stop.

The good news is that, because I was so close to the surface, I was that much closer when THE DOLPHINS came to play!!1! I didn’t have my camera, which was bittersweet. I was close enough to have gotten some good photos, but it was nice to watch them without distraction.

It was a fantastic way to end the dives here on beautiful Ambergris Caye.

Sandy Point, Dive 78

December 7, 2012

Dive: 78
Belize Dive: 12
Date: 12/7/12
Site: Sandy Point
Avg/Max Depth: 59/96
Temp: 79
TBT/CBT: 0:49/64:19
Buddies: Nick, Curtis, Kristen

I left my camera behind today. I didn’t really feel like dealing with it. I wanted to be able to observe and just enjoy being under the water. Also, by leaving it behind, I believed it would increase our chances of seeing something awesome, like some dolphins for Kristen.

Rudy ended up with an unclaimed spear. Just as I decided that I would swim up to him and take it, Curtis swooped in and accepted the challenge. He shot one too! Damn it. Next time.

Belize – Thursday 12/6

December 6, 2012

Kristen and I skipped out on dive 2 in favor of the pool. We relaxed with cool drinks and ordered lunch from Red Ginger. I had snapper tacos. Kristen had wings. And I ate some. They were tasty.

For dinner we went to Blue Water Grill again. It was sushi night, so I ordered a California roll and a Dominical roll, which was crab, avocado, cucumber, and salmon. I think. Whatever, it was good. We stopped at DandE’s for frozen custard again. I had coconut. It was good, but not as good as the chocolate. No black guard kitty this time, but the nice lady owner gave Kristen and me pumice stones, which was perfect timing because we were just discussing skin issues earlier in the day and decided we could benefit from something like that.

View all of today’s photos below.

Treasure Canyons, Dive 77

December 6, 2012

Dive: 77
Belize Dive: 11
Date: 12/6/12
Site: Treasure Canyons
Avg/Max Depth: 60/93
Temp: 79
TBT/CBT: 0:49/63:30
Buddies: Nick, Curtis, Kristen

It was a pretty quiet dive. Nothing too crazy happened. We did see a school of ocean triggerfish, which was kind of neat.

My mask was giving me issues, and because Nick put soap in it instead of Sea Drops, I had burny eyes. My camera was also giving me issues. The red filter fell out of place and was causing a lens error every time I turned it on. I missed a photo of a baby lionfish sitting on Loidy’s hand. It started working correctly eventually, but I was tired of it, so I hooked it to my BCD with a carabiner and tucking it into my cummerbund.

View all of my photos from Treasure Canyons below.

Billy Bob’s, Dive 76

December 5, 2012

Dive: 76
Belize Dive: 10
Date: 12/5/12
Site: Billy Bob’s
Avg/Max Depth: 49/69
Temp: 81
TBT/CBT: 0:49/62:41
Buddies: Nick, Curtis

Somehow I ended up over the wall with Nick and Rudy on this dive. They were hunting lionfish and feeding the eels. Creepy little bastards. I don’t think anything in the water makes me as nervous as these guys. The spotted eel in the beginning of the video below is twisting around to break a lionfish in half, then it chokes it down like a snake. The green eels are swimming about, which seems kind of rare to see, as they’re usually in their hidey holes with their heads poking out.

There were also barracudas, which give me the heebie-jeebies. This one was little and close, so it wasn’t too bad. I feel like if I’m close enough, it can see I’m not food and won’t charge me.