Jillapalooza

IM IN UR OCEAN. EATIN UR CARDZ.

Belize – Sunday 11/28

When we got back to our room after diving, the maintenance man was sitting outside of our door with the air conditioner motor in pieces. Fortunately it didn’t take to long after that for him to finish and soon cold air was pumping into our condo.

We took the water taxi into town for dinner at Caliente. Nick ordered some delicious nachos for an appetizer, and I ate chicken fajitas for dinner. They had a delicious citrus sauce that seemed to go with everything. The highlight of the evening was definitely Ted wearing a sombrero and riding a fake donkey.

After dinner we got ice cream from Manelly’s. No pistachio this time, but the coconut was delicious. No creepy mechanical Santa either, and the fish tank was clean. Both pluses!

Cypress Canyons, dive 47

Dive: 47
Belize Dive: 5
Date: 11/28/10
Site: Cypress Canyons
Avg/Max Depth: 47/84
Temp: 81
TBT/CBT: 0:56/37:56
Buddies: Ted, Nick, Curtis, Kristen, Cindy, Ellie

The surface interval at the dive shop was fairly uneventful. Kristen and I walked to a pharmacy to get her some band-aids. Here’s a pic of K in the pharmacy in her wet suit:

I also got an unobstructed photo of the Lino’s Meats sign:

For the second dive, we went to Cypress Canyons. I had a lot of fun swimming around and taking photos.

Rudy found a nice sized lobster right off the bat:

This moray eel was swimming about, and this Nassau grouper didn’t much like it:

We went through a cave. I took some pictures from inside, but it was too dark for them to turn out. Very fun.

I kept thinking people were giving the sign for some sort of underwater moose because they kept wiggling their fingers above their heads. Turns out it was the sign for lionfish. Kristen pointed this one out to me:

This picture was taken right before the fish was speared. Lionfish aren’t native to this area. They are native to the pacific region. It is believed that they were introduced to this area when a hurricane took out an aquarium at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. They are wreaking havoc on the eco system here. They eat everything but have no natural predators in these waters. For that reason, killing these fish is encouraged. Rudy and Loidy have both hunted them. Apparently there stings are no fun. They don’t like to do it on dives, however. Whoever speared this one was someone who happened to be there at the same time as us.

I understand and agree with why they hunt these fish. But something about watching it done is unsettling. I wonder if I would have the same “that’s too bad” reaction if the fish were ugly . . .

You can read more about it here: Reef Killer: Lionfish

Back to happier topics: I love parrotfish, but I can never seem to get a good photo of one. I followed one, deeper and deeper, as it swam through the reef. I didn’t get a good pic of it, but when I looked at my computer, I only had 3 minutes left till deco. I was at 70+ feet at the time, so I slowly ascended to 35 and followed the group from above.

Ellie:

When I do my safety stop, I always try to stay away from people. A group of people underwater seems to have it’s own magnetic force. Sucks you right in. I really get a kick out of watching Rudy try to do a safety stop. He forms a little circle with Ellie, his daughter (also 10), and the newbs, and then tries to keep them all at 15 feet.

Right after my 3 minutes safety stop was over, I noticed my tank was bobbing along to the right of me. I got Ted’s attention. He gave me the “I’m shrugging my shoulders because I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me right now” sign. I knew when he noticed it had come loose because his eyes bugged out really wide. Then he and Nick fixed my tank. In retrospect I should have just surfaced with it like that. While they were fixing it, I sank down to 20 feet and my computer told me I needed another safety stop. It wasn’t a big deal because it takes a while for everyone to get in the boat anyway, so I just hung out at 10 feet for another 3 minutes.

More diving photos here.

Tres Cocos, dive 46

Dive: 46
Belize Dive: 4
Date: 11/28/10
Site: Tres Cocos
Avg/Max Depth: 52/75
Temp: 81
TBT/CBT: 0:57/36:00
Buddies: Ted, Nick, Curtis, Kristen, Cindy, Ellie

Rudy brought us to Tres Cocos for our first dive of the day. Curtis was gracious enough to let me use his camera for today’s dives. I had a bit of a start when I got in and adjusted my mask and the camera floated in to my face. I also missed my first photo op: Ted’s tank slipped through his strap and was dangling behind him. Nick and I were good dive buddies and got him all fixed up, though.

I got some decent photos out of the first dive. Fish don’t like to hold still for me. I don’t know why. I have to be super stealth and sneak up on them. I found a little fish that liked the attention. Actually, I think he was more intrigued by the giant red lens filter on the camera.

Cindy pointed out a squirrelfish hovering next to a sand dollar:

Male and female stoplight parrotfish:

Some sort of tang:

Grouper:

More diving photos here.

Belize – Saturday 11/27

Today, Kristen and I decided to opt out of diving. After being here for two days, we decided we needed and deserved a day of doing nothing. Yesterday, Eli told us that the power in our unit would be out from 8 am–1 pm because they were hooking up a generator in case of future power outages, so we planned for a relaxing day by the pool.

Kristen rented a bicycle in the morning and ventured to the closest market to find a band-aid. They didn’t have any. They didn’t have eggs, either, but while she was shopping, they went and got her a dozen. Gotta love this place.

The power went out around 9 am. I computed until Kristen came back, then lubed up with sunscreen. Kristen took the bike out one more time while I headed down to the pool with our stuff. One key and all . . .

Damn, it was a scorcher.

Kristen wasn’t gone long, and she came back all sweaty. We set up a lounging station by the pool with two chairs and two umbrellas and immersed ourselves in our readers. Amir dropped by every 15 minutes or so to make sure we had enough to drink and to remind us to put sunscreen on. He also informed us the temp was 101. Even in the shade, I felt like I was in the sun, and the burn I acquired yesterday was very displeased.

After a few drinks, Kristen switched to virgins. Then we ordered lunch—conch ceviche and a club sandwich to share. The divers came back not long after, and everyone enjoyed lunch and drinks poolside. I took a nap. Cindy and Kristen were kind enough to keep me shaded while I slept.

When I got back in the room, it was hot. Not a fun day for the A/C to be off. Again. It was worse than the first day. The power returned around 4 pm. A loud whooshing noise woke me from my almost-sleep as the fans, fridge, and other devices kicked on.

Curtis delivered sad news. Amir was told he wasn’t needed anymore and he wouldn’t be returning tomorrow. Kristen and I were very disappointed to hear this, and I was bummed that I would have had the chance to say goodbye if I stayed at the pool a tad bit longer.

After the power had been on a bit, Kristen noticed the place wasn’t cooling. We called the front desk, and they sent up their all-purpose repair man.

The seven of us congretated in our hot condo and ordered pizza. None of us really felt like going out at all, and we didn’t want to eat at Foot Prints again. Or I didn’t, anyway. That and I was a little bitter about no more Amir. Sure it was his trial week, but he was supposed to work through Sunday. I have to imagine they just don’t have enough guests right now to support more staff at the restaurant, and that it didn’t have anything to do with him personally. I hope he finds work quickly.

Some time later, someone came up with a key to the unit below us. He told us we could sleep there and they would fix the A/C again tomorrow. Kristen, Cindy, Ellie, and I went downstairs to check it out. It’s a much ritzier version of our unit.

We ate pizza and watched some show about SNL on VH1 before heading down to the cold condo for bed.

Esmeralda, dive 45

Dive: 45
Belize Dive: 3
Date: 11/26/10
Site: Esmeralda
Avg/Max Depth: 44/68
Temp: 81
TBT/CBT: 0:59/36:03
Buddies: Ted, Nick, Curtis, Kristen, Cindy, Ellie

We hung out at the dive shop for our surface interval. Between the breeze and the shade, the tempurature was quite comfortable. I spotted a weird looking animal with a long nose and fluffy tail tied to a vendor stand on the beach. Loidy told me it was called a quash, like an anteater or raccoon, but house trained. Cindy and I walked closer to get a better look. It was a cute little thing, a baby too. Rudy said one of his kids has a quash named Tequila. He said they can’t leave anything sitting around because the quash sticks its little nose into everything, lolllll.

After the surface interval, we ventured back out to the choppy waters for our second dive at Esmeralda. This was the site with the sandy bottom where the sharks hung out. Loidy brought a food tube along, and in no time a pile of nurse sharks joined us. A moray eel also came out to play. It was neat because we’ve never seen one swimming about so boldly. They usually just sit under rocks and look ominous. The eel also bonked Loidy in the mask. Entertaining stuff.

I was in the process of descending to touch the sharks when one of the dumbheads from the other group descended on top of my head. I ended up being sandwiched uncomfortably between the ground, her, and Rudy and Ellie. I had to squirm my way out, trying not to stir up the bottom or kick anyone else. After that the sharks got crowded, so I just hung out above. It’s okay, I’m sure there will be another shark touching opportunity in the next 8 days.

The rest of the dive went well and my ear didn’t give me issues. The safety stop was a bit dizzying again, but it didn’t seem as bad as the first time. And neither of them were even close to as bad as the dive in 2007!

Because the dive shop is taking care of our gear, I have to remember to write down what’s in my dive computer before leaving the boat. I forgot this time, that’s why there’s a bunch of missing info at the top. Do not fear. I will fill it out in a timely matter. ;)

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