Dive: 44
Belize Dive: 2
Date: 11/26/10
Site: Tackle Box
Avg/Max Depth: 44/67
Temp: 81
TBT/CBT: 1:00/35:04
Buddies: Ted, Nick, Curtis, Kristen, Cindy, Ellie

The seven of us boarded the boat to the diveshop as well as three other people from our resort. I think it was a father and his two daughters. They were in the process of getting certified. Once at the diveshop, the seven of us boarded a bigger boat. With us came another divemaster named Loidy, two other divers, and Dianne, a Divemaster-in-training.

For our first dive outside the reef, Rudy took us to Tackle Box. The boat ride was a bit choppy. We backwards rolled into the water and descended immediately to about 40 feet. There were lots of fun tunnels to go through, unfortunately I was having equalization issues at about 66 feet. I followed from above and watched as everyone passed through the caverns. As much as I wanted to be down there with them, it was fun watching from above.

The dive was good and we swam at a leisurely pace. There was no strong current like in Hol Chan, so I didn’t have to excert much effort. I tried to stay at 17 feet for my safety stop at the end. At about 12 feet I could feel the motion of the swells. It’s an unsettling feeling to be dizzy when it doesn’t seem like you’re moving. It also helped to not watch the boat thrash around in the water, or the people trying to hold on to the ladder while they removed their gear.

Getting in went somewhat smoothly for me. I had my fins and BCD off in record time, and I kept the reg in my mouth until my gear was being pulled onto the boat. Once I was on, it was another story. A giant wave rocked the boat and I started to tumble forward. I saw Nick and aimed for him, but fell at the last minute. I smashed my nose right into his stomach. I’m just glad it wasn’t his knee or the boat!

Dive 15

After about an hour surface interval at the dive shop we headed out to a spot called the Tackle Box. We entered the water the same way. Rudy through his BCD in the water to suit up but forgot to inflate it a bit so it started to sink. Curtis saw the whole thing unfold. I was videotaping Kristen at the time when I heard the splash, but by the time I saw him he had already gotten to it, about 20-25 feet down. Ha ha.

Rudy had some fish with him this time, so a large group of snapper and grouper followed us around throughout the dive. We saw a ton of lobster!! I got some good pictures and a short video of them. There were a couple barracuda during the dive too. One turned and looked at me, and they are pretty creepy from the front. They are so narrow and the silver color almost makes them disappear in the water. I quickly tucked my fingers under my armpits and swam to the other side of the group so if it was eying up a human lunch it would saw someone else in half. We didn’t see any rays today and only one shark which seemed kind of odd. No dolphins either, but Felipe’s group saw dolphins yesterday which is where we would have been if our Lamanai reservations didn’t get all messed up.

**LOBSTER PIC COMING SOON**

We swam until we arrived at Esmeralda and Rudy gave the rest of the food to the fish. At one point I turned around to see a giant grouper trying to eat me. Ok, it wasn’t trying to eat me, but I’m pretty sure it wanted me to swim into its mouth. It was just hovering on the bottom, mouth wide open, gills sticking out. It was about 3′ long and waiting for a little fish to swim in. There were a couple other ones doing it too, but none as impressive. I quick snapped a photo, then was able to capture it on video too.

**PIC OF GROUPER TRYING TO EAT ME COMING SOON**

While we were doing our safety stop Rudy was blowing some impressive air rings. Kristen set a record for the trip, ending with 200 PSI of air. We boarded the boat and were quickly on our way back. I gave a sad wave goodbye to the deep blue.

These two dives were my favorites of the trip. Not because of the marine life but because of the dives themselves. I felt the most relaxed on these out of any dives. I didn’t feel like I was in “follow the leader” mode, I was perfectly comfortable descending a bit or going out of the way to take a photo. Perhaps it was because I was out of the schooling frame of mind or because these were my 8th & 9th dives here… I’m not sure. I also had a great handle on my buoyancy. I needn’t need to adjust the BC very often and I never felt like I was going to float into anything. It reminded me of driving a motorcycle, if I looked at where I wanted to go, I would just end up there.

The nine dives on this trip were great and I can’t wait for the next mouth full of salt water I get for taking another self portrait.

***UNDERWATER SELF PORTRAIT COMING SOON***