After spending a few days down in Punta Gorda (I don’t recommend going down there in September … there are absolutely no tourists, and everyone is back in school, so there isn’t anything going on in the area) I beelined it up to Caye Caulker under Henri’s advice to go diving with BDS and to stay at a place right beside the split.
So taking off before the sun rose out of PG on the Express Bus to Belize City, grabbed a water taxi and I was on Caye Caulker in the early afternoon. I headed over to BDS on the backside of the island and found out they were doing a Blue Hole trip the next morning, and had a bunch of OW divers already signed up for it.
I’ve heard lots of stories about the Blue Hole, to go, not to go, etc. In the end I went and at the Blue Hole we did a nice 80 ft dive half way around the circle, finding lots of things in holes and cracks such as lobster, some corals, a few eels and the like.
The rest of the AOW divers did the 130 ft dive down into the hole.
The ride out was a rough one, 2 1/2hrs if I recall correctly, and not at all pleasant. We were thrown around quite a bit, finding a patch of boat to cling on to and get as low as we could to minimize the impacts, and falling over.
After moving on for a quick SI we headed out to Half Moon Caye and had a great time hanging out along the wall.
After lunch and a longer SI, we headed out to Aquarium. The name is slightly deceiving, as it should be called ‘Every fish in the Caribbean is crammed in here!’ before we even went into the water, you couldn’t see the bottom due to the huge schools of fish, and once we were in, it wasn’t disappointing at all!
Caye Caulker Belize, Lighthouse Atol, Blue Hole, BDS
Date: September 5, 2012
Bottom Time: 35 minutes
Max Depth: 80 ft
Water Temp: 28C
Vis: Caribbean …. Lots!
Notes: Blue hole to 80′ Lobster in overhangs
Running time: 4:55
Caye Caulker Belize, Lighthouse Atol, Half Moon Caye Wall, BDS
Date: September 5, 2012
Bottom Time: 43 minutes
Max Depth: 60 ft
Water Temp: 28C
Vis: Caribbean …. Lots!
Notes: Barracuda under reef. Arrow crabs
Running Time: 5:38
Caye Caulker Belize, Lighthouse Atol, Aquarium, BDS
Date: September 5, 2012
Bottom Time: 49 minutes
Max Depth: 60 ft
Water Temp: 28C
Vis: Caribbean …. lots!
Notes: 2 barracuda, octopus
Running Time: 6:27