Diving ...... Finally.

I’m quickly approaching having been in Belize for 7 weeks, and I finally got to go diving.

Back home, my friend Greg had a student for open water training that was coincidentally already planning a trip to Placencia with a group of friends. Greg was kind enough to refer him to me. Although I can’t teach myself I was happy to the hook Harlin and Will and their wives and another couple up with Andre from Paradise Resort. Harlin was hoping to complete the first two of his four open water dives and Will, a certified diver, wanted to go  along just for fun. The other four in their group wanted to snorkel. It was only later that I learned that two of the women in the snorkeling group had wanted to learn to dive but both are pregnant so are putting off  their own dive adventure for a bit. Congratulations to both couples!

On Tuesday, another couple of relatively new divers from Canada, Carol and David, also joined our group as well as another two women snorkelers.

We set off at about 9 a.m. for Silk Cayes. We were told by Kenley and Max, our divemasters that the Cayes (pronounced keyes) consisted of 3 separate little islands. They were formerly called Queen Cayes but at some point the name was changed to Silk Cayes because of the silky sand on the cayes. (I can’t confirm any of this but it was a lovely story.)

The boat ride out was just over an hour, but went fairly quickly. We were lucky with relatively flat seas. I was hoping to see dolpins on the way out but no such luck. We stopped at Middle Caye which had a barbecue pit on it and an outbuildings which were the" facilities" (no it isn’t plumbed, no running water). There are a couple of “rangers” on the caye who gave us a briefing bout the caye and mostly the conservation efforts of the Gladden Spit/Silk Cayes Marine Reserve, the rules for diving and snorkeling there and their effort to raise money to pay for the rangers etc. This is also who you pay your marine park tax to ($10 US per day).

The cayes (North Silk, Middle Silk, and South Silk)  are part of the larger Southern Environmental Association (An NGO that co-manages three important marine-protected areas in Southern Belize ) and is closely protected. We were reminded that NOTHING can be taken from the Caye, alive or dead. No fishing, no lobstering, no taking conch, and no collecting shells. One side of the island was sandy while the other side had no beach to speak of and lead to shallow coral area. They warned snorkelers to only enter the water from the sandy beach side and do not step on any of the coral or they would damage and kill it

We dropped the snorkelers off, Harlin and Will both did a couple of skills in the shallow “confined water” area of the island before heading out to the dive site.

We did a back roll off  the side of the boat. Harlin and Will stayed with Andre, while Carol, David and I went with Kenley. We dove at a site called Silk Cayes North Wall.

It didn’t take long for Kenley to point out a huge Cubera Snapper and an enormous Goliath Grouper. The Cubera are the snapper that while spawning attract the whalesharks. We continued on and saw more large grouper, several really big lobsters and crabs and I was taken by surprise by a free-swimming green moray that was pretty big too.

The lobsters are huge.

This Green Moray surprised me a bit. I think at least 5 ft. long.

A Cubera Snapper, hard to tell from this picture but huge, at least 3 ft long.

Grouper. The underwater sign is to rub your stomach, like mmmm, mmmmm good.

As with many other areas in the Caribbean, in order to try and “train” some species to be a predator of the dreaded lion fish (an invasive species in the Caribbean), many divemasters have fed just speared lion fish to morays. Some have seen a moray actually eat a live lion fish so the training is working. But, this tends to also train morays and other predators that when there are divers near there is a possibility of an easy meal so they are more likely to be free swimming rather than in their usual hole. I have heard although not confirmed that they have done the same, feeding lionfish to barracuda, although the way the story is told the barracuda just saw an easy opportunity and struck while the lionfish was still on the spear. Hearing the teeth of the barracuda hit that metal shaft will give even the heartiest spearfisher pause. Barracuda can be very fast and have very sharp teeth

.

Note, in areas that can be fished, nothing can be taken while on scuba except for lionfish. Everything else must be taken while freediving.

After the first dive we rode back to the caye where the crew provided us with a wonderful Belizean lunch of stew chicken, rice and beans, and  coleslaw. We watched a baby lemon shark swim in the shallow coral area and watched some pelicans diving for fish, well it looked more like they were “bobbing” for fish since it was a bit too shallow for them to dive. There were several frigate birds harassing other sea birds to the point of giving up theier catch to the frigates … bullies.

After lunch the divers got back on the boat and headed to the second dive site while the snorkelers stayed with Max for another snorkel tour just off the caye.

I dove this time with Harlin, Will and Andre and Carol and David stayed with Kenley. On this dive I saw more huge lobsters (they must know that lobster season is over and they are relatively safe), but boy when one of them is frightened they can move like a shot. After Harlin did his required skills for the dive, Andre pointed out a couple toad fish, one of my favorite fish. I got a picture of a toadfish completely out of his usual hole, usually all you see is the head and face of the fish as it lies in holes under ledges in sandy areas. This one was spotted although Andre says they do have the Splendid Toadfish in these waters as well. They are really amazing looking with the yellow “beard”.

A Toadfish, maybe the first one I've seen completely out of his hole.

The usual view of a toadfish.

The French Angelfish, one of my favorite subjects

The lionfish looked very well fed, would have been nice if thre had been a speargun.

Smooth Trunkfish, another favorite. I especially love the "fish face".

We were a bit shallower on this dive and saw more juvenile fish, and some gorgeous French Angelfish. Also a lot of really big fat lionfish. Unfortunately no one with a speargun around, have to get them another day.

We rode back to the caye and picked up the snorkelers and rode a little ways away where we got to a snorkeling site. In my last post I posted this picture of a sailboat with all these other smaller boats stacked on it. I didn’t get it at the time but it all became clear.

Now I understand the sailboat is the hub and the fishermen each use their own smaller
boat and row out to their spots for fishing then return to the sailboat for cleaning and icing their catch.

Can hardly describe how huge the larger of these loggerhead turtles was. Just beautiful.

This area is known for the place where the fishermen come. They arrive on the sailboat and each fisherman then takes his smaller boat out and they spread out from the sailboat, and freedive for fish then return to the sailboat which has on board ice and an area for them to clean and store their catch. When they come back to the sailboat after fishing and clean the catch it attracts nurse sharks, stingrays, spotted eagle rays and turtles to the area. It is shallow, only about 10 feet deep and so we all snorkeled here. The turtles, loggerheads are humongous and known to be a little aggressive – it is feeding time mind you. Max was very careful to keep himself between each of the snorkelers and the turtles. It was a great opportunity for the snorkelers to see some of the larger animals usually only seen by divers.

The boat ride back was another hour or so, a little bumpy but those boats can move.

Our boat for the day, a back roll into the water, and then to get back on we took our gear
off and handed it up then climbed the laddre on the side.

All in all an outstanding day of diving. I wasn’t there but he report from the snorkelers was that it was great as well and that Max did an outstanding job as their guide. I know that we were all really happy with Andre and Kenley as our guides on our dives.

Congratulations to Harlin on finishing the first two dives towards his Open Water Certification. He plans to finish with Greg and the folks at Island Hoppers Scuba in Nashville when he returns. I don’t know, diving at Pennyroyal Quarry is just not quite the same as diving the Caribbean and a tad colder as well. Water temps for our dives was about 82F. I wore neoprene shorts and a rash guard. I’m a wimp and I got a little cold on the second dive, would have been happier probably in my 3mm shorty but live and learn.

Can’t wait to go again, I wasn't thrilled with my pictures this time but I find after some time off it feels almost like starting over when I get in the water with my camera. More reason to just go diving more often!

So when are you coming down to go diving with me?