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This was my second trip aboard the Sun Dancer II. My
first was in February of 2005. This trip spanned 29 June
through 7 July 2007. Water temp was a fairly consistent 84
Suunto degrees, sometime warmer towards the surface. I
made one dive in a 2 mil shorty and found even that to be
warm. With the exception of the night dives and the Blue
Hole, the remainder of my dives were made in trunks and a rash
guard. The other dives were made in a 1/2 mil skin.
The topside weather was nice but windy. We hit maybe
two squalls that lasted at most 10 minutes each. The wind
and resultant air borne debris caused underwater viz to drop
sometimes as low as 40-50 feet.
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Sadly, Jerry
and Elia were off this week. I did meet up with Elia upon
our return, but I really missed Jerry's cooking.
Capt. Bert did double duty as a dive master and Carlos was an
able
substitute for Jerry. The entire staff did a
great job on the boat keeping us all happy and entertained.. |
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Left to right facing camera, Capt. Bert, Boat
Manager Anne-Marie, Elsie (DM), John (DM), Carlos (Cook), Jean
(Cook Asst.) and Bob (Engineer). Barbara is sitting and
hiding from the camera. |
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First thing Wednesday morning the Sun Dancer made a mad dash
to the Blue Hole for a pretty anti-climatic dive. It's the
only escorted dive of the trip and other than a few sharks
cruising by was very uneventful.
This is followed by a land based tour of Half Moon Caye to
observe the infamous red footed booby (birds, you idiot, like I didn't hear THAT
joke a 100 times on the boat!). It was a actually a
welcomed change to take a small hike, climb up the observation
platform and snap a few photos of some boobies (again, I've
heard it) and then walk around a very picturesque island.
On the left here is the old light house, presumably built in the
1860s and now fading into the ocean as the beach erodes.
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Night dives were a pleasant surprise this time
for me. In winter 2005 the water temp was about 78 and the
wind chill gave me shivers after every night dive. This
time with 84 degree water and a warmer breeze they were down
right pleasant. Also, the tarpon, for whatever reason,
were a lot less obnoxious. This allowed more night
critters to come out. Above is a small school of squid
that kept us amused on one of those night dives. |
| I'm sure the sunrises were very pretty every morning.
But I'm a bit of a slug and only got up early on Friday, the
last day of diving. That's because diving started at 6:00
a.m. that day to fit in 2 dives before the boat heads back to
Belize City. I was conscious enough to snap this one
picture before getting ready for my next to last dive of the
trip. |
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Some people had more trouble getting up early than I did!
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Everyone on the boat probably knows I have a "thing"
for squid (see picture up the page a bit) and tunicates.
We like tunicates!
Woo Hoo!! |
More Pictures on This Web Site
White Boards of the Dive Sites
Above Water Pictures
Embarrassing Moments: The Fashion Show
Into the Depths... Pictures of the Fishies
Other Links
Rob's
Pictures
Ray's
Pictures
Greg's
Pictures
Peter
Hughes Diving
| My thanks to my new friends and fellow passengers from the Sun
Dancer: Peter, Terry & Paula, Bob & Dana (soon to be
Mrs. Bob), Norm, Larry, Allan, Ray & Pat, Michael and Jay,
Rob, Greg, Mike, Scott and of course my wife Kim (for
"strongly suggesting" we needed a vacation NOW!)
I have to say this was by far the most experienced bunch of
divers that have ever had to put up with me! Even with Jay
bringing down the curve on that score! |
| And thanks to the great crew of Sun Dancer II: Bert, Bob,
Anne-Marie, Elsie, John, Carlos, Barbara, Jean and David! |
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