Scuba DIving in Belize from the Carnival Paradise

Just got back from the June 29 - July 6 cruise.

The cruiseship stops at Belize City from 9 am to 5:30 pm. In view of
the
short stop-over, the paucity of good dive sites close to Belize City,
and
the fact that the cruiseship has to anchor so far away from shore that
the tender takes 30 minutes to go from the ship to shore, I had
already
written off diving in Belize on this trip ... until I saw a posting in
rec.travel.cruises about Belize diving from the Carnival cruiseship (I
was on the non-smoking 2,700-passenger Paradise. There was another
smaller Carnival ship the same week on the Western Caribbean, for
smoking passengers.)

That posting gave a very favorable report and emphasized that one
should
book that activity as soon as possible because the spots are limited
and
it was a very popular event when he did it. So, I took the plunge and
booked the two-tank dive as soon as I embarked, even though it cost
$145
(for passengers with scuba equipment) for two tanks, and $165 for
others.

Out of 2,700 passengers, Carnival had 21 slots for scuba. Probably
2,100 for snorkeling. The BEST part was that our tour group was
the first group to take the tender, delivered directly to the diveboat
waiting at the Belize City pier; and the dive boat brought us back
directly to the cruiseship at the conclusion of the two dives.

The rest of the two-tank dive trip was rather forgettable, though Hugh
Parkey's shop (http://www.belizediving.com/) did run an efficient
operation, on an uncrammed boat with just enough tanks on the racks
for
two tanks each for 21 divers and 4 dive guides (DMs). The webpage
gave
$140 as the price for THREE tanks, diving the Turneffe Atoll. The
cruiseship must have taken a good cut charging $165 for TWO tanks at
the same Atoll.

Of the 21 divers, only 6 had their own gears (that's about 1 out of
450 passengers who lugged their own gears and chose to dive Belize);
so the boat went back to the shop to equip the other divers, and
finally
got off at 10:30 am. The ride to Turneffe took about an hour, and the
divers were divided into four groups, more or less by experience or
looks of the divers , with the more experienced groups starting
first (as in FILO in Accounting: First In, Last Out, more or less).

I was in DM Aldo's group of five -- two buddy teams and one SOB (Same
Ocean Buddy, me) and I had "briefed" Aldo that I would keep an eye on
him and the group so that he doesn't have to keep an eye on me. The
first dive was at a site meaning "steps" because the ledge starts at
about 60 fsw, drops to several small plateaux (steps to the abyss.)
It wasn't until after the dive that I realized three of us had dived
with the Captain, and not Aldo! Can't blame it on vis -- it was
not crystal clear, but easily 100 feet or more. Water was warm and
cozy, about 86F.

THIS was how it happened that I dived with the wrong "leader".
When one buddy pair and I had been waiting for about 5 minutes on the
surface for the other pair and Aldo to show, I noticed someone
hovering
at about 30 fsw, so I naturally assumed it was Aldo, and went down to
join him, remaining neutrally buoyant rather than bobbing like a cork
at the surface. Soon the buddy pair saw us, and we were off, without
the other pair.

When we got to the sloping "wall" (the beginning of the 'steps'), I
signaled to the "leader" that I would go down by myself and that I
would
keep an eye on him and the group since I could easily see down to at
least 180 fsw of the sloping wall. The dive was supposed to be the
customary 80 fsw max for most Caribbean dives. He seemed to have
understood, until I looked back when I was at about 130 fsw and saw
him pointing at the guage and waving me back, and then started down
toward me even though I signalled for him to stop.

So, I reluctantly returned to the 70-80 fsw to finish the rest of the
dive, which was rather uninspiring, with very little colorful coral or
reef fish. Aldo (I learned later) found us toward the end of the
dive, and we found each other as SOBs.

When I told the Captain jokingly that Aldo was worried when I dove to
130 fsw, and I had several 199' fsw divelogs on the HyperAqualand. It
was only THEN that the mystery clarified itself, when the captain said
"It was ME, and not Aldo, on the dive. I saw you point to yourself,
pointing to your eyes, and pointing to me ... and I didn't have any
idea what you meant."

After I showed my depth logs on my HyperAqualand watch, Aldo showed
a 190 fsw dive on his computer, atthe Belize Blue Hole -- I think. I
would enjoy THAT dive, to look up at the stalagtites at 130 fsw,
rather
than stopping at that depth, as both the Aggressor and the Peter
Hughes liveaboards limit the divers' max-depth to 130 fsw on the Blue
Hole dive.

The refreshments between dives were very good -- plenty of fresh
fruits
(watermelon, canteloupe, pineapple), chips with salsa, nut bread, ...
soft drinks, etc. If I hadn't already had plenty of the same on the
cruiseship, I could've pigged out there.

The second dive was at a site called "shark watch corner", supposedly
where whalesharks are known to pass (once in a blue moon, I suppose).
There was not only no whalewhark, no shark, no semi-large fish ...
Aldo pointed out a foot-long Nassau Grouper as if that was a rare
sight there. :=) That's pretty much my impression on four live-
aboard dives in Belize -- the bigger fishes and crustaceans had been
served at dinner tables, even as far out as the Lighthouse reefs.

The dive was so impoverished in flora and fauna that I returned to
the dive boat after only 45 minutes, with more than half a tank of
air left.

It was good to ride directly back to the cruiseship and be able to
jump into the hot shower, shortly before the cruiseship was scheduled
to start for Grand Cayman ...

I am pretty sure some folks will tell me that I've painted an
unfavorably biased picture of diving in Belize, compared to the rest
of the Caribbean. I don't think so IMNSHO. )

-- Bob.

Reef Fish <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote:
>Aldo pointed out a foot-long Nassau Grouper as if that was a rare
>sight there. :=) That's pretty much my impression on four live-
>aboard dives in Belize -- the bigger fishes and crustaceans had been
>served at dinner tables, even as far out as the Lighthouse reefs.

That was my take as well. All the coral still there, but not much
swimming about. Go to Belize for the land based activities plus some
diving, rather than just to get wet.

--
Jason O'Rourke www.jor.com

"Jason O'Rourke" <jor@soda.csua.berkeley.edu> wrote in message
news:becqpv$dph$1@agate.berkeley.edu...
> Reef Fish <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote:
> >Aldo pointed out a foot-long Nassau Grouper as if that was a rare
> >sight there. :=) That's pretty much my impression on four live-
> >aboard dives in Belize -- the bigger fishes and crustaceans had been
> >served at dinner tables, even as far out as the Lighthouse reefs.
>
> That was my take as well. All the coral still there, but not much
> swimming about. Go to Belize for the land based activities plus some
> diving, rather than just to get wet.

My last trip to Belize was in 1994 aboard Wave Dancer and I too thought the
fish populations, or lack thereof, didn't warrant another return. I guess
there was a time when it was magnificent.

"Moth To A Flame" <flameforamoth@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<4oAOa.57$wW.17964@news.uswest.net>...
> "Jason O'Rourke" <jor@soda.csua.berkeley.edu> wrote in message
> news:becqpv$dph$1@agate.berkeley.edu...
> > Reef Fish <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote:
> > >Aldo pointed out a foot-long Nassau Grouper as if that was a rare
> > >sight there. :=) That's pretty much my impression on four live-
> > >aboard dives in Belize -- the bigger fishes and crustaceans had been
> > >served at dinner tables, even as far out as the Lighthouse reefs.
> >
> > That was my take as well. All the coral still there, but not much
> > swimming about. Go to Belize for the land based activities plus some
> > diving, rather than just to get wet.
>
> My last trip to Belize was in 1994 aboard Wave Dancer and I too thought the
> fish populations, or lack thereof, didn't warrant another return. I guess
> there was a time when it was magnificent.

There's a probability of 1/52 that we dived on the same boat in 1994.
If your week was the charter specially arranged for UNDERCURRENT
subscribers, then it's a sure thing that we were on the same boat!

-- Bob.

if you really want to see what belize has to offer, i would suggest you take a trip to ambergris instead of the mainland. the difference is night and day, especially the farther north you get from san pedro...

"Reef Fish" <Large_Nassau_Grouper@Yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:8fb7380b.0307081842.9cb2020@posting.google.co m...

> There's a probability of 1/52 that we dived on the same boat in 1994.
> If your week was the charter specially arranged for UNDERCURRENT
> subscribers, then it's a sure thing that we were on the same boat!

Unfortunately I was not on that boat. Unfortunately I was on week that a
company called World Divers out of Dallas had chartered for a bunch of
people from an organization called Young Successes (you needed to be under
35, manager or owner of the business and have an income of at least $
150,000.00 per year [yeah, really successful they were]). I had called
Hughes to book and they pointed me to World Divers because some of their
YS's had backed out.

A more mindless group of self-interested people I never had, nor ever will,
meet. Nine years later they still send me invitations to their annual
charity to support canine causes. If only the diving had been good I might
have been able to forget them all in favor of more pleasant memories :^)

"Jeffro" <hotwheels71@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:behng5$okc$1@nntp2-cm.news.eni.net...
if you really want to see what belize has to offer, i would suggest you take
a trip to ambergris instead of the mainland. the difference is night and
day, especially the farther north you get from san pedro...

True enough, however, if you like a little night life and a selection of
restaurants, staying north, isn't the best idea for Ambergris.

Also Cay Caulker and down south, Placencia & Punta Gorda.
"Jeffro" <hotwheels71@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:behng5$okc$1@nntp2-cm.news.eni.net...
if you really want to see what belize has to offer, i would suggest you take a trip to ambergris instead of the mainland. the difference is night and day, especially the farther north you get from san pedro...