Today was another great diving day with Johnny Boy Tours. The boat picked us up from our dock at 9:00 am. I was up hours before that time so I enjoyed the peaceful view.
Look at all of the different size coconuts growing on this tree. I never realized a single tree produced so many coconuts at once. During our stay, the coconuts frequently fell. One splashed into the pool while we were swimming. Another one fell and cracked open on one of the lounge chairs by the pool.
The wind had picked up a bit on this day so the waves were higher. It was a pretty rough ride out to the dive sites. Once you slipped under the water, it was so peaceful. We dove Esmeralda and Tuffy Canyons dive sites. On the first dive, my husband had a bad regulator. Luckily, he was able to use his octopus on that dive and change out regulators for the second dive. Other than that, things went smoothly.
We saw this gorgeous turtle at the Esmeralda dive site. It swam right underneath my husband. It's back was covered with red algae. I never get tired of spotting turtles. It feels magical every time I see one. They are so graceful in the water, just minding their own business and barely moving a flipper to glide through the water.
This short video made me laugh. Boogs thought my husband was taking his picture. Boogs was oblivious to the shark behind him until we motioned to look behind. We saw so many sharks on this dive.
My husband took a video of entering the Tuffy Canyons dive site. J2, Boogs, and I were waiting on the sandy bottom for everyone so we could start the dive.
Puffer fish are so cute. This one was at Tuffy Canyons. I like how their bodies are so boxy and their eyes are so big.
Tuffy Canyons was filled with long swaying coral. I find it mesmerizing and calming. If possible, I would hover over it and sway with it for hours. It's so soothing.
Tuffy Canyons has several "fingers" of coral that we dove through and around.
There were big schools of fish swimming through the Tuffy Canyons site. It was a fantastic dive.
After our dives, we took the golf cart into town to visit the fruit stands. The fresh pineapple and mango were delicious.
The moonlit sky was beautiful at night. I tried to capture its beauty but did not come close to seeing it in person.
Our day started early. A water taxi picked us up at the end of our dock at 5:45 am. We watched the sunrise on our ride to the Amigos del Mar dive shop in San Pedro.
Papa Changa was the 55 ft boat that took us on a 2.5 hour ride out to the Great Blue Hole. The boat can take 32 passengers. We were lucky that there were only 15 passengers and 5 crew members. The last time my husband and I came to Belize, we went on Amigo del Mar's Papa Tomas boat and there were probably 35 people plus the crew. and it felt really crowded. It was nice that we had room to spread out on this trip.
My school gave all of the teachers a Flat Flamingo, like Flat Stanley, to take on their summer adventures. I had to take a couple of pictures of it to send to my principal.
While everyone was arriving for check-in, Amigos del Mar set out breakfast for the passengers. They fed us well all day long.
We left the marina around 6:15 am and returned a little after 5:00 pm. For most of the ride out, everyone stayed on the lower level of the boat.
We hit some pretty big waves and the boat was really rocking from side to side. Some people were yelling out on the big bumps.
J2 had to sit on the back of the boat with a bucket and his "friend Ralph" (my husband's nickname for puking).
Boogs fell asleep because of the motion of the waves. I was worried he would fall over, but he didn't.
We went up to the second level when the waves were more calm.
This is a picture of the Great Blue Hole from Amigos del Mar's website. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System. It was made famous by Jacques Cousteau, who declared it one of the top scuba diving sites. The Great Blue Hole is 400 feet deep and 1000 feet across. It was created during the Ice Age when sea levels were much lower and was once a dry cave.
I was really nervous about diving down 135 feet. Last time we came to Belize, I chickened out and just snorkeled around the hole instead of diving into it. This time, I was determined to do it. Two crew members and two boat passengers joined us on the dive. The rest of the passengers snorkeled.
The dive master told us we were going to descend quickly so we would have time to explore the hole at our 135 ft limit for this dive. I was surprised by how much sunlight reached our dive limit. The pictures and video from my husband's last dive there looked very dark. There lots of huge stalactites. We swam in and around them. It was very quiet and a little eerie, not much marine life except for sharks - some sleeping on rock ledges and a few swimming around us.
The diver wearing shorts, holding a camera, and kicking his feet like crazy, ran out of air while we were over 100 ft under water. He had to use the octopus, 2nd regulator, on the dive master's tank and share his air on the way up. The dive boat had two regulators hanging down about 25 feet under the boat. That diver had to grab one and hang on to the anchor line until the safety stop was over. It was an 8 minutes safety stop. That felt like a really long time. We all came out of the dive with plenty of air. Boogs and I had 1000 PSI left and my husband and J2 had about 900 PSI left.
My husband actually got some footage of himself on the dive. He is never in the videos because he is always filming.We were all pretty excited after the dive. It is amazing that we were able to dive there. That was definitely a big check mark on my bucket list.
The boat then took us to dive the Half Moon Wall dive site. Wow, was it a pretty dive! We saw lots of sharks, two turtles, angel fish, tube worms, big groupers, other fish, and beautiful coral formations.
My husband was filming a large shark when a turtle came up over the reef off to the other side of us. It was a so neat to see both of them up close.
The turtle looked like it was slowing down to rest on the sandy bottom. All of the sudden, the shark swam towards the turtle and spooked him. As soon as the turtle pushed off, the shark ignored it and turned back the way he had come.
After the Half Moon Wall dive, we went to Half Moon Caye.
The dive shop prepared chicken, rice, beans, coleslaw, and fruit or banana bread for dessert. The food was great and it was an incredible spot for lunch.
After lunch, we decided to walk the trail to see the Red-Footed Booby Nesting Grounds.
There were iguanas scurrying around in the underbrush.
We also saw and heard many of hermit crabs.
We climbed up the steps to the observation deck. We were up there for only a couple of minutes before there was an absolute downpour of rain.
There were so many birds in the trees. It was really neat to see.
We were able to catch a glimpse of those famous red feet.
I wonder who was eating all of those coconuts. The Belize Audubon Society, the University of Belize, and the Fisheries Department conduct long-term monitoring of coral, seagrass, sea turtles, fish spawning and more from this island. There is ranger and research housing on the island.
I love this picture of the curving beach, dock, clouds, and boats.
We made it back to the boat on time. Not all of the other passengers were back on time.
Our next destination was the Aquarium Dive Site by Long Caye. I don't have any pictures or videos from that dive but it was also beautiful. There is nothing like being underwater and enjoying all of the beautiful corals and marine life.
All of the guys fell asleep on the 2.5 hour boat ride back to San Pedro. Okay, I fell asleep for a little while too, but they were not awake to snap a pic of me.
We had an incredible day and loved all of the dives. The Great Blue Hole dive is one I will never forget. It was nice to make it back to our Airbnb at the end of the day.
I was too tired to cook dinner that night so we went to Happy's Tequilaria for dinner. It was a bar/restaurant not too far from our rental house. The owner is from Houston. The other diners we talked to in the place were also from Texas.
We were excited for our first day of diving in Belize. We were lucky enough to get in touch with the same dive master, Johnny, we had on our first trip to Belize in 2017. Johnny Boy Tours picked us up at our dock at 9:00. We had a great experience with him in the past and a great experience during this trip, too.
Boogs walking to the end of our dock to get on the dive boat.
I love the view of a dive boat heading out to a new dive site. A year is a long time to wait to get back underwater.
We headed out to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve for our first dive. We did not take our cameras on the first dive. J2 had not been diving since he was certified five years ago. He had never been diving in the ocean. I wanted us to keep a close eye on him to make sure he was good.
After our first dive, we took a break on the beach, at Ramon's Village Resort, while they put new tanks on the boat. I went straight for the hammocks. Boogs offered to gently swing my hammock.
After half an hour, we were back on the boat to travel to B&D dive site. J2 was feeling a bit seasick. He threw up right before getting into the water on the second dive.
The reefs were not as vibrant as when we went last time, but there was still plenty of things to look at.
We made sure to have Johnny get a group picture for us.
It was so cool to see squids for the first time. In person, they were a really pretty color of light purple.
It was a great diving day.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing on the Airbnb property. We swam in the pool and went to bed early because we had an early morning planned for the next day.
June 8th was our sixth day on Grand Turk Island. It was another two dive day for us. I have a hard time sleeping in so I watched the sunrise each morning we were on the island.
A cruise ship was heading into port that day.
The dive sites we visited were Momma Nature and Pillories. Momma Nature was not a good site. There was hardly any marine life there. Most of these pictures are from Pillories dive site. That was a great site. We saw three turtles there.
There was a bit of a current along the wall. It almost felt like a drift drive.
This is a view of Manta House from the water. The Sandbar is the wooden building closer to the water. Manta house is the building with the white roof.
Lots of little fish on this dive. These blue ones were everywhere on top of the reef. We did not see a lot large animals on our dives. We did see a couple of sharks, a sting ray, and an octopus.
When you see it underwater, this purple color is so much deeper and more brilliant.
We had a relaxing afternoon walking on the beach, swimming, and resting. I finished the puzzle I was working on.
On the day we arrived in Turks and Caicos, we chatted with a man at the airport while we waited for our flight from Providenciales to Grand Turk. He told us we should visit The Sunflower Oasis, which his family owns. The restaurant at the Sunflower Oasis is called the Fisherman's Wife. The menu changes daily based on what fish are caught each day. Jorika is the chef and her husband does the fishing. The tables were set up in an inner courtyard around an in-ground swimming pool. It was a little hot but the food was fabulous!
We were there for almost three hours. In between our dinner and dessert, Jorika joined us at our table for about an hour long chat. She has led a fascinating life - born in South Africa, met her husband while she was dancing on a table while on a vacation in Zimbabwe, was a chef for ambassadors and dignitaries on safari in Africa, and eventually settled in Grand Turk and opened the Sunflower Oasis. Everything she cooked was delicious!
We looked a bit tired and worn out by the time we had dessert. It had been a long day. Scuba diving makes me tired. I would happily go back and eat at the Sunflower Oasis again.
June 9th was out seventh day on Grand Turk and our last dive day. It was a two dive day, our dive sites were McDonald and The Library.
King captained our last two dives.
We loved all of our dive days!
Can you spot the hiding flounder?
Boogs filmed with a GoPro on all of our dives. My husband used my iPhone 14 Pro on all of our dives. They mostly took videos so there are not a lot of pictures. They are planning to turn the footage into a little vacation movie. If that ever gets completed, I will post it.
