Belize - Hol Chan Marine Reserve

On our second day we dove the Hol Chan Marine Reserve.  Belize has set aside acres of ocean reef to protect it from humans.  This preserve is at the south end of Ambergris Caye, about a ten minute boat ride from the resort.  There were four of us diving Monday with Turiano as guide.

 We set out at about 9 am prepared for a two tank dive.  The plan was to return to shore, have dinner and then head out again for a night dive.  The couple diving with us are from Utah, Karen and Chad.  The sun decided to only appear now and then for the second day, but the weather was improving. 



The first night we had rain and wind, but not a drop came through the thatched roof over head.  Later I visited with a woman staying in a newer hotel.  They had trouble with windows not closing and rain coming through to soak their bed.  I am amazed at the efficiency of the thatched roof to provide a cool and dry shelter.

The first dive of the day was Boca Ciego Canyon outside the Hol Chan reserve reef.  This was a gorgeous dive through sandy bottomed canyon where many multicolored baby fish were nursed.  We also saw several spotted eagle rays.  Mostly the scene up the canyon from 90 feet was spectacular, like looking at a valley from a mountain top.  We spent about 50 minutes below the surface and performed a safety stop at 20 feet as required, but my dive computer didn't agree.

Dive Computer Woes
My dive computer woes started with the first dive when I discovered the battery was dead.  Ramon's dive shop didn't have a battery, so I had to switch out my computer for a simple gauge that only shows depth and amount of air left in the tank (psi).  For those that don't dive, the dive computer is a neat gadget that keeps track of each dive, how long,  the depth, the temperature, decompression stops, surface interval, along with the air remaining in the tank.  It's a fun thing to have.

By the 2nd day, this day I'm talking about, Ramon's shop had managed to find me a battery.  Minutes before we took off in the boat I was happily able to reattach my computer to my regulator and BC.  This was all well and good, but by the end of the first dive at Hol Chan, the computer didn't think I'd decompressed enough, or at the right depth, or some damn thing.  On on the second dive it showed an Er (for error) instead of the expected calculations.  This was very irritating.  It renders the computer to be no more than an expensive gauge.

It turns out I have to keep the dive computer safe and dry for 24 hours after it disagrees with my decompression before the error will clear and render it usable again.  Which means, of course, I haven't gotten to effectively use my computer yet.  Oh well, I'm with experienced guides so it really isn't a problem.  I'm just missing out of the run of using the device. 

The 2nd dive we stayed inside the reef and swam through then channel.  This dive was full of schools of fish swimming in the coral formations.  Also, we swam through a coral cave inside of which was a large red snapper and smaller fish taking shelter.  Several moray eels were resting in their rocky hideouts.  This was a shallow dive along the reef but we probably saw more marine life than anywhere else. 
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That night, at 5:30 pm, we headed out to Hol Chan, the same location as the previous shallow dive, to do a night dive in the active reef.  The hope at night is to see some of the nocturnal animals like octipus and hunting morays.  For this dive two other divers joined us so we had seven including our guide. 

We did see some spectacular sea life, a nurse shark squirming upside down to get some creature out from under a rock, a little puffer fish all puffed up to defend himself, a fascinating dance of a large red snapper and moray eel as they scoured inside and out of a coral wall searching for prey.  The moray would nip at the snapper, then the snapper would take a pluck at the moray.  It looked like they were hunting together, but Turiano thought the snapper was just looking to freeload a meal once the moray caught something.

We swam through the same cave as we had in the afternoon, but this time there was a turtle sheltered inside and also a large logster backed into a crevice.  Lots of hermit crabs meandered sideways along the bottom and sand stingrays were abundant.