Thursday was a more open-ended day since we hadn't formally planned a group trip through Machaca Hill.
Richard decided to a full day of fishing with a local guide named Sully.
I wanted to get a day of scuba in so I had Machaca Hill arrange a day of scuba with a local scuba master named Dennis; Sully's brother.
Wake up time for both our trips was around 6 AM. Richard left before me and then I got a ride down to P.G. (Punta Gorda) about twenty minutes later.
Once I arrived I was sized up for my scuba BCD and Dennis had to go to another location in town over and get the air tanks filled. Since I wanted to do three to four dives for the day he filled out about six to eight air tanks.
We finally made our way out of P.G. toward the Sapodilla Cayes closer to 8:30 AM. Since the Sapodilla Cayes are about 36 miles off-shore the boat ride can take up to 1 1/2 hours. Since the water was a little calmer the trip time was closer to an hour.
On the ride out I got to talk to Dennis, review scuba technique in my PADI book and also show Dennis my open water certification - to make sure I was up to snuff; at least in training.
Once we got into the cayes we were able to register at the main ranger island where a park usage fee was paid (20.00 Belizean). Dennis then took me to our first dive.
Our first dive was quite exciting since I'd never dived in actual open water before. Total time was about 25 minutes and our deepest dive for the day: we dove to 72 feet below water.
I had a problem with my mask filling with water and didn't want to try and blow out the water through my mask since that had been the most difficult technique to master during my training. Fortunately, I was able to finish the dive but I certainly wanted to have better confidence with releasing water from my mask for the remaining dives in the day.
Richard decided to a full day of fishing with a local guide named Sully.
I wanted to get a day of scuba in so I had Machaca Hill arrange a day of scuba with a local scuba master named Dennis; Sully's brother.
Wake up time for both our trips was around 6 AM. Richard left before me and then I got a ride down to P.G. (Punta Gorda) about twenty minutes later.
Once I arrived I was sized up for my scuba BCD and Dennis had to go to another location in town over and get the air tanks filled. Since I wanted to do three to four dives for the day he filled out about six to eight air tanks.
We finally made our way out of P.G. toward the Sapodilla Cayes closer to 8:30 AM. Since the Sapodilla Cayes are about 36 miles off-shore the boat ride can take up to 1 1/2 hours. Since the water was a little calmer the trip time was closer to an hour.
On the ride out I got to talk to Dennis, review scuba technique in my PADI book and also show Dennis my open water certification - to make sure I was up to snuff; at least in training.
Once we got into the cayes we were able to register at the main ranger island where a park usage fee was paid (20.00 Belizean). Dennis then took me to our first dive.
Our first dive was quite exciting since I'd never dived in actual open water before. Total time was about 25 minutes and our deepest dive for the day: we dove to 72 feet below water.
I had a problem with my mask filling with water and didn't want to try and blow out the water through my mask since that had been the most difficult technique to master during my training. Fortunately, I was able to finish the dive but I certainly wanted to have better confidence with releasing water from my mask for the remaining dives in the day.
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