On Mon, 7 Jul 2003 12:57:07 -0400, Brad <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Bob,
>
>I'll be hoping and praying for the best for the two of you.
>
>
>Very Best Regards,
>Brad ><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·.¸¸><((((º>

Tankx Brad.  Nice fishes.  More than I saw in Belize.  (((^>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>> Just got back from a 7-day cruise covering the Caribbean DIVE locations
>> of Roatan, Belize, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.   Did a grand total of
>> FOUR dives only.

>> ElPezNeveu
Damn!  I even misspelled my own name.  Here's the blow-by-blow of
that Belize cruiseship-dive experience:

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.)

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 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/) shop did run an efficient
operation, on an uncrammed boat with just enough tanks on the racks for
21 passengers 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;  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 experienced groups starting first (FILO).

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.

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.  He seemed to have understood, until
I looked back when I was at about 130 fsw and saw him pointing to 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.

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 logs, Aldo showed a 190 fsw dive on his computer, at
the 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.

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.  There was not only no whalewhark,
but Aldo pointed out a foot-long Nassau Grouper as if that was a rare
sight there.   :=)  The dive was so exciting that I went back to the
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 jump into the
hot shower, shorting before the cruiseship was scheduled to start for
Grand Cayman ...

ElPezNeuvo