Aquarium

Long trip out today. We were picked up at 5 something at the jetty, and off for breakfast at the dive place. Today we were off to the Big Blue Hole, a 400 feet deep collapsed cave 2.5 hours away by (very speedy) boat. The sea was a bit wobbly, but we had remembered the travel sickness tablets for the afflicted so, boredom aside, all was well (the engines were too loud for conversation and the ride too bumpy even for reading).

At the first site - the hole itself - MrB and TallGirl elected to switch to team snorkel (the dive was about 40 metres and they are not certified to that depth. Plenty of other divers who were not certified did it regardless - seems foolish to me.) So the four of us plus an American couple dutifully followed our guide Imar around the hole looking at coral, sharks, rays etc. I was less terrified of the big hole than I expected!

Next site was diving for TG and MrB, snorkelling again for CB and me. A fabulous first section over a reef, then turtles in the sea grass and finally a tough section with a strong current. Looking down on the last section I thought I could see Mr B below - attached to another fiver by a yellow tube. But all seemed well, so I carried on battling the flooding face mask through increasingly big waves back to the boat. Turned out MrB had run out of air (he clearly breathes too fast) and had to use the dive master’s spare tube.

Lunch then on an island, with a red footed booby colony - which Mr B was delighted with as he hadn’t seen those when he was in the Galapagos. Now he can rest easy that he has seen all the world’s boobies.

The last sight of the day is where this shot comes from - called the Aquarium. Loads of fish just swimming at you while we drifted on the current from drop off spot to boat anchorage. Excellent fun. Back on the boat the anxious wait for the divers - MrB had been persuaded back in for the third dive with the promise of a fuller bottle: not enough though as he had to have some of the dove master’s air and some of TallGirl’s too!

The journey back was a battle to beat the weather, which we didn’t entirely with a big and somewhat scary storm and some quite large waves. Back behind the reef things were calmer. Back home we all showered then headed out to a ludicrously fancy restaurant where the wine was too expensive to even consider, then home for a very early night.