Our alarms were set for 4am but you know how it is when you know you have to be up super early to get somewhere, you wake every hour and a panicked thought of “I’ve overslept!” Runs through you head until you see it’s only 1:15. So I think we were all awake before our alarms even went off. We had no trouble getting our backpacks ready and making sure we had everything in time to take off on our bikes by 5 am. There are very few people on Caye Caulker awake so early (and most of them are probably also go diving). Our biggest problem was negotiating bumps in the road in between the sporadic street lights. (#islandprobs, right?) we made it to the dive shop by the appointed time of 5:15 and left our bikes in the bike racks. We were not the first to arrive, there was already a room full of sleepy divers swarming the breakfast buffet the dive shop had prepared for us. After coffee, bagels, yogurt, fruit, and scrambled eggs, we were ready to board the boat. 20 divers and a crew of divemasters all found spots easily on the large, state of the art, dive boat. The divemasters showed us each where our equipment would be waiting for us and we did tests and retests to assure everything was working. After a short briefing the boat headed around to the east side of the island to begin the 2 1/2 hour trip to Blue Hole National Park. The Blue Hole is like an inverted cave under the water measuring about 1000 feet across and 400 feet deep. The Belize reef system in general (and the Blue Hole in particular) is one of the 7 underwater wonders of the world, and our dive would take us 125 feet down into the mouth of this famous cave. The mood was light and everyone seemed to be looking forward to the day. It took us about 15 minutes to get to the barrier reef system protecting Cay Caulker. We were treated to a spectacular sunrise on the horizon in front of us. As soon as we crossed the reef the roughness of the seas increased dramatically. For the first few minutes I thought maybe we would get to calmer seas after we were well outside the reef, but I couldn’t hold on to that hope for very long. The waves were bigger than I have ever personally seen! Oddly enough, it was a beautiful sunny day, the wind wasn’t even howling. The crew later told us we had been in 12 foot seas much of the trip. The boat would climb a wave feeling like we were at least on a 45 degree incline, but the wave would end and the boat would smash down roughly onto the next trough. Each time I would think “ok, I’m going to hold on tighter this time and not move”, but the crash was always a little unexpected in its severity and suddenness. When the boat slammed down, there was no way to avoid being lifted several inches off your seat, only to be abruptly thrown back down. I imagined I could feel the vertebrae in my spine compressing with each hit. It was only by hanging onto stationary objects around me that kept me from completely falling off my seat. It wasn’t long before one of the divemasters came and got me. He was concerned I was sitting too far forward in the boat where it was even rougher. I left myself grasp a spark of hope that maybe the ride a little further back would not be so terrifying, but after I sat down next to Kim I realized I couldn’t really feel any difference. When I chanced a look over at the side window of the boat, I was alarmed to see a wall of water just outside the window. The same window which sits probably 15 feet over the water in dock. The boat rocked violently not only forward and back but also side to side. I will admit that our little group (Mike, Kim, John, Christian, and I) were actually among the lucky ones. About half of the passengers on the boat were terribly sea sick. I’m not sure when I’ve seen people so many shades of a pasty greenish white color. I felt so sorry for them. The worst part was probably that it seemed like it would never end. My watch seemed to have stopped as I kept checking it and finding we had well over an hour left to endure this. I had probably been on roller coasters that were no more (but no less) terrifying than this boat ride, but the difference is they may only last a minute or two instead of a couple of hours. When we finally got close to the Blue Hole, the seas calmed down. They had told us this would be the case, although I have no idea why. All the sick passengers slowly began to regain their color and we all began to regain a little of the excitement we had felt earlier about seeing the Blue Hole. A thought occurred to me that this situation compared to a woman after childbirth, she’s just gone through a horrible experience, but that is forgotten as soon as she sees what it was all for. Ariel views of the Blue Hole show a large sapphire circle in the middle of the ocean. That was not quite the view from where we were. We could see the rim ahead of us and we were in the more deeply blue water. As soon as a dive boat stops, previously relaxed or resting crew and divers jump up and scurry around like ants, each with their own mission and the whole scene being one of controlled chaos. We each reported to our previously assigned locations to begin the process of gearing up for the dive. The very process of struggling into a heavy, sticky wetsuit alone would not be worth the trouble if we did not know what an incredible world we were about to see underwater. One of the divemasters briefed us on what to expect in this dive and divided us into groups, each with a different divemaster. We had an awesome divemaster, Eugene, and the smallest group consisting of just us 5 (thanks for that John, definately a case of who you know and not what you know). Our group was the second group in to the water and we immediately began quickly descending. We had only just begun our descent when we saw a large silhouette emerge from the darkness below. The gray reef shark only swam close enough for a spooky view of his outline, almost as if it was planned. Of course, not everyone saw him (sorry Mike) but the day was still young. In order to have adequate time to see everything at such a great depth, we had to go down rather quickly. I knew immediately this was not like any other dive I had ever done. We were descending along a sheer cave wall, it quickly became dim and Eugene turned on his flashlight. I looked at my gauge and saw I was already at 123 feet. Just ahead of me were stalactites that were at least twice as tall as I am and probably 20 feet in diameter. The whole scene took on a little bit of an eerie feel, being in an underwater cave, swimming through these massive stalactites. After swimming though the network of stalactites, we began our ascension. Bottom time is very limited at these depths for safety reasons. This is also where an experienced divemaster is absolutely essential. Once we were within the stalactites I don’t know if I could’ve figured out which way was out, or up. When we emerged and struggled (at least it’s a struggle for me) back on the boat with our heavy tanks and equipment, out excitement level had only increased. Everyone chatted about all that we had seen, except Mike who didn’t see the shark. (Not that he was bitter 😉 ). After everyone was back onboard and accounted for, we headed for Half Moon Caye, which would be our 2nd dive. It was only about 30 minutes away. The water had improved dramatically and after that horrendous boat ride earlier, the 6 foot waves we encountered seemed like we were gliding over a polished glass surface. The sun was quickly heating us up inside our heavy wetsuits, so we were anxious to begin the next dive. I discarded my thick wetsuit and opted for only a skinsuit for the more more shallow dives in the warm turquoise water. The divemaster briefed us on the next dive, 60 foot max depth with a much longer bottom time. This dive was called Half Moon Caye Wall and in addition to prolific coral we could expect to see a wide variety of marine life. Our dive group was in first this time. I was the first in the group to slide over to the entry deck on the back of the boat in my fins and gear. I had my underwater camera strap secured on my right hand while I held my mask and regulator in place with my left. The boat was rocking a little so I held on to the rail with my right hand as I took one giant step out to enter the water. I immediately felt a jerk on my right arm and I realized right away that my camera strap had gotten wrapped around the rail I was holding onto. My first thought was that I would be jerked back onto the boat by my right arm, possibly hitting my head on the tank strapped on my back. I heard a loud snap and the tension on my right arm was released as I fell into the water. My camera! I felt a little panicked when I thought of the card inside my camera with more than a thousand pictures from our trip. I quickly stuck my face in the water to see if I saw the camera falling to the bottom. I couldn’t find it! I looked back on the boat and Eugene was holding it up to show me he had it. I was simultaneously relieved and frustrated. My camera was fine, but with the strap broken there would be no pictures of this dive. Ok, one dive without pictures, how much was I really going to miss? The rest of the group stepped into the water one by one. Eugene, who had not even had his gear on when I got in, was suddenly in the water as well. He was like Houdini getting his equipment on and getting in the water quickly. We had not been down but a few minutes when the first Blacktip Caribbean shark showed up. It was a bit unnerving to see such a large shark so close. This shark did not seem to be as shy as the sharks we had seen before. He swam right toward us to get a closer look at us and then turned and disappeared as quickly as he had shown up. Wow! Most dives don’t see sharks come that close, it was exciting and a little scary at the same time. We swam along the coral wall and saw a few other fish when the next Blacktip showed up. We rounded a small turn in the coral wall and the 7 foot shark (Eugene’s estimation) was within about 20 feet of us but swimming in our direction. I really thought he would turn around when he saw us, but that didn’t happen. Eugene was at the front of the group and I was directly to his left. As the shark came closer I swam right behind Eugene and wedged myself between him and the coral wall. I figured he must have learned in divemaster school what to do when a shark approaches you, right? John was right behind me, then Christian, Kim, and Mike (Mike couldn’t miss this one) and still the shark approached. John later told us that he has his fist ready to bump him in the snout if he had come closer. I’m sure the Nat Geo shows are correct in saying to do that, but I wouldn’t want to be around when someone started a fight with that huge fish. He finally turned as he came within a couple of feet of us and glided off. Eugene actually turned around and pumped his arms up and down with the “rock on” signs showing on both hands. It is reassuring to know that your divemaster is comfortable and even excited during these moments. He’s been down here hundreds of times and he would know if there was any cause for concern. I, however, had not ever been to this spot and I was a little concerned. But the excitement was over. I looked at my gauge to see how much air I had sucked up and was surprised to see that I still had most of my tank left. We swam and saw fish and coral and the occasional eel. It was a beautiful place, and I was relaxing and enjoying it. Until the next Blacktip showed up. He also seemed interested in us but did not come as close as the one before him. In all we saw black-tips at least 10 times. Of course we may have been seeing some of the same shark multiple times. A few were a little smaller (maybe 4 feet- per Eugene) and some were longer and significantly broader. Our total dive lasted close to an hour because we stayed between 40 and 60 feet. This is one of the few dives I’ve ever done without a camera and it sounds like a big fish tale. Luckily, Christian had his gopro the entire time and when we return he can edit and hopefully share some of his footage. We got back on the boat even more excited this time. We headed for the island of Half Moon Caye (pronounced key) for lunch. The island is maybe 3 or 4 acres in size and is uninhabited except for 1 park ranger and 1 local who makes homemade Coconut Oil to sell to the divers who visit. It is the eastern most land mark of Belize. The island is the quintessential tropical island that you see in pictures. Just breathtaking, and par for the course in this magical day. There is a picnic area with tables where the crew laid out our food. Traditional stew chicken (they do not say stewed), rice and beans, coleslaw and fantas (pineapple is the best). It was good to be on dry land for a little while, although I still felt like I was swaying. After lunch we followed one of the divemasters down a trail that led a little more inland through the trees. On our way we saw lots of hermit crabs in their beautiful shells. Actually, whenever we would hear something moving over the dry leaves on the forest floor it was almost always a hermit crab. There were also iguanas, but they are not as plentiful as the hermit crabs. We came to a tall observation deck. The island is heavily inhabited with 2 main types of birds. The red-footed booby and the frigit- who has a bright red throat that puffs up as his mating call. When we reached the platform we saw that a booby had built her nest about 10 feet away in the canopy. She didn’t seem to mind our presence, and she gave us some good poses. The frigits swooped overhead and were a little more difficult to get pictures of. After a short rest on the island, we were off to our 3rd dive. Lighthouse aquarium was the site for this dive, obviously not an actual aquarium, but called that because of the vast amount and variety of marine life there. It was similar to our 2nd dive in depth and time. I had my camera this time, ready to snap pictures of all the Sharks. When we got underwater it was apparent why this place was called aquarium, this is what large salt water tanks are modeled after. Beautiful coral formations and all shapes and colors of fish. Large parrot fish swam all around us, their colors spectacular against the sapphire blue of the water. Seeing no sharks could have made this dive feel like a let down, but the rest of the marine life made up for it. An exotically patterned grouper that looked large enough to feed our entire dive boat followed us as we let the current push us along the reef. After about 50 minutes Eugene raised the orange inflatable marker he had in his jacket so the boat could find us. Drift dives (which both our 2nd and 3rd one were) will spoil you with their ease. Almost no kicking or swimming is required as you float on the gentle underwater currents past amazing scenery. When we surfaced we floated around and laughed and talked as we waited for the boat to come pluck us out of the water. Boarding the boat for the last time today was bitter sweet. I were exhausted from our long days adventures, but I was also a little sad that such a magical day had to come to an end. The boat ride back was a little rough, but after what we had endured on the ride out there, it felt like being in a porch swing as opposed to the worlds scariest thrill ride. As if the ocean was determined not to let the magic end too soon, a large group of Dolphins swam beside our boat. They were jumping the waves and trying to keep up with us. The captain circled around once to give us a better view, and then we pulled away from them. The sun dropped low over the horizon as we rode through the split. All the sunbathers and swimmers near the docks waved at us and I felt a little like they were congratulating me on an awesome day. Of course I know that’s nonsense, but we smiled and waved all the same, we conquered the Blue Hole and returned! After docking at the dive shop on the west side of the island we decided to hang around and watch the sunset. It’s awesome over the water on that side of the island. Key West may proclaim themselves the home of the sunset, but this one was just as spectacular. While we we on the pier watching the sunset, we noticed a couple of other people looking into the water off the pier. We asked them what they saw and they pointed out the tiniest little seahorse clinging to the root of a mangrove tree. We watched and took pictures, the fascination of sea life really is everywhere. Now 13 hours since we had arrived at the dive shop this morning, we left exhausted but still excited from a perfect day. The bike ride toward the dinner restaurant we had chosen was briefly interrupted by a mishap on the bike for Kim. But she was a good sport about it, as she always is, and it wasn’t long before her little wreck became nothing more than a funny part of the day. We stopped at Maggie’s sunset kitchen to eat, a quant little place set up underneath a concrete house built on tall pilings. It’s right on the water on the west side of the island and although the sun was down, it had left splendid colors behind. The food was fantastic. We biked home slowly after dinner. We managed to keep our eyes open long enough to shower and fall into bed. Life does not not hold many days so completely full of new wonders. This would be a day to remember always, inside a month Christian and I will never forget.