The day dawned bright but still cool and breezy. We’d planned to go diving and so since the sun was out we ate a little something in our apartment and headed out. We got to the dive shop around 8:30 and filled out necessary paperwork and got ready. We wandered down to the pier and waited for the dive master and captain to get the boat ready. We were joined by three 20-somethings from Israel. They were traveling around Central America for several months during what they called their “army trip”. They had all served short stints in the Israeli army and it was a common thing to travel after that time and they told there were lots of young Israelis here doing the same thing. We didn’t ever really understand if they just get a some sort of bonus after time served and it’s common to travel, or that is actually part of what the army does for them.

We were a little delayed leaving (we are on Belizean time after all), but we finally boarded the boat and headed out. The wind was still blowing in cool and it felt even cooler riding the boat. The water inside the reef was not too rough. The Reef breaks a few hundred yards off shore and protects the island from the very large waves. The Mesoamerican Reef extends from Cancun to Honduras making it the 2nd longest reef in the world after the Great Barrier Reef and runs close to both Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye in Belize. There are hundreds of dive spots along the reef, many of which are no more than a 20 minute boat ride from the island. We stopped just inside the reef where the water was calmer to prepare for the dive. We dressed and got our equipment ready and then braced ourselves to go outside the reef with the very rough water whipped up by the wind. We enter with a backward roll and were instantly warm in the 80 degree water which felt wonderful after the cool wind up top. We waited a few minutes for our group and descended. Christian, John, and Ricardo (the divemaster) all had spears hoping to find a few lion fish. The currents carried us along as we explored the formations and fish along the way. About halfway through the dive we encountered a large lion fish and Christian took a shot at it, unfortunately it got away but John got it with his spear. The lion fish are a beautiful but deadly fish to this ecosystem. They are an invasive species presumed to have been introduced when a public aquarium in Florida was destroyed during a hurricane. Female lion fish are said to be able to lay up to a thousand eggs at a time. The fish eat the same small fish that many native species eat, and so because they are a poisonous predator, the native fish have a decreased food source. So the governments of all countries along the reef or whose waters are affected (including the US) encourage hunting of lion fish in an attempt to control the population.

We returned to the boat and had 2 large lion fish. Ricardo and Captain Mike got busy cleaning them. Although their poisonous spines cause intensely painful reactions in humans, they are experienced enough to know how to handle them without getting stung (although they both admit to being stung several times when they started dealing with them and they relate terrible stories of the pain it caused). Between dives they cut the fresh watermelon and pineapple they had brought with them as well as lion fish ceviche and chips. The surface interval is usually one of my favorite parts of the day, especially with this spread, but because we were wet the wind seemed twice as cold and it took me at least half an hour to warm up.

Our second dive was much like the first. Same process and a nearby location. Christian had taken some ribbing during the surface interval from John and the crew about missing his first lion fish so he was more determined this time having learned from his mistakes (it’s not quite as easy as it looks). We descended and hadn’t been down but a few minutes when the first lion fish was spotted. Christian swam in close and took a very decisive shot that got the fish securely on the spear. The fish are beautiful, but knowing how destructive they are to the reef makes it easy to want to get rid of them. There were a few more lion fish sitings and they let the girl (Allison) and one of the guys in the Israeli group give it a try and one got it his first time while Allison missed twice. The rest of dive was spent trying to find lion fish (but honestly, I get distracted by all the different fish and the many lobsters we saw). We ascended reluctantly to the chilly air, but it had been a great dive day and the wind had died down some, so the short ride back to the pier was pretty smooth.

We immediately began thinking about our super bowl party when we returned to land around 3:00. We stopped by Chinatown where Christian and John waited (and waited and waited) for some food in the Chinatown restaurant while I got a few things in the connecting supermarket and headed home. We feasted on fried chicken and sweet and sour shrimp and John joined us in our apartment for the game. I made fruit salad from fruit picked this week in Belize. The pineapple, mango, bananas, and oranges all mixed together to make the sweetest, most delicious fruit salad I’d ever had. Perfect end to a perfect day.