A very relaxing week
Trip Start
Jul 04, 2006
1
12
42
Trip End
??? ??, 2007
Glover's reef atoll,
Belize
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
I was the only diver (being the only 'active' guest on the island) and what a luxury that is, to have miles of reef to yourself with only a guide to show you the best spots. I cherry picked spots according to what I wanted to see and chose mainly wall diving as I like swim throughs and the life you encounter at walls. We usually saw barracudas, loads of tropical colourful reef fish as well as quite a few turtles. They were also friendly, they came up close and let you stroke them, like their siblings near Caye Caulker
1. Cruising back up Sittee river
. We saw a few dolphins while going to and from the dive sites, but they don't like diver's bubbles so they go away when you are in the water unfortunately... We also saw a few very big green muray eels as well as a few healthy sized black tip reef sharks. We did one dive in 'blue water' to look for Hammerhead sharks. (A blue water dive, means that you have no visual reference (like a reef) and you just hang around in blue water and hope for the sharks to appear nearby.) I don't mind reef sharks, but I don't like it when a 9 footer follow you for a while in blue water. They tire fast of it though and soon find something else to do! Phew!
We fished our own dinner even! To be fair, Breeze did the fishing and killing, but I helped out steering the boat and duck diving to free the line when it got stuck on the reef a couple of times. And the surface interval (the time you have to stay out of the water in between dives to breathe out nitrogen) was spent on beautiful beaches or deserted mini-islands. Quite nice!
The week went by pretty fast, I got up early in the morning and did typically 3 dives. When you get back you don't have much time before sunset, so I was never really bored despite being all by myself
2. Breeze and the other couple visiting
. It was very relaxing, my bungalow had 3 hammocks and 3 openings and a swing which was over the water. Pretty cool! You didn't have much choice but to go to bed early, but it was actually nice to have a quiet bungalow to retreat to after an active day of diving and changing tanks and gear. I spent a lot of evenings in one of my 3 hammocks, laying there looking at the moon and listening to the waves and looking for thunderstorms on the horizon. It was all very relaxing, but it would have become boring after more than a week or so I guess. Simba the puppy became 'my dog' more or less during my stay. I think he could sense that I miss my own dog and he was happily trying to fill the void. He slept in my bungalow most nights, and waited for me on the dock whenever I was out diving, he was all eager to lick the salt off my face when I returned. I'll miss Simba, he was very cute and very clumsy!!
The food wasn't really great for my diet, it was too American for my taste, with thick pancakes and waffles with syrup for breakfast and grilled cheese or peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for lunch. It's not the best fuel for your body when you dive and are active, but I didn't have much choice of course. Dinner was usually fried fresh fish with a lot of rice
3. Handyman Rudi
. I do think that the meals were a bit overpriced at the island. The last night on Glover's reef, Breeze and I went to nearby Marisol resort for a few beers and to socialise with other people after the last dive of the day. It was great to look at the sunset from the porch of the over water bar at the resort, drinking cold beers. They only had 4 guests as well, so it really was quiet in the area tourist wise. Marisol resort had electricity and a proper toilet even, I thought I'd be more excited about getting cold drinks and get other luxuries I had been missing, but it really wasn't a big deal. I liked the basic Glover's island, it had a more authentic feel to it.
My fellow visitors actually found a message in a bottle in the lagoon on the last day of our stay. Someone had sent it from Antigua in the Caribbean. It was a postcard in a bottle along with the latitude and longitude of Antigua. Some of the print was faded (due to the strong sun presumably) but I think the sender requested that the finder sent a postcard from wherever the bottle landed!! Dead cool if you ask me :-) I'm kind of jealous I didn't find it!
The ride back to Sittee river the following Saturday went smoothly and it took just above 2 hours to get back to the mainland.
