Suckers, that is what...
Trip Start
Mar 17, 2007
1
71
401
Trip End
Ongoing
Placencia,
Belize
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Let's start with the beginning. Out of the hotel at 08h15. Hubby hardly slept, I am awake at 6h. Excited! This is the main street in Placencia. The tourist guide says, it is the narrowest street in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records.
It is all very unorganized again. Completely laid back. Why are we always so stressed and hurried? Those people do good business and ... relax! Leaving at 9 becomes leaving at almost 10! We sail for more than an hour. The water is pretty rough and Dr T is expected to feed the fishes, despite the motion sickness tablet. Don't you think it is rude to my boyfriend? A water person, diver, sailor and boat person and he gets see sick???
But he does not this time
Leaving the hotel to ...
. Takes care of my gear. Hey, I am only a rescue diver, do not know about that stuff. The dive master tells us that no more than 6 boats are allowed at the same time at the 'whale spot'. If we are number 7, we have to wait till 1 leaves. We arrive at the spot, are number 4 and fall in. This is NOT a typical diving boat, no place to step off and no decent latter to step up: sigh. You put on your gear, sit at the side of the boat, fully equipped, face to the inside of the boat and roll backwards. Sort of: fall of the boat.We go down to 25 meters. My boyfriend has an ear problem and swims above us. My heart breaks. If he cannot solve it, he has to go up. On a day like that! It takes him 6 minutes, but he does get down. I am so happy for him. The group is 12, with 2 diving masters and all experienced divers. For 20 minutes: nothing. And I mean: nothing! Blue see and divers. Not 1 fish. Apart from the fact that you feel excited because you might see a whale, this is the most boring dive of my life! If you think, then, how much you paid for this: amaai.
The dive master gives us the 'shark' sign! We do see the silhouette of a whale shark, about 20 meters away. I suck half of my air from pure excitement. 5 minutes later we get the same sign: 'shark'.
And then, then, that beautiful, gorgeous, enormous creator, swims our way
... the narrowest street in the world
. Completely relaxed. No hurry. It is about 15 meters long and looks VERY much like a shark. It comes straight to us. Sees us and descends a couple of meters and swims under us. But no further than 2 meters. I cry. For the first time in my 12 years diving experience, my mask is getting wet from the inside. I cry. Like Tony's car was for me an orgasm on wheels, this is a diver's orgasm. 15 meter of fish, swimming in almost touching range. You are not allowed to come nearer then 5 meters. But we did not, he did! To my surprise I am not scared. I thought I would freak out! But, it is only ecstasy! This is how people look like, after finding a whale.We go to the surface and I am speechless. Does not happen to me often. (No comment, please). We have an hour surface interval, in which we have a little lunch and almost everybody goes snorkeling. I do not snorkel. I stay on the boat with a very nice German girl (It is a contradiction, I know). A photographer on the boat promises us to send the pictures (wait and see), we meet a nice South-African couple and go for our second dive in which we see
... nothing. Absolutely nothing. It gets a ten on ten for the most boring dive of our lives. Blue see and divers.
Still, we think: mission accomplished when we sail back. It is after 4 and we walk home, to rinse our outfit and ourselves.
Dr T fell into a coma now, I am hungry, so I will try to wake him up. No further plans. 3 more nights here. Doing what? And then? Keep you posted!
