Our initial briefing from Captain John of the Belize Aggressor III brought me down, you could say. Three big storms were to roll through, degrading the diving and probably preventing our trip to the Blue Hole. We'd heard of bad weather in Mexico when we first arrived there, but another week of beating the weather geniuses seemed too much to ask. However, after a single day of overcast skies and rain, we enjoyed sun, clear diving conditions, and even made our scheduled trip to the depths of the Blue Hole.
The live-aboard experience was fantastic. We never did five dives in a single day, but we usually did three or four and ended up adding eighteen dives to our log books. Charlotte got her PADI Advanced Open Water certification, and we both got our Nitrox certifications. Mixed in there, we saw incredible sea life, from a couple kinds of sharks, to sting rays, eagle rays, octopi, squid, and sea turtles.
Aside from the diving, one important piece of a trip like that is the people. Half the boat turned out to be booked by a diving club based in Atlanta. Also on board were a family from Houston and a couple of guys from Boston. We really enjoyed meeting everybody and hope to keep in touch with them. The crew was also fantastic. They were in control and were very service-oriented, but at the same time laid back and welcomed us to make the boat our home for the week.
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