My Diving Adventures in San Pedro Belize ( Mesoamerican Barrier Reef)

When I started  my journey on Halloween, it never even occurred to get certified as a Scuba diver. But like most of the other greatest hits from the trip, it was done on a whim and ended up being one of the highlights, in fact THE HIGHLIGHT. In reality, it was actually a recertification. Back in fourth year engineering, hmmm......1978, I took a NAUI course, and was certified after two dives in the 38 degree waters of the Bay of Fundy. According to recent diving statistics, 60 % of newly certified divers drop out of the sport, for a variety of reasons. I did that after two follow up lake dives in 20 feet of murky water.

As mentioned in an earlier post, San Pedro is full of scuba operators that I would walk by everyday on my travels from Belize Hutz into downtown. I settled on Scuba Steve. Four days and five dives later there I was, a PADI certified Open Water Diver. Over the next month, I ended up logging a total of 19 dives with a bottom time of  twelve hours, all but four right off the shore in San Pedro.

The Jan/Feb 2012 issue of Scuba Diving magazine ranked Belize as the number two best overall dive designation in the Caribbean/Atlantic. The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef as it is officially called, is the worlds third largest. As the article mentions, and I can personally vouch for, the reef is pristine with regular sightings of spotted eagle rays, nurse sharks, groupers, barracudas, moray eels, sea turtles and on and on. Depending on the time of the year you can also see the worlds largest living fish, the whale shark, and manatees. There is an incredible array of other fish types and all the corals you can imagine, within a five to ten minute boat drive. South of the Northern Cayes, the reef is quite a bit further from shore, but still accessible and a wonder to see. Surprisingly, with all it has too offer, there are few crowds and you can chose a dive as intimate as you like.

Thought it would be useful to give a bit of a description of some of the favourites, well at least my favourite sites, off San Pedro. Each is similar though different, and for15 dives here, there was no moment where it became repetitive, as slight variations in your route resulted in much different experiences. (Note: The first three pictures are not mine, pulled from the web)

Esmeralda

Esmeralda is a couple of km south of Town and was the site of my first checkout dive. It is considered a novice dive because of its shallow depths, 30-60 feet, and ease of navigation, and some might find it a bit boring except for the abundance of marine life. The shallower depths also allow for greater bottom time, and visibility here is usually excellent showing deep vibrant colours. On my last dive of the trip we stood at the bottom and fed sharks and groupers, carefully, as well as hundreds of smaller colourful species.

Tuffy Canyons

This area is my personal favourite, diving there four separate times. While I began to recognize certain areas, each dive felt like a new one, and though the guide books say this varies from 35-100 ft, I stood on the bottom at the lowest point and the gauge showed 110 ft, the deepest I have been to date. There are a few tunnels in this area, one of which is pitch black for a short section. These are not really considered caves, but one is long enough that you might think twice entering. Every dive in Tuffy had three or four nurse sharks following us around for the duration. You will also find here the much hated lion fish, which is hunted by spear guns with impunity. It was really cool watching the nurse sharks follow the speared fish around until they picked them off the end. Eagle Rays travelling in pairs were spotted on three of the four dives as well.

Mermaids Lair

Have to admit to being slightly disappointed that I never actually got to see a mermaid in her lair. Having said that there were lots of other things to entertain while diving this area. Not sure why, but in checking my dive logs for this area, the visibility was much less than adjacent dive sites. On the second dive here, there was a bunch of plastic and other garbage floating in the top 10 feet or so, as well as a fair amount of sediment. Notwithstanding, each of the dives showed a wide variety of sea life, including nurse sharks and groupers that seemed to follow us around the entire time we were underwater. Mermaids Lair is a drift dive and you can go down as deep as 100 feet. This is a nice dive.

Mexico Rocks

This place is advertised by just about every dive operation, but in my opinion, is more suited to snorkeling or check out dives. Although there are an incredible array of different fish species here, the depth is around 20+ feet, with little coral compared to most of the other dive sites. If you do take this dive make sure you bring bait to attract fish, which may make the dive worthwhile. While holding a fish head in my hand, there were literally hundreds of fish buzzing around, nipping at everything including my legs. All this commotion attracted a large green moray eel that swam within a few feet of my hand. A quick tip here, when approached by a moray move your fin in front of it as they have limited vision. Once they bump into your fin, they will move off.


Boca Del Rio

I did not actually get to dive this location, as the night before my group did the dive, let's just say I was out a little bit too late. I was told by the group that this was one of the better locations with fingers of coral and sandy bottoms in between, and depths up to to 130 feet. There is a big statue of Jesus in one location at a depth of about 60 feet. Might freak a few people out thinking they were being called home.