Sharks and Dark

Although we had done a shark dive in Belize last year, it was like comparing apples and mangos, to the shark dive we finished today. Then 8 sharks, today at least 35 or more caribbean reef sharks measuring 8 to 10 feet, swarming around our group of seasoned and novice divers. My problem... not encountered too often, was trying to equalize, and finding myself the only one at 30 feet while the rest of the group was already safely ensconsed at the bottom at 70 feet. Between myself and the group of divers, was this pod of hungry sharks, and although I may not initially have been considered as a tasty tidbit on their menu that day, watching them roaming, in slo-mo, some 40 feet below, made me realize that Fear was a Factor for me at that moment, and I felt like a lone seal, waiting for disaster to strike. I finally made it down and all I can say is WOW.... staring a 10 foot shark in the eye is an incredible feat, and although I probably used up 1,000 psi in the blink of an eye, it was worth every deep breath from my regulator. Thank goodness that I had gotten 4 LBS of extra weights or I would have been all over the place, waving my arms and fins and offering myself up as shark bait. Instead we were all pretty much in awe of the sight in front of us, and we wanted time to stand still, as our 20 minutes flickering by way too fast, with sharks swimming inches from our masks. Dive Master Gustavo , a pro in every sense of the word had his basket of chum ready, and the feading frenzy started around him , a circle of activity with one shark nudging the others out of the way for the tastiest bits, and with a couple of pregnant females in the midst, it was a sight not encountered too often by these baby blues. My heart pounded out of my body when one of the sharks became a bit agressive, shoving and pushing the rest of his friends out of the way for the tastiest morsels, but my angst turned to laughter, when he ended up with the bucket on his head, swimming away into the wild blue yonder. A video and T shirt are not too distant memories of an escapade we would not mind repeating.
Could the day finish any better than with the initially dreaded Night Dive, I think not. Giant stride stepping off the boat just minutes before nightfall, lights ablaze (I only had 2 but all day had been trying to figure a way to carry 6 or more illuminations), we slowly descended into a new world of wonder. Shining our lights on the coral that we had seen so many times during the day, made them appear richer in color, the reds were more like garnets and the purples like amethysts. The luminescence of the tiniest fish and sealife, sparkling like millions of diamonds kept my eyes wide and seeing an octopus, approximately 4 feet across from tentacle to tentacle was the culmination of my first venture into this world of darkness. When we finally made it back into the boat, our initial silence said it all, while we were all processing what we had seen, then the floodwaters opened when we all compared our experience.

Pics: Jose Luis and Catherine in the warm, turquoise waters at West Bay Beach.

A Watusa- an animal typical of Honduras, from the guinea pig family, but hops like a rabbit