Matthew Botos

The reason I choose Belize was for it’s renowned scuba diving, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Boasting the second largest barrier reef in the world, it has abundant easily-accessible reefs filled with healthy coral and fish. It has some big name sites like The Blue Hole and The Elbow, but the former didn’t seem worth it, and in the slow season there weren’t many boats running to the latter.

Diving the local reef off Ambergris Caye was a pleasure, though. Each morning around nine, the dive boat would make a pickup at the dock in front of the hotel and take a calm 10-15 ride out to the reef. After a good 40-50 minute at 50-80 feet, we’d head back to the dive shop’s dock for a tank swap and surface interval before doing a second dive and getting dropped right back at the hotel. That left the afternoon free for lunch, napping, and lounging in a hammock, making for some very pleasant days.

The water was a warm 84 F, even at depth, so I was quite toasty in my 3mm wet suit; most people went with a thinner shortie. There was plenty to see in addition to the variety of coral and tropical fish: nurse sharks, groupers, an eagle ray, and a few eels Dad developed a specialty for spotting. The coral itself also boasted some deep canyons that were quite dramatic to swim through.

This was the first trip I did any dive photography, which opened up a whole new world: looking for good shots, getting better bouyancy control, and mastering a little more multitasking. I also rented a dive computer for the trip, which allowed me to get in much more diving that using tables, and took the mathematical work out of my dive vacation.

“Earlier you wanted a gun. Now you’re getting a gun and a wet suit.” - The Rock

My brother has the gun/wet suit combo pretty much sewn up, so in preparation for my upcoming dive trip to Belize, I went with the knife and wet suit. And a few other gadgets, since I just couldn’t help myself - how can you resist a giant day-glo orange inflatable signal sausage?

The local dive shop is my kind of place: all kinds of bargain deals on closeout and overstock gear. The full 3mm O’Neill wet suit I bought was over 70% off! All the shopping is getting me excited about the trip; now I just need to capture the momentum and actually book the flights and hotels.