“I can do it! I can do it!”  No, nope, nah, I can’t do it. No way.” This is Leanne revving herself up this morning and then subsequently talking herself out of scuba diving today.  Kyle has planned two easy dives at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve for Leanne who has been  more than apprehensive to dive again ever since the mean instructor at The Great Barrier Reef crushed her like a bug.  

Despite being a certified diver, last August, Leanne made the mistake of signing up for the “Try Dive” for non-certified divers with a former military dive instructor at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.  She’s a bit rusty with the skills she learned 30 years ago and hasn’t dived in the past 17 since the kids were born.  She thought the “Try Dive” would be a great way to ease back into diving. It wasn’t. In fact, the military divemaster was so overbearing and intense in pre-dive briefing that Leanne switched to snorkeling. Mr Cheery Down Under prevented Leanne from ever wanting to dive again.   

Suffice to say, she’s a bit shaken still.  Skipped diving in Thailand. Skipped diving in Galapagos.  John and Ashley stayed back at the resort today and with an easy 30 foot dive, it is the perfect set-up for Leanne’s re-entry into the world of scuba diving. 

Our dive instructor, Dimas, is the complete opposite of Mr Cheery Down Under and who is as relaxed as his Belizean culture.  Unlike the Australia dive master, he doesn’t ask her do the inane tasks like “remove your mask, take out your regulator and do the hokey pokey underwater” to prove she knows how to dive.  This dude was way cooler. 

“My lady, you can do it,” Dimas insists, “I got you.” And with that Leanne was able to switch from being overwater and stressed to underwater and chill.  Dimas only wanted to confirm that she could breathe underwater.  He even held her hand the entire dive!  

The dive was at a place where there is a break in the reef where a channel cuts across the entire reef.  Dimas tells us that the water is unusually clam and we will get a special opportunity to scuba through the entire channel entering one side of the reef and exiting on the other.  Usually it is way too to make it through so you enter and return on the same side.  “Almost never happens,” Dimas tells us, “maybe 2 or 3 times a year.”  SCORE for us!  Kyle makes a note to self to check if Belize has a Mega Power Ball Lottery for which he can buy a ticket.

The dive is another incredible one.  There about 10 giant spotted eagle rays gliding gracefully back and forth and around us. The Belize Barrier Reef definitely kicked The Great Barrier Reef’s butt in scuba diving.  The deep is only 30 feet so we end up staying under water 1 hour and 10 minutes.  That’s a new record for everyone including Kyle. 

Next we boat over to a place called Shark Ray Alley.  It’s a designated area where boats can anchor and feed the sharks and rays.  Well, the sharks are nurse sharks that have no teeth and the rays don’t have barbed stingers on their tail so it’s not actually as scary as it sounds.  Nevertheless, it is a super cool scene to see the water teaming with over 20 sharks and 5 rays at feeding where you can reach out and touch them as they bang into you amongst the crowd.

On our second dive, Dimas carries a four-foot long expandable spear with him explaining merely that “the lionfish  are invasive to this area causing damage to the marine environment here so we are allowed to kill them to protect other species.”   We don’t think much about the comment as we ready for our dive and  we submerge. 

As soon as settle down at the bottom a 6 foot shark comes gliding by us.  Leanne’s eye grow to the size of saucer dishes as she starts trying to back pedal underwater.  Dimas and Kyle try to get Leanne to calm down as the shark swims off into the vast blue waters.  Not 60 seconds later, out of nowhere the shark appears swimming headlong right at us. Leanne freezes in her scuba tracks as the shark veers right at the last minute and swims around us.

This continues for the entire dive with the reef sharks literally following and circling our group the whole time.  Swimming under us, by our side, over us. Looking quite hungry in Leanne’s humble opinion.  For non-divers reading this, sharks are normally pretty rare siting on dives and usually aren’t interested in biting metal oxygen tanks or human skin.  They usually scoot way away. Unless… Unless they have a reason for them to hang around.   After the 20th time the shark encircles our group, we start to suspect something is not exactly right.  

After we get out, the instructor tells us that his yellow spear attracts the sharks because if he does find and spear a lionfish, he feeds the sharks right there in front of you. “So glad we didn’t find a lionfish!” Thinks Leanne. Great morning.  Two dives.  See rays, sea turtle, eel and more sharks that we’ve ever seen. 

At lunch, Kyle is intense on finalizing and booking the remaining final four months of the trip.  Lots more fun still ahead but right now a hammock over the peaceful Caribbean Sea overlooking the Belize Barrier Reef sounds like a nice place to stay parked for Leanne’s afternoon. 

Tomorrow’s Ashlynn birthday so we need to figure out how to make her feel uber special tomorrow.   Now in month nine, the teens flip from relaxed as could be ... to adrenaline pumping excited ... to bored stiff at times traveling ... to anxious about returning to reality, school, sports and life.  

We end the long day with pizza delivery yet again.  

“Pizza again?” Mutiny might be on the horizon but this time led by Kyle, the anti-fan of the cardboard pizza place.