Diving the Barrier Reef
Belize is home to the second largest barrier reef in the world. Although I had originally planned on just diving the Blue Hole and then immediately heading to the Bay Islands in Honduras for cheaper diving, Caye Caulker was so amazing I decided to stay longer and skip the Bay Islands altogether.
The marine life was amazing: tons of nurse sharks, reef sharks, sea turtles, rays, moray eels, lobster, shrimp, black grouper, parrotfish, and an octopus. The best marine life was at Hol Chan and Turneffe Atoll. Unfortunately for me, on the day that I rented an underwater camera, we dove at North Cut, which happened to be the worst diving of the entire trip. So, you'll have to use your imagination for the sharks, turtles, rays, and octopus.
Black and white spotted moray eel.
Lobster.
Sea fan.
Green spotted moray eel.
Small wreck.
Trumpet fish.
Squirrel fish.
LobsterDiving the Blue Hole
The main reason I came to Belize was to dive the Blue Hole, a 400 foot deep sinkhole in the middle of Lighthouse Reef. The dive goes to 40 meters, the limits of recreational, no decompression, diving. It was a bit nerveracking, being the first dive since last year. At the top, there were tons of black tipped reef sharks and grouper. But we weren't there long. We basically just descended as fast as we could down to 40 m (130 ft), where there was an overhang with gigantic stalactites and stalagmites. While at that depth, I succumbed to nitrogen narcosis, and figured it would be a good idea to descend to 150 ft, the very limit of my depth gauge. Luckily, my dive partner Chris, who is also a certified dive instructor, saw me below him and got me to level off so I wasn't at that depth for too long.
The two other dives that day at Half Moon Caye and Long Caye were actually better than the Blue Hole. For lunch, we stopped on Half Moon Caye, which is home to iguanas, frigate birds, and red footed boobies. It was like a mini Galapagos.
Half Moon Caye
Caye Caulker
Beautiful sunrise on Caye Caulker.
Even more beautiful sunsets.
The streets of Caye Caulker were all white sand - no pavement. Also, no cars. The primary mode of transportation was bicycle, followed by golf carts. Of course, you could also walk anywhere on the island.
The Lazy Iguana Bar and Grill was in a perfect location on the Split. 
Huh?
One of the best parts of Caye Caulker was eating grilled lobster on the beach every night. By the end of the week, I was pretty good friends with the staff at Jolly Roger's.
Me with Olivia, the chef, and Manuel, the rum pourer.
Grabbing a drink with Dave, Bella, and Tom
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