Preparing for a Vacation Underwater

The country of Belize was a location that my daughters and I have discussed for several years possibly visiting.  When we took our "Round the World" trip in 2012, it was one that Allie had chosen as a country she really wanted to visit, but in the final selection round we had to eliminate it as it wasn't feasible to fit it into the itinerary given where it lies geographically relative to our other stops.  However, since it is a fairly quick trip from the US (as its just south of Cancun) it makes for a fairly simple single destination trip.  Belize is unique in Central America as it is the only country where the official language is English.  The culture however is a mix of Caribbean and Latin American colored by 3500 year old roots in Mayan culture.

As we began looking at activities for our trip, it became clear one of the top activities around Belize is SCUBA diving.  While I am a certified diver (having certified for the trip to Hawaii last year), Allie and Kalyssa had not.  I had not anticipated this as part of the trip for this year, but it seemed like it would be a shame to pass up one of the most popular activities Belize has to offer.  This necessitated the added process however of  getting the girls PADI certified.

Marcos, Allie and Kalyssa

I went ahead and signed the girls up with my SCUBA trainer from last year:  Marcos Trammel at SCUBA Nashville, so I reached out and signed them up as well.  For those that haven't done this, its a pretty involved process requiring about 4 hours of videos to watch, 80 multiple choice questions across 4 quizzes and a final exam, 2 half days diving in a pool, and 2 half days diving in a quarry.  It was kind of unusual seeing the girls so busily studying videos, and diligently taking notes together in the middle of the summer.

After passing the written tests, it was time to put the training to the test in the pool.  Allie quickly began to second guessing her choice of a destination and activities, as she remembered she has a strong dislike of water.  (I attribute this to being an acquired feline phobia, on account of the number of cats she has surrounded herself by at home.)  Kalyssa on the other hand loves the water, and couldn't wait to get in and swim around, and try out the equipment.

Marcos, Allie, and Kalyssa Diving in the Pool

Both girls did well in the 2 long grueling half-days in the pool with their basic equipment skills, out-of-air skills, and diver rescue skills. We then moved on to the quarry dives. For the first dive, I accompanied the girls in order to refresh my own skills and to support them. There was only a small group at the quarry, and two dive masters, so the 3 of us had Marcos all to ourselves.  Unfortunately, the recent significant rains in Nashville had stirred up a lot of sediment in the quarry, and visibility was terrible to say the least.  Though the 4 of us had fluorescent green, pink, yellow, and blue fins, it was still impossible to see even faint silhouettes of the others once we got more than 3-4 feet from each other.

The lack of visibility was extremely disorienting, amplifying the frustrations of any equipment struggles.  After a few hours, Allie asked if she could take a break at the surface while Kalyssa finished her final skills.  Even I at this point while about 10 feet down struggling to keep water out of my mask, out of my nose, and struggling with my regulator felt my anxiety raise enough that I went up to the surface to reset myself. I then noticed that Marcos' and Kalyssa's bubbles were about 20 feet from me.  I descended and went to meet with them underwater. As I swam in their direction I saw nothing but green haze in front of me.  As I was about to give up and go back to the surface to look for their bubbles again, I heard Marcos' clapping for attention underwater.  I stopped and looked in every direction, (due to the nature of sound travel in water, your ears can't tell what direction sound is coming from)  but couldn't see anything anywhere.  I continued on, thinking I'm probably close, but after a minute or two of not finding them, figured I should surface again.  I did, and saw that I was about 20 feet to the left of the buoy they had been heading towards  They had surfaced right next to it.  Turns out I was only a couple feet from them, but when I stopped to look for Marcos, and started swimming again, I had turned 90 degrees....  a strong reminder of the loss of the sense of direction in unclear water.

Allie requested calling it quits for the day and finishing her additional skill at the next dive, which Marcos agreed was fine.  Four days later, the girls returned to the quarry on their own, and completed their certifications with Marcos!   With that completed, all are now ready for our impending trip!

As with past blogs, my intention will be to provide daily updates of any and all of our Central American (mis)adventures, as long as I have the wifi and energy to do so each day.  So please check back soon!!!

-Ryan