The Blue Hole was, without a doubt, my single most memorable scuba dive to date.

Thankfully, one of our fellow divers, Australian Rohan Ashton (facebook / email: rohanashton(at)yahoo.com.au) was shooting photo and video footage during the dive.  I am very grateful for his permission to post some of his footage here, because otherwise, I wouldn’t expect you to believe me!

There were dozens of reef sharks at the Blue Hole.  Dozens.

If I had to honestly guess, I would put the number of sharks we saw between 35 and 50.  At one point I counted 8 massive reef sharks swimming around us at once.  After we ascended from the Blue Hole, waiting during our safety stop at 5m depth, we watched as countless sharks of all sizes swam, some perhaps only 2-3 meters beneath us.  I now understand what they mean when they say that sharks “circle.”  If our divemaster hadn’t stayed calm, I think I would have lost the plot.

If only so that you believe me, here’s a video, hosted on YouTube, of some of the footage Rohan shot that should give you a flavour for our finned friends. [direct link]

I’m also going to post a second video: a continuous minute-long take that Rohan made when we were down in the Blue Hole.  The reason I want to do this is that when me and my fellow divers watched this video together back on Caye Caulker, all of us could empathise with the cocktail of confusion and fascination that Rohan’s video seems to suggest down there at 40m.

This was by far the most “narc’d” (or “narced”) I’ve ever been – the spaced-out sensation a diver typically experiences at depths below around 30m.  I remember thinking tripped-out thoughts like “that stalactite is so big, I couldn’t hug it even if I wanted to”, and then, looking up at the bubbles us divers were making against the glow of the surface, thinking “wow, this is so beautiful, I could just stay down here forever.”

So I’m just going to post Rohan’s video exactly as is, hoping that in future it will bring back the memories of such an amazing dive – sharks, stalactites and all. [direct link]

And now I leave you with a barracuda that links to the rest of the photos.

[Update 8 Nov: I just wanted to make one more comment about diving Belize.  I observed along with my fellow divers that the dive outfits at Caye Caulker and neighbouring San Pedro were by far more lax than any I've seen (my experience is from dives in Ireland, Canada, Egypt, Belize, and now Mexico.)  For example, at the Blue Hole, we were 16 divers down with two dive masters, and some of the divers there had only just completed their PADI Open Water Certification, and were therefore at over twice their qualified depth.  And on one of my other dives off Caye Caulker, the dive master couldn't be bothered to buddy us up, gave us next to no briefing, and more or less tossed us off the boat into the water.  I don't mention this to name and shame, and I want to be clear that I never felt unsafe or threatened -- I just felt the need to be extra vigilant.  I offer this as a caveat to very new divers, who may want to befriend more experienced divers they meet in Belize and exercise caution before doing something loco at the Blue Hole!]