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adventurous people took off for Ambergris Caye, Belize on November 9th,
leaving Lancaster in the wee hours of the morning. It wasn’t long till the real adventure began. Upon a safe
and timely arrival in Belize City, we still had to take an inter-island flight
to Ambergris Caye. This puddle
jumper only held 14 passengers, a lucky passenger seated right next to the
pilot. No in flight service here.
With our big group we were in 3 different planes.
What a view we had being no more than 600 ft. above the clear and shallow
blue green waters. As we descended
into Ambergris Caye, there was a little development that looked as if it was
made of the houses from a Monopoly game.
Staff
from Ramon’s Village Resort met us at the airport to transfer our luggage via the
main mode of transportation, Golf Carts, and
not a golf course to be found. The
resort was only a short walk away, so
off we went.
The group is still raving about the resort, which is surrounded by tropical foliage, that is perfectly kept. Coconut, palm and banana trees and flowers blooming everywhere created a feeling of being in our own jungle. We had the choice of beach front, sea side or garden view thatched cabanas all within a stones throw to the beach and the very warm clear waters of the Caribbean and the second largest barrier reef in the world. The staff at Ramon’s were VERY friendly and helpful, and by the second day they knew what rooms we were all in to CHARGE IT. Ramon Nuñez, "the LEGENDARY host", was there every day to greet us and chat with us. It was a real pleasure to meet him.
Breakfast daily at the restaurant, an included trip feature, started off
our day. Usually back for
lunch between dives. Dinner at the
hotel restaurant or at many other eateries within a short walking distance, like
Jeri’s Crab Shack just across the street.
There was a pool to cool off in, sea kayaks available, golf cart rentals
to cruise town, tours to the mainland, take a long walk on the beach, or just
hang out and nap in one of the beach hammocks.
Diving! Fantastic dive sites complimented by a fantastic dive shop, staffed by Rick Sutherland (dive shop coordinator) and the best divemasters and boat captains. The dive shop staff treated us like royalty and were very eager to accommodate our group. Each day they all went out of their way to meet our every need. Certainly these guys made this one of our best dive vacations ever.
Our package included 6 days of diving, 2 dives a day.
We had the option to go out at 9AM, 11AM and 2 PM, with an extra dive
just costing $20.00. Can’t beat
that. There were 23 divers in the group that got to
experience one great dive after another. We
started out diving from 1 large boat of 15 divers and a smaller boat with 8
divers. But once the big boat blew
a drive shaft, we split into 2 more smaller boats. We were just a little cozier.
I think we saw Spotted Eagle Rays, Nurse Sharks and BIG turtles on every
dive. And some of us even saw a
Hammerhead! The sea conditions were
a little rough the first two days, and we had some members of the group feeding
the fish. In fact, the second day,
the 9AM dive was a blow out. But
Mother Nature cooperated and calmed the winds and the seas for the rest of the
week. The reef is formed like coral
fingers starting at 45 ft, dropping off in canyons well over 100 ft.
The best place to be to get the big view was to hang out between 70 and
80 feet. This made for nice long
dives, most of which were close to an hour long.
One day they took us snorkeling to Shark Ray Alley, where they fed the
sharks and rays, then on to another shallow dive site.
Nice trip for the non-divers to join us.
Eight
members of the group did brave the long 12 hour day trip to the Blue Hole.
Departing at 5:30 AM for a 3 hour boat ride, diving the Blue Hole, and
two other sites off Lighthouse Reef.. A
continental breakfast and lunch was included, and they arrived back at 5:30 PM,
just in time to get ready for a big Happy Hour provided by Ramon.
What a feast! Most of us
didn’t even need dinner after that.
Several
of the non-divers took off one day for a land tour to the mainland for a jungle
river cruise to some Mayan Ruins. They
also did a day of fishing and snorkeling.
There
were several camera buffs diving on this trip with camera’s ranging from the
real cheap disposable snorkling cameras, several Sea & Seas, 2 underwater
video set up and then there was the very large rig dubbed as R2D2.
You’ll have to ask Susie about that one.
And don’t forget about all the digital land cameras.
So, there should be plenty of pictures being sent via email soon!
For
our final night there we got together for a group dinner at one of the
restaurants on the beach, Fido’s (pronounced Feed-Doze).
We indulged in lots of lobster and other local faire.
The local beer, Belican, rum punch and pina colada’s flowed.
The beat of the music lured the now full and rested travelers up for
some dancing, lots of laughing and recaps of the week’s
good times with all who now seem to be our very good and not so new
friends.
We’ll
see you all next year in Grand Turk to live yet another Adventure!