We woke up just before 7am and headed down for a great breakfast. Afterwards we had the dive briefing for a site called Amberhead. It was in about 50 feet of water, with a gently sloping reef that dropped off to one side. It was a good site for a check-out dive. As we went to put on our gear, we realized that we had forgotten our booties at home, so our fins weren't going to fit. Fortunately Jay helped out by getting us a couple of pairs of fins from the boat to use, problem solved! Fred went down with one of the crew to re-familiarize himself, he hadn't been diving for a few years. We swam around and saw lots of fish. The lighting was a bit diffused, but it was a good place to remember how to work the cameras and such. After an hour on the surface, we went back in for another dive. We saw much the same thing as on the first dive, not too much out of the ordinary.

Gray Angel

Hey, my flash works!

Azure Vase Sponge

Damselfish

Back on the boat we took a look at pictures and rested in the sun after lunch (which was really good!). After lunch the boat had moved to a site called Sayanora. It had a number of coral heads at about 50 feet, then a wall that sloped off to several hundred feet. There was also a small wreck in the middle of the site, though it was more of a ship's skeleton than a real wreck. We went down with Rick's Dad and swam out towards the mooring line, then across the wreck and back to the boat. There was more fish-life than on the first dive. Back on the boat Rick took a nap and Randy looked over the pictures. When it was time for the next dive, Fred decided to spend the time doing some of the coursework for the Advanced Open Water and Nitrox courses that he was taking. Rick and Randy headed into the water and swam towards the opposite side of the last dive. We found some cool coral heads with some swim-throughs. We slowly made our way back to the boat and surfaced after about 50 minutes.

Great dive site diagrams!

Scroll Coral

Porkfish

Rick gets up close with a trunk fish.

Dinner was some delicious fish and we had fun talking with the other passengers over dinner. Afterwards Caroline gave a great slide presentation on the different types of fish that we were likely to see during the week. After dinner we prepped for the night dive. This was Fred's first night dive, so he was a bit nervous, but excited none the less. We went down with Caroline, who was Fred's instructor. She was a great guide, somehow managing to point out all kinds of things in the dark. We saw a big sting ray that circled around us for a bit, as well as a balloonfish and a lobster walking around. After about 45 minutes we headed back to the boat. Fred did really well and had a great time. It was great to see the excited look on his face after the dive, I'm sure he'll do some more night dives on this trip!

Descending to the reef

Princess Parrotfish

Sea Urchin

Brittle Star on a sponge

In the lounge we looked at pictures and talked with some of our new friends. Around 9pm the boat started the trip from Turneffe Reef to Lighthouse Reef, where we'd spend the rest of the week. The crossing was about 3 hours, and was a bit rough. We went up on the top deck and watch the moon bob up and down for a while with Laurie before heading off to bed. Even with the boat bouncing sharply, we fell asleep very quickly and slept really soundly.

Sting Ray

Little Balloonfish

Gray Angel

Lobster