belize it... or not!
day 1 of my long awaited and well-deserved dive trip to belize is drawing to a close and man what a day it's been.
got up at 3:30am in order to be ready for a towncar to pick me up at 4:15 (a new indulgence for me but it ended up costing the same as parking my car at the airport) in order to get me to the airport by 5am (astounding how many people were at LAX at 5 in the frikkin morning) in order to take off for houston by 6:30. the plane ended up being delayed by about an hour due to electrical problems but luckily i still made my connecting flight to belize city with a few minutes to spare. another short layover in belize city and then i jumped on a little single-prop cessna with some other vacationers for a 20-minute flight to the airstrip in dangriga (which has such a short runway that if you miscalculated the landing by even the smallest margin it seems like you'd go careening off into the ocean). a 30 minute drive over roads that were 50/50 roughly paved to not paved at all and here i am. no worse for wear but man am i exhausted.
my room at hamanasi is wonderful - it's on the second story and bigger than i expected and has a balcony that overlooks the pool area and the ocean just beyond. i'm already signed up for a 3-tank boat dive at glover's reef atoll bright and early tomorrow morning, a 2 or 3-tanker to lighthouse reef and the world famous blue hole on wednesday and a whale shark expedition on thursday. i already love the staff and so far the drinks have all been nice and potent. the goal is to be on a boat every day while i'm here. i should break 100 total dives this weekend if i can do that. all the makings for an amazing trip, if you ask me.
i know i'm already piquing the curiosity of the staff and other guests since i'm literally the only solo guest here. i'm quickly reminded of the sort of mental games i go through when i'm out on trips like this. it's hasn't been since the maldives 2 years ago that i was completely solo - on every other trip i've taken since then i've known at least one other person. but here i'm all alone. and what happens is that the self consciousness sets in - how do i appear, what do others think of me, what are their judgements of me... that kind of shit. i know i can appear aloof and stand-offish or disinterested in others or what have you. i just have to remind myself that it's precisely these types of trips that i take to force me out of my shell and not be such a recluse so i can reconnect with the rest of the humanity. and that all it takes is for me to give people the chance to talk to me and all the illusions they may have had get dispelled. to know me is to love me... or something like that. but it's still weird and uncomfortable.
the inaugural test of the new camera gear is tomorrow. we'll see how that goes. i have my simpler older setup with me just in case.
in the meantime.... ¡otra cuba libre, señor!
got up at 3:30am in order to be ready for a towncar to pick me up at 4:15 (a new indulgence for me but it ended up costing the same as parking my car at the airport) in order to get me to the airport by 5am (astounding how many people were at LAX at 5 in the frikkin morning) in order to take off for houston by 6:30. the plane ended up being delayed by about an hour due to electrical problems but luckily i still made my connecting flight to belize city with a few minutes to spare. another short layover in belize city and then i jumped on a little single-prop cessna with some other vacationers for a 20-minute flight to the airstrip in dangriga (which has such a short runway that if you miscalculated the landing by even the smallest margin it seems like you'd go careening off into the ocean). a 30 minute drive over roads that were 50/50 roughly paved to not paved at all and here i am. no worse for wear but man am i exhausted.
my room at hamanasi is wonderful - it's on the second story and bigger than i expected and has a balcony that overlooks the pool area and the ocean just beyond. i'm already signed up for a 3-tank boat dive at glover's reef atoll bright and early tomorrow morning, a 2 or 3-tanker to lighthouse reef and the world famous blue hole on wednesday and a whale shark expedition on thursday. i already love the staff and so far the drinks have all been nice and potent. the goal is to be on a boat every day while i'm here. i should break 100 total dives this weekend if i can do that. all the makings for an amazing trip, if you ask me.
i know i'm already piquing the curiosity of the staff and other guests since i'm literally the only solo guest here. i'm quickly reminded of the sort of mental games i go through when i'm out on trips like this. it's hasn't been since the maldives 2 years ago that i was completely solo - on every other trip i've taken since then i've known at least one other person. but here i'm all alone. and what happens is that the self consciousness sets in - how do i appear, what do others think of me, what are their judgements of me... that kind of shit. i know i can appear aloof and stand-offish or disinterested in others or what have you. i just have to remind myself that it's precisely these types of trips that i take to force me out of my shell and not be such a recluse so i can reconnect with the rest of the humanity. and that all it takes is for me to give people the chance to talk to me and all the illusions they may have had get dispelled. to know me is to love me... or something like that. but it's still weird and uncomfortable.
the inaugural test of the new camera gear is tomorrow. we'll see how that goes. i have my simpler older setup with me just in case.
in the meantime.... ¡otra cuba libre, señor!
posted by michael | 8:09 PM
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