The Blue Hole Dive

One of the issues during the week has been Matt’s right ear. It seemed that it almost always gave him trouble when he tried to descend during our dives. It was ok though because he could take his time, we’d wait at the bottom for him, and then once we got going it wasn’t too bad. The issue with the Blue Hole is that since you bottom time is only 8 minutes and the total dive just around 20, if Matt had taken too long (more than 3-4 minutes) they simply would have sent him back to the top to wait for the rest of us. We all got our equipment on and jumped into the water. We swam about 50 feet from the boat and got ready to descend. I don’t know what Matt was doing but I was doing some very personal and I almost felt selfish praying for his ear. We’d all been looking forward to the moment and I wanted nothing better than to share it with both of my boys. As we started to descend Chris moved down with ease and so did I. I looked up though and there was Matt. He was moving very slowly and there was a dive master with him. Chris and I got to the 45 foot sandy bottom and gathered with the others in our group. The lead dive master pointed for us to get ready to go lower. We were literally going to free fall into this hole and once we started we’d lose sight of the 45 foot spot. I moved slowly but had to follow. I began to fall towards the 130 foot mark but gave one more look towards Matt who was still coming down. Then he was gone. Chris told me later that he knew how distracted I was so he tried to get me to focus elsewhere. I figured it was now too late and how would I be able to share the joy of this moment without making Matt feel bad..
Then I saw him, slowly moving down but faster than before. He was making great progress and a minute or so after we reached the depth he was there also. I guess if I could have cried in my mask I would have. You see there are certain moments that are very special and forever cherished with loved ones and I had prayed this would be one that Chris, Matt, and me could talk about for years to come. And now it was the truth. There was a great feeling of thanksgiving and awe for what God had given to me. I can’t explain what part God played in it other than to say that for something like that moment to happen God was certainly at play within it. I considered it a miracle and certainly a God moment.
In less time than it has taken me to write this entry we had moved through some of the stalactites, felt the change in water temperature, and begun our ascent to the top. Did I mention that on our way down and back up we saw reef sharks? Some that were longer than Matt is tall (Matt is about 6’4”). When we got to our safety stop at around 20 feet the folks above had put some food into the water so that we could see many more of these sharks swimming around us. Talk about awesome. We floated and watched as these beasts of the water floated and swam around us. Had this been our first encounter with sharks down here, I might have been a little freaked but we’d been swimming near them all well (nurse sharks anyway) and so there was no real fear but great respect and awe for these creatures as we visited their home.
It was also at this stop that I realized Chris was using the alternative air source from one of the dive masters. He told me that he had a slow leak and used much of his air up. The dive master shared with Chris for a while and then let him use some of the remaining air to get back to the surface. We did finally pop our heads out of the water after about 20 minutes and we had stories to share with Lisa. I hope I can get her to share her story during our dive as she did a little snorkeling near the top of the hole while we were in the deep depths.
Prayer: Thank you God for listening to my selfish prayers and for sharing your glory in so many amazing ways and for giving the boys and me a moment that we’ll remember forever. I am very aware of how you do this much more often than I think or am aware and I ask forgiveness for those moments of unacknowledged blessings. Thank you also for the beauty of your creation, which you call earth and for the many creatures and locations that reveal that beauty to us. Amen.

Here is a website that talks about the Blue Hole as well as the other two dives that we took during the same day. http://ambergriscaye.com/pages/town/greatbluehole.html