Description: Diving the Blue Hole meant arriving at the dive shop at 6:00am. This is just what you expect to do on vacation. Coffee and sweet rolls fortified us for what was to be a 2 ½ hour boat ride crossing the rough waters of the reef with your hands glued to your seat. The swells were rather large, but fortunately the dive operator I chose had the largest dive boat. Once inside the coral ring the water was as smooth as glass.
Due to the depth of 130 ft, we would have 8-10 minutes of bottom time. The buddy I was assigned drifted to 150 ft having buoyancy problems so I stuck with him. The guide came over, helped my buddy and we ascended to join the others.
The hole is relatively dark and void of sea life. We reached the 35 ft dripstone, which had something of a cavern behind so we circled around behind it. Reaching our safety stop, we hung motionless as reef sharks swam around a distance a way. Apparently as an added attraction some dive operator began feeding to keep them hanging around.
Prior to our dive we were warned that more than likely we would experience some level of nitrogen narcosis. My current dive magazine issue that I had been reading had just mentioned that same thing for anyone diving beyond 100 ft. Although I can’t recall any oddity, aboard the boat some mentioned a euphoric feeling while a couple of others described feeling a difference in their breathing
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