A few from Belize

It'd be a hard shot to duplicate.

The water was so calm and glassy yesterday that you couldn't tell where the sky ended and the sea started. Unreal day. Lot of kingfish were passing by. A few big ones but only got a shot on a couple small ones. The big grouper was laying under the boat while we were cleaning fish. Doc came swimming in with a full stringer of smaller ones so Jake dove down to look at the fish. He saw the grouper and stoned it.
Also got a couple nice cuberas and 2 more grouper. The water was calm but dirty. We had to dive down to find the fish.




Sorry for the lousy quality of the last two pics. My wife is worse than I am at photography.

Another couple of pics. Getting ready to head out. Waiting on DuQuesnay (you can see him in the water in the grouper shot) as usual. Heart of gold.
Jake and his grouper. Doc is 70 years old. He did the PFI class with us and made it to 85 feet. Still working his butt off fixing teeth here in Dangriga. Great guy.

Quote from Brian

Hey Hank, excellent fish as usual.
Quick question, how do you guys get on the panga? You just go over the side?

Hi Brian,
There's only about 22 inches or so of free board. If you just kick your fins and pull, it's pretty easy to climb aboard.
DuQuesnay has a hard time but we just grab his pants, give him a major "wedgy" and pull him up on the cooler.
I was thinking of getting a ladder but with 4 divers, the deck is already pretty cluttered.

The full moons of July, Aug and Sept are very productive for me.

A couple new friends came down from Texas last week. Nathan does a lot of blue water hunting up in the Gulf. Man, I felt like I was taking some big game deer hunters out squirrel hunting. We found some fish despite the dirty water. Saw some jacks, permit, a few cuberas and the school of dogs. I had a shot on a couple kingfish but I was at about 60 feet watching them swim by in the blue just over the wall. It was makable but if the fish had run deep I might have run out of line. He'll be there for another day.
It was a very nice three days of diving with someone who is as crazy about this as I am. I hope to hook up with them in Texas and try some bigger fish some day.
His buddy was trying spearing for the first time and got a grouper at 55 feet!!. Needless to say, he was stoked.

Quote from shallow runner

So can't wait to get to Belize in March! Doing research on one of the islands on the barrier reef but hoping to get some spearing in during the little down time I will have.

Where are you doing the research? In Southwater Marine Reserve? I know there is a small island next to Southwater Caye that is a research station. I go down that way but farther south, out of the reserve. I have some nice spots down there. If you want, contact me when you get here.