Pompion Wall Dive Site is a secluded diving area that gets
its name from a privately own island named Pompion Caye, located just 50
minutes from Placencia, Belize. I often hear that the best dive sites are those
“unknown” and after diving at the Pompion Wall I have to agree.
This dive leaves Splash Dive Center in Placencia at 9:00
am and is a two tank multilevel dive. Although Pompion Wall is not within the
protected Barrier Reef Reserve System it is one of the most pristine reef in
the area.
Full speed ahead we headed out in the mystical blue: Our
Dive Master, Kingsley gave us the dive briefing. As he eagerly spoke about the
unique formation of the Pompion area, it wasn’t a surprise to know it was one
of his personal favorites. The entire
group was intrigued carefully listening as he spoke:
“It is a multilevel dive starting with a slow descend.
The wall begins at around 30 feet and drops down to the deep blue. Once at 80
feet we will have a slow steady dive at that depth for 5 minutes
before we start ascending slowly. Look out for moray eels, lobsters,
spider crabs, and feeding Hawksbill turtles to name a few.”
He said, as he formed the hand gestures for each of the
marine species.
As we arrived in the area my dive buddy Max and I were
ready to start our underwater diving adventure. Max, having dived in the area
was a bit more familiar with the dive, which only helped me to focus on the
abundance of marine life I was about to see.
I entered the water "giant stride style" there
was no stopping at this point. Visibility at this dive was amazing. The top of
the wall is loaded with colorful schools of fish. Any wall combined with the
reef is the perfect ecosystem for most marine life and we were all in for
a treat the further down we went.
Our Dive Master
made a clicking sound to gather our attention as he pointed ahead. Max and
I nodded and move swiftly. We immediately caught glimpse of the giant
moray eel moving in and out of its tiny crevice, as it restlessly tried
to snap on a school of yellow tail Snapper. This was the first of many more surprises to come. We
glided ahead as the surge moved us north of the wall. By now
we were nearing 55 feet and I felt the water temperature getting warmer.
35 Minutes into the dive and at 40 feet, Max and I noticed
a couple of medium sized Angelfish following our dive. It was my first time
leading a school of fish and it felt pretty amazing. We approached a large
Spiny lobster and by the looks of its demeanor it seemed very friendly, if I
may say so. Spiny lobsters can easily be distinguished from true lobsters by
their very long, thick, spiny antenna. This type of lobster is very common in
Belize waters and can be easily spotted in the reef.
As our dive neared the end we drifted forward along the
reef where we were able to spot many more species of fish.
We headed back to “home base” at Splash Dive Center and
were greeted with Splash’s very own “jungle juice” (fruit punch) and cookies. I
was still in a pleasant shock as the colorful, vivid images of the diverse
marine life I had experienced just 50 minutes ago lingered in my mind.
I can't wait to dive into my next adventure!
Plan your Belize diving adventure with Splash
Dive Center, a 5 Star PADI resort. Visit www.splashbelize.com or email Patty at patricia@splashbelize.com for more information.
