“The Worst Part Was Leaving”

July 11, 2013

ReefCI did a great job helping me get the trip set up.  The instructions that you gave me about what to do after landing in Belize City made everything go flawlessly.

 

While I never stayed in the guesthouse, I did spend a lot of time there, which was great.  I loved having a place where I could hang with Harri and the other guests that wasn’t a hotel room or a restaurant.  I had a lot of fun spending time there.

 

I am a pescatarian (a vegetarian but I eat fish and other seafood) and there was never a meal on the island where I thought that I didn’t get enough to eat.  All of the food was amazing (thank you Adrianne and Brittany)!  There was nothing better than eating a fish that was caught earlier that day (delicious!!!).

 

One of my favorite parts of this trip was that while I was having a blast diving, I was also helping with the reef conservation.  Everyone did a great job teaching us about all of the different parts of conservation and explaining why we were doing it.  Of course lionfish spearing was one of my favorite parts because not only were we able to help remove them from the reef, but they were delicious to eat.  It was the best of both worlds.

 

I began my trip without any dive experience.  Tracy taught my open water course and she did a great job.  She taught so clearly and made everything so straight forward it really made the class go by without a hitch.  My second week I completed my advance course with Simon.  Like Tracy, Simon did a great job explaining everything and helping me develop my diving skills.  Apparently I am a nerd, because one of my favorite parts of the deep dive was when he showed us how light absorption works.  It was so cool to see the piece of watermelon that looked black underwater become red when Simon turned on the dive torch.

 

Even though I had never been diving before this trip, I am sure that this is some of the best diving in the world.  I loved the variety of different underwater landscapes, but I must say that two of my favorite experiences were when I looked out into the blue when we were at the NE Wall and when we did the 40m dive for Harri’s birthday.  I was in awe.

 

I would say that this trip is my favorite travel experience that I have ever had.  I think that it was a combination of being in paradise, spending time with awesome people, and experiencing scuba diving for the first time that made this trip so memorable.

There was never a dull moment the entire time I was in Belize.  Whether it was playing volleyball on the island, going to Placencia, going diving, or even just hanging out at the guesthouse over the weekend, I was having a blast thanks to the ReefCI team.

 

I don’t think that I have anything bad to say about anyone, and the worst part was leaving.  The question isn’t IF I am going to go back, but rather WHEN I will go back, and I don’t think that I will be able to stay away for long.  I can’t think of anything that needs improvement because I had such a wonderful time.

 

Thanks again for everything!!!

Kimberley Farris