International Mankini Challenge

The former British colony of Belize, in Central America, was once famed for being a pirate haven. Now it’s now better known for the diving around its cayes, specifically the world famous Blue Hole and the second largest coral reef in the world. And so the first underwater Mankiniing of a country seemed appropriate.

With only a week planned for Belize (it’s a beautiful, but a little rich for my budget) my main concern was being able to get a dive in. September/October is bang in the middle of hurricane season and so there are few divers around. I had the added challenge of getting an underwater camera and someone to take pictures of me! My fears were to prove unfounded though as I headed out to Caye Caulker with Dan, a Swedish lad I met in Flores (Guatemala), who both wanted to dive and had an underwater camera – thank you Mankini God!

The Blue Hole is a 125m deep sink hole in the Caribbean Sea. Once above water, the Blue Hole was a limestone cave whose roof fell in once sea levels rose and it was submerged. Divers go down to depths of about 40m here to swim through the stalactites and stalagmites and see the Belize Reef Sharks that frequent it. It’s about two hours by boat from Caye Caulker and so Blue Hole dives consist of three tanks, taking in the world’s second largest reef on the other two to make the most of the day.

Heading out with Frenchie’s Dive Shop I was told by the guy on land that the temperature could get a little cold in the hole (so to speak) as we go so deep (sorry, this is loaded with unintentional innuendo). Having never been beyond 31m before, and with there being a very real danger of nitrogen narcosis for Dan (my photographer) and me, it was the obvious decision to concentrate on enjoying the dive and monitoring our depth rather than worrying about getting pictures of me in the Mankini.

While it would have been great to get a shot here, it proved a wise decision. Being at that depth in a 300m wide hole meant the light was pretty minimal and so getting a good picture would have been tough. Add to this an 8 minute bottom time and it would have been a dive that neither of us would really have been able to properly enjoy.

Back onboard the dive boat, with the relief and joy of having completed the famous Blue Hole without incident however, I introduced the Mankini to my fellow divers – much to their amusement. Kitted up I rolled back into the sea to dive Half Moon Caye.

Belize’s diving and snorkeling is some of the best in the world because of it’s abundance of large fish (they eat well here). While this is usually a bonus, with only eye catching neon green lycra between my ‘worm’ and the big hungry fish, I was a little nervous of unwanted aquatic attention and relations – especially from the massive barracuda who aren’t shy and can be aggressive!
To cut a long story short(er) both the dives at Half Moon Caye and The Aquarium were done without any fish related incidents. The only damage done was to my fellow divers’ eyes.

Thanks again to all those involved for making the first underwater mankiniing of a country a reality! And now it’s on to Mexico for the last Mankiniing of my trip in Latin America – arrrrribbbbaaa!

Check out the Belize mankini photo gallery by clicking here.