Info wanted on diving Blue Hole

[Zeke XA3]

Hey folks, before i leave the Carib next year im going to hop down to Belize and visit the Blue Hole

Ive got as far as Belize city in my planning then my research is hitting a problem.

Im trying to find out operators and prices but a little confused by things

Can you dive out of Belize city or do you have to fly out to the Islands in order to be able to dive the blue hole? (the airport is on Ambergris Caye yeah?)

Whichever way, does any one have any operators who list prices for a days boat diving with them (i def want the blue hole though may do another day if its worth it) And of course cheap cheap places to stay since im prob going to have to stay an extra day after diving before i can fly out again!.

Thanks people.

Z

 

[annlaur]

Hi
don't know about diving the Blue Hole out of Belize City, but here are some info and links I gathered when planning my trip (haven't been there yet, so no first hand account or recommandation).
You can fly from Belize City (or Corozal, near the Mexican border) to both Ambergris and Caye Caulker with Tropic Air and Maya Island
Another option is to take a boat to Caye Caulker and then if you want to stay on Ambergris, another boat.

Many dive ops offer the trip to the Blue Hole, here's a list of ops on Ambergris
If staying in Caye Caulker, some ops from Ambergris can pick you up on their way to the Blue Hole, or you can go with a local op such as Frenchies Diving or Belize Diving Services.

As far as lodging goes, it seems Caye Caulker has cheaper places to stay than Ambergris. You'll find a list of hotels and hostels on www.toucantrail.com

Enjoy planning your trip.

PS : just saw you were in Cancun. If travelling by land, you might also consider fly to either island or taking a boat to Ambergris from Corozal (which is about an hour by bus from Chetumal). There's a ferry at 7 am and 3 pm.

 

[darkstar]

There is a dive-op on the dock of the Radisson Fort George called Hugh Parkley. Never used them myself, but my buddy did and said they were fine.

Hugh Parkey Belize Dive Connection - Accommodations

That being said, I wouldn't stay in Belize City to dive. It's expensive, crappy, and far from good diving. It's a port city, not a resort city.

If you are coming from Cancun on a budget, take buses to Corozal and grab a flight to Ambergris from there. Round trip is about $100 USD. Ambergris has plenty of budget accommodation and lots of dive-ops to choose from.

 

[peterbj7]

Yes. Express bus from Cancun to Chetumal, just on the Mexican side of the border, costs around US$20 and takes 5 hours. Arrange a taxi to pick you up and take you across the border to Corozal airstrip - I recommend BelizeTransfers.com Home Page. Tropic Air and Maya Island Airways both fly direct to San Pedro (only). Check their websites for schedules & prices.

Lots of places to stay in San Pedro, but if you're looking for good value I'd go to Cheap Vacation San Pedro Belize, Pedros Inn Backpackers Hostel on Ambergris Caye. Again, several dive centers do Blue Hole trips. I have a preference for Aqua Dives Belize, The Ultimate Dive Center, Ambergris Caye!, but http://www.amigosdive.com/ also has a strong following. There are a couple of other minor ones, but unless it's in high season your problem will be finding an op that is making the trip the day you want to go. Don't restrict yourself to one day here or you may find yourself without a trip. Booking in advance won't help unless you're prepared to pay for ten places on the boat, the minimum number of paying guests the boat will go out with.

I know the Blue Hole is the draw, but really the best dive of the day will be the second, along Half Moon Caye Wall. If you're a nitrox diver I recommend you use it for at least one of the second and third dives of the day - make sure to ask for that when you book.

These trips leave their respective docks at around 6am with pickups in smaller boats maybe 30 minutes before. If you're late the boat will go without you and you won't get a refund. Book the previous day, and understand that the trip will only go if they get enough people.

 

[peterbj7]

One or two corrections in red:-

Hi
don't know about diving the Blue Hole out of Belize City, but here are some info and links I gathered when planning my trip (haven't been there yet, so no first hand account or recommandation).
You can fly from Belize City (or Corozal, near the Mexican border) to both Ambergris and Caye Caulker with Tropic Air and Maya Island
from Corozal the plane only goes to San Pedro (Ambergris Caye). It's a separate plane or (more likely) boat trip to Caye Caulker

Another option is to take a boat to Caye Caulker and then if you want to stay on Ambergris, another boat.
If you're travelling from Belize City most boats stop at Caye Caulker and continue to San Pedro. Some miss out Caye Caulker and go direct to San Pedro. From Corozal there's no boat to Caye Caulker. There is a new service, currently running only Fri-Mon, a boat direct from Chetumal (in Mexico) to San Pedro

Many dive ops offer the trip to the Blue Hole, here's a list of ops on Ambergris
If staying in Caye Caulker, some ops from Ambergris can pick you up on their way to the Blue Hole, or you can go with a local op such as Frenchies Diving or Belize Diving Services.

As far as lodging goes, it seems Caye Caulker has cheaper places to stay than Ambergris.
Not strictly correct. Caye Caulker probably has more cheapish places, some of which really are dives, but San Pedro has places cheaper than anywhere I'd want to stay on CC. The best is in my post above

You'll find a list of hotels and hostels on www.toucantrail.com

Enjoy planning your trip.

PS : just saw you were in Cancun. If travelling by land, you might also consider fly to either island or taking a boat to Ambergris from Corozal (which is about an hour by bus from Chetumal). There's a ferry at 7 am and 3 pm.

And lastly, there is currently a plane operating from Cancun direct to Belize International Airport. It may not still be operating in a few months time, and in any case it may not be ideal for coming to the northern cayes

 

[Leejnd]

We did the Blue Hole two years ago, with Aquadive. If the Blue Hole is your main objective, I personally would stay on Caye Caulker rather than Ambergris (San Pedro). Caye Caulker is closer to the Blue Hole - it takes about 2 hrs to get there from Caye Caulker, and about 2.5 hrs from Ambergris. Depending on ocean conditions that day, that 30 minutes can make a world of difference in your comfort level! My recollection of that journey was that it was 2 hours of intense pounding through the swells, to the point where we really had to just pick a spot on the boat and STAY there without moving for the entire trip.

I also preferred the laid-back groove of Caye Caulker. Yes there are some dicey hotels, but there are also some really nice places for great prices. We stayed at Barefoot Beach Belize, which was CHEAP and we LOVED it - here, you can read my review on TripAdvisor: Location location location! - Review of Barefoot Beach Belize/Seaview Hotel, Caye Caulker, Belize - TripAdvisor

When booking this trip, I'd strongly advise that you ask some questions of the dive op. One thing to check into is how many divers will be with you, and what minimum experience level the dive op requires for the Blue Hole. While we had the advantage of a large boat which made the trip out there more comfortable, the downside was that there were, I thought, a few too many divers in our group, and a few who should NOT have been doing this dive. In our group there was one DM at the front of the pack, and one at the back, and maybe 15 of us in between. This was just too many divers all together. And a number of these divers were inexperienced, and didn't seem to have the ability to avoid bumping into others. My husband and I are experienced divers, and are used to diving w/o DMs (DMs don't dive with you on the local boats in SoCal), but most dive ops will require that you stay with the group, which meant that we really couldn't avoid the crowd and just go off and enjoy the dive.

Further, there were a few divers who evidently got spooked by the depth, or the gloom, or claustrophobia or whatever. Both DM's ended up taking certain divers by the hand and hanging on to them to make sure they didn't freak out and bolt to the surface. This made me somewhat uncomfortable, as I didn't want to have to be exposed to some emergency caused by inexperienced divers going beyond their abilities. My personal opinion is that this is a dive that should only be undertaken by those with deep diving experience -- it should not be the first time that someone goes below 60 ft. But apparently many dive ops in the area have NO minimum experience requirements at all.

I met some other divers who did the dive with a different dive op, with only 5 divers in their group and one DM. This dive op apparently also had minimum dive requirements, so all 5 divers had deep diving experience, resulting in less fear that someone will freak at depth. The only downside to their trip was that they were stuck on a small, open craft for the trip. Oh well, I guess one must pick their priorities!

 

[Damselfish]

No ones mentioned it yet, but have you read the different opinions on the Blue Hole? Some people think it's a cool dive, and others don't think it's worth the trip. So if you're aware of this and still want to go, have at it. But it would be a shame to go to the expense and trouble of traveling to Belize primarily for the BH and be disappointed. (It's one thing to feel you wasted a day doing it when you're at least already there, but it would really be a drag to discover this after you traveled to Belize just for that.)
Granted, the other diving in the area may be the best in Belize; it's where the liveaboards spend all their time. If I had the option I'd do another dive out there and skip the BH, though apparently daytrips that do that are pretty uncommon because the BH has been so well marketed.

 

[peterbj7]

My personal opinion is that this is a dive that should only be undertaken by those with deep diving experience -- it should not be the first time that someone goes below 60 ft

I agree wholeheartedly, speaking as a tech dive instructor who has, for example, dived to the bottom of the BH several times. But sadly commercial considerations take over, and if you want to go on the trip and pay the price you'll be taken. It has nothing to do with choice of operator - I've been to the BH on a boat run by a highly respected dive operation here and was amazed on talking to a young woman on the way out that she wasn't even a certified diver, but had just done one DSD the previous day! I was torn between watching her and wanting to keep well away so as not to be involved.

Key is how many divers will be on board. There will always be a mix of experience, but hopefully numbers will be such that inexperienced divers can be separated from experienced ones. My preferred operator, the one you went with, is IMO better in this regard (giving more experienced divers a longer leash). It largely depends on when you'll be going - at present there aren't enough divers here to put on the trip more than once or twice a week.

 

[Downing]

I agree wholeheartedly, speaking as a tech dive instructor who has, for example, dived to the bottom of the BH several times.

Isn't there supposed to be the remains of a dentist from Miami down there? He's supposed to have disappeared while diving the BH about ten years ago. I seem to recall reading that a while back.

Damselfish has a really good point. I've done the BH twice, but the boat ride out and back was only about an hour each way both times. There's some fantastic diving in the area, and while the Blue Hole's certainly a unique site I don't think it alone would be worth more than about a two and a half hour boat ride at most and certainly not worth a trip to Belize just for that dive. You descend along the wall, hang out at 130 ft for five minutes, check out the stalactites, then ascend. Kind of a ho-hummer, really. Both times we went we then went on to dive the area and those dives were the highlight of the day.

As always, ymmv and there's nothing wrong with that.

 

[peterbj7]

Yes, a Miami surgeon (I think, not a dentist, but I may be wrong) is down there. His body was found a year or so ago on a trip I was on and I was all ready to go down to recover it. But no-one wanted to pay the costs so he's still there. We believe there are five other bodies there somewhere but we don't know where - we positively identified the doctor's remains.