Wishing I was back already....
We had a fantastic time!! We flew into BZE and caught the Caye Caulker water taxi.. which is a bit long... and a bit cramped.. but for a family of four, the savings was worth it, and on the return trip I was able to chat with a wonderful family that lived on the mainland.. So this may or may not be an option for everyone.. but it added to the "experience" for us. We stayed at The Palms OceanFront Suites which is next door to Ramons and loved it. The staff was very nice and helpful. The rooms were great, well stocked and had great decor. We had a beautiful view of the ocean and the price is about half of Ramons.
My only complaint is.. hard beds, which I think is just the way it is in the Caribbean.
We did dive with Ramons and I highly recommend them! We loved our Divemaster and Captain... They were a blast to joke with, learn from and still very helpful with gear etc... and fantastic underwater! My son left wanting to become a divemaster. "Who doesn't?" We never had more than 8 divers and the one time we had 8, another dive master came along... I would however NOT recommend using them if you are a new diver. They are attentive... but seem to lack the.... patience for a new diver. We had a solo diver that had just finished is certification dives at another dive op and well.... he wasn't ready for it at all and ended up bolting to the surface.. Not pretty!
That and the waves off San Pedro can be a bit much for a new diver.. although nothing you can't quickly figure out and feel comfortable with.
We got in 11 dives, and each one was special in it's own way. Loved Eagle Ray Canyons which was on the outer reef at Hol Chan. Saw my first spotted eagle ray and it was beautiful! We also enjoyed Tackle Box for the abundance of fish and our DM speared 3 lion fish there. Esmeralda was also worth mentioning..We enjoyed the swim throughs and diving over the "fingers" and the vertical walls.. My favorite dive was our last.. B & D.. I believe it stands for Barry and Dixie? Barry being the owner of Belikin Beer and had recently passed.. Overall it was just gorgeous everywhere I looked.. lots of fish nurse sharks.. and a very colorful reef..
Speaking of Belikin.. It is a pretty good beer.. and a little tip.. head to the distributor and buy your beers and sodas there and take them back to your room.. you will save a ton of money! You just have to be careful to return your empties on a day they are open to get your deposit back... but even if you don't it is still much cheaper.. Oh and get your water there too!!!!!
Food was OK. Legends cooks up a pretty good burger and it is a neat place to hangout.. Pet Jack, the owner's dog for me if you go.. SO sweet, but don't feed him! My husband really enjoyed pupusas.. They are dough filled with cheese, beans and or chicken and fried on a griddle on the street... Pretty good but a bit of a gut bomb!:shocked2: I think everyone should try them though. Watching them make them on the street for you is half the fun..The Blue Water Grill is really good..and very FRESH! Everything my family ordered was excellent! Celi's Restaurant was great.. I had a fantastic stewed chicken with rice and beans there.We had a really tasty grouper at Jambel's Jerk Pit.. seasoned great! The Bakery has lovely fresh bread, bagels and pastry.. If you have the means to cook... I would highly recommend taking oatmeal packages, granola bars, dried soups.. dried fruit etc. Groceries are really expensive and it will save you a ton of money!
Of course you HAVE to rent a golf cart. Even though we stayed pretty much in close to the center of town.. we had a blast exploring the island. We did take a day trip to the mainland and did the zipling and the cave tubing.. The ziplines were cool, but over so fast and you really felt rushed through. The cave tubing was awesome! After you get your tube, life vest and headlamp you hike for about 30-40 minutes. This was half the fun.. we stayed towards the back of the group and were able to talk with the guides. One of them was very knowledgeable about the different uses of the plants and even got my son to eat termites.. and got some all spice leaves for us to smell..Oh my.. you never smelled something so wonderful! The other guide shared his feelings about the state of Belize as a country and that was really enjoyable as well. The tubing itself was a blast! A little cold, but not too bad.. and beautiful!! Getting there on the boat going through the mangroves was really cool too!
Over all a wonderful trip! Here is a link to a couple of slide shows.. One is topside pics and the other is all diving photos! Warning... they are long!
Diving Belize 2010 by Melissa Vess To view the topside pics click on the photo of me and my hubby below the slideshow!
Oh and the people here are WONDERFUL!!!!
We had a fantastic time!! We flew into BZE and caught the Caye Caulker water taxi.. which is a bit long... and a bit cramped.. but for a family of four, the savings was worth it, and on the return trip I was able to chat with a wonderful family that lived on the mainland.. So this may or may not be an option for everyone.. but it added to the "experience" for us. We stayed at The Palms OceanFront Suites which is next door to Ramons and loved it. The staff was very nice and helpful. The rooms were great, well stocked and had great decor. We had a beautiful view of the ocean and the price is about half of Ramons.
My only complaint is.. hard beds, which I think is just the way it is in the Caribbean.We did dive with Ramons and I highly recommend them! We loved our Divemaster and Captain... They were a blast to joke with, learn from and still very helpful with gear etc... and fantastic underwater! My son left wanting to become a divemaster. "Who doesn't?" We never had more than 8 divers and the one time we had 8, another dive master came along... I would however NOT recommend using them if you are a new diver. They are attentive... but seem to lack the.... patience for a new diver. We had a solo diver that had just finished is certification dives at another dive op and well.... he wasn't ready for it at all and ended up bolting to the surface.. Not pretty!
That and the waves off San Pedro can be a bit much for a new diver.. although nothing you can't quickly figure out and feel comfortable with.
We got in 11 dives, and each one was special in it's own way. Loved Eagle Ray Canyons which was on the outer reef at Hol Chan. Saw my first spotted eagle ray and it was beautiful! We also enjoyed Tackle Box for the abundance of fish and our DM speared 3 lion fish there. Esmeralda was also worth mentioning..We enjoyed the swim throughs and diving over the "fingers" and the vertical walls.. My favorite dive was our last.. B & D.. I believe it stands for Barry and Dixie? Barry being the owner of Belikin Beer and had recently passed.. Overall it was just gorgeous everywhere I looked.. lots of fish nurse sharks.. and a very colorful reef..
Speaking of Belikin.. It is a pretty good beer.. and a little tip.. head to the distributor and buy your beers and sodas there and take them back to your room.. you will save a ton of money! You just have to be careful to return your empties on a day they are open to get your deposit back... but even if you don't it is still much cheaper.. Oh and get your water there too!!!!!
Food was OK. Legends cooks up a pretty good burger and it is a neat place to hangout.. Pet Jack, the owner's dog for me if you go.. SO sweet, but don't feed him! My husband really enjoyed pupusas.. They are dough filled with cheese, beans and or chicken and fried on a griddle on the street... Pretty good but a bit of a gut bomb!:shocked2: I think everyone should try them though. Watching them make them on the street for you is half the fun..The Blue Water Grill is really good..and very FRESH! Everything my family ordered was excellent! Celi's Restaurant was great.. I had a fantastic stewed chicken with rice and beans there.We had a really tasty grouper at Jambel's Jerk Pit.. seasoned great! The Bakery has lovely fresh bread, bagels and pastry.. If you have the means to cook... I would highly recommend taking oatmeal packages, granola bars, dried soups.. dried fruit etc. Groceries are really expensive and it will save you a ton of money!
Of course you HAVE to rent a golf cart. Even though we stayed pretty much in close to the center of town.. we had a blast exploring the island. We did take a day trip to the mainland and did the zipling and the cave tubing.. The ziplines were cool, but over so fast and you really felt rushed through. The cave tubing was awesome! After you get your tube, life vest and headlamp you hike for about 30-40 minutes. This was half the fun.. we stayed towards the back of the group and were able to talk with the guides. One of them was very knowledgeable about the different uses of the plants and even got my son to eat termites.. and got some all spice leaves for us to smell..Oh my.. you never smelled something so wonderful! The other guide shared his feelings about the state of Belize as a country and that was really enjoyable as well. The tubing itself was a blast! A little cold, but not too bad.. and beautiful!! Getting there on the boat going through the mangroves was really cool too!
Over all a wonderful trip! Here is a link to a couple of slide shows.. One is topside pics and the other is all diving photos! Warning... they are long!
Diving Belize 2010 by Melissa Vess To view the topside pics click on the photo of me and my hubby below the slideshow!
Oh and the people here are WONDERFUL!!!!
