Trip Report - Amergris Caye - Ecologic Divers - Week of 2018-05-27

[jlevine]

Hello,

I recently spent a week in Ambergris Caye (2018-05-27 through 2018-06-03) and dove with Ecologic Divers. I have used this shop for many years and keep going back because of the great team and personal service. I did a total of 10 days (5 days, 2 tanks/day). We lost two days because of the wind. Ecologic Divers is on a pier just south of The Phoenix Resort. They rebuilt their shop after the hurricane last year and are doing fine.

I made my reservation online with Kendall. Very straightforward. You tell them when you want to dive and how many of you there are. The morning two-tank dive leaves at 9am. You are asked to show up at 8:30. Greg and Shorty were the dive masters and Jonathan was the boat captain. They give a safety briefing on the way out to the dive sites. The boats have oxygen on board in the event of an emergency and they also bring cell phones.

The dive sites are about 5-10 minutes away. Entry is by back roll. The DM took a safety sausage and reel. Those who needed to come up sooner were allowed to ascend using the sausage as a guide. I noticed this year that we were given the opportunity to stay in the water much longer than in the past. Some of my dive times were close to 55 minutes. I was very pleased with that. In terms of fish life, I feel it's getting better. I noticed far more tiny fish. It must have been trunkfish spawning season. They were everywhere. I did not see many lionfish at all. They seem to have gotten that more under control.

After the first dive, we headed back to the shop for the surface interval which was usually 30 minutes. So you're out of the water about 45-60 minutes between dives. Since the surface interval is at the shop, you don't have to do two dives if you don't want to.

I stayed at Paradise Villas (www.nelliesproperty.com). These are units in a small complex with a nice pool at the north end of "downtown." Ecologic Divers is a five minute walk. There are two markets nearby on the little roundabout. In terms of breakfast, my favorites for Johnny Cakes (a Belizean staple) are Celi's and Ruby's. I spent a lot of mornings at the Coffee Bar - great bagels and coffee.

I keep going back to Ambergris Caye because it's so relaxing. It's a great way to wind down. I came from Los Angeles. American Airlines has a non-stop red eye flight that leaves Friday night at 11:59pm and gets into Belize City at 5:45am (4:45 minutes + 1 hour time difference). I took Tropic Air over to San Pedro. What's interesting is that Tropic Air has an unannounced :7am flight to San Pedro. They will just put you on the earliest flight they can. I was in San Pedro by 7:15am. Unfortunately, my bags didn't make it onto that Tropic Air flight so they put them on the next fight. I grabbed a croissant at the new French bakery (Delices de France) across from baggage claim (yes, a French bakery in San Pedro) and my bags showed up at 7:45am. The baggage guy called Paradise Villas for me and they sent a driver to pick me up. Paradise Villas said I could check in early because the unit was vacant. So I was in my room by 8:15 - 8:30am. I could have probably gone diving that morning but I just wanted to relax a bit.

I realize Ambergris Caye gets mixed reviews for diving, but for me the total experience (diving, relaxation, and friendly people) keeps bringing me back. Let me know if you have questions!

 

[ibj40]

Let me know if you have questions!

I don't have any questions, as you just (more or less) did the trip my wife and I did during the first week of May. For us, it was our first dive trip to Ambergris, but will definitely not be the last. We are hooked. We really appreciated the professionalism and customer service bias of Ecologic. They made the diving very easy and enjoyable.

While we weren't on the Caye for as long as you were and our focus was more up north around Paradise Villas (where we also stayed), our excitement is the next opportunity to visit and expand our horizons south on the Caye.

 

[jlevine]

Ecologic also gives discounts for repeat guests.

If you want to base yourself at Paradise Villas and occasionally explore south or north, one of the owners (#7 A/B) includes bicycles but they were booked that week. I have biked down south to Mahogany Bay (now managed by Hilton) and the Black Orchid. I have also biked a few miles north of the bridge. I rented a bike this last trip from the bike shop on Middle Street and went up to the Truck Stop and Marbucks (yeah...it's a coffee shop).

 

[ibj40]

Walking along the streets, trying to make sure we didn't get hit by an errant golf cart was bad enough, can't imagine trying to navigate on a bike!

We only did two days of diving, Tackle Box and San Pedro Canyons on the first day, and then Hol Chan Deep and Cut on the second.

Can you tell me what sites you visited, if you had five two-tank days? We're already planning our return, and would like to know which other local sites you would recommend.

Thanks!

 

[jlevine]

ROTF! It's all about "defensive pedaling." At least with a bicycle there are no bridge tolls!

The sites I remember off the cuff are San Pedro, Victoria Canyons, Tres Cocos, Esmerelda, Tuffy Canyons, and Tackle Box. I actually like San Pedro Canyons a lot so we repeated it. The running joke is that they could take me to the same dive site and change the name each day and I wouldn['t know the difference. And they are probably right.... But I still enjoyed it. We sometimes changed sites, usually when lots of boats are in an area. I've seen all of the major ones over the years. Many of the divers are there for the first time and so I just go where they want to go and have a good time. San Pedro Canyons is my favorite and so I always throw that in if no one has a preference. I'm curious as to your experience in Hol Chan. I've done it several times. The current there can be ripping but the fish life is great. Did you enjoy it?

 

[ibj40]

ROTF! It's all about "defensive pedaling." At least with a bicycle there are no bridge tolls!

I'm curious as to your experience in Hol Chan. I've done it several times. The current there can be ripping but the fish life is great. Did you enjoy it?

We did two tanks at Hol Chan, as opposed to one tank at the Cut and then a snorkel with the Sharks and Rays.

The deeper, first dive, was awesome. It was everything we had come to expect from our first two dives the day before.

The dive through the Cut was pretty calm, not much current (although Greg did pre-brief us on what we would do if there were). Maybe we caught it on an idle tide phase.

Several schools of fish, usually hanging around some soft coral. It was pretty murky, as well - which might also speak to the lack of current, therefore, the silt from the snorkelers was hanging in the water column longer.

We were impressed by the tongue and groove structure of Tackle Box and Canyons, as well as Hol Chan Deep, which is why we want to go back and do more sites.