2019 Turneffe Island Resort trip report with pics

[Stoo]

It does sound like something of an oversight.... I'm glad it worked out for you! That bar would get expensive if you were there for 14 hours a day.

 

[Hank49]

2.) Why repeatedly Turneffe Island Resort?
Richard.

I know this question wasn't directed at me but I thought I would toss in my view.
TIR is about 5 minutes from the Elbow. As fishy as Sipadan, Tubbataha or any place I've dived.
However, someone is spearing fish there on scuba ( at least a few ears ago) as you don't see the massive schools of snappers that congregate there unless you free dive it.
I've been there many times with a school of 150-200 dog snapper, hundreds and hundreds of cuberas, a school of permit, another school of horse eye jacks, black grouper in the bottom, king fish passing by and an occasional school of dolphins.
Just sayin.....

 

[chillyinCanada]

I know this question wasn't directed at me but I thought I would toss in my view.
TIR is about 5 minutes from the Elbow. As fishy as Sipadan, Tubbataha or any place I've dived.
However, someone is spearing fish there on scuba ( at least a few ears ago) as you don't see the massive schools of snappers that congregate there unless you free dive it.
I've been there many times with a school of 150-200 dog snapper, hundreds and hundreds of cuberas, a school of permit, another school of horse eye jacks, black grouper in the bottom, king fish passing by and an occasional school of dolphins.
Just sayin.....

I've not been fortunate enough to have seen that on any of my dives there. But even so definitely lots of life. Beautiful diving. It's been a couple of years since I've been out there.

 

[Hank49]

I've not been fortunate enough to have seen that on any of my dives there. But even so definitely lots of life. Beautiful diving. It's been a couple of years since I've been out there.

My son and I were free diving there with a friend from the Philippines who was not a free diver. Excellent scuba diver though. This was a few years back.
We had been diving for a couple hours. Mutton and cubera snappers everywhere. My friend strapped on his tank and dove deep down over the wall to see if there were grouper. No speargun.
The snappers disappeared. Gone. He surfaced and we sat in the boat for half hour or so. My son jumped back in and the fish had all come back.
I have scuba dived it a few times and never seen the schools either.
Seems to indicate someone was scuba spearing. The good news is, the fish learn fast.
The "spot"....line up the two little light towers with the big tree next to the channel in the south that goes into where TIR is. Follow that line to the drop off. Magic.....
I think the scuba guides might avoid that spot because that's where the fly fishing guides take their clients because of the school of permit that is always there.

 

[lowflyer]

Nice pictures.

Interesting about the insurance. I was there the end of February for the second time and was told I needed dive insurance when I booked the trip. Maybe different management then?

To add to the answer about why TIR, I will add that the service is great; the dive sites are minutes away so surface intervals are back at the resort, not bobbing on a boat in the heat; the DMs are great; fishing is available; no cattle boats; no crowds, etc. Some people are there just to fish or divide time between diving and fishing.

Maybe not the place to go if you want to party, though. It's quiet at night which suits me.

 

[Downing]

My wife and I loved TIR, which is why we went back a second time. Someone else here once accurately described it as "summer camp for adults." The management had changed right before we went back the second time and that did have a small negative impact on our experience. Nevertheless, we would go again in a heartbeat except that I've fallen in love with the mainland so Placencia works better for us. It's also true that I can stay in Placencia, dive my brains out and run around all over the jungle for three weeks for less than the cost of a one-week stay at Turneffe.

 

[Erwin Poliakoff]

My wife and I loved TIR, which is why we went back a second time. Someone else here once accurately described it as "summer camp for adults." The management had changed right before we went back the second time and that did have a small negative impact on our experience. Nevertheless, we would go again in a heartbeat except that I've fallen in love with the mainland so Placencia works better for us. It's also true that I can stay in Placencia, dive my brains out and run around all over the jungle for three weeks for less than the cost of a one-week stay at Turneffe.

I enjoyed your wife's description of TIR as "summer camp for adults"; that is exactly what my wife calls Little Cayman Beach Resort. I think that it is a pretty good description of both places. We are unable to do the jungle stuff, so that is not a factor for us, but it would be a good idea for a lot of divers if the diving is comparable (something I cannot comment on).

 

[salth2owannabe]

Ahhhh, TIR. My wife and I've been twice, the first time it was Turneffe Island Lodge, which I thought was a much better name for the place.
By any chance do Brad, Marcel and/or John still work there? What about Marco, a relative newcomer from Placencia?

Just got back from our third trip to TIR. Brad and Marcel are still there, I think they are "Lifers" at this point. Marco is there and was a dive master most of the time for another dive group. John has recently retired and doesn't sound like he'll be back. Ellie and Eddie are the current co-managers on island and Des is the relatively new Island logistics manager/coordinator. George, who was the long time bar tender there has also moved on.

The staff is one of the reasons we continue to return to TIR. We've been to a number of places and resorts and TIR staff is heads above everywhere else we've gone.

We also noted sections of the reef with significant coral bleaching. Particularly sites south/east along the wall. Other places looked good, to very good. Fish life was good and didn't note any differences there. One thing I did notices was a lot less Lion fish at most dive sites. With the exception of one dive site, I struggled to keep my self and sling busy. Some of the 'inside" sites on the NW side still had pretty good numbers and that is where we went when we wanted to kill a mess to eat.

Been to a number of places and TIR keeps drawing us back for the total package of relaxation, diving, food, staff, accommodations.

 

[large_diver]

Hi Erwin,

Just saw this report now - great pictures, as always!

Chris

 

[Erwin Poliakoff]

Hi Erwin,

Just saw this report now - great pictures, as always!

Chris

Thanks, Chris! Much appreciated. - Erwin