a little further south ..

[sharky60]

I'm putting this here because I 'know" a lot of you and would like your opinions/recommendations over a bunch of people I don't usually "talk" with ... so hopefully this won't get moved to another thread ...

... have any of you Cozumelhualics been to Belize?

impressions? who'd you dive with? where did you stay?

... the Mrs. stopped there on a cruise and was quite impressed with the diving. we might check it out in the future, and would like to know y'all's thoughts ...

 

[gopbroek]

I haven't made it to Belize but several years back I made it to Xcalak and was very impressed with the diving. It is a couple miles north of Ambergris Caye (only separated by a narrow boat channel in the mangrove swamp). Because it is at the 'end of the road' for Mexico there is not a lot of activity on the reef and the Belize ops can't dive Mexican waters. They run unofficial day trips back and forth to San Miguel? on Ambergris for sightseeing and shopping.

 

[nodakdive]

Stayed at Ramon's Village on Ambergris for a week. It was late January and we had some wind. Took 45 seconds to get from my room to my gear on the boat dock. (I timed it.) Might take a minute from the furthest room.

Diving was spur and groove. 80 on the first, 40-60 on the second. SI back at Ramon's. While we were there, the waves/swells were good sized, and it sounds like that is common.

Lots of grouper, lots of nurse sharks. All the usual suspects. We had a pod of 7 dolphins with us for about 10 minutes or so. They were playing with us. We were told they were moving through due to weather.

Ramon's location is *right* on the edge of town, so it was very easy walking to the restaurants, etc. No need for a taxi ever. The food was good and I wouldn't stay AI. Too many interesting choices.

It's different than Cozumel, but you'll like it because of that. That goes for the diving and the island.

 

[Queen Triggerfish]

I've been to Belize twice. Once for a trip on Ambergris Caye, and another for a live-aboard trip on the Sun Dancer II. The diving was great on both trips.

I wish I remember what operator we used in Ambergris Caye, but I didn't write it down. There were lots and lots of nurse sharks (and the DMs were chumming them on some dives). The vis wasn't always incredible, but it was great diving. We did do the Blue Hole and Half Moon Caye and as many people state, it is a bit over-hyped, but I'm still glad I did it. I wouldn't need to do it again, but the cave-type systems on the walls of the hole were cool. I LOVED the island - very charming, easy to walk around, significantly less modern than Cozumel. I was there during Lobster Fest which was a neat event (and the band they brought in was from Minnesota - strange to see a hometown band while in Belize!). I even tried Lobster ice cream. I don't recommend it!

The live-aboard was of course spectacular diving. It was my first lionfish research trip with REEF, so I was pretty distracted by looking for lionfish but the reefs were pristine. I recall being impressed with the size of the schools.

 

[islanddream]

We went to Ambergris Caye in July 2012. As nodakdive stated, it's spur and groove diving. There are no wall dives in Ambergris Caye like there are in Coz. The colors are not nearly as vibrant as they are in Coz. At first I thought the reefs were dead because the vegetation was golden brown with a few pretty purple or orange corals thrown in for good measure. But that's just the color of the vegetation....nothing was dead. We saw a bunch of nurse sharks but my favorite was the squadron of Eagle Rays that passed by several times and they were HUGE! That was the highlight of the trip for me. We chose not to do the Blue Hole because of the expense and the long ride out. Would I go to Ambergris Caye again to dive. No. I would go to the outer reefs where there is wall diving. Ambergris Caye has good restaurants and the people are very nice and super friendly.

I love Coz and look forward to diving there whenever I can. We go every year and I have yet to be tired of diving Coz.

 

[jake11]

We did a LOB there some years back. The Sun Dancer. It was a great trip and really fun diving! The viz was awesome. Have fun!

I'm putting this here because I 'know" a lot of you and would like your opinions/recommendations over a bunch of people I don't usually "talk" with ... so hopefully this won't get moved to another thread ...

... have any of you Cozumelhualics been to Belize?

impressions? who'd you dive with? where did you stay?

... the Mrs. stopped there on a cruise and was quite impressed with the diving. we might check it out in the future, and would like to know y'all's thoughts ...

 

[RTee]

I spent 10 days in San Pedro in February 2014 and I just returned from two weeks in Cozumel (my fourth time).

In San Pedro, we stayed at Paradise Villas and dove with Reef Adventures ( was a combo condo/diving arranged through Cap'n Ron).

I found the diving to be different from what you encounter in Cozumel but both places have their own charm.

Ambergris Caye... The dive ops was steps away from the beach entrance of the Villas ie the next dock over. We saw very few turtles but lots of nurse sharks and groupers which literally swam with us. We also saw very few lion fish (we were allowed to bring Hawaiian spears with us). Coral colosr are also not as vibrant as Cozumel. While they may not be walls per say, some sites have very nice swim throughs...nice as long as those in front of you do not silt them.

Hol Chan Marine Park and Shark and Sting Rays alleys are nice place to see. We did our night dive in Hol Chan...started in six feet of water and max depth as 29 ft. The bottom was covered with Sting Rays and we even had Eagle Rays swimming on top of us.

Our normal routine was to walk to the dive ops which would already have all our kits set-up, grab and halfway put our wetsuits and then jump aboard for the boat ride of the first dive. Normally the boat ride is fairly smooth until the boat goes through the barrier reef and then you are in the swell, something you get used to. We always left with our wetsuits on and did them up just before going through the barrier reef. Surface intervals are normally done back to the dive ops as the diving is done on what would be considered the wild side of Cozumel or Bonaire.Therefore most dive ops, come back inside the barrier reef in between the two dives and because it is located so close to shore then it end up being more comfy to just return to the dock. The dive sites are also fairly close to San Pedro (unless you elect to go to the blue Hole) and normally, the captain will attempt to do most of the ride in the smoother water before going across the reef and get to the site per se.

I also enjoyed San Pedro and what it has to offer.

 

[bsppc]

Have been to Belize 5x. Turneffe island resort has been our destination. Great diving all SI at the resort. Not more than a 5 minute boat ride to dive sites. We love both destinations but return to Coz 2x per year for friends and value.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[eab]

I was in Ambergris Caye last June (2013) and would not recommend it. San Pedro is dirty and run down, and just didn't feel safe at night. Most of the coral was bleached / dead, and wasn't very colorful.

We did The Blue Hole -- total snore except for the giant turtle on the safety stop, and then two dives on the atolls on the way back. The reefs were quite healthy and full of fish. Interestingly the thought that kept going through my mind was that it was almost like Cozumel.

For me, I will continue to spend my money in Cozumel rather than Belize.

Hope that helps.

 

[DeltaWardog]

My wife, son, and I vacationed in Placencia, Belize last December. It was a fantastic vacation. We did about 30 dives with Splash dive center, and they have my highest recommendation. Very professional, very safe, great group of DMs, they were just the total package and we loved them. I found the reefs in Belize to be less spectacular than Cozumel in formation, but in better health due to a much lower density of divers I believe. I didn't see near as much damage as I normally notice on a Cozumel reef. But you won't see many of the spectacular coral formations Cozumel is known for. The schools of marine life were about the same as Coz to my untrained eye. And we were almost always alone in the water. The only time we ever saw another group of divers underwater was when we went to Lighthouse Reef and the Blue Hole, which was one day out of about 10 days of diving.

We did do the Blue Hole dive and it was pretty cool, mostly because we had a bunch of 6 foot reef or lemon sharks swimming very close to us down around 100 feet. Otherwise there is not much to see and even the formations and overhangs will be a bit underwhelming if you have ever done any cenote diving. As I have heard repeated many times in regards to the Blue Hole, "I am glad I did it but probably won't do it again". The 4 hour boat ride each way from Placencia was enough to discourage that.

And that takes me to the only downside of diving from Placencia. You will be on the boat at least 3 hours a day, and sometimes as much as 8 if you are going to the Blue Hole and back. There just aren't any really good reefs less than 90 minutes from town. A couple of those days were a bit rough, too, so if you are the seasick type you better cross your fingers it's calm while you're there. One day we had 6-8 foot seas out on the open ocean and that was no fun at all, even in a 46 foot boat with padded benches. Most days though were very calm, and we even learned how easy it was to take naps on the boat as we got used to things.

It was a great trip. Placencia is exactly as it is named - very pleasant. Unlike what I have heard about Ambergris / San Pedro (see eab's post above mine for an example) I felt Placencia was a fantastic little town and felt perfectly safe there. There were plenty of nice restaurants and even a fantastic Guatemalan coffee house, Above Grounds, owned and operated by a charming man from... New Zealand I think... if memory serves (and it often does not as I grow older). Oh and the gelato shop in the center of town is NOT TO BE MISSED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. I also had the best breakfast sandwich of my life at the Swiss bakery. That was the surprising thing about Placencia to me... everyone there was from somewhere else! Swiss, New Zealanders, Italians, Germans, a couple from New England ran our hotel, and we even met an older couple from Texas that run a pancake house. It was very international for such a small town!

Many, many good memories of that place. My recommendation - do yourself a favor and go there once in your life. I have been a lot of places in the world and never seen any place quite like it.