ambergris cay or placencia

[njcfm]

We are traveling to Belize in April and still haven't decided where to go/stay.

We have heard good and bad things about ambergris:
-lots of tourists
-lots of dive ops, dive packages available
-nice beaches
-san pedro (things to do)
-lots of places to eat

I actually have family in Plancencia and they favor plancencia over ambergris but I'm not sure if the diving is as good as it is in ambergris, i know there are more options for things to do, tubing, mayan temples, diving, etc.. but is there a similar amount of food/things to do?

Is one location cheaper than the other?

any help/suggestions is much appriciated.

 

[Gaz]

I think you will enjoy the diving in both locations the only diff really is the boat ride out to the reef. In placencia expect the boat ride to dive sites to be in the 45-over an hour. Diving from Ambergris dive sites are just 5 minutes away.

Placencia has way better beaches than Ambergris Caye but does not have as many eating options nor can it match Ambergris cayes nightlife which has a variety of live music and bars and nightclub.

Simply because Ambergris Caye has lots of different ranges of restaurants I would say Ambergris is more expensive for food but you can eat as cheap or as expensive as wish on Ambergris.
The cost of diving is quite a bit cheaper on Ambergris because the dive sites are so close and less fuel is used.

Of course Placencia gives you the opportunity of diving with WhaleSharks and while Blue Hole trips are available its quite difficult for the shops in plancecia to get the min numbers to be able to do the trip on a regular basis

We do offer a combo package where you can dive with both the whale sharks of Placencia and dive Ambergris Caye and the Blue Hole.

Dive Safe
Gaz Cooper

 

[stargost]

Gaz,
Assuming one wants to do both, how fast can you go from AC to Placencia, and what's the best way ?

Are whale shark still around Placencia in July ?

thanks

<< njcfm, sorry for the little highjac ;-) >>

 

[Gaz]

Hey Cyrille

The only quick way is to fly

You would fly to the Belize Municipal 15 minutes and then catch a connecting flight to placencia 20 minutes there would be a waiting time inbetween flights depending on flight schedule.

The combo Ambergris Caye/Placencia package that I am offering in conjunction with Splash Dive Shop will have you leaving Ambergris around 3pm to get to Placencia 6 ish so your ready for an early start the next day.

Heres the Whale Shark schedule for 2010 although July might be too late unless its right at the beginning

WHALE SHARK SEASON DATES

*
March 28th - April 8th
*
April 26th - May 6th
*
May 25th - June 5th
*
June 24th - July 4th

Gaz Cooper

 

[njcfm]

i wish we where there during the whale shark schedule but it looks like we will be leaving right before the april 26th-may6th week, so we would miss that.

Gaz,

Thank you for the non-diving information on both, looks like i have a tough decision to make.

 

[Ralph Capeling]

You can check out the diving and non-diving activities at Splashbelize.com or contact Patty Ramirez at patricia@splashbelize.com. As your relatives have probably told you, forty percent of Belize is covered by parks and protected areas. the vast majority of these are in the southern half of the country. Monkey River (30 minute boat ride through the mangroves to the river where you see crocodiles, huge iguanas, lots of birds in virgin rain forest and a neat hike inland to find howler monkeys with a very qualified guide who can really help you understand all that you are ), Cockscomb Preserve (which is an hour away and has the highest concentration of jaguars and other big cats on this planet and is a great place for hiking with or without a guide, the southern ruins which are less visited than the ones in Cayo. Almost all the good inland sites are closer/more accessible from Placencia.
Yes, boat times are longer but we make a fun day of it with (usually) a barbecue on the beach on a post card picture looking caye after the first dive.
Yes, good restaurants but not as much life music in the bars - we tend to attract people interested in adventure tours and the laid back life style here.

 

[pedro101]

Sounds like you may just need to plan 2 trips so you can enjoy the best of both options. :cool2:

 

[njcfm]

Sounds like you may just need to plan 2 trips so you can enjoy the best of both options. :cool2:

unfortunately for my wallet, you might be right.

 

[Hank49]

unfortunately for my wallet, you might be right.

If you want to just lay back and not do a lot, I'd go to Placencia. There's a lot of places to eat there. If you want to dive a lot, Ambergris.
It's a long ride from Placencia to the reef and if you go from Robert's Grove or some others that are back in the lagoon, add another 5-10 miles to the trip. The good thing though, in my opinion, is that the diving is better and more diverse.

 

[Ralph Capeling]

Hank is right that boat ride times are longer in Placencia than in Abergris so we make a day of it with 2 or 3 tanks dives with a barbecue on the beach at a caye during the surface interval. Splash goes directly from the beach at Placencia so no lagoon time. Typical boat ride time to Laughing Bird Caye (national park and world heritage site) is 30 minutes, outer reef is about 45 minutes depending on weather, Glover's Reef takes an hour and a half so similar or less than diving Lighthouse from Ambergris and it is definitely worth the extra time.