mbs
Contributor
Wacky weather this year - rainy season just does not want to quit! We arrived in Belize City airport and a guy at the bar told me he got blown out of a few days that week. So an ominous start! We arrived on the island and it was sunny, but real windy. Quick cab to the Blue Tang Inn, we unpacked and headed over to Chuck and Robbies to fill out the forms and make sure we were set to go for the week. The Blue Tang is a cute little hotel. 15 rooms on 3 floors. We were in #14 on the 3rd floor. It does not have an ocean view, but there is a shared area with a few tables and chairs that is nice to hang out at. The owners were staying next door as the office mgr got married that weekend. The gentleman in the oceanview room in front of ours was diving with us all week so it was really nice to get the scoop from him. The room was very nice, kitchenette, table, futon and queen sized bed and hardwood floors. Vaulted ceiling with 2 fans and excellent ac unit. Plenty of hot water in the shower. About the only negative I can think of is it could use a fresh coat of paint. Breakfast is included and is basic. Cereal, toast, fruit and sometimes a waffle maker and one day empanada looking things. Weather permitting you eat at the tables around the pool. Rumor has it they are planning a covered area for that. All the staff were very friendly and helpful. I would not hesitate to return there, but I would splurge for the larger oceanview rooms.
Sunday started with great weather. The DM's had us set our stuff up the way we liked it and they took care of it the rest of the week. They wanted to analyze the nitrox for us, but had no problem at all when I said I wanted to do it myself. The dive boats are 32 foot open with a canopy over half of it. You leave all of your stuff in the stern and at the site they set you up on either side and you backroll in. You come back to the dock between dives for the si. The dive plan was pretty much the same every day - dive 1 80' for 45 mins, dive 2 60' for 45 mins. The depths were flexible - we hit 90's often, but the dm's would signal up at 45 mins. So if you want to extend your bottom time you need to be first off the boat. I found the terrain to be really interesting - lots of canyons, crevasses, walls. The coral is in great shape. However I was surprised at the lack of a lot of fish! Plenty of big green morays, turtles, grouper and overly friendly nurse sharks. The dives are all drift dives for some unknown reason. There was very little to no current, but surge on some dives. Nice easy diving. Monday more of the same and Tuesday we did the Blue Hole trip with Amigos del Mar. No need to go into detail here as it has been discussed to death. Leave it to say everything you had heard before it true - cool dive, not sure I need to do it again. Dives 2 and 3 were excellent. Great reefs, walls and sea life. Rum punch was flowing on the ride home. We were very very lucky to have blue skies and calm seas that day. Weds, Thurs, Fri it rained - a lot. We dove every day, but the ride back in after each dive was very chilly. I heard from someone in the airport that Amigos did not go out on Thurs., but we sure did.
Food-wise we did find some very good food on the island. Wet Willies was right across the beach and decent. We did a couple of lunches at Blue Water Grill that were excellent. Excellent dinner at Wild Mangoes as well as Caramba. We ordered pizza for delivery one night from Pirates which was pretty good.
Much to my surprise neither of us were killed by a golf cart during the week
We had a very good time. I'm sure we will return.
Sunday started with great weather. The DM's had us set our stuff up the way we liked it and they took care of it the rest of the week. They wanted to analyze the nitrox for us, but had no problem at all when I said I wanted to do it myself. The dive boats are 32 foot open with a canopy over half of it. You leave all of your stuff in the stern and at the site they set you up on either side and you backroll in. You come back to the dock between dives for the si. The dive plan was pretty much the same every day - dive 1 80' for 45 mins, dive 2 60' for 45 mins. The depths were flexible - we hit 90's often, but the dm's would signal up at 45 mins. So if you want to extend your bottom time you need to be first off the boat. I found the terrain to be really interesting - lots of canyons, crevasses, walls. The coral is in great shape. However I was surprised at the lack of a lot of fish! Plenty of big green morays, turtles, grouper and overly friendly nurse sharks. The dives are all drift dives for some unknown reason. There was very little to no current, but surge on some dives. Nice easy diving. Monday more of the same and Tuesday we did the Blue Hole trip with Amigos del Mar. No need to go into detail here as it has been discussed to death. Leave it to say everything you had heard before it true - cool dive, not sure I need to do it again. Dives 2 and 3 were excellent. Great reefs, walls and sea life. Rum punch was flowing on the ride home. We were very very lucky to have blue skies and calm seas that day. Weds, Thurs, Fri it rained - a lot. We dove every day, but the ride back in after each dive was very chilly. I heard from someone in the airport that Amigos did not go out on Thurs., but we sure did.
Food-wise we did find some very good food on the island. Wet Willies was right across the beach and decent. We did a couple of lunches at Blue Water Grill that were excellent. Excellent dinner at Wild Mangoes as well as Caramba. We ordered pizza for delivery one night from Pirates which was pretty good.
Much to my surprise neither of us were killed by a golf cart during the week
We had a very good time. I'm sure we will return.
