Are there any safe dive ops?

[kmcneer]

We are going to Caye Caulker in July. I have been reading about all the possiable dive ops and they all sound a little iffy. From leaving people floating in the water for half an hr to 140-150' dives in the blue hole. There seems to be a lot of baiting sharks and rays too. Any suggestions is appriciated. Thanks

 

[DandyDon]

I can't answer your question fully, but "...140-150' dives in the blue hole. There seems to be a lot of baiting sharks and rays too..." are standard there. Have a good trip. ilot:

 

[kmcneer]

Thanks. I just hope to find somone that goes out everyday now and cross my fingers.

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks. I just hope to find somone that goes out everyday now and cross my fingers.

Oh, you're likely to get some recommendations over the next few days. Whomever you dive with, establish a good buddy diver relationship, do your pre-dive checks like taught in OW - that we too often skip over too lightly, insist on and pay attention to pre-dive briefings, and such. There's some great diving around there....

Diving to 150 ft on a 80 cf tank is a bounce dive, but you get to see the stalactites that formed during the last ice age when the ocean was much lower. The second mate on the jerk boat I was one turned one tank 1/4 on rather than 1/4 off and she had a problem on descent, but then I had that happen to me in Cozumel last month too. Get your buddy to make sure it's all the way on, so you know right away if there is a mistake; I like to re-check that at 15 ft on descent every dive.

Request a larger tank when you can.

Work out signals with your buddy and stick close to each other to help each other if needed.

Carry all the good signal devices for being found at sea.

Check the CDC for travel suggestions.

And so forth...​

Feeding the rays is a take off on the Stingray and is kinda fun. My jerk op was too cheap to buy fish heads from fishermen so we had to watch other feed them. Chumming sharks is something I certainly avoid; never been with an op who does, and I would request that any I do with not do that.

Have a goodun...!

 

[mlevi98]

I have had great local dives with Ecologic (San Pedro) and have gone to the blue hole from Caye Caulker with both Aqua Dives and Amigos del Mar. All three were great. For local Caye Caulker dives I hear Frenchy's is the place

 

[kmcneer]

Frenchys is the only place that has a website that is on Caye Caulker. I am trying to find out if Ecologic will come get us to go with them.

Good suggestions Don. I help Dive Con for a lot of Open water classes so most of these stay fresh on my mind.

We had an OP in Coz last month that tossed my wifes gear in the water with air off and none in the BC. She was also the only one in the water at the time. lucklie i was back rolling in at the time and caught her and the gear to get the air on.

 

[peterbj7]

There are three established dive ops on CC - Belize Diving Services, Frenchies and Big Fish. The first of these is a very professional organisation.

For atoll trips Frenchies and Big Fish have "big" boats though neither compares with the boat(s) used by AquaDives on Ambergris Caye, who stop by prior arrangement. They have a booking office on CC, and unlike all CC operators offer nitrox. To those who are qualified I recommend the use of nitrox (usually 32%, though 36% and indeed any mix is available if requested at least a day in advance) on either or both of the two dives that follow the BH dive.

My personal preference on CC would be to dive locally with BDS and for atoll trips use AQD.

 

[georoc01]

Having done the Blue Hole Dive with Aquadives this week, I concur with Peter. The briefings were good. I checked both the first aid kit and O2 kits (they had 2 on board) and the boat seemed very safe. And we were using their smaller boat (44ft) as the larger boat (57 ft) was having its engines replaced in Belize City this week.

THey had 2 divemasters in the water at all times and felt we had good support for all three dives.

We did pick up a diver on Caye Caulker on the way out and from there you had the advantage of cutting 45 minutes off the trip.

 

[hopefulist]

I'll be on Caulker in August for the 1st time, so no advice from personal experience; here are the websites, though:

Frenchies
Belize Diving Services
Big Fish

 

[jaxjags64109]

I dove with Agua Dives last September and especially enjoyed the dives with Eric as the DM. I recieved personal service and felt like there was an appropriate emphasis on safety and attention was paid to each diver's skill level so that everyone had full enjoyment. Diving around AC with spur and groove reefs allows for diver's who want and are able to dive deeper while offering divers who want to stay shallower all enjoy the same dive site. Buddy up with a diver of same skill level and enjoy the dive. I'll be back in SP in November and will dive with AD again.