Kat
Contributor
My boyfriend & I went for 16 days to Mexico & Belize. We stayed at 5 different hotels & used every mode of transportation we could find. I have tried to break the trip report into small sections, to make it easier to read through.
Part 5: Ambergris Caye
Parts 1, 2 & 3 are posted in the Mexico forum.
Tuesday August 15th
After much debate over the pros & cons of spending the time & money, we decide to dive the Blue Hole. I have heard enough negatives to have very low expectations. We were also concerned about the boat ride, due to the very bad experience with XTC in Mexico. Patojo's does not do the BH trip but I'm told Patojo's brothers dive op will be taking us. I'm still concerned, it turns out that his brother owns Amigos del Mar. They pick us & our gear up at the dock & take us to their dock, where we board the boat that will take us out to the BH.
Dive 1 The Blue Hole The ride out was smooth & on the way we pick up about 6 to 12 dolphins who follow us for awhile. I did think it was pretty cool as we pulled into the BH. I have seen the BH photos so many times & to actually be there was, well...cool. But I still did not expect much from the dive itself. We get a very detailed dive briefing & it is very cut & dried. 'Plenty of DM's if you have problems. If you can't equalize in a certain amount of time you abort the dive. If, for whatever reason your buddy aborts the dive you will continue to dive & the DM will escort the other diver to the surface. After the BH dive we return to the line & then they chum the water. Yada Yada Yada.' OK, like I said very detailed. So we giant stride into the water go down & wait on the sandy ledge for everyone. Next we start to descend into the BH for our 8 min. dive. At 100 ft we have a girl panic & bolt for the surface and her boyfriend/dive buddy bolts after her. Luckily the DM grabs him by the fin & the other DM deals with her. Jeesh.
We do our 8 mins, check out the stalagtites & then slooowly head up. They chum the water & it is a shark feeding frenzy. Not the best dive I've ever done, but I'm glad I came & did it.
Dive 2 Half Moon Caye Very nice dive with a beautiful reef. Abundant fish life with plenty to see. At the end of the dive there were a bunch of stingrays buried in the sand. They'd get spooked when we got too close & they would swim off a little ways. Then bury themselves in the sand again. They were awsome & we were so close to them. Our SI was on Half Moon Caye. We climbed a small observation tower to see a bird called the Red Footed Boobie. There were tons of them, I'm not much on bird watching but I still enjoyed seeing them.
Dive 3 Eagle Ray Aquarium I had been hoping for the Lighthouse, so I was disappointed, until I hit the water. The dive was really good & I have no complaints at all. We got to see a couple of Eagle Rays and they were spectacular.
As a side note, I think there were 14 of us. Only 6 divers should have been on this dive. Bouyancy control was non-existant. The DM led us through a narrow swim thru that most of the divers had no business going thru. 8 divers beat the crap out of it, not to mention fellow divers as more than 1 diver would try & go through at the same time. That poor coral, it made me sick.
Wednesday August 16th
Out to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve
Dive 1 Pillars Plenty of critters out and about and peeping out from nooks & cranies too. Crabs, lobsters, eels and schools of fish galore. Angelfish, blue tang, damselfish. The fish were very plentiful. Near the end of the dive we saw a beautiful Spotted Ray. Vis was approx. 40 - 50 ft. & our bottom time was 50 min.
Our surface interval was at Shark-Ray Alley. We snorkeled around and there were alot of rays & sharks. Then they chummed the water and the sharks came out of the woodwork. I can honestly say I was surprised at how much they chum in Belize. I will leave it at that.
Dive 2 Eagle Ray Canyon Well, the name says it all. They look like they are flying, so gracefull and elegant. We saw about 4 on this dive & they were really awesome. The vis was not so great at approx. 30 - 40 ft. Again a darker, murkier dive then I would expect in Belize. More like the Pacific. Our bottom time was only 40 min. I could have spent all day watching the Rays swim the canyons. Ahhh, for the want of gills.
Thursday August 17th
Our last 2 dives of the trip.
Dive 1 Mexico Rocks Canyon A nice dive. The DM saw a lobster in a hole. He had a hook & pulled him out. The poor lobster was walking in the sand, out in the open, trying to get back to his hole. We saw a very agitated spotted eel and then a turtle who swam by at warp speed. Man he was flying! Vis was approx. 50 ft. bottom time was 45 min.
Dive 2 Mata Canyons Early in the dive we saw a large ray, but we were not able to get a very close to him. We did see a small turtle, who swam close by us, for a while. Near the end of the dive there was a 2nd turtle, who was very large. But he was pretty deep, so we were unable to get a good look at him.
Friday August 18th Travel day
We check out of the hotel & catch a taxi to the San Pedro Airport. Get 2 tix on TropicAir to Corozol. It's a short 15 min. flight. We're looking for George Moralez to get us through Belize & Mexican customs & immigrations. He is not there but his wife Esther is. We load up & head for the boarder. We are in & out in about 10 min. Back in the van & then drive to the the Mexican customs & immigrations. In about 5 min. we are all done. Back in the van & Esther takes us to the ADO bus station in Chetumal. All of this assistance, driving etc. and she charges us $35 USD for both of us. I actually gave her $70, because I thought it was $35 per person & she gave me back the $35. If you ever need any help crossing the boarder from Mexico to Belize, these are the people to contact. www.gettransfers.com
We get our 1st class tickets to Playa del Carmen. It's a long drive 4+ hours but we grab a taxi at the bus station in PDC & another 20+ min. and we are at the Iberostar Mayan.
Total kick butt luxury. I wish we could have gotten to the hotel earlier, but the travel time is doing me in, every time. We hit the pool & the bar. I got to use a hair dryer for the 1st time in 2 weeks & I am pretty danged happy about it! We pay a visit to the all you can eat buffet. Go looking for the nightclub but get lost & can't figure out how to get across the pool. Finally...the bar.
Saturday August 19th Travel day
Catch a taxi to the airport & I am hoping that there are some open seats. Actually there are too many & we get seated in coach this time. Nuts! No big deal with security, liquids, gels etc are not allowed. Quick search & if you don't have that stuff on you then your good to go. It's the haggling over the items that is bogging down the check point. Hello, you can't bring it on the plane...throw it out & get over it.
after that, the flight was uneventful.
Part 5: Ambergris Caye
Parts 1, 2 & 3 are posted in the Mexico forum.
Tuesday August 15th
After much debate over the pros & cons of spending the time & money, we decide to dive the Blue Hole. I have heard enough negatives to have very low expectations. We were also concerned about the boat ride, due to the very bad experience with XTC in Mexico. Patojo's does not do the BH trip but I'm told Patojo's brothers dive op will be taking us. I'm still concerned, it turns out that his brother owns Amigos del Mar. They pick us & our gear up at the dock & take us to their dock, where we board the boat that will take us out to the BH.
Dive 1 The Blue Hole The ride out was smooth & on the way we pick up about 6 to 12 dolphins who follow us for awhile. I did think it was pretty cool as we pulled into the BH. I have seen the BH photos so many times & to actually be there was, well...cool. But I still did not expect much from the dive itself. We get a very detailed dive briefing & it is very cut & dried. 'Plenty of DM's if you have problems. If you can't equalize in a certain amount of time you abort the dive. If, for whatever reason your buddy aborts the dive you will continue to dive & the DM will escort the other diver to the surface. After the BH dive we return to the line & then they chum the water. Yada Yada Yada.' OK, like I said very detailed. So we giant stride into the water go down & wait on the sandy ledge for everyone. Next we start to descend into the BH for our 8 min. dive. At 100 ft we have a girl panic & bolt for the surface and her boyfriend/dive buddy bolts after her. Luckily the DM grabs him by the fin & the other DM deals with her. Jeesh.
We do our 8 mins, check out the stalagtites & then slooowly head up. They chum the water & it is a shark feeding frenzy. Not the best dive I've ever done, but I'm glad I came & did it.
Dive 2 Half Moon Caye Very nice dive with a beautiful reef. Abundant fish life with plenty to see. At the end of the dive there were a bunch of stingrays buried in the sand. They'd get spooked when we got too close & they would swim off a little ways. Then bury themselves in the sand again. They were awsome & we were so close to them. Our SI was on Half Moon Caye. We climbed a small observation tower to see a bird called the Red Footed Boobie. There were tons of them, I'm not much on bird watching but I still enjoyed seeing them.
Dive 3 Eagle Ray Aquarium I had been hoping for the Lighthouse, so I was disappointed, until I hit the water. The dive was really good & I have no complaints at all. We got to see a couple of Eagle Rays and they were spectacular.
As a side note, I think there were 14 of us. Only 6 divers should have been on this dive. Bouyancy control was non-existant. The DM led us through a narrow swim thru that most of the divers had no business going thru. 8 divers beat the crap out of it, not to mention fellow divers as more than 1 diver would try & go through at the same time. That poor coral, it made me sick.
Wednesday August 16th
Out to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve
Dive 1 Pillars Plenty of critters out and about and peeping out from nooks & cranies too. Crabs, lobsters, eels and schools of fish galore. Angelfish, blue tang, damselfish. The fish were very plentiful. Near the end of the dive we saw a beautiful Spotted Ray. Vis was approx. 40 - 50 ft. & our bottom time was 50 min.
Our surface interval was at Shark-Ray Alley. We snorkeled around and there were alot of rays & sharks. Then they chummed the water and the sharks came out of the woodwork. I can honestly say I was surprised at how much they chum in Belize. I will leave it at that.
Dive 2 Eagle Ray Canyon Well, the name says it all. They look like they are flying, so gracefull and elegant. We saw about 4 on this dive & they were really awesome. The vis was not so great at approx. 30 - 40 ft. Again a darker, murkier dive then I would expect in Belize. More like the Pacific. Our bottom time was only 40 min. I could have spent all day watching the Rays swim the canyons. Ahhh, for the want of gills.
Thursday August 17th
Our last 2 dives of the trip.
Dive 1 Mexico Rocks Canyon A nice dive. The DM saw a lobster in a hole. He had a hook & pulled him out. The poor lobster was walking in the sand, out in the open, trying to get back to his hole. We saw a very agitated spotted eel and then a turtle who swam by at warp speed. Man he was flying! Vis was approx. 50 ft. bottom time was 45 min.
Dive 2 Mata Canyons Early in the dive we saw a large ray, but we were not able to get a very close to him. We did see a small turtle, who swam close by us, for a while. Near the end of the dive there was a 2nd turtle, who was very large. But he was pretty deep, so we were unable to get a good look at him.
Friday August 18th Travel day
We check out of the hotel & catch a taxi to the San Pedro Airport. Get 2 tix on TropicAir to Corozol. It's a short 15 min. flight. We're looking for George Moralez to get us through Belize & Mexican customs & immigrations. He is not there but his wife Esther is. We load up & head for the boarder. We are in & out in about 10 min. Back in the van & then drive to the the Mexican customs & immigrations. In about 5 min. we are all done. Back in the van & Esther takes us to the ADO bus station in Chetumal. All of this assistance, driving etc. and she charges us $35 USD for both of us. I actually gave her $70, because I thought it was $35 per person & she gave me back the $35. If you ever need any help crossing the boarder from Mexico to Belize, these are the people to contact. www.gettransfers.com
We get our 1st class tickets to Playa del Carmen. It's a long drive 4+ hours but we grab a taxi at the bus station in PDC & another 20+ min. and we are at the Iberostar Mayan.
Total kick butt luxury. I wish we could have gotten to the hotel earlier, but the travel time is doing me in, every time. We hit the pool & the bar. I got to use a hair dryer for the 1st time in 2 weeks & I am pretty danged happy about it! We pay a visit to the all you can eat buffet. Go looking for the nightclub but get lost & can't figure out how to get across the pool. Finally...the bar.
Saturday August 19th Travel day
Catch a taxi to the airport & I am hoping that there are some open seats. Actually there are too many & we get seated in coach this time. Nuts! No big deal with security, liquids, gels etc are not allowed. Quick search & if you don't have that stuff on you then your good to go. It's the haggling over the items that is bogging down the check point. Hello, you can't bring it on the plane...throw it out & get over it.after that, the flight was uneventful.
