Avalon Reef Club Ambergris Key

[Petra]

Greetings all,

Just found this board a few days ago. Here's a question.

I won a dive trip to Avalon Reef Club on Ambergris Caye in Belize. I believe it's 5 days and 4 nights with 3 days of diving.

Questions:

1) Has anyone been to this particular resort and have you used Belize Diving Academy?

2) My wife and I were certified this past October so we're looking for some fairly easy dives with lots of marine life. Any suggestions for sites?

3) My wife is prone to seasickness even with medication. How long is the average boat ride? Do they come back in to shore between dives? Is there good shore diving on the island?


Thanks for the help.

Mark

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Hello Mark ...

I can't answer your question about the resort, but I will tell you that Ambergris Caye offers some fabulous, and fairly easy, diving.

My wife and I went there only about a month after she was certified, and enjoyed 12 wonderful dives. How comfortable you will be really depends more on the divemaster you get than on the dive sites themselves.

All of the diving is by boat, but don't worry about seasickness ... the reef is only about 1/2 mile out (clearly visible from the beach), and the boat rides are usually 5 to 20 minutes, depending on the dive site. And most of that will be inside the reef, where it's very protected and there are almost no waves.

The majority of the sites are what they call "slot canyons" ... you drop off the boat into 45 to 60 fsw and then descend into these narrow troughs that are just covered with corals on both sides. It's like little diving "streets" that you just follow, enjoying the scenery on both sides.

Specific dive sites? My favorite one was just outside the reef at the Hol Chan Marine Sanctuary ... spectacular pillar corals with lots of marine life. Other dives I would highly recommend are Tres Cocos and Boca Chica ... of the dive sites we visited, these three were the most beautiful.

Also, if given the opportunity, do a night dive inside the park at Hol Chan. This site maxes out at 30 fsw ... so you get a long bottom time. It's a box canyon with a sandy bottom, and you'll see abundant life, including huge moray eels, lots of stingrays sitting half-buried in the sandy bottom, huge parrot fish (look for the white lips hiding behind the corals), and best of all, tarpon!

Have fun ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Gaz]

Hi

Avalon is located 6 miles North of San Pedro town it is a fairly large resort by Ambergris Standards but has a problem with occupancy levels meaning its nearly always empty, which could work to your advantage as you will probably be the only divers which can't be bad.

The resort is nice but somewhat quiet but they do run several trips into town daily

take your free trip and enjoy it I am sure you wil have a great time

regards

Gaz

 

[kyleterry]

Hello Petra-

You and your wife will have a great time. I was there last month with my 14 & 12 yr old sons on their first ocean dives. They had a gret time. Very easy stuff. We stayed and went diving with Gaz Cooper (posted above). I would highly recommend his outfit if you have the opportunity.

Our best dives were Avolon Canyons, Love Tunnels, Sandy Point, and Mexico Rocks.

You very much should do the night dives. We went to Ho Chen for that. Great dive. Also Shark Ray Alley is a must do.

You will have a great time. Get as many dive in as you can while you are there.