Belize - Ambergris Caye verses Mainland

[tjmills]

Guys,

We are making our first trip to Belize as a large group (12). We have the opportunity to stay on Ambergris Caye or on the Mainland near the Humanasi Resort. Considering the amenities are the same in either place which one would you go to and why? All but 2 of us are avid divers and they like to fish and relax on the beach/read.

I am concerned about the boat rides and don't know how much difference there is between the two and if the diving is better between one or the other. Any help would be most appreciated.

 

[tjmills]

BTW: Diving is what we are most concerned about given the group!!! Help Please??

 

[Hank49]

As a group try to decide, A. do you like quiet and tranquil settings after the dive? Limited choice of restaurants...longer boat rides...with access to the Jungle River tube rides etc, or B. a busier bustling town, with lots of places to eat, night life, bars dancing, shopping, and diving only about 10 minutes from the docks?
If you like A, Hamanasi, B? go to San Pedro. (the diving is all pretty good)

 

[pigletfish]

Any chance for your group to stay in Placencia? (I think it is maybe an hour north of Hamanasi). It's a decent sized town and we liked the atmosphere and restaurants there better than San Pedro. Also, the beaches were nicer than the ones we saw on Ambergris Caye. But mostly we preferred being on the mainland because we loved being able to do "jungle activities" (Monkey River tour, Jaguar Preserve hiking, trips to Mayan ruins, canopy tour, etc) mixed in with our diving. Cheers!

 

[mandjrae]

For the criteria tjmills put forth, it definitely sounds like Ambergris Caye is the way to go. You don't have to stay in San Pedro itself. If you go south of the city there are some nice resorts like Victoria House where you get 5-10 minute boat rides to the dive sites, you're located amid palm trees, flowers, lizards, and a nice pool, you can dive or you can arrange for day trips to Mayan ruins or the jungle. My wife and I stayed there for 6 nights last December and it was paradise.

 

[tjmills]

Excellent information.

Are the boat rides any longer from the mainland to the dive sites or from Ambergris? If so by how much?

Staying on the mainland has some distinct advantages because we have someone there who is a friend and can show us around. The only thing that could trump that is 45 minute boat rides everday (we have a few women on the trip who are quite unfond of small boats and long rides which could lead to much unpeace for me personally) I don't really care.

 

[peterbj7]

Hamanasi is an excellent resort in Hopkins ("pigletfish" - it's maybe an hour NORTH of Placencia) with a superb dive center run by a PADI Course Director, who run whale shark-watching trips when there is a reasonable chance of seeing them. Those trips are effectively unavailable from Ambergris Caye.

Against that, Hamanasi is not a cheap option, and once there you will be tied to their operation. On Ambergris Caye there is a wide range of accommodation from cheap to very expensive indeed, and several dive operators who meet very high standards.

Hamanasi is a long way from the barrier reef (I think about 30-45 minutes) so dives take quite a long time and are correspondingly expensive - fuel is the dominant cost element here. San Pedro is 1/2 mile from the barrier reef and a number of excellent dive sites on it - boat rides lasting just a few minutes.

Atoll trips are another matter. To get from San Pedro to Lighthouse (for the Blue Hole) or south Turneffe (for the Elbow) takes 2 hours+, and it isn't practicable to go to Glover's at all. From Hamanasi it is possible to get to all three - I haven't done it and am guessing, but I should think Lighthouse would take around two hours, but the other two might not take much more than half that.

You pays yer money.....

 

[yakivet]

TJ-

I think Hank49 and Peter of Protech are both giving some pretty good advice. Wife, daughter and I have been to Ambergris twice, both times we've done our diving with Protech. Hopefully we'll return to the island in the next couple of weeks. Ambergris is a fun little island. Its a great place to spend your surface intervals. Lots to do, lots of good food, easy to get around with a rented golfcart.
I think with a group your size, diving from Ambergris would open up a lot more possibilities. For those interested, its also pretty easy for to hit the mainland for some day tours. Boat rides to the local sites are 10-20minutes, with the day trips to the outer atolls being also available. We made two of the full day trips, Turneffe and Lighthouse, using the Amigo's Del Mar dive shop. We booked the trip though Protech as the Amigo's Pro48 made the 2 1/2 hour ride a little more enjoyable. Ken :42: