Trip Report Belize Feb 2021 Trip Report
- Thread starter Dan
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OP
Dan
Contributor
Wow! Sorry to hear that. Scratch Roatan off my bucket list.
I was there in Nov. 2019. Stayed at the new Hilton property at the south end of the island. Great diving, but, and it's a big but: Pesticides are sprayed like water, everywhere, all the time (except for one 'eco' resort). Really disgusting, especially knowing that long-term exposure increases the risk of Parkinson's disease & runoff damages coral. I was really astounded by the amount used. At our resort, the foggers would drive around in a golf cart with some industrial sprayer and coat the entire place twice a day. We asked them to not spray it directly onto our cabin. It was sad to see, and as a couple with significant health problems, it made us check it off the list of places we would ever visit again.
mcohen1021
Contributor
Oh, believe me, I would love to dive and visit Cuba, which is where my family is from. But the fact that they destroyed the lives of my grandparents and parents Jan 1, 1959, I can't morally spend one penny there. Many may scoff at that mentality, but my family lost businesses, property, farms, educations and their religious, civil and human rights. Cuba is the biggest sponsor of terrorism on our half of the planet.
But I will go one day, I know I will.
On another note, I was looking @ Aggressor's website recently, what happened to their Cuba boat?
mcohen1021
Contributor
There is things to do, but I didnt find much on Ambergris. if you're willing to ride 90 min to the mainland, theres tons to do. We did the cave tubing and zip lines, which was alright. And we did the full day trip to blue hole. Aside from that, there was Fido's live music, and karaoke nights at the old Wet Willies (now occupied by Palapa Bar). We also drove our golf cart as far north as we could, which was fun. Not knocking ambergris, we had a great time there!
OP
Dan
Contributor
Sorry to hear about your family unfortunate situation in Cuba.
I don't know what happened to Aggressor's Cuba boat. Hopefully someone else can update us on this.
Downing
Contributor
Not to get too far off topic, but my wife and I went to Cuba around 10 years ago with a local dive group. We stayed in Havana for a few days, loved it, then flew to a small island, don't remember the name, on the south side specifically purposed for tourists, hated it, dove from there for about a week, then returned to Havana for a few more days before flying home.
We had to sneak in, which required flying to Cancun first, then meeting up with a woman who furnished us with tickets and papers stating we were entering Cuba for "educational purposes," then flying on to Havana. The papers allowed us to enter Cuba without having our passports stamped so we wouldn't get in trouble with US Customs on our way back into the country. We were a little nervous about this but it worked.
We were disappointed in the diving as there just didn't seem to be a lot of marine life. And the one and only dive operation wasn't really ready for prime time, although the employees were a lot of fun. The Sea Turtle farm next door was more interesting than anything we saw underwater. I was surprised as my son and I had dived off Key West a few years before and there the marine life was fantastic.
While it wasn't a great trip, we were glad we went as Havana made it all worth while. But I wouldn't return to that tourist island for love or money. The only Cubans allowed to live there are the employees of the hotels that are scattered around, so we were surrounded by other tourists from around the world, except Americans, who just wanted to sit by the pool and drink all day. It didn't feel like Cuba at all and in fact could have been mistaken for south Florida only with fewer Cuban Americans.
But like I said, Havana was great. I would love to see more of the country.
We had to sneak in, which required flying to Cancun first, then meeting up with a woman who furnished us with tickets and papers stating we were entering Cuba for "educational purposes," then flying on to Havana. The papers allowed us to enter Cuba without having our passports stamped so we wouldn't get in trouble with US Customs on our way back into the country. We were a little nervous about this but it worked.
We were disappointed in the diving as there just didn't seem to be a lot of marine life. And the one and only dive operation wasn't really ready for prime time, although the employees were a lot of fun. The Sea Turtle farm next door was more interesting than anything we saw underwater. I was surprised as my son and I had dived off Key West a few years before and there the marine life was fantastic.
While it wasn't a great trip, we were glad we went as Havana made it all worth while. But I wouldn't return to that tourist island for love or money. The only Cubans allowed to live there are the employees of the hotels that are scattered around, so we were surrounded by other tourists from around the world, except Americans, who just wanted to sit by the pool and drink all day. It didn't feel like Cuba at all and in fact could have been mistaken for south Florida only with fewer Cuban Americans.
But like I said, Havana was great. I would love to see more of the country.
mcohen1021
Contributor
My Cuba bucket list:
1. See La Cabaña, where Che Guevara was going to execute my dad
2. See Isla de Pinos where he was subsequently sentenced to 30 years and served 4.5
3. Oriente province and specifically Bayamo, where my mom was born.
4. Of course to see where my remaining family lives in Havana
On another note, you won't see the things I mentioned on a current map - Cuban Govt changed all the names, similar to the cancel culture garbage going on in the US now.
Sad and pathetic.
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