Belize in January

[sbroh]

Hello,

What's Belize like in January? I hear sometimes viz can get limited due to "Northers", but how bad of viz are they talking? I'm looking between Belize and Cozumel for a January diving vacation, and I'm looking for relatively easy diving conditions (low or no current, now a lot of wind/waves, etc).

Anyone have suggestions? We are new divers (only a couple dives under our belt each) so we are looking for easy conditions and decent visibility (30-40 feet minimum).

 

[Doubler]

The dry season runs from March through May. The most predictably good weather for diving is from April through June, when the winds are normally light. Hurricanes hit Belize an average of once every six years. Major hurricanes have hit in 1931, 1961, and 1978. During winter months (mainly December, January, and February), Belize is also subject to northers that blow down and disrupt diving for several days. Water temperature may dip as low as the 70s in the winter and reach as high as 85° in the summer.

Best bet for January would be a live aboard, Belize Aggressor or Sun Dancer, as they would find dive sites out of the wind. You are already on the reef so rough boat rides are mostly eliminated. Liveaboards are great for new divers, you get hand holding if required or dive where you want with your buddy. You do up to five dives a day. Do the math and you see that if it is a DIVE vacation a Liveaboard is the way to go. Skip the Blue Hole as it is just a down-up dark cold limited vis hole in the ocean. Wait till March if you can.

 

[Hank49]

Belize has less current than Cozumel. And Cozumel will be affected by the same north winds as Belize.
Weather wise....Doubler is right....and not so right. He's right about trends but we're always scratching our heads and saying, "I thought this was the dry season"....or "wet season". It's not that cut and dried. June this year was very windy. January was pretty calm. I did a lot of diving at Turneffe in January and I have to cross some open water in a 25 foot panga type skiff. Not good in big waves.
The north winds usually only last a few days and it gets calm or back to trade winds.
But given your desire for easy conditions, I'd go for Belize.
The live aboard sounds like a good idea too.

 

[DeputyDan]

The first week of January the Aggressor liveaboard is running a discount.

If I had the cash - I would do a liveaboard on almost all of my dive trips. ALAS!

 

[Thiad]

I did Belize in January of last year. We had a pretty rough trip out to the Blue Hole (really rough trip), and a few days of heavy chop, but otherwise, vis was fantastic as was the diving. No real currents to speak of (in Ambergris Caye). The weather was beautiful - sunny with light breezes (except for the rain on the way to the Blue Hole!).