Belize or Cayman liveaboard
- Thread starter Pongo1998
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Damselfish
Contributor
I've been on the Sun Dancer in Belize a few times, and once on the Cayman Aggressor (as well as many land-based Cayman trips.) Both are good trips, but if you haven't done either yet I might choose Belize first. A liveaboard is a really good way to dive in Belize, as they go out to the atolls where the best diving is and hang out there for the week. People staying on land pay a premium and have a long boat trip to get out there for just one day at a time. There's also a lot to do on land in Belize, so if you have more than a week you could combine the liveaboard with a stay at a jungle lodge and do ruins, caves, etc.
People seem to have mixed feelings about liveaboard in Cayman because you can get to the same sites from land. Also because people usually want to get to Little Cayman, and the Aggressor doesn't always make the crossing if they judge conditions to be unsuitable. I still think it's a good trip - I for one enjoy the convenience of a liveaboard even if I can dive the same sites from land. I also think we got to spend more time on better sites overall by liveaboard than we do land-based. (Partly this is because you can simply get more dives in.) And if the weather cooperates it is an easy way of diving all 3 islands. Since Cayman tends to be expensive in general, especially if you're eating out a lot and doing lots of boat dives, the liveaboard might even work out to be a cost effective way of doing it.
People seem to have mixed feelings about liveaboard in Cayman because you can get to the same sites from land. Also because people usually want to get to Little Cayman, and the Aggressor doesn't always make the crossing if they judge conditions to be unsuitable. I still think it's a good trip - I for one enjoy the convenience of a liveaboard even if I can dive the same sites from land. I also think we got to spend more time on better sites overall by liveaboard than we do land-based. (Partly this is because you can simply get more dives in.) And if the weather cooperates it is an easy way of diving all 3 islands. Since Cayman tends to be expensive in general, especially if you're eating out a lot and doing lots of boat dives, the liveaboard might even work out to be a cost effective way of doing it.
Jpenn
Registered
We were on the Sun Dancer last September and had a great time, we really liked the boat! We tried to book the Cayman Aggressor for this coming September, but our preferred dates were already sold out, so I started looking into land-based options. We ended up booking a week at Little Cayman Beach Resort and while we won't get as many dives in as on a liveaboard, we're happy that we're guaranteed to dive Little Cayman (specifically Bloody Bay Wall), something that's not guaranteed on a liveaboard, as Damselfish mentioned.
DeputyDan
Contributor
Have done both locales by liveaboard.
Diving is better in the Caymans - assuming that you can do the crossing. Often you can't.
Non-diving activities are great in Belize so if you add a few days to the trip and go inland - Belize is a good choice.
Diving is better in the Caymans - assuming that you can do the crossing. Often you can't.
Non-diving activities are great in Belize so if you add a few days to the trip and go inland - Belize is a good choice.
Doubler
Contributor
Been on the Belize Aggressor III five times and on the Cayman Aggressor once. I hear Bloody Bay Wall is great, wouldn't know as we didn't make the crossing. Diving around GC is your average run of the mill Caribbean IMO. Belize has some great walls.
Doubler
Contributor
IMHO the Blue Hole is a waste of good air. It is down/right back up deep, dark, cold, crappy vis been there done that dive. I can say this because I have done the dive so it seems unfair to say don't do it but I have dove the upper rim reef and it is much more enjoyable. On either the BAIII or the SD you make this dive either Tuesday or Wednesday followed by a beach picnic with the Boobies.
Damselfish
Contributor
There are a ton of discussions on this board about whether the Blue Hole is worth going to. It's heavily marketed by the tourism people, and is a unique dive, but IMO looks way cooler in their aerial photos than UW. There is also some controversy about the depth of this dive for rec divers, especially for inexperienced divers.
I don't think it's worth making a special trip to from land, though the argument for those trips is usually that the other dives you get to do in the area make it worth the tip. But if you're on a liveaboard it will be part of the regular itinerary. So you will be there anyway, up to you if you want to dive it. Of the 3 times I've been out there on a liveaboard I did it once, skipped it the second time in favor of a hammock dive, and the third time the whole boat voted against it. That may tell you something. We wanted to dive the rim instead while they did the hole, but the SDII would not allow us to do that - it was dive the hole or don't dive - don't know if it's still the same or what the Aggressor says. (The requisite Blue Hole day is the thing I like least about Belize liveaboards. You wind up not doing as many other dives that day. And I'm not a fan of beach picnics - I'd rather eat on the boat in the comfortable AC dining room, than on a hot muggy island dealing with sand and bugs. YMMV.)
DeputyDan
Contributor
When we did our Belize liveaboard everyone voted to skip the blue hole except my youngest daughter and she didn't want to dive it - just see it!
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