Belize: Which Caye?

[danieladamsmith]

Hi There,
Planning a multi-40th Birthday Party in Belize in February...(Hope Felix doesn't screw that up)....
What can anyone tell me about Cayes and prices. I think Ambergris may be a little to salty. Any good....suggestions?

 

[Hank49]

Not sure what you mean by salty. All the cayes are salty if you mean from the sea. Ambergris is the most populated. Caulker is a more laid back version of that. Tobacco and Southwater are very small with a couple resorts on each one. Robert's Caye is a little sandbar off Placencia with some bungalows. Then you have to outer atholls, Turneffe, Glovers and Lighthouse. These have resorts also but not much to do other than dive or fish. I think the diving is better than the barrier reef.
Felix will be a mere memory by then no matter how bad it is. People recover and put it behind them in these parts.

 

[danieladamsmith]

SALTY usually translates as expensive. What I meant is which Caye is less expensive without totally sacrificing quality. I am an AOW, but I am going to be with a group of six that are all doing their OW certification.

 

[Hank49]

The least expensive ones are the barrier reef Cayes. The outer atholls cost more because of power, food transportation etc etc. Caulker and Ambergris are only 11 miles apart and the diving is pretty much the same. If you have a group of five divers taking a course, you may want to call ahead to arrange it, especially on the smaller cayes.

 

[danieladamsmith]

Thanks Hank. We will reserve for sure. Where do you like to go or where do you like most?

 

[carolrose]

I stayed on Ambergris Caye earlier this year and it was lovely. You could definitely spend a lot there if you chose, but you could equally spend very little and have great time. I would highly recommend Ecologic divers for the people in your party doing thier OW. I dove with some new OW divers trained by Ecologic when I was there, and they were very impressive in the water.

 

[battles2a5]

I stayed on Caulker and I loved it. Definitely less touristy than Ambergris, more laid back, and you will start to get to know people pretty quickly. Interestingly, Caulker was pretty "salty". The "fresh" water in the hotels is brackish at best so you still come out of the shower feeling a little salty but its all good. The ride to the atolls is a little quicker from Caulker, but the ride to the good local reefs (Hol Chan, etc.) is a little longer than from Ambergris. You'll have fun at either one.

 

[danieladamsmith]

I repeat...Salty was just a Euphemism for expensive as in Was Ambergris more salty than Caulker...

I just wanted some good tips for diving in Belize for someone that doesn't want to stay in a 4 star all inclusive with AC dive resort. Something a little more along the lines of
good diving, staying in a rental house with a bunch of people or renting small cabanas.
A good dive company where there aren't 200 people on each dive.

 

[Hank49]

Thanks Hank. We will reserve for sure. Where do you like to go or where do you like most?

For the best diving, I'd go to Glovers, Lighthouse or Turneffe. There isn't much to do but dive or fish but the diving is excellent. Tobacco has small cabanas like you mentioned. Southwater has also. Tobacco is probably only about 2-3 acres in size. SW a little bigger. It depends on what you want. You can get cheaper places in San Pedro too and have all the restaurants, bars and night life. You can't do any snorkeling or diving from shore in San Pedro though, because of boat traffic.

 

[The Logic Theorist]

I've been to Glover's and it was awesome. Not very crowded, dive trips were typically 6-8 people. I got my OW there and had a very good experience overall. There's a lot of pristine diving in the area, and snorkeling right off the shore.

I don't have any other diving experience in Belize, but I can't say enough good things about Glover's.

Here's the website for where I stayed:

http://www.glovers.com.bz/index.html