billmosel
Contributor
We stayed at Blackbird Caye from Nov 24 to Dec 1. My daughter found a Groupon for the resort and it sounded like a good deal which it was although the small print was very small as we thought we were getting all our dives for the price of the groupon which was not the case (buyer beware). It was still pretty good.
The logistics of getting to the (private) island was good for us. There was a rep to meet us in Belize City and transfers were very smooth. Once on the island we got a briefing (although it could have been more informative) and it really didnt matter to me but they never asked us how many dives we have under our belt or when our last dive was, and we were ready to dive the next day.
The dive staff was AMAZING!! It was as if we were on a liveaboard on land. The only gear I touched all week was my wetsuit. They took care of it all. Although I did check my reg and BC before every dive just to make sure. Unfortunately the Lionfish population was abundant. But on every dive there were a few ELFS that we were able to use and the Lion Fish hunt was on. A lot of fun! We fed some of them to the groupers and Green Morays and brought back a lot for us to eat. Very delicious!! I recommend eating them highly. They were Eagle Rays, stingrays, Nurse Sharks, huge Groupers, crabs, eels, toadfish, tarpon and all the usual suspects. Water temp around 78 and viz around 70'. The one problem we had was that Nitrox was included in the price of the dives but it was not available to us because it was broken and the excuse given to us was that there is only 1 person in all of Belize that can fix it and he was in the hospital. So if you are qualified to maintain Nitrox machines, I would get down to Belize, and if it is true that there is only 1 who can maintain them, you should make a fortune.
The accommodations were nice. We had upgraded to the Deluxe Room that gave us a bedroom with a king size bed, a sitting room with a couch, chair, small 2-chair table for snacks (?), a mini fridge and a bathroom. All very nice. Maid service every day with chocolate on your pillow.
The food was good. Breakfast and lunch was served buffet style although not a huge choice very adequate. At lunch they would come around and give you a choice of 2 different entrees for dinner and you could ask for both if you so desired. The wait staff was very accommodating and was very attentive to your needs.
There is a separate building over the water that serves as a meeting area, bar and gift shop with a large screen TV that was not working. The satellite was out.
The free wifi that was advertised was in the office only and that room was about 12' x 12' and with 3 or 4 people using it was extremely slow.
As I mentioned earlier this is a private island. With that said, keys for the rooms were not given out, or offered, since we were supposed to be the only ones on the island. As I found out later in the week, Blackbird rents out a section of the island for a oceanic research facility.
The check out process was extremely painful. We were told that you can pay your tab anytime after 7pm. I believe there were 7 units that had to check out. I got to the office at about 7:30 and was seen at 10:45. I expected that my last night in Belize was going to be at the bar with all my fellow divers talking war stories but instead I was in an office waiting my turn to PAY them. Needless I was not a happy camper!! So after all their apologies and going over our tab, I was "released" about 11:15.
So I go back to my room and go to bed. At 11:15 my wife gets up to take a sleeping pill because she can't get to sleep. She walks into the sitting room and turns on a light and sees someone crouched on the floor behind the couch and ran back into the bedroom and screamed that there was some one in the room! I went into the sitting room and he was gone. I went outside and of course it was dark and could not fine anyone. When I came back to our room and comforted my wife we looked for anything missing. Her beach bag was on the floor by the couch and was missing some money and my dive watch was gone. Thank God that was all and we were not physically injured. When I saw the managers the next morning (because I had no idea were their unit was because we were not told that if there was an emergency were to find them and there were no phones) and told them of our incident, they had a feeling that it was someone from the research facility and they called the Coast Guard which immediately responded. The Coast Guard went and picked up a suspect but he did not possess the money nor the watch that was stolen and my wife never saw his face.
Blackbird was extremely apologetic and said they will make restitution's.
Will I go back...Only if they change their operating procedures. The dive op was top notch. Everything else was 3rd class. Wi-Fi limited, Satellite out, no Nitrox, limited bar (ran out of vodka), checkout was hair pulling, and the excuses for all of the logistics was not acceptable. The owners of Blackbird better wake up before Turneffe Island Resort takes over that section of Belize. I haven't stayed at Turneffe before but I will give them a try before I go back to Blackbird.
The logistics of getting to the (private) island was good for us. There was a rep to meet us in Belize City and transfers were very smooth. Once on the island we got a briefing (although it could have been more informative) and it really didnt matter to me but they never asked us how many dives we have under our belt or when our last dive was, and we were ready to dive the next day.
The dive staff was AMAZING!! It was as if we were on a liveaboard on land. The only gear I touched all week was my wetsuit. They took care of it all. Although I did check my reg and BC before every dive just to make sure. Unfortunately the Lionfish population was abundant. But on every dive there were a few ELFS that we were able to use and the Lion Fish hunt was on. A lot of fun! We fed some of them to the groupers and Green Morays and brought back a lot for us to eat. Very delicious!! I recommend eating them highly. They were Eagle Rays, stingrays, Nurse Sharks, huge Groupers, crabs, eels, toadfish, tarpon and all the usual suspects. Water temp around 78 and viz around 70'. The one problem we had was that Nitrox was included in the price of the dives but it was not available to us because it was broken and the excuse given to us was that there is only 1 person in all of Belize that can fix it and he was in the hospital. So if you are qualified to maintain Nitrox machines, I would get down to Belize, and if it is true that there is only 1 who can maintain them, you should make a fortune.
The accommodations were nice. We had upgraded to the Deluxe Room that gave us a bedroom with a king size bed, a sitting room with a couch, chair, small 2-chair table for snacks (?), a mini fridge and a bathroom. All very nice. Maid service every day with chocolate on your pillow.
The food was good. Breakfast and lunch was served buffet style although not a huge choice very adequate. At lunch they would come around and give you a choice of 2 different entrees for dinner and you could ask for both if you so desired. The wait staff was very accommodating and was very attentive to your needs.
There is a separate building over the water that serves as a meeting area, bar and gift shop with a large screen TV that was not working. The satellite was out.
The free wifi that was advertised was in the office only and that room was about 12' x 12' and with 3 or 4 people using it was extremely slow.
As I mentioned earlier this is a private island. With that said, keys for the rooms were not given out, or offered, since we were supposed to be the only ones on the island. As I found out later in the week, Blackbird rents out a section of the island for a oceanic research facility.
The check out process was extremely painful. We were told that you can pay your tab anytime after 7pm. I believe there were 7 units that had to check out. I got to the office at about 7:30 and was seen at 10:45. I expected that my last night in Belize was going to be at the bar with all my fellow divers talking war stories but instead I was in an office waiting my turn to PAY them. Needless I was not a happy camper!! So after all their apologies and going over our tab, I was "released" about 11:15.
So I go back to my room and go to bed. At 11:15 my wife gets up to take a sleeping pill because she can't get to sleep. She walks into the sitting room and turns on a light and sees someone crouched on the floor behind the couch and ran back into the bedroom and screamed that there was some one in the room! I went into the sitting room and he was gone. I went outside and of course it was dark and could not fine anyone. When I came back to our room and comforted my wife we looked for anything missing. Her beach bag was on the floor by the couch and was missing some money and my dive watch was gone. Thank God that was all and we were not physically injured. When I saw the managers the next morning (because I had no idea were their unit was because we were not told that if there was an emergency were to find them and there were no phones) and told them of our incident, they had a feeling that it was someone from the research facility and they called the Coast Guard which immediately responded. The Coast Guard went and picked up a suspect but he did not possess the money nor the watch that was stolen and my wife never saw his face.
Blackbird was extremely apologetic and said they will make restitution's.
Will I go back...Only if they change their operating procedures. The dive op was top notch. Everything else was 3rd class. Wi-Fi limited, Satellite out, no Nitrox, limited bar (ran out of vodka), checkout was hair pulling, and the excuses for all of the logistics was not acceptable. The owners of Blackbird better wake up before Turneffe Island Resort takes over that section of Belize. I haven't stayed at Turneffe before but I will give them a try before I go back to Blackbird.
