Bringing kids diving in Belize?

[eddydingle]

I suggest Placencia . There are several good dive shops there

If you're going to Placencia, I would strongly recommend against Sea Horse with kids, at least during whale shark season. I dove with them a week ago and their attention to safety was pretty much non-existent. They never asked for my or my wife's certification, and the whale shark dive we did was supposed to be an "advanced dive". One of the girls on our boat for that dive didn't even know how to use her BCD and the divemaster had to pull her back up when she started drifting down into the depths...

Some of the divemasters there were good, but they were doing the whale shark dives every day. Even Sea Horse probably wouldn't let an 11 or 12 year old go on that trip and I don't think I would have trusted our divemaster for the local reef dive we did with a kid.

I don't know much about Splash, but it's really your only other choice in Placencia unless you're going to stay at Robert's Grove or take a taxi up there. Ambergris or Caulker sound like much better choices to me.

 

[peterbj7]

Can I get this clear - are you saying that a certified diver having poor buoyancy control is the dive center's fault or responsibility? I always thought it was the diver's.

 

[eddydingle]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. It was the diver's fault for having poor buoyancy control and going on a dive they weren't ready for, of course. I think that Sea Horse was awfully sketchy, though, for claiming that the dive is for advanced divers only and then not even checking to see if the divers going on the trip had the skills they claimed were prerequisites. Nobody in our dive group had cards checked or anything. The owner was obviously more concerned with filling the dive boat with paying customers than with worrying about whether or not they were qualified (or whether or not they'd held reservations for months, but that's another story). It was a first come, first serve madhouse for spots on the boat each morning when whale shark dives were going on and I would recommend against that situation for a kid. As an adult, I would consider them again for a whale shark dive, but that wasn't the topic of this thread.

 

[Thatch Caye Belize]

Hi Jeanne,

I run a small resort here in southern Belize and we offer plenty of shallow dives for young people and beginners. Our resort also welcomes kids and has plenty for them to do. We have lots of natural local wildlife out here on our caye including the coatamundi, the paca, the agouti, and tons of rabbits and iguanas. we also have sea kayaks and are right next to a bird sanctuary. We have a family villa to rent as well as smaller and larger individual cabanas depending on what you want. We are also close to the mainland and we offer inland tours to the Mayan ruins and caves and waterfalls.

 

[peterbj7]

Do you have a website?

 

[Thatch Caye Belize]

Our website is Thatch Caye Resort - A Handmade Resort off the coast of Belize
I see that you are up in San Pedro but if you get bored up there, come on down and see us for a little vacation. Take a few dives and compare them with the north and see what you think.

 

[peterbj7]

I'd love to, but I live on a Belizean's wages.....

 

[BigJimDiver]

Hi Im zack, Im 13 years old and i went on the Aqua Cat in the bahamas. It was excellent. I just got certified this trip, i did my class work where i live and i did my check out dives there. The crew is fantastic and funny, and the diving is great. The dives are mostly shallow except for one or 2 that i could not do, and it is a great place for families. they do shore excersions once a day except for the first and last day. You can skip a dive if u want and there are many fun things to do on the boat. also it is a cat so the boat doesnt sway and you shouldnt get sea sick.