Can the Blue Hole in Belize be for beginners?

[occrider]

So I'm going through my classwork now for an OW cert. I plan to complete my OW certifciation dives in Belize. I'm going with a friend who's an experienced diver and he wants to hit up the blue hole at the end of our trip. Being a new diver and all (with maybe one or two dives completed after my certification), is it practical for me to do the blue hole? Thanks!

 

[miketsp]

I'd say this is a dive recommended for advanced/experienced divers only.

When wall diving you still have a visual reference but diving over deep holes requires excellent buoyancy control, especially if something unexpected happens.

 

[JulesVerne]

So I'm going through my classwork now for an OW cert. I plan to complete my OW certifciation dives in Belize. I'm going with a friend who's an experienced diver and he wants to hit up the blue hole at the end of our trip. Being a new diver and all (with maybe one or two dives completed after my certification), is it practical for me to do the blue hole? Thanks!

The Blue Hole is a huge money making scheme for the local operators in San Pedro and most will take anyone with c-card. I had 2 divers on my boat with 1 logged dive (got certified on the island). I did the blue hole and spent more time watching them (as they kept going up and down) than enjoying the dive.

As a certified diver, you are responsible for yourself. So to answer you question, if you are a conservative type, I wouldn't do it. If you are adventurous, feel very confortable under water and your buddy is confortable with taking care of you, you may want to give it a try. If you are leaving from San Pedro, the Blue Hole (long) boat trip includes 2 other shallower dives that are worth it. You could find an operator that lets to snorkel around the reef near the blue hole (it's a nice reef) and dive the subsequent dives and that could be an alternative.

 

[pilot fish]

So I'm going through my classwork now for an OW cert. I plan to complete my OW certifciation dives in Belize. I'm going with a friend who's an experienced diver and he wants to hit up the blue hole at the end of our trip. Being a new diver and all (with maybe one or two dives completed after my certification), is it practical for me to do the blue hole? Thanks!

The Blue Hole in Belize is a yawn, I'm told by those that have dove it. It is also 130 ft dive. My feelings are you need more dives and more experience before you attempt that depth. You are NOT 100% sure of your buoyancy yet so save that dive for another day.

 

[mrvga]

[Blue hole is nothing special but you have no business doing deep dives until you are much more experienced. Be comfortable shallow and safe you'll have a lot more fun.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

So I'm going through my classwork now for an OW cert. I plan to complete my OW certifciation dives in Belize. I'm going with a friend who's an experienced diver and he wants to hit up the blue hole at the end of our trip. Being a new diver and all (with maybe one or two dives completed after my certification), is it practical for me to do the blue hole? Thanks!

Although there are dive ops in San Pedro who will take you there as a newly certified diver, I would recommend against it. The question you have to answer is this ... do you trust your life in the hands of someone you don't know? Although every dive is a risk, your training teaches you to manage those risks within certain limits. This dive exceeds those limits by a substantial margin.

The dive plan is typically to 130 feet, which a new diver has no business going to ... since you don't yet know how to manage your air supply, have not yet experienced narcosis, and probably don't have the buoyancy skills to avoid inadvertently going deeper (the bottom is at about 470 feet). You will be with divemasters who will watch you ... but they have more than one person to watch at a time ... and if you have a problem while they're helping someone else, you'd better hope your dive buddy is able to take care of you.

When I was in San Pedro they lost a diver at the Blue Hole. To the best of my knowledge, the body was never recovered.

If you want my advice, stick with the "local" dives ... there are some awesome dive sites with slot canyons at 60-80 feet that are suitable for the new diver. You'll see more, have more fun, and pay less $$.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[00scuba]

IMHO..the Blue Hole is something to just say you were there...unless you have a huge fascination with collapsed caves.
I was there in early January and our boat did go, definitely ranked the last on my dives for that week and I did 27.

As far as experience, i have 160+ dives.....so that is something you would want to discuss in depth with your buddy.

 

[SueMermaid]

Actually, I think the Blue Hole is a pretty cool dive, I have done it twice.
To answer the question at hand, it's prudent to skip that dive if you are feeling any trepidation. It's a very deep dive that you are not certified to do. Yes, the dive ops will let you go. It's your hiney, not theirs.

 

[D_O_H]

I did the blue hole with only OW certification and about 30 dives under my belt and it was fine. I thought it was a really cool dive, by the way. The cave formations, sharks and deep blue water are like nothing else I've ever seen.

I think I was really pushing it with that amount of experience, though, and probably wouldn't do it with if I were in your shoes. If you have excellent buoyancy, are 100% comfortable in the water and think carefully about what might go wrong at that depth and how to deal with it, I say go for it. If you have even a little heistation about any of those things (espeically the buoyancy part), you should skip it for another day.

Even if you don't do the dive, you may want to go on the trip with your friend anyway. You can snorkel while they dive the BH and then participate in the great picnic lunch and other two half moon caye dives that are typically offered on the trip. The two dives we did on half moon caye were suitable for beginners and were probably my favoite two dives on my trip to Belize.

 

[Xanthro]

Put it this way, the Blue Hole is at the maximum of recreational diving. Do you really want to do that right after your are certified?

Also, is your friend a Rescue diver? Seriously, if something goes wrong, you could quite possibly not come back.

Xanthro