Couple questions about Belize diving.

[chrisneilson]

Hey all.

Planning a trip to Belize in February. We've decided to base ourselves in Hopkins and do from there for the week. They have a nice beach and are relatively close to Glover, Turneffe and things we want to do inland such as ATM and maybe Cave Tubing.

Not really interested in the Blue Hole as it's mostly about rock formations and such a long expensive trip. Maybe someday on a bucket list.

As i've been looking at the diving though, some of the descriptions seem to talk about "drift diving" being the norm at these locations.

I've also seen them say it's not "drift diving" the way Cozumel is. I've done it before and wasn't a huge fan as I like to take some time and get a close look as opposed to drifting along so fast you don't really get the time to have a good look.

Can anyone comment on this?

Thanks.

Also, any suggestions about things to do, places to eat, other activities would be welcome.

My only regret so far is being located a bit too far to do Hol Chan and Shark Alley... unless someone convinces me it cna't be missed.

 

[salth2owannabe]

I'm not an area expert but I'll throw in a few thoughts-
Hopkins area gives you some good land base options, maybe not as good for strictly diving.
Glovers is a good hour and a half to 2 hour boat ride on a good day, Turneffe of course being considerably farther.
I have never experienced a drift dive, per say, in Belize as far as currents being a factor. I think they label them a "drift dive" because the boats typically don't use a mooring line and you come back to the boat. Every dive I've done there you dove the wall, or the shelf above the wall, and the boat followed you to the end of the dive. Diving Roatan this was pretty common as well.

 

[Damselfish]

You've chosen a compromise location that would seem to get you diving and land stuff. In a way it does, but be aware of the distances. Thing about Belize is, it's pretty big (compared to say your typical Caribbean island.) And getting many places on land can take longer than you might think just looking at the map. Your close reefs will generally be a longer boat ride from there than if you were staying on Ambergris, or on one of the atolls/islands. Glovers or especially Turneffe is going to be a day trip - assuming you do get on a trip out there, as I expect they'd want some minimum number of people to make it worth their while. (It's good you don't want to do the Blue Hole as that seems less likely to happen from there.)

So you're going to spend a lot of time traveling. Which is cool as long as you know that. But if you want to dive and do land stuff, there is something to be said for dividing a Belize trip into a dive focused part and a land focused part, and stay places that are much closer to what you want to do. (Even better if the trip can be longer than a week.) Or, just figure you're going to make multiple trips there to see different areas of the country.

 

[Downing]

I'm guessing you're staying at Hamanasi. If so, good choice.

It really is hard to do much in the way of land adventures if you're diving on the same trip and staying for only a week.

That said, you are relatively close to cave tubing and ATM. To get to the either, jump on the Southern Highway, then hang a left on the Hummingbird Highway. Beautiful drive. When you get to the Western Highway, turn left to go to ATM or turn right to go cave tubing. An alternative route for cave tubing would be to take the Southern Highway all the way to the Western Highway. It turns to dirt right at the intersection with the Hummingbird. Although the scenery isn't as spectacular as the Hummingbird, it's a pretty cool drive. You could also swing by Gale's Point to check out the manatees if you go that way.

You could probably combine both in the same trip but it would be a long day.

You're also very close to zip lining either at the cave tubing place or just off the Southern Highway towards Placencia. And there's the Blue Hole Park, just off the Hummingbird. Dangriga is definitely worth a visit just to check out the Garifuna culture. And the Belize Zoo, just past the cave tubing on the Western Highway, is a world class facility with animals you'll never see anywhere else. If your flight out from Goldson is in the afternoon, think about either the Zoo or walking around Altun-Ha, off the Northern Highway, in the morning. Beats sitting around the airport all morning.

I know Hamanasi organizes inland trips because I've bumped into them before. Even if you're not staying there, you could drop by and pick up some brochures or visit their website to get some ideas.

Although Belize is a small country it's still a pretty big place so it takes multiple trips to see the best the country has to offer.

I agree with salth's description of the "drift diving" in Belize. What currents there are tend to be pretty mild.

 

[AWMIII]

I have run into currents a few times, but most times they are so mild that you do not really notice them. When I dove the elbow there was a lot of current. I have had a few dives in San Pedro with a little bit of current.


Everything else posted above is accurate. Getting around on the roads of mainland Belize is a bit of an adventure. Many roads are paves, but should not be traveled at night. Many become ver slippery when wet. They all seem to have speed bumps, some of which are not well marked. All of these factors combine to make it take much longer to travel the same distance in Belize than in the US.