Dive shop and Dive Sites

[Darcey]

I heard good things about Reef Adventures too. I did like Ecologic. Sorry to hear the front office turned you off. It's hard to shake off a first impression like that, but the divers, boat crew, and most everybody there were terrific. The size of the groups varied, from day to day. Four of the days, there were less than six divers on the boat (on one day it was just my wife and I!). One day it was a zoo -- 13 divers. Kind of like the days in the Caymans, when all the big Tour Ships arrive for a stopover. We all know how that is. You do your best to try to avoid the newbies, and swim away from the crowd. On the plus side, you always have an opportunity to meet some interesting peeps. Ecologic doesn't do the Blue Hole trip. I thing they refer their divers to the next shop down the beach (can't remember the name, but they've got a big 65' vessel). I thought about trying several operators, but I REALLY liked the fact that Ecologic stored all our gear between dives so we didn't have to schlepp the stuff out each morning.
How was the Blue Tang? We saw it, while riding by on bikes, and I liked the look of the place, and the location seemed very convenient. (Thinking about next year already..)

The Blue Tang was above and beyond great. We were very pleased with our suite and the service we got there. Plus it was right near a couple of grocery stores and a lot of great places to eat. The place is very clean, private and quiet and they have a very nice continental breakfast set up for the guests in the morning.

Ecologic refers people to Amigos del Mar for the Blue Hole, as does Reef Adventures. Their boat they take to the Hole is quite nice. Very roomy and user friendly. Although...hold on if the boat pitches while you're coming out of the head....I got thrown and landed on the stairs and broke my hand on the ride back to Ambergris that day! Yes, there was rum involved but I only blame the rum for making me have to go use the head. :cool2: All was well until I opened the door and we hit a huge wave and the boat pitched and sent me flying. My broken and swollen hand didn't stop me from diving the rest of the week though! LOL! (And, the docs there in San Pedro give you a shot of morphine for pain! WHOO!)

Reef Adventures will store your gear there for you too. That was really nice because hauling gear back and forth all of the time gets old...and I'm sure that room service gets annoyed with divers and their wetsuits and gear hanging all over the place to dry!

 

[GatorCT]

>>>> Note to self: Make sure Darcey's on the Island for next year's dive trip.....

 

[grrladventure]

We took our 3rd trip to Ambergis this past Feb. and dove with Belize Diving Adventures. I can't say enough good about this operation. Because they are a smaller operation, they really are able to cater to your needs. The opperators, Enes and Everette A. and are a husband and wife team and run a first class operation. On average we had 5 divers on the boat and they were able to really taylor the dive sites chosen to the diver's skills on board. My mother (70 years old) dove with us some of the time and they really took extra special care of her. Another plus, Nitrox was available for all of our dives.

 

[Darcey]

>>>> Note to self: Make sure Darcey's on the Island for next year's dive trip.....

Damn skippy!!!

 

[Gaz]

You may find some of my articles on Belize of interest, specifically as to whether the Blue Hole is worth it I also have an article on some of my favorite local dive sites and a variety of others I will attempt to post them here on scubaboard articles, otherwise you can view them on my Blog/website.

Dive Safe

Gaz Cooper

 

[Avadon Divers]

Hi Gaz,
If you need some help for descriptions on southern Belize barrier reef diving let me know. We're the new dive shop in Placencia. We have some great, cutting edge 3-tank dive packages for the area. We have a great boat to make the longer runs - a 46ft Newton. Check out our website and let me know what we can do for you: Avadon Divers - Placencia, Belize, Welcome
Anne-Marie