Diving Belize

[rockbeauty]

Hi Ikirgan, I agree with the last post, the 185$ is for all three dives and the two other dives, beside the blue hole, are beautiful (I did the channel and the aquarium I think). I was lucky enough to see a dozen of sharks over me while I was down at ~120 feet in the blue hole and swimming around the big stalagtites is worth the third of the costfor that day in my opinion. The way to never be deceived: just never expect anything incredible from a dive and you will apreciate the unexpected encounters!
I dived with paradise down in caye caulker and they were nice.
Belize in general is an expensive place to dive to but try to buy a package of 10 dives, it may come cheaper!
Enjoy your diving

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

Me Three! I concur with the last two folks that posted. We were the tail end of the second group, and went to 138' using 28% O2 EAN. We had a 5' -6' shark come within one body length straight at us before turning its belly to us and zooming down into the not-well-illuminated depths. My wife got a good pic of that. And, the shark feed while we were at the safety stop was pretty cool too. We used 32% O2 EAN for our other two dives that day. A playful pod of dolphins accompanied us for over half an hour on the ride back. The lead DM gave a very thorough, clear, pre-dive briefing each time, and the multiple DM's did a good job watching over each group, but not getting in the way of experienced divers in our trip.

The whole day trip with Amigos was great, but we had some hassle getting our supposedly pre-arranged, no problems, Nitrox tanks from Protech's dock over to the Amigos del Mar boat, but we worked it out. Maybe Amigos is less Nitrox-ignorant now - none of the DM's etc. were Nitrox certified, didn't really know much about it, and a few chatted with us about it on the ride back. We didn't ask for any refund / discount from Amigos for not using their air, so I didn't really understand why there was an issue, other than two competitors with a common pair of customers that week.

The Amigos boat used for the Blue Hole trip is a large boat, and a lot of people like to dive the Blue Hole, so I guess some might call it a cattle boat, but we really appreciated its seaworthiness and stability on the ride out & back. You can hire a smaller boat to take the trip, but the ride out & back in a smaller boat wouldn't have given us a nicer overall day trip experience.

We used Protech for all our non-Blue Hole diving, and we were very pleased with the DM's and boat crews. If you have DIN first stages, Protech had the DIN or yoke convertible tank valves readily available for us to use, for either air or Nitrox. Protech also has multiple tank sizes fairly readily available for use.

There was no inkling of 'cattle boat' with Protech - their 'big boat' was 'in the shop' while we were there, so only small boats for us that trip. Night dive with Protech was great - just us 2, the DM, boat captain, and one other diver.

All week we had a great pace for photo ops, with both operators.

 

[divekraz]

We want to go to Belize around June 17 to 23. The dates can be a little longer if need be. Those dates listed are my days off. I can take vacation before or after if need be.

We want to Dive, cave tubing, go on a couple of Maya Ruins Exploration, and get married.

Sorry for jumping in on someones Post. But the info could really help us.

thanks

From what your asking I'd suggest going to Hamanasi. You take a little prop plane from the airport to a little town south of Belize City called Dangriga. GET the treehouse. It's a small resort with beach front rooms, breakfast & dinner included AND 6 treehouses set in the trees. They are newly built, about 10ft off the ground with a front porch, hammock, large bathroom & large bedroom w sitting area and absolutely private. Staff will not come to the treehouse except to clean, there is no phone, or tv, air conditioner yes. The dive staff takes care of all your equipment, you just show up for the dives or take a guided tour in the jungles with a swim in clear waterfall fed pools at the end of the hike.

 

[lkirgan]

We have just returned from our Belize trip. We weren't able to make Turneffe or Blue Hole because there weren't enough people booked for the trips through any of the operators on the days we were there to dive.

Our first dive was a night dive with Belize Ocean Divers--they were suggested by our resort. We dove Hol Chan with a very good DM who was very attentive.

Our second and third dives were with Amigos. They were awesome! The dive plan was clear and the dive was enjoyable and based on those two dives I highly recommend them.

Fourth dive...back to Belize Ocean Divers for another night dive. We were whisked through Hol Chan in minutes.

Fifth dive...Belize Ocean Divers promised to show us mating turtles and beautiful reefs with tons of life and color. What we got was a dangerous dive through M&M Caverns. DM took off an never looked back despite going through numerous caves and narrow caverns at 100ft. The ascent was way too fast and the DM tried to end the safety stop after about 1 minute. We all stayed down for at least three minutes while he left the water. We had planned on three dives that day with Belize Ocean Divers but ended up scrapping the other two dives for a quick daytime dive at Hol Chan.

Thanks, everyone, for your input on this. Much appreciated. I am now looking forward to making another trip down for the Blue Hole and Turneffe dives that we missed.

all the best

 

[dtslottke]

Absolutely agree!! The drift dives and Half Moon Caye were worth the trip. But the Blue Hole was my first dive after certification, and coming to it "fresh" was quite an experience. The sheer drop, and the reef sharks at the bottom of the dive were something to see. I'll do the trip again sometime. Amigos Del Mar--great people, great trips.
Have Fun!!


--Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip around the sun.

 

[dtslottke]

We want to go to Belize around June 17 to 23. The dates can be a little longer if need be. Those dates listed are my days off. I can take vacation before or after if need be.

We want to Dive, cave tubing, go on a couple of Maya Ruins Exploration, and get married.

Sorry for jumping in on someones Post. But the info could really help us.

thanks

Seaduced runs a good trip to Altun Ha from San Pedro--ruins before the rush, then lunch and relaxation for the afternoon at Maruba resort. Again, ruins before the rush; I've taken groups of students on this trip from different companies over the last four years, and the most enjoyable was last year having the ruins to ourselves for at least an hour before ALL the buses showed up.

Congrats and good luck.


--Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip around the sun.

 

[dtslottke]

What about the other things. Getting married Second most important(diving is first & she will agree), cave tubing, and Maya ruins.
Thank you for your input. I was on this board all night at work reading
about Belize and everyone pretty much wrote about Ambergis. I am guessing
that is the best area to stay for the money?? I could not find any big discussions
about other areas

Caye Caulker seems to be a liitle cheaper and more relaxed; it's also smaller and if you want something not on the island you're stuck taking a ferry (which runs regularly). Over the past several years Ambergris has really started getting "crowded", which won't stop me from going back, though.

--Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip around the sun.

 

[Salt]

What dive shops to go with in Belize?
That depends on where you are staying. Ambergris Caye? Caye Caulker? Placencia? Hopkins? Out on one of the atolls? That's going to be where the real decision is. There are lots of different dive shops on Ambergris; maybe 3 in Placencia; and you may be limited to the dive shop at the resort you are staying at other locations.

Is the Blue Hole worth it ?
Probably depends on how experienced a diver you are. For me, mainly a vacation diver with about 30 dives under my belt, it was absolutely worth it. Diving the dark hole down to 100 feet is a unique experience and then of course there are the sharks...big ones. In Spring of 2012 it cost almost $300 for the full day trip with 3 dives - but it was a once in a lifetime experience! Not sure I would pay that much do the trip a second time when there are lots of other places to go and see, but there was a couple on our boat that did it every year. Check YouTube for some clips showing what the dive is all about.

 

[Hank49]

Hi Salt,

Not that it matters....any input is good input, but this thread is 8 years old.

 

[Salt]

I am aware it is an old post. However, it still pops up if you are doing Google searches on diving Belize. In fact, I came across it when planning my dive trip last year

So my info wasn't for the original poster but anyone else coming along afterwards.