do i HAVE to dive the blue hole?

[peterbj7]

Hey! Protech! I love diving in Belize, and I've always wanted to do the Blue Hole, are you telling me its not that good?

P.S. I think your dock was where my divemaster threw a (dead, smelly, gross) fish on me.

Yes, I am saying it's not that good (for most people). I hope you caught the fish in your mouth, like a seal. If you do that convincingly we give you a free trip.

 

[Hank49]

The Blue Hole can get pretty exciting if you go with someone who feeds the sharks. Hustler Dive Shop used to. I'm not thrilled about seeing the stalagmites and 'tites, but we had about 8 sharks cruising around one time and that was cool.

 

[shef]

We were just in San Pedro last week. Lighthouse is well worth the trip, but blue hole is a waste of gas. We went out with aqua dives - it was a rough 2.5 hr trip from san pedro. Half moon caye wall & the aquarium were spectacular. It was the dives after the hole that made us think the 5+ hours of bouncing around in the boat was worthwile. - cattle boat by the way, 15 divers and 15 snorkelers. Went down to 135' to see the stalactites and came up with 2200 psi bumping into the other 13 divers on the safety stop. Very Very disappointing even after being warned that it was a nothing dive.

It felt like a quarry dive with a few reef sharks thrown in. I was also unhappy that the operators were chumming above our safety stop in an area known for bulls. As a surfer/diver I am particularly sensitive to chumming.

I suggest you get a few other divers together and ask to do a lighthouse trip without the hole stop. The hole is an unnecessary deep dive in an area where you can enjoy some of the best reef diving anywhere. I would not even say the hole is a "been there done that" dive - unless you like to share stories of bad dives with other divers. The blue hole=waste of time was a common conversation topic around our hotel.

Sorry to sound like a grump - we love Belize and had some really great diving last week. Just dont expect too much of the blue hole.

 

[DandyDon]

I'm with the majority here. It's a logbook dive, not that exciting, and you're not ready for the risk.

 

[Halthron]

Another thought is that if you have to ask if you are ready, and should do this dive on a public forum, than you are not ready.

QFE. Listen to what your brain says.

 

[kimchicowboy]

thanks for the input guys!

i'll probably do the 3 wall dives as i'm more interested in the marine life than the rock formations. i wish i could stop by and snorkel. that'd be pretty awesome, but we can't all get what we want, right?

 

[jaydub]

thanks for the input guys!

i'll probably do the 3 wall dives as i'm more interested in the marine life than the rock formations. i wish i could stop by and snorkel. that'd be pretty awesome, but we can't all get what we want, right?

Actually with most dive ops that offer the blue hole trip I believe you can tell them you want to pass on the blue hole dive which will allow you to do a 3rd dive elsewhere instead. While everyone else is wasting gas in the blue hole you can throw on your snorkeling gear and snorkel on the reef around the blue hole.

 

[jaydub]

also, has anyone stayed at one of the budget hotels? i found one for ~$40/night. i don't need anything fancy; just safe and clean.

thanks!

I didnt stay at a "budget" hotel while on ambergris but if I go to ambergris again I definitely will which will help free up more funds for even more diving. Click this link for info on almost all hotels on ambergris caye ---> http://www.ambergriscaye.com/pages/lodge/lodging.html

If you are looking for some place pretty cheap I think Pedro's backpackers inn looks pretty cheap. It looks kinda old and rotten from the outside but the inside pictures dont look too bad, pool table, bar, free internet access, pool, 24hr security, BBQ, tv's. I havent stayed there so I cant give an accurate description of the place.

 

[Jeff88]

My wife and I are newbe divers. Our first dive trip we took was to Belize. We decided to do the Turneffe Elbow trip instead of the Blue Hole since we didn't have much experience yet..and didn't want to push ourselfs. The Turneffe trip was great..even if we didn't get to do the Elbow dive due to the Currents and poor vis that day. The pictures posted in my photo gallery are our Turneffe dives.

 

[peterbj7]

Actually with most dive ops that offer the blue hole trip I believe you can tell them you want to pass on the blue hole dive which will allow you to do a 3rd dive elsewhere instead. While everyone else is wasting gas in the blue hole you can throw on your snorkeling gear and snorkel on the reef around the blue hole.

Not so, I'm afraid. Lighthouse trips not including the BH are few and far between.