Flying from Cozumel MX to Belize city

[ReefHound]

who is comparing apples and peanuts now...? Newark is not my area thats NJ... you are comparing huston flights with NY...its a lost cause. Im not going to respond to you because you have no point... so go ahead you have the floor and you have absolutely no effect on me so go ahead with your insults... matters not.

Why don't you just post the comparisons from whatever city you think justifies your idiotic "three times" remark? What is your departure city? You're not going to respond because you got your tail whipped solid. Now take your ball and run home to mama.

 

[Ralph Capeling]

Just to clarify - Belize may be more expensive but you get a great deal more in Belize. For example, Belize is the smallest country in Central America with a population less than 400 000 people – it is almost empty! Belize is the center of the ancient Maya world - more Maya sites per square kilometer than anywhere else, the longest barrier reef in the northern hemisphere, 3 atolls, the Blue hole, one of the few places in the world you can dive with whale sharks. Most of the southern half of the country is covered by protected areas. Belize is the greenest country in Central America. You can leave Placencia in the morning and go zip line, river tubing, visit a Maya ruin and be back on the beach with a drink in your hand before dark.

In any event, at Splash we compete on the basis of quality rather than price. You have said you would go on the basis of price and we are the busiest dive center in Placencia. There is more to it than price.

Our prices are higher than some others in this area. We compete on the basis of quality. We have a lower ratio of divers per dive master or snorkelers per snorkel guide, provide towels, snacks and juice at our dive center, provide complimentary pickup and drop off along the main road in the village, have well maintained boats with all the required safety equipment), we have prescription masks for divers or snorkelers who are either near sighted or far sighted, probably the only dive center in Belize with satellite phone on our main boat for long distance trips like to the Blue Hole so that we can communicate with shore at all times - so our costs are higher. We are one of the two dive operations in this area that offer nitrox.

In addition, we have community support programs such as our kids program (where we teach local kids to dive for free - and have done more than 150 certifications to date which again results in us having higher costs. Two of the “kids” are now at instructor level.

We trained the BSOLT cave rescue team from open water diver to dive master level at our sole cost as part of our support program for Belize. The Belize School of Outdoor Leadership Training BSOLT is a Non-Profit Org that is trained to do rescue work in difficult areas of Belize such as in caves and in remote mountain areas.

We are also one of the few PADI shops (some advertise PADI but are not actual PADI affiliates which you should check on line to see which are which) and we are a PADI Green Star which requires us to do additional environmental things. We are the only dive center in this area that trains and develops our staff from basic open water through to instructor level and you can see the effect of that on Trip Advisor. Patty Ramirez (co-owner of Splash) is one of two course directors in Belize (which is the highest PADI level and the level required to instruct instructors).

All this adds costs but we think it brings value and many of our guests prefer to dive, snorkel and tour with Splash because of our responsibility programs. That may be why we are consistently ranked highly on Trip Advisor and why the Belize Tourism Board selected us as tour operator of the year for 2016 and 2014 and awarded us the Hospitality Award for 2016. We are highly recommended in Moon Belize and the only dive center to be awarded a star in Lonely Planet Belize.

its the simple truth that its costs more for less to go to belize. if that is insulting to you than you are getting upset with the wrong guy...but can understand why you would side with the opposition here.

Everyone has a price... no problem. i dont have to pay that price though. if there are two shops selling the same exact item but shop 'a' lists the item for $200 and shop 'b' lists the same exact item for $100. i would buy from shop 'b' that just makes me a smart consumer. but hey i can assure you that i was just as insulted as you when I was asked to pay 31.5% tax and fees for less.

 

[nuts4corals]

@ Ralph Capeling... sometimes research yields a positive result sometimes a negative one. However, in this case I would say its very positive because it lead me to decide against going to BZE and for going elsewhere for many reasons I listed below

It wasn't so much a hamburger man seeking a steak but more like paying for steak and getting a hamburger

1. I have learned that in order to go to Belize and do the better diving there you have to dedicate more time getting out to the atolls since they are located 62 nautical miles offshore. Door to door depending on where you come from could take upwards of 15 hours since you have to take two planes to get to BZE than a 25 minute taxi to the docks and finally a 2 hour boat ride to the atoll EACH WAY. and those boat rides only go out two times a week so you probably have to stay on the mainland overnight the day before your arrival. At least you recommended that and others as well to thwart missing the boat and having to hire a private one which could cost $400 one way. That's paying for steak and getting hamburger.
2. Due to the atolls remote location you will be giving up creature comforts, namely flush toilets, Air con, TV, Entertainment, restaurants ect. That's paying for steak and getting hamburger.
3. It will cost you more to get there. That's paying for steak and getting hamburger.
4. It will cost you more for accommodations (at least double of what neighboring countries charge). That's paying for steak and getting hamburger.
5. Perhaps 9 days is not enough to go to BZE and you need to dedicate two weeks for this destination.
6. Taxes and fees are high and are kept semi hidden for you to realize that a trip you thought were paying was costing you almost 33% more. That's paying for steak and getting hamburger.

Obviously Belize wasn't the type of trip I was looking for due to the above even though I am an avid Hiker and Camper and do enjoy that kind of thing very much. If I ever do decide to do some camping in BZE I would definitely try your recommended atoll >>> Glover's so I do appreciate you letting me know about it and Ralph when/IF I do go out to Glovers. If you run trips from Glovers i will look you up. Originally it was the diving that attracted me to BZE and I am sure that part is very nice even though that too will cost you 2x more to do there. Its unfortunate that its more difficult to get there and the cost associated in doing so overwhelmingly caused me to decide against Belize, NOT THE DIVING. Hence the tittle of this thread. and... i wasn't going to Belize for the land attractions and cant really agree that Belize gives you more as you state but actually less for more. well the steak and hamburger analogy holds true.

 

[Downing]

Hmmm. Maybe I just have hamburger tastes, lol.

Nuts, I don't want to argue about this. If you've decided to go elsewhere then so be it. But I go to Belize every year and haven't found it to be any more or less expensive than any of the other scuba destinations I've been, such as Hawaii, the Keys, Mexico and Cuba. All of these places require a round trip air plane ticket and that's usually the biggest expense of all.

For me, part of the fun of the trip is the journey, at least once I arrive at Goldson. I can either catch a puddle jumper and get a great birds eye view of the country or rent a car and get a better look up close and personal. If it's the latter, there are a couple of places to stop off along the way to do some sightseeing and grab a relatively cheap and good meal. And say hi to some friends I haven't seen in a while.

My Belize destination of choice has become Placencia, but I always go check out the jungle too and have been all over the country. I've probably seen more of Belize than most Belizeans, lol. I like to use Placencia as a home base because of the easy access to both diving and the rest of the mainland. Ralph and Patty really do run a first class diving operation in Splash, and I'm always taken care of very well while I'm there. The diving is on par with the rest of the country. Warm water, great to excellent viz and plenty of coral and aquatic life. What's not to like?

As with the rest of country, if you stay on AC or Placencia you can go big and stay in expensive hotels and eat Running W steaks in expensive restaurants or go small and stay in a cheap cabana and eat take out pizza. Or do something in between. They all have running toilets and A/C. Well, ok, Francis Ford Coppola's Turtle Inn in Placencia doesn't have AC but that's because they choose not to for that special tropical ambience. The national meal is stewed chicken, rice and beans washed down with a beer or a soda and can be had for five bucks if you know where to look, just ask around.

If you do elect to stay on an atoll, which tend to attract the more well-heeled crowd, then getting there and back is part of the adventure. There are only two ways to get out there, either by boat or by helicopter. Obviously, a boat is cheaper although maybe not as cool but still a pretty fun way to get around and see the cayes. And again, most of them at least will have running toilets and AC. If you're catching a boat, it is a good idea to get there the night before and stay at either the Ft George Radisson or right across the street at the much more charming The Great House. An extra night in a hotel isn't that big a deal in the scheme of things and certainly beats hiring your own boat or helicopter. It's true there aren't any bars and restaurants out there, other than the in-house ones, but that's why people go, so they can "get away from it all." Since these are all-inclusive resorts, they do cost a lot upfront but everything is included, i.e., transfers, food, lodging and diving. These places are like summer camp for adults. Other than tipping and liquor, you will have completely pre-paid for your vacation and there's some value in that.

I do agree that two weeks is a good minimum, although plenty of people go for a week or even less. I usually go for three. Belize may be a small country but it's still a big place (think Massachusetts) with a lot to offer. Small enough that drive times tend to be short but big enough that it will take chunks of time away from diving. When I go for three weeks, I usually dive weeks one and three and run around the country during week two. Kind of a Belize vacation sandwich that is dive/jungle/dive and go home.

Have fun, wherever you decide to go.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Never mind steak and hamburger, Downing's mention of Belizean stew chicken brings back fond memories of Belize. I stayed on Caulker in budget accommodations--the fancy resorts like Turneffe Island were out of my budget. On a full-day outing with the Caulker dive op, they stopped for lunch on some island and brought out a cooler of stew chicken, which we ate there on the beach. It was the best surface interval lunch I can remember anywhere--better than the bland "international" food they serve at fancy resorts around the world. The only thing that could beat that are the stories I have heard of how things were in the Caribbean 30 or more years ago, when they would cook you a lobster.

 

[ReefHound]

I am indeed a hamburger man but don't whine about the cost of steak or declare that expensive steakhouses don't want customers.

An alternative to staying on a remote atoll resort with no TV, internet, and flush toilets is to do an Aggressor liveaboard. Will still run you ~3k but more comfy.