General Belize Advice

[m_patts]

My Fiance and I are planning a trip to Belize for our honey moon and I was hoping to get a little general advice about where to stay. We are hoping to find a good central location that will keep us close to some city activity but mainly Diving.

We were also hoping to visit the blue hole and see some whale sharks so if those were near by as well it would be even better!

Let me know if you guys have any hotels/dive shops that you can recomend
Thanks!

 

[ScubaBabe22]

Hey,

I've been to Belize like 6 or 7 times so I can help you out. I think your best bet would be Ambergrise Caye... I did the blue hole from there one morning. Loved it!

I can recommend 2 GREAT dive shops and a couple other hotels/resorts...etc.

Let me know AC sounds interesting.

 

[peterbj7]

Look at Belize Vacations, Maps, Real Estate, Resorts, News, Hotels, Travels, Flights, Weather, Tours. As well as useful info it has lots of maps of the whole of Belize. Seems you need to brush up on your geography!

 

[Hank49]

When are you coming? The whale sharks are very seasonal, unless you're really lucky.

 

[m_patts]

We are planning to go next spring, towards the end of april or early may. From what I've seen we might be right on time for the Whale sharks. Yeah, we've looked into Ambergrise Caye, that seems like a good spot and will offer everything we need.

Thanks for all the help so far.

 

[rossandmaureen]

Unfortunately Ambergris Caye won't offer everything you need if part of your objective is to dive with whale sharks. While you can get lucky sometimes and see them (I know that Peter from Pro-Tech did recently and has the picture on his laptop), for the most part the sightings are far more reliable diving out of Placentia in the southern part of Belize. Depending on the length of your trip you could stay and dive in two places...Ambergris Caye and Placentia.

Ambergris Caye will provide you the opportunity to dive the local reefs which are very good and to do a day trip (usually three dives) to the central atolls including the Blue Hole. Dive ops in Ambergris Caye are very good and you won't go wrong with Pro-Tech, Ecologic and many others recommended on this board. The beauty of Ambergris Caye diving is that the barrier reef is so close to shore that the run time from the dock to the dive site is very short.

I have yet to dive Placentia but my understanding is that dive sites are further offshore and take 90 minutes to 2 hours to reach so your two tank dive will be one trip not two as in Ambergris Caye. Whale sharks are seasonal and dependent on the full moon and the major dive op in Placentia does post a calendar as to the best sighting times. Your April/May timing is about right but do check with the calendar to ensure the greatest possibility of seeing them.

Transport between the various spots in Belize is easy and relatively inexpensive via either Tropic or Maya Air and the flight times are short so you could do both centers with minimal logistical problems.

 

[m_patts]

Thanks, Yeah we might have to look into spending a day or two a little further south. But if our timing is a little off it sounds like the Caye will have everything else we want. The day trip to the Blue hole sounds great!

 

[Thatch Caye Belize]

I would recommend Thatch Caye Resort. It's a great honeymoon getaway and we do dives to the Blue Hole and to the whale sharks out at Gladden's Spit to our south.

 

[Thatch Caye Belize]

Thatch Caye Resort is exactly in the central part of Belize and we can therefore do the Blue Hole and the whale shark dives to our south. We also do inland tours since we are close to land. Check us out because our geographical location may be perfect for you.

 

[Hank49]

Thatch Caye Belize, where exactly are you? Are you that development due west of Tobacco and the Bird Sanctuary Caye? (there's another caye between the birds and Tobacco but I don't know the name of it.)