Great deal at Turneffe Island Lodge!

[hopefulist]

Check out this site: Travel Insurance - InsureMyTrip.com

 

[redgym]

I've never purchased trip insurance before either. But given that both my departure city and destination will be in huricane season, we will probably purchase insurance for this trip. During our vacation last year we had to move our departure because of the potential of hurricane and then Hurricane Ike hit on the day we were supposed to return.

I will definetly go on the trip to the Blue Hole for the other dives. I haven't had any trouble controling my bouyancy. However, the deepest I've been is just over 90 ft. so I don't know how my body would react at 130 ft. plus.

 

[BDSC]

I will definetly go on the trip to the Blue Hole for the other dives. I haven't had any trouble controling my bouyancy. However, the deepest I've been is just over 90 ft. so I don't know how my body would react at 130 ft. plus.

Honestly, if you did 90+ feet and did OK with it, you'll probably do just fine at the 130 depth if you decide to go that deep. One never knows for sure until they do it but I'd be willing to bet won't have a problem. And that's the max depth. You may be able to see what you want at depths less than that.

 

[peterbj7]

The max depth of the standard BH dive is actually 150ft, the depth of the shelf that carries the stalagmites and columns. You may stay at 130ft but you won't be allowed to be much shallower than that, as the DMs need to keep the group together for safety reasons.

Not wanting to magnify the issues, but there's a world of difference between 90ft and 130ft. That said, these dives are tightly controlled and you're most unlikely to have any significant problems on them.

 

[Qnape]

I've also been looking into information on the BH dive; I found this thread to be of interest if you haven't read it already:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/belize/280150-blue-hole-dive-planning.html

My daughter (15) and I are both AOW with about 40 dives in our short experience, but having spent a week in both Cozumel and Utila this year with several dives to +-100' we will not pass up the BH dive.

Thanks for the info on the Cactus Juice; we saw it a lot in Utila - it was developed on Roatan. The folks at Utopia Dive Village there use baby lotion for themselves - the little buggers can't get through it. We'll bring baby oil and some 32% DEET just in case and hope never to need it. Big yuck factor to most of the choices, of course; best of all is a steady breeze to keep them at bay. Here's hoping for a bug-free August for us all!

We bought trip insurance for this trip and almost never buy it for other trips. We did look at a few different companies and found significant variation in cost and coverage. Some companies offer 2 - 3 times the coverage on various risks for 20% more premium than others. I didn't want to spend a year looking at details and went with TravelSafe; they seem to offer pretty broad coverage at a reasonable price and offered a "cancel for any reason" rider for $89 for the three of us. Trip interruption, evacuation, and delay are covered.

Anyone know the easiest / best way to settle your bar tab / gratuities at the end of the trip? I hate to bring cash but don't want to get killed with a bad conversion rate on my credit card either.

It's great to see that others here have been able to take advantage of this fantastic price - waiting 2 months to go is gonna be hard.

 

[Eau_Girl]

Anyone know the easiest / best way to settle your bar tab / gratuities at the end of the trip? I hate to bring cash but don't want to get killed with a bad conversion rate on my credit card either.

When I was there everything at TIL was priced in US$. So when at the end of the week things went on a credit card they may have had to state it in BZ$ but I seem to remember it converted at the rate they had stated (i.e., it was the US$ amount I expected).

I would bring cash for tips. One note is that you don't just pay a single amount and then they divide it up. You need to tip everyone from the dive staff to the kitchen ladies to the gardeners/security days. They have a list indicating the level you should give to each group/day.

The island is very secure -- having cash there shouldn't be a problem. The only problem I had was that I had 'hidden' it several places in my stuff in the room. I forgot one of my hiding places! However, I did find it in the end when I was doing my final packing.

 

[Qnape]

I would bring cash for tips. One note is that you don't just pay a single amount and then they divide it up. You need to tip everyone from the dive staff to the kitchen ladies to the gardeners/security days. They have a list indicating the level you should give to each group/day.

Thanks for the tips (and sorry for the pun)! At Utopia Dive Village in Utila they collected separate tips also, but all were paid to the management who distributed them later. I guess the specific details will be clarified after we arrive.

On a different note, I'm sure people reading this thread are aware of the powerful (7.1 Richter) earthquake in Honduras which occurred early this morning. I've been in touch with the folks at Utopia (I was surprised that they had internet service restored so quickly) and while they had a wild ride, everyone is fine and no significant damage occurred to the resort. The epicenter was just off Roatan and Utila, and tsunami warnings were posted for those islands as well as the coast of Belize, I assume including the offshore atolls. Thank goodness no big waves resulted.

 

[Eau_Girl]

Thanks for the tips (and sorry for the pun)! At Utopia Dive Village in Utila they collected separate tips also, but all were paid to the management who distributed them later. I guess the specific details will be clarified after we arrive.

There is a box where the envelopes go or give to the manager, but you actually have to split up the tips into different envelopes for each group (rather than giving over a total sum/telling them how to split it).

Have great time!