Huracan, Long Caye trip report

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dianna912

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Messages
197
Reaction score
185
Location
Virginia
# of dives
200 - 499
I’ll start with the diving. Diving at lighthouse reef was splendid! We completed 18 dives over our one week stay with Huracan. We were grateful we were able to do that many, as we were informed Tuesday night that Wednesday would be a no dive day. We made a stink about that since we had originally booked for 11 days, and the departure of the one captain Wednesday would have also left us not diving Saturday, which was completely unacceptable. On Thursday, the captain who had been scheduled to leave ended up acting as dive master, as the other dive master had sinus issues and couldn’t clear his ears. We would have had 3 no dive days out of 11 if we hadn’t pushed.


The reefs were splendid, primarily wall diving. I absolutely loved the shallow safety stops on many of the dives, and I could have spent days at the top of aquarium, as it was stunning. The reef was beautiful, but I did notice a lack of biodiversity. Compared to Bonaire, we didn’t see a ton of fish. Angel fish and parrot fish were few and far between. We rarely saw any schools of fish. In Bonaire we’d watch the “Blue tang” clan roll through, seemingly in the thousands, and once we got caught in a Boga bait ball which was truly magnificent. Lighthouse reef did have reef sharks, but I don’t think they quite compare. Spotted Eagle rays were seen swimming by the docks multiple times. It seems like if you want the large marine life, then this is the place to find it.


The Blue Hole was different. I was narced out of my mind, so I don’t recall it in all that much detail, but it was at was a cool experience. It was amazing to be the only divers there. When we were headed back to the boat, the bubbles were coming up over the ledge from the other divers that had just went down. That itself made for a cool visual effect. It was awesome to not have to leave at 5:30 am to get there.


My overall impression was that the dive team is awesome, with Louis being one of the most knowledgeable people we’ve ever dove with. Santi was okay. I let our first experience influence my views on him. Our first dive, he wanted us all to do a weight check, as is usual. For some reason, he entered the water before my husband, the last of our group. He told me to descend, then He immediately descended, and started swimming away, leading the group away. I was watching my husband, of course, and he was signaling that he needed more weight. He was still on the surface. I had to chase down the DM so he could go back and give him weight. He was completely unaware of who had descended and who hadn’t. That’s why we have buddies, thankfully, but for the first dive, I just don’t think that should have happened. The next time he told me to descend without my husband, I refused. Other than that, we mostly went without incident. He didn’t do a great job keeping an eye on air and deco time after the first few days. There was another dive where I swam down to another diver because I realized my watch was reading 12 minutes left, and he had been lower than me the whole dive. His was at 1 minute. I know it’s the responsibility of the diver to watch that, but I also think dive masters should check in, especially the day after the blue hole. We do a lot of independent diving (Bonaire)so I’m not sure if I have too high of expectations down there. I’m personally a mother hen while diving, so maybe I just expect that of others.


As for the lodging, here’s my TripAdvisor review:


In short: if you go during similar conditions as we did (late May) you can expect an uncomfortably hot, buggy stay with food that is not gourmet, mosquito nets that don’t work, and a shortage of a breeze, either from the sea or from fans. You can also expect superb diving. The accommodations, especially for the price, were lacking.

Here’s the long story, with tips sprinkled in:

As we were greeted by the smiling faces of the Huracan team, it was like a breath of fresh air after a long day of travel. We stepped off the dock onto the white sand beach, palm trees swaying around, and thought “this is paradise.” As we were lead along the walkway, that sense of euphoria masked the lack of breeze coming that far back. The first impression of the lodge is an impressive one. Beautiful Belizean hardwoods abound, and a hammock swings invitingly along the long hall leading to the rooms. We sat through a thirty minute intro briefing, and are then were taken to our rooms. While it is hot and muggy, 95 degrees with 90% humidity, you don’t quite notice it those first few hours, but it does catch up with you eventually.


The first night, the guests descended upon the manager to ask about more fans for our rooms. We were the lucky first to ask, so we were blessed with an additional small box fan, but the other guests weren’t so lucky. One stand up fan per room. We noticed another guest immediately ask the manager for bleach, as their compost toilet was overwhelmingly smelly. As second guest noted that their own compost toilet woke them at 2am each morning with a putrid odor. As temperatures rose, this only got worse, and with the smothering heat, the initial illusions of paradise quickly wore off. The one thing in abundance on the island were mosquitoes. Bring bug spray, but don’t count on it working. We were still covered in bites. The mosquito nets were useless, as they didn’t actually close. The dining area was not fully screened, so the mosquitoes were especially bad at meal time. The back door didn’t have a screen door; and needed to be left open for some small amount of breeze, as there are no fans in the large sitting area, also letting mosquitoes in.


At first glance, the decor was lovely. Lovely throw pillows and curtains in the room to separate the bathroom, and also on the shower. It was a beach chic theme that works beautifully for the surroundings. Unfortunately, when you look a bit closer, there are many cracks in the lovely facade. The shower curtain was filthy. Bed linens had holes in it. My pillowcase shifted one night, revealing a disgusting pillow beneath my head. Two pillowcases interlapping would have fixed that. Our bed was not made until four days in, then it was made for two days in a row.


Don’t expect hot water. It is very dependent on the room. We figured out, on the last day, that our shower only was hot if the adjoining room was also running the shower. We were the first room on the right. The water was frigid for the duration of our trip, with the exception of that fluke the last day.


It’s a “Barefoot” lodge- but staff was often wearing flip flops. It’s a great concept, but you need rugs and such, especially at the foot of the bed to make it work. The floor was always covered in sand, making us eventually crawl into a sandy bed, since the floors were not swept for our four days. One day, the foot rinse bucket had hardly any water, and tons of sand, so our feet actually got sandier using it. We mentioned something, three times over three hours of people coming and got my with sandy feet, and finally it was replenished. There were no rugs at the entrances, which compounded the issue, save for a small 4”x8” strip of outdoor mat.


Food: we are not picky eaters by any means, but with the very high price tag that Huracan commands along with their claims of “gourmet dining,” we had fairly high expectations, and the food ended up being hit or miss. We ate conch pasta, conch skewers, conch fritters, and conch ceviche. I generally like conch fritters, but having conch as a main protein source on a dish is just terrible. It is horribly chewy and the skewers and pasta were the only meals that we didn’t eat in full. Actually, one other pasta dish where I found what I suspect was a pantry moth larvae in my food was also off-putting.


They did go out of their way to make the two birthdays in the current group of guests very special, including beautiful birthday cakes. This was a very special touch.


We also loved the group dining experience, and we made friends and had great laughs, so PLEASE don’t change that!


If you are coming in the summer months, prepare for a very uncomfortable stay. The breeze does not reach the lodge, as it is set far back into the jungle. If you are lucky enough to get a light rain to cool things down on the island, the mosquitoes become even more aggressive.


We were told that they try to deal with the mosquitoes, but instead of relying on insecticides, they need to actually screen the place and provide true mosquito nets.


There were so many little things that could have been done to enhance the experience. Multiple mornings we had to ask for plates, and utensils, etc. We had to ask for ice water with every meal. I will say, though, a new assistant chef came in mid week and these things significantly improved with her attentions. It’s possible the manager has a bit too much on her plate to also serve as the waitress, so this extra staff was a welcome addition to the service level.


As for the diving, it was incredible! We did the Blue Hole and also spent three days at Half Moon Caye. We were constantly encountering reef sharks, turtles, along with stunning coral formations and fish.


There were a couple of small issues with the diving, which I will address in a direct review of the dive opp, but all in all it was a five star dive experience. Louis was fantastic, and Santi and Carlos rounded out the dive team nicely.


One bright light: when cut our trip down from 11 days to 7, they were accommodating of this change, and we appreciated that. We were just too uncomfortable with the heat and the mosquitoes to complete the stay.


To the management, there are two small things that could go a long ways towards enhancing the experience of Huracan: an abundance of fans and functional mosquito nets. A lodge cannot thrive on superb diving alone. If these small tweaks were made, we’d definitely be interested in returning.
 
That was my full tripadvisor review. I listed a couple of these things very specifically because I noticed the owner said in response to other reviews that rooms were cleaned daily, and that there are rugs, and that just was not true for us, in case anyone wonders. I felt they need to be aware of these things.


We did end up bailing out early. The forecast was rain our last four days, and we were horrified at the thought of being cooped up in the lodge, and not having our breezy dock nightly retreat to take the edge off the heat and mosquitoes. We also couldn’t imagine going straight to the airport from Huracan, since we couldn’t really take a full shower. (I can deal with lukewarm water. I can’t deal with frigid water and a super dirty shower curtain liner that’s it’s impossible not to touch due to the size of the shower.) We ended up being there a full week, and moved to Caye Caulker. The reef there was sad. We ended up taking the ferry to San pedro the last two days and getting in some lovely diving there. I’ll be posting another summary about that soon.


Interestingly, the Brits we became friends with there gave it a 5* review. They said they have a summer house in France without ac so they are used to sweltering heat, and apparently I’m a mosquito beacon and draw them away from everyone else. (Seriously!) so they didn’t have to suffer that misery, either. To each their own, as the saying goes. In February, with milder weather, I could see this being pretty amazing, especially if they address some of the issues.
 
Also, I realize Stoo has had great experiences there, and I wonder if that is because of his frequency and advocacy. It’s possible they may go out of their way to make sure you have a great experience since you’ve brought them a lot of business.

I do have a couple of things I’m curious about. I don’t think they ever used a battery while we were there. I may be wrong, but the room closest to the generator could hear it all night.

For $600/night for two of us, I just couldn’t see the value. There definitely seem to be some growing pains, and I did not feel like Cynthia was a great manager. We asked for OFF spray she volunteered that she had day one, but she never did provide it. (We brought our own deet gel, but I usually only like to use it for outdoor excursions, as it’s a pain to apply. I just wanted off for mealtimes and such since I got ate alive in the dining area.) She was the one who I asked about refilling the foot rinse bowl, and who we had to practically beg for ice water. I felt that she was always pushing drinks (alcoholic) at dinner, and neglectful of those of us who did not imbide. My husband and I ended up drinking a lot of club soda because the paid drinks seemed to come out a lot faster. On a personal note, she was extremely wordy and took an extremely long time to make a point, if she ever did. (I’m one to talk with the longest trip report ever, ha!) Maybe we caught her on a bad week? I’m curious what your thought is on her, Stoo, since she hasn’t always been the manager. How does she compare to previous managers? Maybe our expectations were too high? The reviews on TripAdvisor are glowing about the food, lodging, and diving, and management claims the food is gourmet. I knew going in that there was no a/c, but I didn’t expect limited fans, too. I knew that hot showers would be spotty, but I figured the water would be lukewarm, not cold. We could have done better with a solar shower bag. I’ve spent time on sail boats, and I’ve spent time in the Gilis, where we had no hot water or a/c, but it was never as uncomfortable as this trip.
 
Interesting that you saw a lot of mosquitoes. I've been to Belize a dozen times, but always December and always farther south, on the Cayes off of Dangriga/Hopkins. I've gotten a total of maybe 3 mosquito bites down there.

However, the sand "fleas" are brutal. They tend to chew you from the knee down, or your hands if they're left dangling out near ground or floor level. I hate using mosquito repellent (I find it nauseous), but I use it a lot on my legs during the day and my legs and arms at night.

Maybe this is a seasonal thing? Is there a freshwater source on Long Caye (or nearby) where mosquitoes can breed?
 
Interesting that you saw a lot of mosquitoes. I've been to Belize a dozen times, but always December and always farther south, on the Cayes off of Dangriga/Hopkins. I've gotten a total of maybe 3 mosquito bites down there.

However, the sand "fleas" are brutal. They tend to chew you from the knee down, or your hands if they're left dangling out near ground or floor level. I hate using mosquito repellent (I find it nauseous), but I use it a lot on my legs during the day and my legs and arms at night.

Maybe this is a seasonal thing? Is there a freshwater source on Long Caye (or nearby) where mosquitoes can breed?

Long Caye is essentially a swamp. I’m not sure how much would be considered “fresh” but I would assume it is at least brackish. These were definitely mosquitoes. I smooshed enough of them to know for sure. I made the mistake of wearing a black shirt, and they were swarming me one night. I used an 80% deet gel that day, but for some reason they didn’t seem to mind it. I’d wake up in the morning with my back ate up, as I’m a stomach sleeper.

I also got ate up at Caye Caulker, especially near our cottage, on the south end of the island. It had a lot of beautiful plants, which was lovely, but also a haven for mosquitoes. Our next trip, I am going to research it there is something I can eat to help.
 
We stayed at Huracan about a month ago and our overall experience was very good. I'm curious as to how many guests were at the lodge while you were there? The shower water isn't heated as it's collected rain water and is only warmed from the sun while in the storage tanks. If the demand was high it may have come from tanks that were not as exposed to the sun. We've stayed at other similar eco-lodges and this has been common. Their battery storage is also currently inadequate which could account for the generator running all night. There were eight total gusts for the first half of our stay and it was common for the batteries to run out about 5:00 a.m., when they would then start the generator. I didn't find it a big inconvenience as they had to start the generator at that time to start breakfast and the coffee maker. The fans they have are very inadequate and it would be an easy fix by simply finding some that moved a little more air. We slept on top of the sheets the entire week and while the mosquito nets didn't close completely over the bed we didn't have issues with bugs in the room. Our room was swept and the bed was made every day during our first dive in the morning. The bed linens and towels were swapped out mid-week. The composting toilet system did have some smell but I guess to me it wasn't very noticeable in the sleeping area. Definitely some smell in the bathroom area but not a significant issue to me.
The chef we had all week was Minor (his name). While I would agree that it may be a little stretch to call the food "gourmet" it was always very good and the quantity was more than adequate. I was very pleased with the food overall and was only a little disappointed that we didn't have more seafood during our stay. We had a few fresh seafood dishes and Minor prepared lion fish sashimi and ceviche that we had speared on two occasions. Ice water was always provided at dinner and there was always juice with every meal. Alcohol was never pushed and only mentioned once when we sat down for dinner.
The diving side of things was very good. The gear was always taken care of, the tanks full and we were always allowed to dive our own profiles and dive times. We were taken to a good variety of dive sites and when we requested to keep some lion fish they took us to sites that weren't routinely dove but where they thought would provide better lion fish hunting. We were told mid-week that we would have to take a "dry day" on Wednesday as they were swapping out staff and were short a dive master for that day. It wasn't an issue for us and we still easily got in the 15 dives that were provided in our package. If we were able to dive that day of course we would have but it allowed us to take the kayaks out, do some snorkeling and I did some fly fishing.
My wife and I wouldn't hesitate to go back. A few small changes could go a long way into making it a better experience but I don't think I would say we were disappointed at all.
 
$600/day?? What all was included for the 600?
 
We stayed at Huracan about a month ago and our overall experience was very good. I'm curious as to how many guests were at the lodge while you were there? The shower water isn't heated as it's collected rain water and is only warmed from the sun while in the storage tanks. If the demand was high it may have come from tanks that were not as exposed to the sun. We've stayed at other similar eco-lodges and this has been common. Their battery storage is also currently inadequate which could account for the generator running all night. There were eight total gusts for the first half of our stay and it was common for the batteries to run out about 5:00 a.m., when they would then start the generator. I didn't find it a big inconvenience as they had to start the generator at that time to start breakfast and the coffee maker. The fans they have are very inadequate and it would be an easy fix by simply finding some that moved a little more air. We slept on top of the sheets the entire week and while the mosquito nets didn't close completely over the bed we didn't have issues with bugs in the room. Our room was swept and the bed was made every day during our first dive in the morning. The bed linens and towels were swapped out mid-week. The composting toilet system did have some smell but I guess to me it wasn't very noticeable in the sleeping area. Definitely some smell in the bathroom area but not a significant issue to me.
The chef we had all week was Minor (his name). While I would agree that it may be a little stretch to call the food "gourmet" it was always very good and the quantity was more than adequate. I was very pleased with the food overall and was only a little disappointed that we didn't have more seafood during our stay. We had a few fresh seafood dishes and Minor prepared lion fish sashimi and ceviche that we had speared on two occasions. Ice water was always provided at dinner and there was always juice with every meal. Alcohol was never pushed and only mentioned once when we sat down for dinner.
The diving side of things was very good. The gear was always taken care of, the tanks full and we were always allowed to dive our own profiles and dive times. We were taken to a good variety of dive sites and when we requested to keep some lion fish they took us to sites that weren't routinely dove but where they thought would provide better lion fish hunting. We were told mid-week that we would have to take a "dry day" on Wednesday as they were swapping out staff and were short a dive master for that day. It wasn't an issue for us and we still easily got in the 15 dives that were provided in our package. If we were able to dive that day of course we would have but it allowed us to take the kayaks out, do some snorkeling and I did some fly fishing.
My wife and I wouldn't hesitate to go back. A few small changes could go a long way into making it a better experience but I don't think I would say we were disappointed at all.

We had eight people to start the trip, then four. We had a different chef. Some meals were very good, some were okay. I’m not a conch fan, at least the way it was prepared, so that was a letdown. Two days our “first course” was bagged tortilla chips with canned cheese sauce. We did enjoy the ceviche when we had it.

I was under the impression of the same thing with the water heaters, but I think that has changed. The reason I suspect this, is because when the water did run hot, it was scalding. We got that a couple of times from the bathroom sink, and it was steaming hot, no exaggeration. You do not get that hot of water from solar tank. Also, the weirdness with it being hot if the other room was showering would not make sense with solar heater water. My guess is that it was an “on demand” water heater, but our room did not activate the “on demand” so unless someone else whose room actually worked was running it, we were out of luck. This is what the other guests figured was happening. When they ran their showers, you could hear something kick on, it sounded like a generator, possibly? Which room were you in?

I’m glad you had a good experience. Was Cynthia the manager then? It seems so odd that we have such different tales, but she was at the end of a five week stay, she said, so maybe she was just off that week. We did get new towels midweek, but our beds were only made a couple of days, and floors definitely weren’t swept the first four days. (Sandy floors are a pet peeve of mine.)

We knew that the weather was supposed to turn Thursday, and at the time we planned to stay until the next Wednesday so we would have missed 2 days (three with santi’s sickness) so that’s why we pushed. Plus, the other pair and us had both asked on day one if we’d be able to dive Wednesday and we were told yes, there are two boats. That actually brings up another point:

The blue hole: Huracan specifically states that three night packages cannot dive the blue hole due to safety concerns in their emails. This is completely understandable, as you only get two real dive days with that package. So, we were confused when they said they would dive the blue hole again on Friday, since we’d just done Tuesday. New people come in on Wednesday. That would mean those new people would have their first dive with Huracan being the 100 foot check out dive, which seems rather aggressive to me. Thankfully, no new people came Wednesday and none of us wanted to do it again, so it wasn’t an issue, but I was not fond of the idea of doing the blue hole every three days across 10 dive days. For some, this may be a plus, but it’s something to be aware of. We did not come for the blue hole, we came for the wall diving. We knew we might be doing it twice, because I specifically asked about that when I booked 11 days Sat-Wednesday, but they did tell me I could do a different dive the next Tuesday (that would have never worked, as two DMs go in the blue hole, and there’s only one other captain.) They never mentioned that it would be happening three times over our stay.

$600/day?? What all was included for the 600?

15 dives over a week’s time. Food. No alcohol or soft drinks.
 
Did the 600 also include transfers to and from airport (or next island)?
 
Yes. it sounds like they may have added some kind of on demand hot water heater. We didn't have any hot water surges while we were there. The water was pretty consistently mid-day ambient temperature, I would guess in the 90's. We were in the room to the rear of the lodge on the same side of the building as the kitchen. I know one of the other guests during our week mentioned not having any rugs at the doors to wipe your feet on after rinsing them at the steps.
We had four leave and gained two mid-week. We were also told that the new guests may have to go to the Blue Hole on Friday. The new guests stayed a full week so we didn't have to go back again during our stay. We told the dive master that my wife and I had already dove the Blue Hole three times and so he had the group dive what I would call the east side, instead of the west which is the norm, and what we had already seen. It was a little different and there is a small cave you can swim through which returns very quickly back out into the "hole". It was nice of him to consider doing that for us. With our group they had brought out a second boat mid-week to allow us to continue to dive on Wednesday, but then they didn't have a dive master available for that day. They ended up bringing one back on Wednesday who came from Placencia to help out only until Saturday, as he went back in with us.
Cynthia was there and managed the lodge during our stay. There were a few small issues that came up during the week between the staff but when you have a small group of fairly young folks working that closely and stuck on an island together I would expect that. I'll send you a pm to elaborate a little more but again nothing that affected our stay.
 
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