Denver Diver
Registered
So I sit down to post my review of Itza Lodge and see a review was posted the week I was there! How crazy as I had been searching for reviews before I decided on this trip and found so little…
So interesting reading that report and a few of the comments which clarified some things for me. If only I had had that report before I had to decide… It was like a stab in the heart to read the line about the resort not being able to handle more than 8 divers as when we were there there were 15 of us! And worse yet to read that the resort would not be the place for a new/ anxious diver. My husband is a relatively new diver and has grown uncomfortable with it. This was kind of his “last shot” at it and I corresponded and spoke with the owner at length before we left to assure this would be the right place for him. He assured me it was, but well, it wasn’t. After the terrible start to the first dive (see report), he grew anxious (how could you not bobbing around in choppy water waiting and waiting…) and gave up and went back to the boat. The next day he woke with diarrhea and ended up not diving until the very last day!! He had a brief respite from the diarrhea on Wednesday and would have dived then, but we had no working boat! And yes, the gear was terrible. I was just going to post the review I wrote up for tripadvisor but will add a few notes since this post has touched on some of these things. And I’ll put my own review under that.
From what I understand Jim is the long-time owner of the island of Long Caye. (It doesn’t sound like he is the one from Florida with a chain of gardening stores but I could be wrong.) His wife Michelle is the manager and Elvis is the new dive shop manager. Jim apparently wants to sell Itza Lodge, but not the whole island. A group of 13 of us came over on the boat and one guy didn’t come to dive. Why anyone would go all that way if they weren’t a diver is a mystery to me. So whenever we asked this guy why he had gone all this way, he kept mysteriously saying he came just “to check it out”. So I found out after he left on the Wednesday boat that he is considering buying Itza Lodge, quite seriously I was told. This could all have profound impacts to the future of the place.
I don’t think Elvis is the guy to turn the outfit around. He is a big talker and a salesman for sure, but we had constant problems while there and didn’t find him to be professional. Especially when he confronted me in front of other guests about my concerns and when he patronized me in talking to me about the boat not working for our Wednesday dives (see report below). He asked another guest who owns a boat to help him try to fix the dive boat on Wednesday which he did. They worked on it for a while but stopped when a rain storm came in. After the second rain storm Elvis disappeared and left us without one word and didn’t reappear until dinner. No apologies ever from him or the management about this situation. Elvis never came around to the tables at dinner as promised for information about the next day’s dives.
So, when I spent over $4,000 for the week (and that was with very little diving for my husband and no additional costs for the Blue Hole which we skipped), I really have to question if it was worth it. I would have spent less for more diving on Turneffe (with a deal Blackbird Caye had going). But it seems at least from a few people’s perspectives that the diving there is not as good. Maybe that would still have been better. My divemaster used to work there and said it was fine diving. Guess you’d have to go to both right in a row to ever know which would be the best to choose, and how different the diving really is.
Oh, and by the way, our divemaster had worked at Itza two years ago (hadn’t been back since then) and said he noticed a definite reduction in the amount of reef fish like parrotfish which apparently are being fished and sold illegally, and more algae on the reef. And one day when we were there, shark fishermen were found on Hat Caye (a tiny island also owned by Jim) and when told they had to leave, reported that they couldn’t as they had killed 30 tiger sharks and needed to clean them! So…sadly…I wonder how much longer this reef will be in a condition to justify going at all.
OK, so here is my original trip report:
There are some hardworking people at Itza Lodge and because of them, it is hard to write this review. But there are a lot of you reading this who are working just as hard for your vacation dollars and I think it is only fair that you get an honest review, so that is what I will give. And I can tell you that the people who were there the week after us will likely give a great review – more on that later.
We encountered several problems: poor communication, disorganization of the dive shop, dive gear and a dive boat that didn’t work, and lack of professionalism.
We chose this lodge to dive. We were surprised to see the small boat we would be in for our crossing, and that it was the only one without a canopy. The crossing was rough and took over two hours. One of our main problems was that the dive shop was very disorganized. It took a ridiculously long time to get the group of 12 of us outfitted with gear, and some of the gear was limited. The next day the first dive was a disaster. The boat was not really big enough for our group and people’s gear was put wherever there was space. My tank was empty, another diver’s rental gear didn’t work, and with all the disorganizing someone took the wrong fins and left the last diver on the boat with ones that didn’t fit. The boat left with some people already down to go back and get different fins. It took about one hour to get 11 divers in the water! All of us were in one group with one dive master and one guy in training who brought up the rear. On the last dive of the day, two more guests who were already staying at the lodge wanted to dive and there were not enough weights for everyone!!! The dives were very nice, but we had several people in the group with cameras who crowded interesting life for photos and kicked up and broke the reef with their fins while they tried to get in place to get shots! I constantly had to stay at the very back to avoid being kicked or crowded. We also had to turn back on the walls after only about 20-25 minutes and go back under the boat for the remainder of the dives.
Continued in part 2...
After receiving complaints, the dive shop manager Elvis got involved. The next morning he was at the dock trying to sort out whose gear was whose, barking orders to have gear moved around or taken off the boat. It took a full hour of us standing there. I had heard we were going to Half Moon Caye. When we got started Elvis told the captain to take us to a nearby site. I had to remind him we were going to Half Moon Caye. We were told we would be there for two dives and then go back for lunch. They forgot the cooler with the drinks and snacks and there was no first aid kit. I needed something from it so Elvis told the staff to bring the kit when they returned with the drinks and lunch (a last-minute decision to bring the lunches to us was made). When the boat finally returned and we asked for the first aid kit, the guys looked at each other with puzzled looks, and no, it had not been brought.
All of the guys were nice individually, but it seemed they had not worked together before (some of them had worked there in years past but not recently), and they did not have an efficient system in place.
We were told at the original briefing that every night the dive staff would visit our tables at dinner and give us information about the next day of diving. This didn’t happen even once at our tables all week. Communication was poor, and one guy got left behind all day as he didn’t know we were going out to Half Moon Caye.
After a couple days I let the owners know what was happening out of a genuine concern for their business. They talked to Elvis who then confronted me in front other guests which was very unprofessional. I was so unimpressed with it all that we seriously considered leaving on the Wednesday boat even though I had booked and paid for a week’s stay. On Wednesday the boat left to take some guests back, and the only boat left was a small boat that they knew was not working. It had broken down at the very beginning of the week but a priority on getting it fixed was not made. The management didn’t come to the four of us staying on the island with this news; it was me who found out after repeated questions as to how we were going to dive the next day. Nor did they make an effort to see if the other dive outfit on the island could take us out. The boat didn’t get fixed and so on Wednesday none of us got to dive at all. There is very little to do there if you aren’t diving. The very short beach walks you can take are depressing with the amount of trash along the beach, and the wifi didn’t work all week even enough to send a quick email. We were credited the diving we couldn’t do, but after going so far and spending so much to be there to dive, not having a working boat was extremely disappointing. There are some kayaks but it was windy and rainy the week we were there.
The second half of the week there were 8 of us diving and things got a little smoother. But at least on every other dive we had gear issues – regulators that didn’t work, tanks that weren’t cinched down properly and had to be fixed under the water when they started floating away, etc. Dive briefings were lax or non-existent. Also be aware that if new people come out on Wednesday, then they may dive the Blue Hole again which means you will have to sit out a dive if you do not want to do the Blue Hole.
The last night we were given our total bill. Our bill was wrong as we had been charged for the Blue Hole which we didn’t do, and more diving than we had done. This was a bit crazy, and questionable, as we signed a log book every night verifying what we had done. The next day we all got new bills right as we were leaving as the park fees had been forgotten on everyone’s bills the day before.
The group who had come out on Wednesday had a very rough crossing and the people told me they were uncomfortable. It had taken over 3 hours and they were soaked. The weather for our return crossing was very good and we expected a quick return. But the boat was loaded down with 23 people and it still took close to 3 hours. The captain told me he thought there was something wrong with the spark plugs as they had gotten so wet in the Wednesday crossing.
I talked with most all of the people who were with us that week and every single one of them commented on the disorganization, lack of communication, and the other issues we experienced. I do not think any of them would return.
In other areas: The food was pretty good and I would say there was “just enough”. Everyone I saw, from the smallest person to the biggest, ate everything on their plates. Lunches were good and most dinners were good, although we did not like the pastries or the desserts (and I’m a sweet tooth) and they repeated though the week. We used a DEET spray for mosquitoes but got new, and very itchy, bites every day. We were thankful for the wind, as it kept the mosquitoes at bay and was the only way to cool down the room enough to sleep, but it can make for a loud night. Showers were lukewarm only.
I was thankful for Mario, our very good divemaster who is genuinely concerned about the reef. When we left, only two people were coming back to the island. Most of the other staff members left as well to take some time off, so this lucky couple was going to get to dive with Mario on basically personal dives the rest of the week. With only two of them I imagine they will have a wonderful time and will write a very good review. They will have their pick of gear, a boat big enough for them, and personal service. I can easily see how people who are there with a small crowd, or people who visited in months past with other staff members, would have great experiences and write great reviews. I think the ownership might be changing and I know a couple of the staff members who helped make the place run are planning to leave, so it will be anybody’s guess as to how the place will be going forward.
For the record, I’ve backpacked all over the world and am used to less-than-perfect conditions. But when you pay a premium price to be at a dive lodge, you deserve an organized operation with good equipment. We were told that the only way we would have a bad experience is if we didn’t speak up, but even when I did, things didn’t change. And there are some things that a paying customer just shouldn’t have to say…
So interesting reading that report and a few of the comments which clarified some things for me. If only I had had that report before I had to decide… It was like a stab in the heart to read the line about the resort not being able to handle more than 8 divers as when we were there there were 15 of us! And worse yet to read that the resort would not be the place for a new/ anxious diver. My husband is a relatively new diver and has grown uncomfortable with it. This was kind of his “last shot” at it and I corresponded and spoke with the owner at length before we left to assure this would be the right place for him. He assured me it was, but well, it wasn’t. After the terrible start to the first dive (see report), he grew anxious (how could you not bobbing around in choppy water waiting and waiting…) and gave up and went back to the boat. The next day he woke with diarrhea and ended up not diving until the very last day!! He had a brief respite from the diarrhea on Wednesday and would have dived then, but we had no working boat! And yes, the gear was terrible. I was just going to post the review I wrote up for tripadvisor but will add a few notes since this post has touched on some of these things. And I’ll put my own review under that.
From what I understand Jim is the long-time owner of the island of Long Caye. (It doesn’t sound like he is the one from Florida with a chain of gardening stores but I could be wrong.) His wife Michelle is the manager and Elvis is the new dive shop manager. Jim apparently wants to sell Itza Lodge, but not the whole island. A group of 13 of us came over on the boat and one guy didn’t come to dive. Why anyone would go all that way if they weren’t a diver is a mystery to me. So whenever we asked this guy why he had gone all this way, he kept mysteriously saying he came just “to check it out”. So I found out after he left on the Wednesday boat that he is considering buying Itza Lodge, quite seriously I was told. This could all have profound impacts to the future of the place.
I don’t think Elvis is the guy to turn the outfit around. He is a big talker and a salesman for sure, but we had constant problems while there and didn’t find him to be professional. Especially when he confronted me in front of other guests about my concerns and when he patronized me in talking to me about the boat not working for our Wednesday dives (see report below). He asked another guest who owns a boat to help him try to fix the dive boat on Wednesday which he did. They worked on it for a while but stopped when a rain storm came in. After the second rain storm Elvis disappeared and left us without one word and didn’t reappear until dinner. No apologies ever from him or the management about this situation. Elvis never came around to the tables at dinner as promised for information about the next day’s dives.
So, when I spent over $4,000 for the week (and that was with very little diving for my husband and no additional costs for the Blue Hole which we skipped), I really have to question if it was worth it. I would have spent less for more diving on Turneffe (with a deal Blackbird Caye had going). But it seems at least from a few people’s perspectives that the diving there is not as good. Maybe that would still have been better. My divemaster used to work there and said it was fine diving. Guess you’d have to go to both right in a row to ever know which would be the best to choose, and how different the diving really is.
Oh, and by the way, our divemaster had worked at Itza two years ago (hadn’t been back since then) and said he noticed a definite reduction in the amount of reef fish like parrotfish which apparently are being fished and sold illegally, and more algae on the reef. And one day when we were there, shark fishermen were found on Hat Caye (a tiny island also owned by Jim) and when told they had to leave, reported that they couldn’t as they had killed 30 tiger sharks and needed to clean them! So…sadly…I wonder how much longer this reef will be in a condition to justify going at all.
OK, so here is my original trip report:
There are some hardworking people at Itza Lodge and because of them, it is hard to write this review. But there are a lot of you reading this who are working just as hard for your vacation dollars and I think it is only fair that you get an honest review, so that is what I will give. And I can tell you that the people who were there the week after us will likely give a great review – more on that later.
We encountered several problems: poor communication, disorganization of the dive shop, dive gear and a dive boat that didn’t work, and lack of professionalism.
We chose this lodge to dive. We were surprised to see the small boat we would be in for our crossing, and that it was the only one without a canopy. The crossing was rough and took over two hours. One of our main problems was that the dive shop was very disorganized. It took a ridiculously long time to get the group of 12 of us outfitted with gear, and some of the gear was limited. The next day the first dive was a disaster. The boat was not really big enough for our group and people’s gear was put wherever there was space. My tank was empty, another diver’s rental gear didn’t work, and with all the disorganizing someone took the wrong fins and left the last diver on the boat with ones that didn’t fit. The boat left with some people already down to go back and get different fins. It took about one hour to get 11 divers in the water! All of us were in one group with one dive master and one guy in training who brought up the rear. On the last dive of the day, two more guests who were already staying at the lodge wanted to dive and there were not enough weights for everyone!!! The dives were very nice, but we had several people in the group with cameras who crowded interesting life for photos and kicked up and broke the reef with their fins while they tried to get in place to get shots! I constantly had to stay at the very back to avoid being kicked or crowded. We also had to turn back on the walls after only about 20-25 minutes and go back under the boat for the remainder of the dives.
Continued in part 2...
After receiving complaints, the dive shop manager Elvis got involved. The next morning he was at the dock trying to sort out whose gear was whose, barking orders to have gear moved around or taken off the boat. It took a full hour of us standing there. I had heard we were going to Half Moon Caye. When we got started Elvis told the captain to take us to a nearby site. I had to remind him we were going to Half Moon Caye. We were told we would be there for two dives and then go back for lunch. They forgot the cooler with the drinks and snacks and there was no first aid kit. I needed something from it so Elvis told the staff to bring the kit when they returned with the drinks and lunch (a last-minute decision to bring the lunches to us was made). When the boat finally returned and we asked for the first aid kit, the guys looked at each other with puzzled looks, and no, it had not been brought.
All of the guys were nice individually, but it seemed they had not worked together before (some of them had worked there in years past but not recently), and they did not have an efficient system in place.
We were told at the original briefing that every night the dive staff would visit our tables at dinner and give us information about the next day of diving. This didn’t happen even once at our tables all week. Communication was poor, and one guy got left behind all day as he didn’t know we were going out to Half Moon Caye.
After a couple days I let the owners know what was happening out of a genuine concern for their business. They talked to Elvis who then confronted me in front other guests which was very unprofessional. I was so unimpressed with it all that we seriously considered leaving on the Wednesday boat even though I had booked and paid for a week’s stay. On Wednesday the boat left to take some guests back, and the only boat left was a small boat that they knew was not working. It had broken down at the very beginning of the week but a priority on getting it fixed was not made. The management didn’t come to the four of us staying on the island with this news; it was me who found out after repeated questions as to how we were going to dive the next day. Nor did they make an effort to see if the other dive outfit on the island could take us out. The boat didn’t get fixed and so on Wednesday none of us got to dive at all. There is very little to do there if you aren’t diving. The very short beach walks you can take are depressing with the amount of trash along the beach, and the wifi didn’t work all week even enough to send a quick email. We were credited the diving we couldn’t do, but after going so far and spending so much to be there to dive, not having a working boat was extremely disappointing. There are some kayaks but it was windy and rainy the week we were there.
The second half of the week there were 8 of us diving and things got a little smoother. But at least on every other dive we had gear issues – regulators that didn’t work, tanks that weren’t cinched down properly and had to be fixed under the water when they started floating away, etc. Dive briefings were lax or non-existent. Also be aware that if new people come out on Wednesday, then they may dive the Blue Hole again which means you will have to sit out a dive if you do not want to do the Blue Hole.
The last night we were given our total bill. Our bill was wrong as we had been charged for the Blue Hole which we didn’t do, and more diving than we had done. This was a bit crazy, and questionable, as we signed a log book every night verifying what we had done. The next day we all got new bills right as we were leaving as the park fees had been forgotten on everyone’s bills the day before.
The group who had come out on Wednesday had a very rough crossing and the people told me they were uncomfortable. It had taken over 3 hours and they were soaked. The weather for our return crossing was very good and we expected a quick return. But the boat was loaded down with 23 people and it still took close to 3 hours. The captain told me he thought there was something wrong with the spark plugs as they had gotten so wet in the Wednesday crossing.
I talked with most all of the people who were with us that week and every single one of them commented on the disorganization, lack of communication, and the other issues we experienced. I do not think any of them would return.
In other areas: The food was pretty good and I would say there was “just enough”. Everyone I saw, from the smallest person to the biggest, ate everything on their plates. Lunches were good and most dinners were good, although we did not like the pastries or the desserts (and I’m a sweet tooth) and they repeated though the week. We used a DEET spray for mosquitoes but got new, and very itchy, bites every day. We were thankful for the wind, as it kept the mosquitoes at bay and was the only way to cool down the room enough to sleep, but it can make for a loud night. Showers were lukewarm only.
I was thankful for Mario, our very good divemaster who is genuinely concerned about the reef. When we left, only two people were coming back to the island. Most of the other staff members left as well to take some time off, so this lucky couple was going to get to dive with Mario on basically personal dives the rest of the week. With only two of them I imagine they will have a wonderful time and will write a very good review. They will have their pick of gear, a boat big enough for them, and personal service. I can easily see how people who are there with a small crowd, or people who visited in months past with other staff members, would have great experiences and write great reviews. I think the ownership might be changing and I know a couple of the staff members who helped make the place run are planning to leave, so it will be anybody’s guess as to how the place will be going forward.
For the record, I’ve backpacked all over the world and am used to less-than-perfect conditions. But when you pay a premium price to be at a dive lodge, you deserve an organized operation with good equipment. We were told that the only way we would have a bad experience is if we didn’t speak up, but even when I did, things didn’t change. And there are some things that a paying customer just shouldn’t have to say…
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