kingsnwings
Registered
Recently spent a week at Itza Lodge on Long Caye in the Lighthouse Reef of Belize (20 minutes from the Blue Hole and Half Moon Caye for reference). Thought I would write up a review, as I found little information beforehand.
My Video
Diving was easy, enjoyable, and we saw a lot of nice things weather permitting. The weather was bad which impacted our dive site choices (heard this happens a handful of days a year and we got 5 of them). The Itza Lodge (and Huracan Lodge) are... interesting, but enjoyable, albeit overpriced. The Itza dive shop desperately needs a revamp, which it is supposedly getting.
Did I enjoy myself, yes. Was it worth the money? Glad I did it, but I won't go back.
The Dive Shop
From what we were told, whoever used to run the diveshop ran that place into the ground. It has clearly been over a year (years?) since there has been any maintenance on anything... tanks, BCDs, regs, anything. The crew spent a lot of time changing bad o-rings with bad o-rings until the leaks stopped. In its current state, I don't think they could reliably handle over 8 divers at the resort. If I were a brand new diver and anxious, this would not be an ideal environment (even though the diving is made for beginners). They would send us in 1 or 2 at a time, and the DM would be last in. On many occasions tanks were already empty and needed to be swapped; a few times leaks were so bad people had to get back on the boat and swap tanks.
The good: The new manager Elvis is a great guy and knows what he is doing. He is open about the issues and unless he was just BSing, I think he could get the shop into good shape. The only issue is they will need a lot of money... can they do it? All the dive sites including Blue Hole and Half Moon Caye are 20 minutes away. The best sites are on the other side of Long Caye, so you will never dive these sites from Ambergris or Turneffe.
More bad: the boat captain kind of sucks. The boat will bang into the dock hard several times every day. He will go full speed to get to the next dive site in 10 minutes, which means your back is going to take a massive beating against the waves. Have a good chiropractor. Why not go slow and steady and get there in 25 minutes, we are on a surface interval after all. It is either on purpose or he just sucks.
The Resort
Good enough and gets the job done, food was good, service could be improved. 1.5 hour boat ride from Belize City to Long Caye. Honestly, when you consider where in the world you are, the resort itself is great, just see the below issues.
The Good: rooms are big, nice dining / lounge area with a bar to hang out, hammocks on the sand and on each balcony, very private. Nice people, clean rooms, good food, reliable power, wifi in common area. Beach front with great views. Kayaking was a lot of fun.
The Bad: sometimes you get a slight whiff of the septic tanks, the walls have no insulation so you hear EVERYTHING, hell you can even see through cracks in the walls and floors into other rooms (not clearly enough to be a peeping Tom), hot water was 50/50 or better odds, customer service needs improvement. Luckily not us, but if you miss your boat from Belize City, you will pay $$$. The management confused me for other guests several times, sending important information meant for them to me as well as giving me their bills. They aren't exactly on their A game.
The Weird: Someone with good intentions decided to build up Long Caye with a boardwalk through the mangroves, a hospital with decompression chamber, main lodge, the works. It failed. Some more people with good intentions but poor execution turned these abandoned buildings into Itza Lodge, Huracan, a private estate or 2, and a vacation rental (Calypso).
The old boardwalks are dilapidated (exposed nails, broken wood, holes, you name it). It is a mangrove island, there are swamps of course. Is there sewage in these swamps? I can't say for sure, but I would guess yes. Is Calypso located on a smelly swamp, yup. Right next door to Itza Lodge. I heard there is there an old deco chamber that is in ruins and has been built over as a piece of furniture.
Huracan is located inside the island, no where near the beach, no breeze, a long walk to the piers, and looks like a tiny tiny 1 story building that has been converted into several rooms, bathrooms, kitchen, everything. From what I understand, the Huracan and Itza people do not get along.
My Video
Diving was easy, enjoyable, and we saw a lot of nice things weather permitting. The weather was bad which impacted our dive site choices (heard this happens a handful of days a year and we got 5 of them). The Itza Lodge (and Huracan Lodge) are... interesting, but enjoyable, albeit overpriced. The Itza dive shop desperately needs a revamp, which it is supposedly getting.
Did I enjoy myself, yes. Was it worth the money? Glad I did it, but I won't go back.
The Dive Shop
From what we were told, whoever used to run the diveshop ran that place into the ground. It has clearly been over a year (years?) since there has been any maintenance on anything... tanks, BCDs, regs, anything. The crew spent a lot of time changing bad o-rings with bad o-rings until the leaks stopped. In its current state, I don't think they could reliably handle over 8 divers at the resort. If I were a brand new diver and anxious, this would not be an ideal environment (even though the diving is made for beginners). They would send us in 1 or 2 at a time, and the DM would be last in. On many occasions tanks were already empty and needed to be swapped; a few times leaks were so bad people had to get back on the boat and swap tanks.
The good: The new manager Elvis is a great guy and knows what he is doing. He is open about the issues and unless he was just BSing, I think he could get the shop into good shape. The only issue is they will need a lot of money... can they do it? All the dive sites including Blue Hole and Half Moon Caye are 20 minutes away. The best sites are on the other side of Long Caye, so you will never dive these sites from Ambergris or Turneffe.
More bad: the boat captain kind of sucks. The boat will bang into the dock hard several times every day. He will go full speed to get to the next dive site in 10 minutes, which means your back is going to take a massive beating against the waves. Have a good chiropractor. Why not go slow and steady and get there in 25 minutes, we are on a surface interval after all. It is either on purpose or he just sucks.
The Resort
Good enough and gets the job done, food was good, service could be improved. 1.5 hour boat ride from Belize City to Long Caye. Honestly, when you consider where in the world you are, the resort itself is great, just see the below issues.
The Good: rooms are big, nice dining / lounge area with a bar to hang out, hammocks on the sand and on each balcony, very private. Nice people, clean rooms, good food, reliable power, wifi in common area. Beach front with great views. Kayaking was a lot of fun.
The Bad: sometimes you get a slight whiff of the septic tanks, the walls have no insulation so you hear EVERYTHING, hell you can even see through cracks in the walls and floors into other rooms (not clearly enough to be a peeping Tom), hot water was 50/50 or better odds, customer service needs improvement. Luckily not us, but if you miss your boat from Belize City, you will pay $$$. The management confused me for other guests several times, sending important information meant for them to me as well as giving me their bills. They aren't exactly on their A game.
The Weird: Someone with good intentions decided to build up Long Caye with a boardwalk through the mangroves, a hospital with decompression chamber, main lodge, the works. It failed. Some more people with good intentions but poor execution turned these abandoned buildings into Itza Lodge, Huracan, a private estate or 2, and a vacation rental (Calypso).
The old boardwalks are dilapidated (exposed nails, broken wood, holes, you name it). It is a mangrove island, there are swamps of course. Is there sewage in these swamps? I can't say for sure, but I would guess yes. Is Calypso located on a smelly swamp, yup. Right next door to Itza Lodge. I heard there is there an old deco chamber that is in ruins and has been built over as a piece of furniture.
Huracan is located inside the island, no where near the beach, no breeze, a long walk to the piers, and looks like a tiny tiny 1 story building that has been converted into several rooms, bathrooms, kitchen, everything. From what I understand, the Huracan and Itza people do not get along.
