We knew we wanted to try staying on Long Caye, but were not sure which resort. With a bit of trepidation, I let my dive buddy choose the resort, prioritizing being on the beach over the recommendations on SB for Huracan resorts. Overall staying at Itza was great and I would / will return. I'm not really a hang out on the beach person, but I did enjoy sitting in the restaurant / bar looking out at the ocean. I did find the mosquitos worse inland when walking past Huracan, but I didn't end up going in, so take that with a grain of salt.
Itza was not very busy during the two weeks we were there; it peaked at about 8-10 guests and for the last 5 days we were the only two guests. From my perspective this was great, but people who are more into a social scene might not appreciate it as much. Certainly it meant the dive boat was never crowded, and we often had a "private guide". Of course in the future business may pick up (hopefully for the resort to stay in business).
The dive operation was friendly and professional: very much into the "valet diving" concept. The rigs are in a rack at the back of the boat, so if you are an obsessive gear fiddler like me, you have to remember to go to the boat between dives. The divemasters were all great. Both Jeff and Chris were very laid back (which as a lazy photographer I appreciated). Elvis (the resort manager) was more ambitious in terms of covering ground, but it often paid off in terms of finding critters.
Diving was as good as any I've done in the Caribbean. I'll let my pictures stand in [1] for detailed descriptions. We did 3 dives most days, including a couple night dives. For the last 4 or 5 days we spent the morning doing exploratory diving, just the two of us, and two crew heading off to potential new sites. This was good fun, and added to the "adventure" feel. Most dives were single tank, due to closeness to the resort. We did head over to Half Moon Caye a few times. The visibility was not great, so we actually preferred diving Long Caye. It was cool to get up close to the feeding green turtles on Half Moon, and the nesting bird viewing platform is worth going to at least once.
Food was simple but good. Lots of seafood. There is nominally snacks between meals, but sometimes we had to stick our heads in the kitchen and ask.
Accomodations were a bit rustic, but overall fine. There is no AC, which I only really noticed on the last night when I _might_ have drunk too much rum. The "semi-composting" toilets were OK, but there was one or two occasions when there was some odour right around the toilet; it wasn't a problem in the rest of the room, or even on the other side of the bathroom.
[1]: Itza Resort, Belize, March 2022
EDIT: If that link doesn't work, try Itza Resort, Belize, March 2022
Itza was not very busy during the two weeks we were there; it peaked at about 8-10 guests and for the last 5 days we were the only two guests. From my perspective this was great, but people who are more into a social scene might not appreciate it as much. Certainly it meant the dive boat was never crowded, and we often had a "private guide". Of course in the future business may pick up (hopefully for the resort to stay in business).
The dive operation was friendly and professional: very much into the "valet diving" concept. The rigs are in a rack at the back of the boat, so if you are an obsessive gear fiddler like me, you have to remember to go to the boat between dives. The divemasters were all great. Both Jeff and Chris were very laid back (which as a lazy photographer I appreciated). Elvis (the resort manager) was more ambitious in terms of covering ground, but it often paid off in terms of finding critters.
Diving was as good as any I've done in the Caribbean. I'll let my pictures stand in [1] for detailed descriptions. We did 3 dives most days, including a couple night dives. For the last 4 or 5 days we spent the morning doing exploratory diving, just the two of us, and two crew heading off to potential new sites. This was good fun, and added to the "adventure" feel. Most dives were single tank, due to closeness to the resort. We did head over to Half Moon Caye a few times. The visibility was not great, so we actually preferred diving Long Caye. It was cool to get up close to the feeding green turtles on Half Moon, and the nesting bird viewing platform is worth going to at least once.
Food was simple but good. Lots of seafood. There is nominally snacks between meals, but sometimes we had to stick our heads in the kitchen and ask.
Accomodations were a bit rustic, but overall fine. There is no AC, which I only really noticed on the last night when I _might_ have drunk too much rum. The "semi-composting" toilets were OK, but there was one or two occasions when there was some odour right around the toilet; it wasn't a problem in the rest of the room, or even on the other side of the bathroom.
[1]: Itza Resort, Belize, March 2022
EDIT: If that link doesn't work, try Itza Resort, Belize, March 2022
