just returned from san pedro after 20 yr absence

[mromero]

As a native I would tend to agree with your sentiments. Belize is locked in a battle with the cruise ships and it all boils down to money as usual.

However many locals and expats are rallying to control or expel these cattle boats before they destroy our eco tourism marquee.

Carnival Cruise Lines makes more money than the annual GDP of Belize, and this is one of the problems but with faith and determination we are striving to set things right.

Diving is still great a bit off the beaten track, Turneffe, and southern Belize for example which is fighting to keep out an attempt by Royal Caribbean to foist a new "tourism village" on us.

We need all the help we can get.

this is just a comment/opinion and i'm sure many belize fans will disagree...... but.
i used to dive ambergris cay 20-25 yrs ago, it's where i fell in love with diving.
san pedro and the southern half of ambergris cay has not faired well since my last visit. all the mangrove gone, land fill everywhere, subdivisions, 12 boatloads of sunburned cruise ship passengers standing on the coral having their pictures taken at hol chan and the little deserted cays near caulker turned into party islands for the cruisers rum drinking, reggaeton and limbo contests. from the air the runoff coming from some of the cays is unbelievable, huge brownish green clouds suspended in the water. i never made it up to the northern (formerly remote) parts of ambergris but i hope they've faired better.
maybe i'm just getting nostalgic in my old age but it looks like an ecological disaster.

 

[laurenceh]

As a native I would tend to agree with your sentiments. Belize is locked in a battle with the cruise ships and it all boils down to money as usual.

However many locals and expats are rallying to control or expel these cattle boats before they destroy our eco tourism marquee.

Carnival Cruise Lines makes more money than the annual GDP of Belize, and this is one of the problems but with faith and determination we are striving to set things right.

Diving is still great a bit off the beaten track, Turneffe, and southern Belize for example which is fighting to keep out an attempt by Royal Caribbean to foist a new "tourism village" on us.

We need all the help we can get.

yes we dived turneffe and it was still in good shape. it was the ambergris/caulker area that was so troubling. i thought it was illegal to remove mangrove? good luck keeping the cruise companies from further expansion, as i see it where the cruise ships go, there goes ecological destruction. i heard that carnival isn't even using that many beizeans, prefering to bring in jamaican help. last i heard placencia was the next place on their radar, that would be a shame.

 

[Thiad]

We saw a dredging operation supporting the creation of a new resort a short distance from San Pedro. It was right off shore and I don't think anyone will disagree this has a profound affect on the health of the reef. We were at a resort across from Mexico Rocks and it had is share of trash washed ashore. Walking between Costa Maya Reef and Portofino was a bit scary - it resembled a garbage pit.

What's sad is, as the non-profit CAVU said, "the developers are literally killing the goose that lays those golden eggs". People travel to Belize for the reef, right? Our divemaster talked about some of the new laws aimed at protecting the mangroves (or new laws they're trying to get in place) as well as the local disgust with the dredging. Let's hope the voice of the people is heard.