Last Minute Help?..

[BlueSpirit]

Hi everyone, I am in the region and heading to Belize on the 14th February (Wednesday). I currently have 11 days free to explore Belize before I fly on to Baja California. I am predominantly interested in the diving aspect obviously, but seeing a couple of sites would be nice also. So perhaps a 5/6 day split to dive from caye caulker, then perhaps go to the mainland? Does anyone have a suggested itinerary? Recommendations for dive shops and places to stay would be very much appreciated. To help, I have a modest budget, so not looking at sleeping in a dorm room, but dont want to spend thousands of dollars on accommodation either. (A small, safe, clean room with my own bathroom would be ideal). From a diving perperspective, I am PADI RD certified, with deep spec and nitrox, I am interested in seeing sharks if possible, what sites would you recommend? Thanks in advance for your time!

 

[_Ralph]

What are you more interested in, Topside or Water?


Some decent diving over at CC, and fairly easy to get too.

For topside, base either out of San Ignacio (everything is closer) or Placencia/Dangriga.

You can go diving out of Placencia as well.


SPLASH in Placencia does both diving/snorkeling as well as land trips around the south side of Belize .. Great places to go are South Water Caye, Grand Channel from that area

As for CC, many small shops along the main road and side streets, and BDS ... I just usually go to BDS. Nice big boats, great crews and (for me and my diving preferences) great prices on multiple tanks/non recreational dives.

Blue hole is the blue hole, and you may get lucky and see several sharks for a portion of the dive in the hole, but you'll usually see reef sharks on the other 2 dives.


You will see nurse sharks if you dive at the CCMR (Caye Caulker Marine Reserve), and you will see lots of nurse sharks if you head up towards San Pedro.

There is a few reef sharks that moved in (displaced) after the last hurricane, but they don't stick around very long (just long enough to check you out, then they are gone)


_R

 

[Downing]

Eleven days is a enough time to both dive and check out the jungle. Lots of folks do a diving/jungle package, or the other way around. San Ignacio is in the heart of the Cayo District. From there you can run around the jungle to your heart's content. The ATM is nearby and not to be missed. And Tikal is just a couple of hours across the border. You can arrange for a tour out of SI.

And you might consider Punta Gorda to the far south in the Toledo District for the mainland part as well. Not as tourist driven as SI.

Not much to add to what Ralph said other than you'll be lucky to see any sharks besides nurse sharks and reef sharks. I have seen hammerheads at the Blue Hole but they were a decent distance away. I think I would rather stay in Hopkins than Dangriga, though.

Accommodations all over the country range from the very high end to hostels and all points in between. I suggest picking your destinations, then work from there. If you decide to stay in Placencia, then you can work with Ralph and Patty, the owner/operators of Splash, on a place to stay and tours to take. There's something for every budget.

 

[lthomas132]

Hi everyone, I am in the region and heading to Belize on the 14th February (Wednesday). I currently have 11 days free to explore Belize before I fly on to Baja California. I am predominantly interested in the diving aspect obviously, but seeing a couple of sites would be nice also. So perhaps a 5/6 day split to dive from caye caulker, then perhaps go to the mainland? Does anyone have a suggested itinerary? Recommendations for dive shops and places to stay would be very much appreciated. To help, I have a modest budget, so not looking at sleeping in a dorm room, but dont want to spend thousands of dollars on accommodation either. (A small, safe, clean room with my own bathroom would be ideal). From a diving perperspective, I am PADI RD certified, with deep spec and nitrox, I am interested in seeing sharks if possible, what sites would you recommend? Thanks in advance for your time!

We are returning to Caye Caulker in April. Simeon who owns/runs Black Durgon Dives (Black Durgon Dives || ...for time under water!) is the best dive guide I have come across in Belize. He has a great dive boat, 30+', bimini, & twin 200 HP engines. He can take you to all the dive sites around AC or the fantastic Turneffe Atoll. Our usual place is booked so we are staying at De Real Macaw (De Real Macaw: Condominium, Cabanas and Guest House on Caye Caulker, Belize) on the beach. It has rooms ranging from $40 with no AC to $80 with AC on the beach. Can't comment yet on staying there but Simeon said it was good. Caye Caulker is a laid back little island with no cars, just feet, bicycles, and golf carts. It's what San Pedro used to be.

 

[BlueSpirit]

Thank you for your replies, with your advice in mind, I am looking at flying into Belize city then getting the water taxi to caye caulker and staying there for 5/6 days, diving with BDS or similar, where I hope to dive half moon caye and and long caye aquarium sites, maybe the blue hole, (though undecided on that one, I think going with realistic expectations of seeing a big hole under the sea, I won't be disappointed and happy if I see more) plus turneffe and a few local reef dive sites. Then back to the mainland via Belize city to see ATM, a jaguar reserve and maybe something else. I like the idea of going to tikal or flores, but is it safe to cross the border to GM? Where would be the best place to stay for the above land based activities? Palencia? - might be able to get another dive in then? Thanks again in advance.

 

[Downing]

My guess is that if you're diving out of Caye Caulker then to get to Half Moon Caye and the rest you would do that as part of a Blue Hole trip. Usually, the BH is the first dive of that journey. Of course, nothing says you have to dive it but you'd probably have to pay for it as part of the package. Others will probably know whether you can avoid it altogether.

As far as the rest of the trip, I think I would stay in San Ignacio next. It's very close to the border with Guatemala, and you could arrange to go to Flores or Tikal through an SI tour operator. My wife and I did that a few years ago and had a great time. Yes, safe enough, at least with a tour group. The BZ tour op took us to the border, where we walked across a bridge, then boarded a van driven by a Guatemalen who took us to Tikal, where we were turned over to a tour guide. Or you could stay in BZ and go see Caracol, again through a tour op would be best as there are some security issues associated with it. And you would be very close to ATM if you stayed in SI.

My favorite place to stay in SI is the San Ignacio Hotel. Nice grounds. Nice pool. Lovely place.

As far as the Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve, that's further south down towards Placencia. Maybe go to Placencia for the last few days of the trip, dive out of there, then check out CBJP for your last day since you can't dive then anyway. The preserve is about a 30 minute drive from the village. Ralph and Patty at Splash can help arrange that tour.

 

[Damselfish]

We stayed at Maya Mountain near San Ignacio. More rustic than I usually prefer but great owners/managers and great food. Very helpful with everything. Lots of interesting places to stay in the region.

We also did a tour to Tikal. Crossing into GM to go to Tikal is a little convoluted, and can look intimidating. It was totally fine, though memorable. (We saw plenty of folks with machine guns, and our guide disappeared with all our passports into a distant building for awhile, where I suspect he mostly visited his friends.) We also changed to another vehicle and maybe picked up a local guide. I think they do this to avoid having to take a vehicle through the agricultural inspection station, which is apparently a big deal at this border. (It's a weird border, there is lots of trade and traffic across it. But Guatemala still claims half of Belize is theirs, so they're technically at war or in some kind of long standing dispute. Technically. In reality life goes on and there doesn't seem to be any interest in bothering people going to work, or tourists from Belize bringing in money.

You could even plan to stay at Tikal for a night, there are some lodges there and you'd get to see the park when it's cooler with less people, rather than a long day traveling there and back. Sunrise tours seem to be a thing. I don't know how the logistics would work.

 

[Downing]

I forgot all about the machine guns, lol. Last year on our way to Belize, we spent a few days first in Mexico City followed by San Salvadore. I saw more guns on that trip in 15 minutes than I have the rest of my life total.

The Belize vs Guatemala thing goes way back. In exchange for peace a couple of hundred years ago, the British promised to build a road so that Guatemala would have access to the Gulf. But they never did. Because of that, Guatemala now claims that Belize belongs to them. Further south, the Guatemalan "navy" loves to chase Belizian fishermen and government officials who come to investigate off the Saskatoon River in a near daily game of water chicken. If it weren't for a very tiny garrison of British soldiers at the airport and the fact that England likes to use Belize for its SAS jungle training, Guatemala would roll over Belize like a freight train and they would all be speaking Spanish before supper. There are certain advantages to having the British Navy as your protector.

Ironically, the road is reportedly being built now and is on my list to check it out again on my next trip in June.

 

[Caye Caulker Diver B]

When you are on Caye Caulker, BDS is definitely an option for diving some of the further out/south dive sites. Two things to consider with BDS:

1.) Yes, they have BIG boats, which also means they take BIG groups diving. They do split the groups up with multiple Dive Masters(very good, friendly and knowledgeable DM's by the way), but you are all entering the water at the same site and diving in the same area. If diving with BDS, be prepared to be "one of the crowd".

2.) Somewhere here it was mentioned that BDS is "reasonably priced" (or something to that affect). This is not necessarily the case. Again, for the Blue Hole trip, you would want to go with BDS because of the big (comfortable) boats, with the time you will be spending on the boat getting there, to the other dive sites and back. However, for the more local dives, there are better options with the smaller and less expensive (than BDS) dive ops on the island.

For the local dives I would highly recommend Black Durgon Dives Black Durgon Dives || ...for time under water! Simeon & Corey (husband & wife) do small groups (minimum 2 - 8 max - but rarely that many - divers), have a great staff and are just all around "cool folks" to hangout with...even after the dive sometimes! If you bring your own equipment, they offer discounts on their prices too and always provide a series of very well done GoPro photos of every dive you do with them...FREE.

Anyway, safe travels, you're gonna have a great time on the island. Look for me (see my profile photo, I always wear that hat for sun protection) when on the island and maybe we can enjoy a Belikin together over some dive stories!

Feel free to PM me if you have further questions about other aspects of Caye Caulker (Brad here)

 

[Damselfish]

We went whitewater kayaking on the (I think) Mopal river and the guide said they avoid the section near the border because people shoot at them from the jungle. I have no idea if this was true or he was adding some color to his tour.