Placencia dive sites

[Downing]

Well, when I say "chasing" I'm really referring to the whole experience. If you see one, you might try to quickly get a better view depending on the circumstance but there's no point in chasing after it since even though they're slow you're slower and they will leave you behind pretty quickly.

The boat will use a fish finder to find groups of fish. You go down. You swim around. You look for Whale Sharks. There aren't a lot of divers but you're bound to all be in the same small area so at times it can feel pretty crowded.

When you enter GS, you get a briefing from the Park Ranger. No going below 80 feet. No getting within 10 feet of a Whale Shark. So obviously no touching, riding, etc.

 

[Hank49]

MikeRiley, if you're planning on diving with whale sharks on your honeymoon in Belize…..assuming your honeymoon is right after your marriage, get married a day or so before the full moon of either March, April or May, and get to Belize on the full moon. The whale sharks are doing their thing 2-5 days or so after the full moons, gorging on the millions of snapper eggs being released.

 

[MikeRiley]

ah we actually already got married. Wife started a new job and cant take vacation til February. I work in Finances and cant take vacation til tax/RRSP season is over at the end of February. So I'm thinking early March or later in April will be perfect. Also interesting to note that theyre not all massive... I was under the impression that they were all 30-40 foot behemoths.

I think my problem with booking vacations is that I want to do it all in one trip. I think I'm trying to find a secluded, affordable dive mecca where I'll see stunning corals, herds of fish, monster pelagics and I'll have a 1 on 1 with a dive master for 30 bucks a dive. ...

probably doesnt quite work like that eh?

I'm coming around to the idea of just enjoying the trip and enjoying what I see. someday when time and money allows I'd like to get over to the south Asia/Phillipines area but from Toronto it's just too expense and too far.

 

[Hank49]

I get more thrill seeing the massive schools of snappers. The whale sharks are cool too but….

The whole place is alive when that's happening.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Diversteve i didn't say i disagreed with your advice regarding new divers doing the Blue Hole. As you are well aware, I was speaking specifically of your description of the Blue Hole in Belize being inaccurate and based on your READING of reports of others thst may or may not have been accurate. Certainly, your related description was not.

---------- Post added November 4th, 2014 at 06:56 PM ----------

You maybe also note that, inasmuch as, I have not been in the blue hole at Caye Sal or elsewhere, I don't attempt to post descriptions of those on Scubaboard.

 

[Diver_jo]

due to the awesome input from this board, I'm thinking that Belize is going to be our honeymoon destination.
Placencia looks perfect for what will work for my wife and I.. one main question is how far are the closest dive sites?

ive read that a lot of the big sites are 1-3 hours away. that might be fun for a day or two but i dont want to spend all day diving every day and leave my wife. i love being able to dive a quick boat ride from the resort and then be back by lunch time.

anyone whos been there, can you give me an idea of what the options are? Im a novice diver so I dont mind if some of the closer sites arent as cool

Spent 5 weeks in Belize as a solo diver, spent about 75% of my time diving with Avadon (no longer in business-next choice would be splash; bathroom on a boat is a big plus for us girls and the bigger boats handle the waves a bit better).
Dive sites range from 30-90 minutes away. Anytime a diver had a non-diving spouse/family, the boat crew was able to accommodate them with snorkeling or discover scuba. You can dive all day while she snorkels all day, you can dive in the morning and snorkel with her after lunch, or you can do a discover scuba with her. You've got options for the days you want to go diving.

Typical 2-tank diving day from Placencia looks something like this:
pickup from hotel
breakfast on boat
dive
lunch
dive
fresh fruit on the boat ride back, get back around 3pm

Not really any options for being back to Placencia by lunch unless you want to charter your own dive boat. There are a couple island resorts where you can do a one tank morning dive trip, but they're quite pricey. We would occasionally stop by one of them for lunch, or a snack break on the way back. I don't remember the names off the top of my head.

All the discover scubas I saw, were done right next to the shore of an island, so if your wife isn't a huge water fan and decides she doesn't like scuba, it's pretty easy to drag the gear onto the shore/dock and snorkel instead. The dive boat leaves the snorkelers and discover scuba folks at the island, then takes the divers further out to the reef, and brings them back to the island at the end of the dive.

As far as the closer dive sites not being as good-I'm guessing you mean silk/southwater/laughingbird cayes-I saw more rays and turtles there than the further out sites. These sites were busier, though. We normally had glover's to just our boat. Glover's is my favorite, and worth the trip out! The reef here is much healthier than elsewhere, and you'll have an awesome dive regardless of which site you pick (-:
The further out dive sites tend to be three tank dives, and a bit more expensive than the closer dive sites. Because of the additional travel time to those sites, the boats leave pretty early and don't get back until dinner time.

Any other questions, let me know!