Recommendation needed

[gkornfeld]

HI, my son (14 years and has 25 dives) and I are coming back to Ambergris Caye...looking for accomodation recommendation and even Dive company recommendations. It has been 1 1/2 years since there...

We are budget oriented and looking for a small dive trips.

Thoughts

PS. Timing is April 16 - April 22

Thanks

Gregg

 

[yakivet]

HI, my son (14 years and has 25 dives) and I are coming back to Ambergris Caye...looking for accomodation recommendation and even Dive company recommendations. It has been 1 1/2 years since there...

We are budget oriented and looking for a small dive trips.

Thoughts

PS. Timing is April 16 - April 22

Thanks

Gregg

Hi Greg- My wife and I have been to ambergris yearly for the last 6 years. The last 2 years we have done our diving with Island Divers Welcome to Island Divers Belize "Rudy" the owner and "Nef" is main divemaster have taken very good care of us. We will be returning to dive with "Rudy" shortly before your visit, March 26th-April 2nd. His groups are small-less than 6 divers and are very well run. Dive times run 50-60 minutes. "Nef" owns the only real dive supply store in town and also has pretty good rental gear if you are in need of it.

We have stayed several times at Paradise Villas and rented through Nellie's Property management Welcome to Paradise Villas in San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye, Belize! Great Accommodations, Great Service, Tours, Excursions, Vacation Get Away! Comfortable small condo type setting, nice pool, small kitchen, etc. and pretty affordable for what you get. Some friends stayed at the villas and rented through Tradewinds Belize Tradewinds - $99.00 Special EXTENDED and were equally pleased.

 

[peterbj7]

What Ken said. Excellent dive center. A good budget place to stay is right at the other end of Island Divers' dock, Spindrift. A still cheaper alternative is Rubies, a few yards away down the beach. Paradise Villas isn't far away and as Ken says is very good, with a peaceful atmosphere that belies its proximity to the town. Nellies and Tradewinds book for different condos in the "hotel". Paradise Villas has a swimming pool, unlike the other two places I've mentioned.

An alternative that I like is The Tides small hotel just north of town, with its in-house dive center Patojo's. I have a group staying and diving there for this coming week and I'll be joining them. Very good value accommodation, but AFAIK not "suites" as Ken describes. If this interests you please PM me as I can give you a ling to better rates than Patojo (the owner) normally gives.

There are very few dive centers I'd choose to dive with, and these are two of them.

 

[hydroknot]

Suggest you consider Turneffe Island Resort located on a small island within Turneffe Atoll. We just returned from a week's stay. See my post of today. Also, search "Turneffe Island Resort". You will see nothing but positive comments. PS ... Weather will be much warmer with less wind in April 2011.

 

[calicant]

I can give a thumbs up for Island Divers. We went out with them on three of our six days diving last week and they really looked after us. Rudy even let us use his BCD's on our trip to the Blue Hole with another dive shop which fitted our schedule.

 

[Midget]

I just had a look at their website. Their photo gallery flaunts pics of divers molesting (because touching & holding IS molesting) sharks. Why would a responsible dive operator promote that behavior?

 

[mrbeast1414]

I just had a look at their website. Their photo gallery flaunts pics of divers molesting (because touching & holding IS molesting) sharks. Why would a responsible dive operator promote that behavior?

because they get money. If they don't allow their divers to do that then their customers will be unhappy and go to another dive shop that allows it.

touch sharks=customer happy=money

 

[calicant]

I don't like the shark petting but I do like the spearing of lion fish

 

[Hank49]

Most likely the pics of petting nurse sharks were taken at Shark Ray Alley. The place is fed by shops and locals so the rays and sharks stay there and are really tame. I haven't seen anyone molesting marine life anywhere but there.

 

[BDSC]

I just had a look at their website. Their photo gallery flaunts pics of divers molesting (because touching & holding IS molesting) sharks. Why would a responsible dive operator promote that behavior?

Just because someone touches something doesn't mean they are molesting it. If those sharks felt like they were in danger or didn't want to be touched or held, they could very easily swim away with no chance of being caught by any diver.