Codeman00
Contributor
Diving
We dove with Island Divers for 11 dives (over 5 days)...for $65 per day except for the last day which was a 3 dive day. They picked us up at the Kama Lounge boat dock every morning at 9AM as Rudy promised. We never did dive with Rudy. Lloydy (I hope I spelled that right) was our divemaster. I don't think I've every had a more patient, excited, happy to be diving, divemaster than Lloydy. We saw nurse sharks and turtles on almost every day. Lots of Lionfish killed usually 2 per dive but some dives we didn't see any. We also a big jellyfish, several Spotted Eagle Rays, huge grouper, huge green morays and lots of other creatures /fish. The coral scenery was as beautiful as I've seen...just the structure of the coral fingers and how tall they are is just amazing. There were a few swim-throughs too. The vis was about 80 ft due to the hurricane that had stirred stuff up days before but still not bad. Just over all great diving! Our last dive we dove the Ho Chan Reserve....which was great last dive. Amazing schools of fish and much more diverse life there than in any of our other dives. Arrow crab, stingray, Spotted eagle ray, huge grouper, urchins, huge barracuda, all in 30 ft of water! Amazing...amazing amazing!! Unfortunately, we didn't get to go the Blue Hole or Turneffe Atoll. The diving was on the reef was just amazing and I really didn't see any reason to go to other dive ops searching for an all day trip when we were having a lot of fun diving just off the island. Maybe we'll do the blue hole or Turneffe on our next trip and being their during the busy season would make it much easier to get a trip together.
One thing that surprised me was how many locals were fishing out of little boats right on the reefs we were diving! Now these aren't huge commercial boats but kayak type boats. I was amazed at our divemasters excited and yelling when one of the boats held up a huge 50+ pound fish that they just caught off of the reef that we were diving. I asked the DM..."you guys actually fish on the reef?" He said....well, the boats have to stay 100 yds from the markers....other than that, yes. Fishing has been here long before diving". Hmmm. I just assumed that all of the reef would be a protected area without fishing...but I was wrong. Once I dove Ho Chan, I then realized what the reef is supposed to look like and why there aren't any big schools of fish, etc at the dive sites. Its just a reminder how man and our exploding population has changed the ocean so drastically. That's life I guess.
That being said....I highly recommend Island Divers. They are an amazing operation and did everything they could to make our diving the best it could be. Just make sure to watch your computer...the diving is deep and you can easily go into deco if you don't watch out....especially on the 2nd dive later in the week.
Resort / Miscellaneous / Good and Bad
We stayed at the Reef Village Resort....a time share resort across from the bar Kama and across from Cloisters resort. It was just north of the famous "toll bridge". Nice place to stay although we lost water and hot water a couple of days. But we only paid $250 for the transfer fee so I'll take it. They had a nice restaurant and bar...friendly staff, etc. It was the slow season so not a lot of people on the island. I guess business really picks up around Thanksgiving, so they say. Bring DEET mosquito repellent. When the wind was calm, the mosquitos were out in full force!
The food on the island was hit or miss. But I will have to say, if you are going budget, you can easily do this in Belize. We really enjoyed Carumba, Wild Mango, and the Blue Water Grille. Just note at the latter two, the menu changes at dinner and the prices get higher. A couple of the places we were told to try were Elvi's and burger place just north of the bridge, but both were closed. Prices are so cheap on the island compared to Cayman and Turks & Caicos. It was nice to pay $9 for fajitas instead of $20+ !
We only rented a golf cart one day that week. This was a mistake. I found that being north of the bridge, we were very limited due to not being as mobile as I would have liked. Walking into town was 30 minutes and going north was a long dark walk dodging bikes and golf carts on a crappy road. If we go back and are north of the bridge, renting a golf cart is a priority. But remember, if you have a golf cart, every time you travel into the city, you have to pay a toll on the bridge! Factor that in to you cost and be conscious of going into the city and getting everything done at one time. Many times, people on the island would pick us up while were walking and take us up or down the island. We really appreciated this.
Speaking of travel...if you don't have a golf cart, there is a water taxi that runs from place to place. Just ask the restaurant to call the taxi for you and either they or a private boat will drop by and pick you up...then take you to where ever you want and drop you off. Just know that this service is available....we didn't know until the last day.
Beware that everyone is going to try to sell you something. It got a bit tiring to keep getting offered the same wooden stingray to purchase...even while eating at Wild Mango. I was offered "special" cookies one night. Nice! Also, everyone has a brother, cousin or some friend that arranges trips to the mainland. You get what you pay for....the more expensive trips to the mainland get a dedicated private boat....the cheaper ones put you on the public transportation boat. I would recommend going with a reputable store front operation and not deal with people on the street.
The Casino up at Captain Morgan's kind of a joke. Not that I planned to gamble much, but just wanted to check it out to see for myself. We drove up in the golf cart one night...2 miles of crappy roads in the dark. We found the casino to be a small room with a couple of dozen machines....many of them turned off (broken) or with the letters "Err" on them. They didn't have craps as advertised....but they did have a few other tables. It took longer to go through security than when stayed. I wouldn't trust my money there. It was an adventure getting home in the dark.
As many have said here...don't buy groceries at the grocery store north just north of the bridge. We thought that it might be different. The milk was almost spoiled...we questioned the taste of the turkey/roast beef, and the frozen pizza was thawed and refrozen....it was awful. Why didn't I listen to everyone here. Because we didn't have a golf cart and it was easier to stop off at the store across from us. You are fine buying water from them and dry goods, but I wouldn't buy anything else from them.
The people are so nice on the island. Its amazing how much "stuff" we have here in the US and how angry everyone is but they have very little and seem to be so happy. Most went above and beyond to help...people at the resort, the dive masters, basically everyone. Even the locals (kids and all) would make sure to say hello as we walked by. We really liked the island. I highly recommend it !!
We dove with Island Divers for 11 dives (over 5 days)...for $65 per day except for the last day which was a 3 dive day. They picked us up at the Kama Lounge boat dock every morning at 9AM as Rudy promised. We never did dive with Rudy. Lloydy (I hope I spelled that right) was our divemaster. I don't think I've every had a more patient, excited, happy to be diving, divemaster than Lloydy. We saw nurse sharks and turtles on almost every day. Lots of Lionfish killed usually 2 per dive but some dives we didn't see any. We also a big jellyfish, several Spotted Eagle Rays, huge grouper, huge green morays and lots of other creatures /fish. The coral scenery was as beautiful as I've seen...just the structure of the coral fingers and how tall they are is just amazing. There were a few swim-throughs too. The vis was about 80 ft due to the hurricane that had stirred stuff up days before but still not bad. Just over all great diving! Our last dive we dove the Ho Chan Reserve....which was great last dive. Amazing schools of fish and much more diverse life there than in any of our other dives. Arrow crab, stingray, Spotted eagle ray, huge grouper, urchins, huge barracuda, all in 30 ft of water! Amazing...amazing amazing!! Unfortunately, we didn't get to go the Blue Hole or Turneffe Atoll. The diving was on the reef was just amazing and I really didn't see any reason to go to other dive ops searching for an all day trip when we were having a lot of fun diving just off the island. Maybe we'll do the blue hole or Turneffe on our next trip and being their during the busy season would make it much easier to get a trip together.
One thing that surprised me was how many locals were fishing out of little boats right on the reefs we were diving! Now these aren't huge commercial boats but kayak type boats. I was amazed at our divemasters excited and yelling when one of the boats held up a huge 50+ pound fish that they just caught off of the reef that we were diving. I asked the DM..."you guys actually fish on the reef?" He said....well, the boats have to stay 100 yds from the markers....other than that, yes. Fishing has been here long before diving". Hmmm. I just assumed that all of the reef would be a protected area without fishing...but I was wrong. Once I dove Ho Chan, I then realized what the reef is supposed to look like and why there aren't any big schools of fish, etc at the dive sites. Its just a reminder how man and our exploding population has changed the ocean so drastically. That's life I guess.
That being said....I highly recommend Island Divers. They are an amazing operation and did everything they could to make our diving the best it could be. Just make sure to watch your computer...the diving is deep and you can easily go into deco if you don't watch out....especially on the 2nd dive later in the week.
Resort / Miscellaneous / Good and Bad
We stayed at the Reef Village Resort....a time share resort across from the bar Kama and across from Cloisters resort. It was just north of the famous "toll bridge". Nice place to stay although we lost water and hot water a couple of days. But we only paid $250 for the transfer fee so I'll take it. They had a nice restaurant and bar...friendly staff, etc. It was the slow season so not a lot of people on the island. I guess business really picks up around Thanksgiving, so they say. Bring DEET mosquito repellent. When the wind was calm, the mosquitos were out in full force!
The food on the island was hit or miss. But I will have to say, if you are going budget, you can easily do this in Belize. We really enjoyed Carumba, Wild Mango, and the Blue Water Grille. Just note at the latter two, the menu changes at dinner and the prices get higher. A couple of the places we were told to try were Elvi's and burger place just north of the bridge, but both were closed. Prices are so cheap on the island compared to Cayman and Turks & Caicos. It was nice to pay $9 for fajitas instead of $20+ !
We only rented a golf cart one day that week. This was a mistake. I found that being north of the bridge, we were very limited due to not being as mobile as I would have liked. Walking into town was 30 minutes and going north was a long dark walk dodging bikes and golf carts on a crappy road. If we go back and are north of the bridge, renting a golf cart is a priority. But remember, if you have a golf cart, every time you travel into the city, you have to pay a toll on the bridge! Factor that in to you cost and be conscious of going into the city and getting everything done at one time. Many times, people on the island would pick us up while were walking and take us up or down the island. We really appreciated this.
Speaking of travel...if you don't have a golf cart, there is a water taxi that runs from place to place. Just ask the restaurant to call the taxi for you and either they or a private boat will drop by and pick you up...then take you to where ever you want and drop you off. Just know that this service is available....we didn't know until the last day.
Beware that everyone is going to try to sell you something. It got a bit tiring to keep getting offered the same wooden stingray to purchase...even while eating at Wild Mango. I was offered "special" cookies one night. Nice! Also, everyone has a brother, cousin or some friend that arranges trips to the mainland. You get what you pay for....the more expensive trips to the mainland get a dedicated private boat....the cheaper ones put you on the public transportation boat. I would recommend going with a reputable store front operation and not deal with people on the street.
The Casino up at Captain Morgan's kind of a joke. Not that I planned to gamble much, but just wanted to check it out to see for myself. We drove up in the golf cart one night...2 miles of crappy roads in the dark. We found the casino to be a small room with a couple of dozen machines....many of them turned off (broken) or with the letters "Err" on them. They didn't have craps as advertised....but they did have a few other tables. It took longer to go through security than when stayed. I wouldn't trust my money there. It was an adventure getting home in the dark.
As many have said here...don't buy groceries at the grocery store north just north of the bridge. We thought that it might be different. The milk was almost spoiled...we questioned the taste of the turkey/roast beef, and the frozen pizza was thawed and refrozen....it was awful. Why didn't I listen to everyone here. Because we didn't have a golf cart and it was easier to stop off at the store across from us. You are fine buying water from them and dry goods, but I wouldn't buy anything else from them.
The people are so nice on the island. Its amazing how much "stuff" we have here in the US and how angry everyone is but they have very little and seem to be so happy. Most went above and beyond to help...people at the resort, the dive masters, basically everyone. Even the locals (kids and all) would make sure to say hello as we walked by. We really liked the island. I highly recommend it !!
