San Pedro trip report: Reef Adventures and Amigos. 3/27-4/7

[yakivet]

Thanks for a great report. I had similar thoughts about the Blue Hole. I was able the take a trip to Turneffe on one of my earlier visits to Ambergris. It's really to bad that the Turneffe trip isn't more available from San Pedro now.

 

[garydemos]

Thanks ScubaERDOC - very nice report and I'll be arriving at Paradise Villa May 5 and will be diving with Reef Adventures with 2 of my adult kids. I'm really glad to hear you had such a nice trip. One question I have is about the flight from Belize City to AC. I noticed that Tropic air has flights from Belize city main airport or the smaller airport in Belize City. The rates are a LOT cheaper from the smaller airport where they are based. Since I'll have 5 people I'm wondering about taking a taxi from the main airport to the smaller one and flying from there to AC. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks, Gary

 

[AWMIII]

Thanks ScubaERDOC - very nice report and I'll be arriving at Paradise Villa May 5 and will be diving with Reef Adventures with 2 of my adult kids. I'm really glad to hear you had such a nice trip. One question I have is about the flight from Belize City to AC. I noticed that Tropic air has flights from Belize city main airport or the smaller airport in Belize City. The rates are a LOT cheaper from the smaller airport where they are based. Since I'll have 5 people I'm wondering about taking a taxi from the main airport to the smaller one and flying from there to AC. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks, Gary

Getting 5 passengers and luggage into a cab at BZE might be problematic. The cabs I saw were mostly sub compact sedans. I believe the fare from BZE to municipal is $25 US. It is probably a 20 minute ride. You might be able to find a van taxi. I am sure they exist. I think it costs Tropic more to operate out of BZE than Municipal.

Another option is the water taxi. For a $25 cab fare, you can get to any of the water taxi stations. The ride is about 90 minutes and features a stop at Caye Caulker. The water taxis are like a cross between a city bus and a speedboat. The water taxis are all $15 us each way for adults. We did this for the first time on our most recent trip and do not regret it. It is a nice scenic, relaxing ride out to the cayes. It can be warm on the water taxis, but it is always VERY warm on the tropic flights before take off. If you decide to give the water taxi a try to decide if the schedule of the return trip works well for you before getting a round trip ticket. the round trip ticket saves very little money and it locks you in to using the same water taxi company on the return. The schedules vary between companies. This is the way that locals seem to travel to the cayes. It is pretty efficient.

The tropic flight from bze to San Pedro strip is definately the easiest way to go. I have left Philadelphia in the morning and been at our place in San Pedro before noon of the same day. That involved 2 jets, a prop plane and a small boat ride. Bring a few US 5$ bills to grease the skids in baggage handling and check in at BZE. It will make things a lot easier for you. I seem to always forget to bring some small US bills.

There is a new water taxi that will pick you up in a van at BZE and shuttle you to a dock near the airport. It is then a 90 minute trip directly to your hotel's dock. I have no experience with this and have heard varying reports. You can check out trip advisor in the Belize forums for more info on this.

 

[beaverdivers]

Glad to hear Belize is as good as ever. Thanks

 

[peterbj7]

One other thing. There are two airlines in Belize, and the other is Maya Island Air. They often give discounts for cash payment, sometimes as much as 30%, and if time is not a consideration that can be worth considering. I am personally wary of relying on them in time-critical situations as I and friends have too often been left standing when they have decided not to operate a particular flight, usually because not enough (in their view) people have booked on it.

Another point about Tropic which may also apply to Maya. They quote baggage limits but I have never heard of these limits being implemented. The worst that usually happens is that baggage may be left to a later flight in the interests of getting all the people transported. When that happens Tropic will ensure your baggage gets to your hotel later that same day, at their expense. If you have a boat journey after landing in San Pedro you should tell Tropic as they may give your baggage higher priority.

 

[ScubaERDoc]

We flew Tropic Air from the International Airport, mostly for the convenience. Seriously, the check in desk was about 50 feet from the baggage terminal. From getting our bags in the the airport, to being in the air to San Pedro was about 30 minutes tops. They sometime leave early if all passengers are on board as well. This was the easiest Central American flight I have ever had. Since there was only 2 of us, we did not even entertain the idea of going to the Municipal Airport, but if the costs are significantly lower for 5 people total, and you can bear the additional time in Belize City, it may be a good option...save some money for more Belikins! Honestly though, after a day of traveling beginning at 4 AM, we were glad for the easy connection.

Still haven't sorted through my video (to many overnight shifts at work) but will post soon!

 

[Allen Raphael]

Sounds like you and your wife are very similar to us with respect to diving experience! And we're both docs as well, just a little further south on the body (Podiatrists)! We dove with Chuck and Robbie's several years ago and had a very positive experience but due to my wife's inexperience at that time, we chose not to do any long excursions to BH, Lighthouse, Turneffe, etc.
From what I have heard, Amigos del Mar is the only dive shop in San Pedro that does these excursions? I had really had my heart set on Turneffe and Lighthouse, with the olbigatory BH dive as well. How many divers would it take to convince a local operator to take this excursion to Turneffe? I have heard the Aquarium was an amazing site and if it's shorter and easier to get to than BH, that's where we'd like to go. We arrive May 5th and are staying one week. Any divers here on SB going that week? Maybe we can get 4-6 folks together for this trip?
Allen

 

[garydemos]

We arrive May 5th and are staying one week. Any divers here on SB going that week? Maybe we can get 4-6 folks together for this trip?
Allen

We are also arriving May 5 and will stay in San Pedro until the 7th when we start our mainland events. This is my first time to the area and we'll be diving only on the 6th at AC with Reef Adventures. Later in the week we'll dive at Hopkins.

 

[peterbj7]

Can I chip in here? From AC there are several operators who go out to the atolls, including:-

Amigos del Mar
Hugh Parkey's Belize Dive Connection
Ramon's
AquaScuba
Island Divers

Only Amigos and possibly AquaScuba go with any regularity, the others go as and when. Hugh Parkey's have an excellent boat and I'd always check with them first. Island Diver's boat is a fairly standard 38ft (I think) part-covered skiff that is on the face of it not as good, but I have been out with them and we had a good ride and an excellent time. Once you know what you want to do I'd check with all of these.

Any of these operators will go to either Lighthouse or Turneffe depending on demand. As I said above, there currently seems little demand for Turneffe, but if you can get a group of 8-10 together they'll probably do it.

"The Aquarium" is one of the stops, the last one, made during the standard Blue Hole trip. It's very good, though my favourite is the one before, "Half Moon Caye Wall". These are all in Lighthouse Atoll. Turneffe Atoll is generally dived from AC as one of two alternative routes. Turneffe North is good wall diving, and is quite a short journey from AC. Turneffe South is much further, and it is at the far southern tip, as far as possible from AC, that you'll find the famous dive site "The Elbow". Hank here can eulogise on that site!

My personal favourite day trip is three dives at Lighthouse but excluding the Blue Hole. I used to run those trips, but it's the BH itself that is the big draw and it's difficult to fill a boat to go to Lighthouse and not visit the BH.

 

[Allen Raphael]

Peter, thanks for the info! We don't really want to spend our entire trip on long trips to the Atolls....after all, if we didn't like San Pedro's vibe so much, we would have just stayed further south to enjoy these dives. I really want to see the Elbow if possible but if the south part of Turneffe is that far, maybe next time, we'll stay at Turneffe Island itself or Glover's to get a different taste of Belize. Counting down the days!