Thinking about Thatch

[peterbj7]

"Bespoke" in this context means specially arranged for the customers, not pre-packaged and then offered to them.

 

[Scuba Monster]

I've been to Thatch 3 times now and found them about as accommodating as any dive operation I've ever dived with.

You want a third dive, sure, no problem. Don't want to go on the outer reef run, no worries, we'll do some local diving. Need a break one afternoon to let the family see you and that you haven't disappeared, then let's go looking for manatee's in the nearby mangroves or snorkel with the stingrays...

They really are that good. And, yes, the casita's really are worth paying the extra for, the roof terrace became my second home.

I promise you won't be disappointed.

Yaaayyyy!!

 

[Scuba Monster]

I don't understand what you mean in your final paragraph. TCR operate their own boats, and they take you to Turneffe/Glover's/Lighthouse, dive with you, and bring you back again. I've never heard of them using other people's boats.

TCR is in a superb location and if you go there you'll love it.

I'll try to clarify. Thatch's website offers trips to Turneffe and Glovers for extra money and a minimum number of divers to go. We've been to both Turneffe and Glovers. If diving around Thatch is good, I would like to stay local. So if two divers want to stay local and six divers want to go to Turneffe, will they still take the two divers to the local places? Does that make sense? Not a deal killer either way, because I enjoyed diving those areas previously, but just curious.

 

[peterbj7]

Depends on staff & boat availability at the time. They have done this in the past when I've been there, so in principle yes they will provide local diving when an atoll trip is on.

The diving is not "around" TCR, but on the barrier reef which is (at its closest) a couple of miles away. The best diving is south of Southwater Caye, probably around 4 miles away. It's mostly wall diving a bit like what you'll find at the atolls, and quite different from the diving up here off Ambergris Caye.

 

[Scuba Monster]

I took his question about local boats to mean that if TCR is running a dive out to Turneffe or the Blue Hole etc and you want to dive but not make such a long trip will they accomodate you and take you on another boat to a closer spot.

Unlike Turneffe Island Resort, which makes a weekly run to the Blue Hole. If you want to dive that day, you have to make the trip because all the dive staff goes and there's no shore diving off the island. In that situation there would be the two small dive boats left behind but no one to take you out.

Yes, that is what I meant. So at Thatch you would be forced to go or left behind?

 

[Hank49]

Only Travis or Steve can answer these questions. I can't believe they haven't chimed in here....unless Travis is preparing for OUR Turneffe trip Saturday....weather permitting.

Anyway, they have 3-4 boats. I would guess, based on the practices I've seen there in the past, that yes, they would take you to the reef if another boat was going with 6 divers to Glover's or Turneffe. Travis and Chico can run the boats. They also have another intsructor there now.

 

[Thatch Caye Belize]

Thatch Caye would definitely try their best to accomodate you by allowing you to do your local diving if they had an atoll trip. They only have a limited number of boats (and one of them is usually involved in transfers to and from the mainland on an almost daily basis) but they have two other boats that can do diving, so theoretically they should be able to do local diving and an atoll trip. If you really do not want to do an atoll trip, just make that clear to them and they will certainly oblige you. They will also schedule more than two dives in a day if you want. Just be sure to tell their reservations person in advance what kind of schedule you want to keep. The boat rides out to the reef are generally about fifteen to twenty minutes, depending on the site, and they do surface intervals right inside the shelter of the reef. After two morning dives, they go back for lunch and if you want at least one more dive, they go out again in the afternoon. They also do night dives which are excellent in that area.