This report covers diving August 11-13, 2006 with Reef’s End Lodge on Tobacco Caye, Belize.
Diving - General. I do not feel that the caye and Reef's End Lodge are particularly a dedicated dive spot, and indeed I was the only diver on several trips. George ran the only dive operation, which was at Reef’s End Lodge (though someone at Paradise Lodge said that it would be starting a dive op); Eric the Dive Master (who was mentioned in a Scubaboard trip report by Zenshift) was not at the lodge, and apparently now is working for a group that dives primarily Glovers Reef. The divemaster was Carlos, who did a good job and was very cooperative in selecting good and different dive sites on the 2nd and 3rd days. The operation seemed pretty loosely-run, particularly as regards departure times which ran anywhere from about 9am to after 11am, depending on whether anyone had remembered to bring gasoline from the mainland. The dive boats had bench seats running port-to-starboard, did not have canopies and were not specially fitted for diving (i.e., tanks and BCDs were laid on the floor of the boat); one boat tied to the dock did have a canopy and did have holes for tanks, but was said to be not working. Nitrox is not available.
A “dive package” ($85US for two-tank dive) includes only “local dives”, which seem to be about 5-10 minutes from the dock. If you get a dive package, you need to be very clear about which dives are included, and that can be difficult to do since the person making the reservation is not at the lodge, and, while she’s very helpful and nice on the telephone, does not appear to know much about diving. Dive schedule for local and other near-in dives is: dive, then lunch back at resort, then dive; timing is loose.
Trips to some of the better-known spots such as Glovers Reef cost more (an additional $65, I believe). These spots are visited only if there are four divers; we did not have them, and hence did not visit Glovers, which was a disappointment. If I returned to Tobacco Caye, I would do it with a dive group so we could control where we went.
The water temperature was quite warm – well over 80 degrees in most places inside the reef. I dove several times with a t-shirt and no wetsuit, and one certainly could get along, most places, with a skin or something similar.
There is a lot of drift diving, but the currents do not seem as strong as in Cozumel.
Carlos was very easy to work with – dive times ran to 45 minutes or more, and he would have allowed for more time if I had pushed the issue.
Dive Sites – August 11th. “Local dives” at Grouper’s Run and Barrel Sponge. Most time is spent at less than 50 feet. The reefs remind me of the spur-and-groove formations in the Florida Keys (but with deeper grooves), and seemed to be in good condition. There is a lot of soft coral, fans, grasses, etc. and a reasonable amount of fish life. Nice dives, but nothing particularly special.
Dive Sites – August 12th. I dove alone with Carlos for both dives. The first dive was “Sharks Cave”. This site is about 30-45 minutes north of Tobacco Caye. The cave entrance faces the surface, is at least 10-12 feet wide, and at about 50 feet. The cave is shaped like an inverted wine glass (stem toward the surface), with a sandy mound at the bottom at 118 feet; the ceiling is rock and smallish stalactites. There was a southern stingray on the bottom, but no sharks. The opening is always clearly visible from inside the cave. The area above the cave is a nice reef with a lot of fish life, including permits and spadefish and the usual assortment of smaller reef fish. This is a good dive, even without sharks. The trip cost an extra $30, but was worth it.
Carlos accommodated my wish to go somewhere other than “local” on the second dive, and, after lunch at the lodge, we went to an unmarked spot (no particular name) outside the reef. I was sorta looking for a good wall, didn’t get it, but nonetheless found this to be a good dive – same basic spur-and-groove formations but with much deeper grooves between healthy-looking coral hills, and a LOT more fish life. Most time spent at about 60 feet. This trip cost an extra $15 (gasoline), but was worth the money. According to Carlos, there really is little diving on the outside of the reef, and I can imagine that there are many good sites there that no one dives.
Dive Sites – August 13th. Primarily at Carlos’ insistence to George (Thank you, Carlos), we went south for about 45 minutes and dove our first dive at a site near Carrie Bow Caye; two other divers also made this trip (though they only did the first dive, since one of them developed ear troubles). Generally, a very good dive – the coral hills had so much growth that, on occasion, they reminded me of a field of wheat. The usual cast of reef fish. Most time spent at 40-50 feet. The highlight was the large remora that attempted, very vigorously, to attach itself to me while we were at the safety stop. I kept looking for his former host, but saw none.
After lunch (brought from Reefs End Lodge) on South Water Caye, we made the second dive at Jason’s Run, which is seaside of South Water Caye, outside the reef. This also was a very good dive – as we descended, we saw the largest spotted eagle ray that I’ve ever seen. The grooves between hills were deeper – I’m sure over 100 feet in several places, so I nearly got my wall dive. Good fish life and healthy-looking reefs. Most time spent at 50-60 feet.
All in all, the dive sites are quite good, and compare favorably to Coz.
There is a lot of snorkeling off the caye. I didn’t do that, but those who did seemed to have a good time, and to see a lot.
Tobacco Caye. This five-acre island has at least three lodges on it – Reefs End, Tobacco Caye, and Paradise; I think that there is a fourth, but couldn’t identify it. All have very simple accommodations. There’s a bar near Paradise Lodge, as well as at Reefs End. All of the caye residents were very nice. The lodge guests generally seemed to be a younger set (30 and under).
Getting There. American and Continental, at least, fly into Belize City, and Maya Air and Tropic Air fly the twenty minute trip into Dangriga on 10-15 seat Cessnas; the Dangriga airstrip looks about as wide as one-half of a Texas farm-to-market road, but is perfectly adequate for the Cessnas.
Dangriga to Tobacco Caye. The boat ride is 6-7 miles, which generally would not be too rough because it is inside the reef. The boat from Reef’s End Lodge picked me up in Dangriga at about 7:00pm (getting dark then); the boat was a shallow-draft fishing type boat, with bench seats and no canopy (and was the dive boat in subsequent days). As we headed toward the caye, we could see lightening – lots of it – in the direction of the caye and hear the accompanying thunder. About 2/3 the way to the caye, we hit the storm; the next however-many minutes (it seemed forever) were spent in the dark while being pounded by rain. This was not a pleasant experience.
I kept wondering how I could unlock the dive bag and get out the BCD before we sank!
Reef’s End Lodge. see [/URL]"www.reefsendlodge.com"][/URL]. The lodge is run by Malo? (aka “The Saint” – he wouldn’t tell me why that name) Jackson and his family; his wife Dorla is the cook. Both are helpful and pleasant. The lodge is an okay place, but I would not give it the rave reviews that others may have done.
There are two(?) cabanas and a two-story building with, I think, eight rooms (all of which have sink, toilet, and shower), and a restaurant that sits on stilts over the water. The water supply is rainwater; water pressure is good, though I did have to ask to have it pumped up on one occasion.
The rooms are plain, as one would expect. My first night was spent in a cabana, which had a misshaped door that absolutely was a b**** to open and close, especially since it had no handle. The other nights were spent in a room on the second floor. My big complaint is that, despite pretty consistent breezes, the ventilation is not great (though it might be better on an end room), and the fan (floor model – broken) was not powerful enough to keep me comfortable.
The food (breakfast, lunch, dinner) is pretty good. I especially liked all of the breakfasts. Lunches and dinners were okay. The night of my drenched arrival featured lobster, which was very good; another night featured fried fish balls that were outstanding.
The restaurant has a bar, which is a regular gathering place before and after meals.
Diving - General. I do not feel that the caye and Reef's End Lodge are particularly a dedicated dive spot, and indeed I was the only diver on several trips. George ran the only dive operation, which was at Reef’s End Lodge (though someone at Paradise Lodge said that it would be starting a dive op); Eric the Dive Master (who was mentioned in a Scubaboard trip report by Zenshift) was not at the lodge, and apparently now is working for a group that dives primarily Glovers Reef. The divemaster was Carlos, who did a good job and was very cooperative in selecting good and different dive sites on the 2nd and 3rd days. The operation seemed pretty loosely-run, particularly as regards departure times which ran anywhere from about 9am to after 11am, depending on whether anyone had remembered to bring gasoline from the mainland. The dive boats had bench seats running port-to-starboard, did not have canopies and were not specially fitted for diving (i.e., tanks and BCDs were laid on the floor of the boat); one boat tied to the dock did have a canopy and did have holes for tanks, but was said to be not working. Nitrox is not available.
A “dive package” ($85US for two-tank dive) includes only “local dives”, which seem to be about 5-10 minutes from the dock. If you get a dive package, you need to be very clear about which dives are included, and that can be difficult to do since the person making the reservation is not at the lodge, and, while she’s very helpful and nice on the telephone, does not appear to know much about diving. Dive schedule for local and other near-in dives is: dive, then lunch back at resort, then dive; timing is loose.
Trips to some of the better-known spots such as Glovers Reef cost more (an additional $65, I believe). These spots are visited only if there are four divers; we did not have them, and hence did not visit Glovers, which was a disappointment. If I returned to Tobacco Caye, I would do it with a dive group so we could control where we went.
The water temperature was quite warm – well over 80 degrees in most places inside the reef. I dove several times with a t-shirt and no wetsuit, and one certainly could get along, most places, with a skin or something similar.
There is a lot of drift diving, but the currents do not seem as strong as in Cozumel.
Carlos was very easy to work with – dive times ran to 45 minutes or more, and he would have allowed for more time if I had pushed the issue.
Dive Sites – August 11th. “Local dives” at Grouper’s Run and Barrel Sponge. Most time is spent at less than 50 feet. The reefs remind me of the spur-and-groove formations in the Florida Keys (but with deeper grooves), and seemed to be in good condition. There is a lot of soft coral, fans, grasses, etc. and a reasonable amount of fish life. Nice dives, but nothing particularly special.
Dive Sites – August 12th. I dove alone with Carlos for both dives. The first dive was “Sharks Cave”. This site is about 30-45 minutes north of Tobacco Caye. The cave entrance faces the surface, is at least 10-12 feet wide, and at about 50 feet. The cave is shaped like an inverted wine glass (stem toward the surface), with a sandy mound at the bottom at 118 feet; the ceiling is rock and smallish stalactites. There was a southern stingray on the bottom, but no sharks. The opening is always clearly visible from inside the cave. The area above the cave is a nice reef with a lot of fish life, including permits and spadefish and the usual assortment of smaller reef fish. This is a good dive, even without sharks. The trip cost an extra $30, but was worth it.
Carlos accommodated my wish to go somewhere other than “local” on the second dive, and, after lunch at the lodge, we went to an unmarked spot (no particular name) outside the reef. I was sorta looking for a good wall, didn’t get it, but nonetheless found this to be a good dive – same basic spur-and-groove formations but with much deeper grooves between healthy-looking coral hills, and a LOT more fish life. Most time spent at about 60 feet. This trip cost an extra $15 (gasoline), but was worth the money. According to Carlos, there really is little diving on the outside of the reef, and I can imagine that there are many good sites there that no one dives.
Dive Sites – August 13th. Primarily at Carlos’ insistence to George (Thank you, Carlos), we went south for about 45 minutes and dove our first dive at a site near Carrie Bow Caye; two other divers also made this trip (though they only did the first dive, since one of them developed ear troubles). Generally, a very good dive – the coral hills had so much growth that, on occasion, they reminded me of a field of wheat. The usual cast of reef fish. Most time spent at 40-50 feet. The highlight was the large remora that attempted, very vigorously, to attach itself to me while we were at the safety stop. I kept looking for his former host, but saw none.
After lunch (brought from Reefs End Lodge) on South Water Caye, we made the second dive at Jason’s Run, which is seaside of South Water Caye, outside the reef. This also was a very good dive – as we descended, we saw the largest spotted eagle ray that I’ve ever seen. The grooves between hills were deeper – I’m sure over 100 feet in several places, so I nearly got my wall dive. Good fish life and healthy-looking reefs. Most time spent at 50-60 feet.
All in all, the dive sites are quite good, and compare favorably to Coz.
There is a lot of snorkeling off the caye. I didn’t do that, but those who did seemed to have a good time, and to see a lot.
Tobacco Caye. This five-acre island has at least three lodges on it – Reefs End, Tobacco Caye, and Paradise; I think that there is a fourth, but couldn’t identify it. All have very simple accommodations. There’s a bar near Paradise Lodge, as well as at Reefs End. All of the caye residents were very nice. The lodge guests generally seemed to be a younger set (30 and under).
Getting There. American and Continental, at least, fly into Belize City, and Maya Air and Tropic Air fly the twenty minute trip into Dangriga on 10-15 seat Cessnas; the Dangriga airstrip looks about as wide as one-half of a Texas farm-to-market road, but is perfectly adequate for the Cessnas.
Dangriga to Tobacco Caye. The boat ride is 6-7 miles, which generally would not be too rough because it is inside the reef. The boat from Reef’s End Lodge picked me up in Dangriga at about 7:00pm (getting dark then); the boat was a shallow-draft fishing type boat, with bench seats and no canopy (and was the dive boat in subsequent days). As we headed toward the caye, we could see lightening – lots of it – in the direction of the caye and hear the accompanying thunder. About 2/3 the way to the caye, we hit the storm; the next however-many minutes (it seemed forever) were spent in the dark while being pounded by rain. This was not a pleasant experience.
I kept wondering how I could unlock the dive bag and get out the BCD before we sank!Reef’s End Lodge. see [/URL]"www.reefsendlodge.com"][/URL]. The lodge is run by Malo? (aka “The Saint” – he wouldn’t tell me why that name) Jackson and his family; his wife Dorla is the cook. Both are helpful and pleasant. The lodge is an okay place, but I would not give it the rave reviews that others may have done.
There are two(?) cabanas and a two-story building with, I think, eight rooms (all of which have sink, toilet, and shower), and a restaurant that sits on stilts over the water. The water supply is rainwater; water pressure is good, though I did have to ask to have it pumped up on one occasion.
The rooms are plain, as one would expect. My first night was spent in a cabana, which had a misshaped door that absolutely was a b**** to open and close, especially since it had no handle. The other nights were spent in a room on the second floor. My big complaint is that, despite pretty consistent breezes, the ventilation is not great (though it might be better on an end room), and the fan (floor model – broken) was not powerful enough to keep me comfortable.
The food (breakfast, lunch, dinner) is pretty good. I especially liked all of the breakfasts. Lunches and dinners were okay. The night of my drenched arrival featured lobster, which was very good; another night featured fried fish balls that were outstanding.
The restaurant has a bar, which is a regular gathering place before and after meals.
