Summary
Fifteen of us did 24-30 dives over 5 ½ days of diving aboard the Peter Hughes Sun Dancer II. The diving was average with little to no currents. Winds may have prevented us from getting to the best dive sites. Visibility was generally 50-75 with dives ranging from deep walls to shallow reefs. Sea life was mostly small critters, but we were fortunate to see a Manta and a couple of Eagle Rays. We were able to dive the Blue Hole, which is really prettier from the air. With the exception of the Blue Hole, diving in Belize is well suited for the novice diver, perhaps a bit slow for those wanting a tad more excitement. The SDII was a comfortable boat, the crew was nice, and the diving arrangements made diving effortless. I would not want to be in Belize City after dark. Overall, I would give the diving in Belize 2 stars, the SDII 4 stars, and doubt that I would return to Belize to dive - -although I understand there may be other areas quite different from what we say..
Intro Topside
After an uneventful trip red-eye from Los Angeles by way of San Salvador, we arrived mid-day in Belize City. Due to conversations with recent travelers, my expectations of the city were low and were met. The city is impoverished, but more disappointingly, it was filthy. Trash littered the road in many neighborhoods regardless of the apparent economic class. We arrived at the Raddison Hotel in the Fort George section of Belize City. The hotel was nice, the rooms comfortable, and only a 2-minute walk to where the Peter Hughes Sun Dancer II would be picking us up. Due to time constraints, we decided to have lunch at the hotel after checking in. Food and service was fair at best while the prices were moderately high.
Our group of 15 split into two factions one headed to do the cave tubing and the other to explore the city. Having floated down rivers in inner-tubes before, I chose to be part of the latter group. The tubing group reported an enjoyable experience not great, maybe a 7. My group, walked around the Fort George area of Belize City and then into downtown. The downtown area reminded me of Tijuana during the 80s .dirty, street vendors everywhere hawking all sorts of goods, and the occasional inquiry if we were interested in buying some pot. After a brief tour of the city, our group returned to the hotel for a much-needed nap.
After the tubing group returned we decided to try one of the two recommended restaurants in the area the Smokey Mermaid (the other was Harbor View). While the service was better, the food was only slightly so. Prices were still moderately high and clearly there was not a good value for the money. We later learned that the Harbor View was more upscale, but we never tried it. Afterwards we returned to our rooms to watch TV which surprisingly had a large selection of US television stations including the major networks, CNBC, Discovery Channel, and of course the omnipresent CNN.
The next morning, the cave tubing group headed off to their second safari Canopy Zip Lines. They were faced with an early morning departure and the second group decided to sleep-in and remain around the hotel and surrounding areas to do some shopping. The Zip Liners returned after lunch, indicated they had a good time. (As a side note, the price for both trips totaled US$180 per person booked ahead of time for 11 people. Another couple on board our ship was able to get roughly the same package for $105 per person on-site at the end of the week. A partial explanation was both of their events were on the same day, so there was clearly less expense for travel and one fewer lunch still it seems that booking ahead mostly helped to pay the US booking agent arranging the activities. At the end of the week, several us opted to go visit Altun Ha (Mayan ruins) while the remainder stayed on board. While small by comparison to other Mayan ruins, it was still pretty incredible to think that they had been there for nearly two thousand years. Cost was $55; excluding tip)
At 3PM, we ventured down the dock to board our home for the next 6 nights the Sun Dancer II. All of our luggage had been transferred from the hotel and was waiting in our pre-assigned rooms. After a short safety briefing, we unloaded our diving gear and placed it in our diving location. Afterwards, there was food and drink as our party met the crew and the other 5 folks we would be on-board with.
Diving
As a disclaimer to what will follow, I will say that there were winds that (according to our Captain) affected our choice of dive locations. That being said, over the course of the week, we did visit the sites that they claim to be Belizes number 1 & 2 sites Aquarium and Painted Wall. We were unable to get to Turneffe Reef until the last day (due to the wind), but in talking with other divers who had been in Turneffe during the week, it was calm. Its unclear to me what the real story was, but it seems like we might have been unnecessarily limited to too few dive sites.
It was explained to us at the start, that the Sun Dancer IIs standard protocol for diving was to make two dives in the morning at one location, move during lunch, and then make 3 dives at the next location (2 during the day and one at night). Understanding the value in seeing the site during the day, before diving it at night, I was still disheartened that we would be making multiple dives to the same location during roughly the same time. I am ok with visiting the same site twice, but I would prefer if it was separated by some time .unless of course it was REALLY good.
For the most part the diving was rather homogenous regardless of the site. Rather than describe each site in detail, I will give you a summary of the diving. For the most part, visibility was in the 50-75 foot range. One location was closer to 25-30 and thankfully we moved after one dive. Currents were mild to non-existent. Most of the dive sites were on the edge of a deep wall with the shallow areas ranging from 40 feet to as shallow as 10 feet. The reefs were moderately healthy but still clearly recovering from hurricanes, over-fishing, polution over the past few years. Perhaps the best summary was one offered by one of the SDIIs crew. Belize is a good place for the new diver. There are no currents, no big fish to worry about, and lots of little pretty fish.
A couple of highlights of our dives included: sighting a Manta who came in close on our first dive. Unfortunately, it was our only Manta sighting and may have raised our expectations slightly. There was a small Nurse Shark spotted of in the distance as well as a few Eagle Rays. With minor exceptions during the year, the Caribbean remains void of most of the big fish. We did spot two octopus one at night and one during the day, multiple turtles ranging from a cute little one the size of a frisbee to several moderately sized ones, and ten or so Eels Green, Goldens, and Sharptail. While exploring the shallows, we can upon a small squadron of squid during the day, which was a nice surprise.
An exception to much of the above was our dive at The Blue Hole. As many have stated before, the Blue Hole is an over-hyped dive. In my opinion, it is far more beautiful from the air, but the few stalactites and stalagmites at 130 fsw are interesting. But at least we can say we dove the Blue Hole (and optionally buy a I Dove the Blue Hole for only US$20 in the ships store I chose not to) as well as having bragging rights (whatever thats worth) to new maximum depth records. The hole is rather dark and lifeless.
continued on Part 2.....
Fifteen of us did 24-30 dives over 5 ½ days of diving aboard the Peter Hughes Sun Dancer II. The diving was average with little to no currents. Winds may have prevented us from getting to the best dive sites. Visibility was generally 50-75 with dives ranging from deep walls to shallow reefs. Sea life was mostly small critters, but we were fortunate to see a Manta and a couple of Eagle Rays. We were able to dive the Blue Hole, which is really prettier from the air. With the exception of the Blue Hole, diving in Belize is well suited for the novice diver, perhaps a bit slow for those wanting a tad more excitement. The SDII was a comfortable boat, the crew was nice, and the diving arrangements made diving effortless. I would not want to be in Belize City after dark. Overall, I would give the diving in Belize 2 stars, the SDII 4 stars, and doubt that I would return to Belize to dive - -although I understand there may be other areas quite different from what we say..
Intro Topside
After an uneventful trip red-eye from Los Angeles by way of San Salvador, we arrived mid-day in Belize City. Due to conversations with recent travelers, my expectations of the city were low and were met. The city is impoverished, but more disappointingly, it was filthy. Trash littered the road in many neighborhoods regardless of the apparent economic class. We arrived at the Raddison Hotel in the Fort George section of Belize City. The hotel was nice, the rooms comfortable, and only a 2-minute walk to where the Peter Hughes Sun Dancer II would be picking us up. Due to time constraints, we decided to have lunch at the hotel after checking in. Food and service was fair at best while the prices were moderately high.
Our group of 15 split into two factions one headed to do the cave tubing and the other to explore the city. Having floated down rivers in inner-tubes before, I chose to be part of the latter group. The tubing group reported an enjoyable experience not great, maybe a 7. My group, walked around the Fort George area of Belize City and then into downtown. The downtown area reminded me of Tijuana during the 80s .dirty, street vendors everywhere hawking all sorts of goods, and the occasional inquiry if we were interested in buying some pot. After a brief tour of the city, our group returned to the hotel for a much-needed nap.
After the tubing group returned we decided to try one of the two recommended restaurants in the area the Smokey Mermaid (the other was Harbor View). While the service was better, the food was only slightly so. Prices were still moderately high and clearly there was not a good value for the money. We later learned that the Harbor View was more upscale, but we never tried it. Afterwards we returned to our rooms to watch TV which surprisingly had a large selection of US television stations including the major networks, CNBC, Discovery Channel, and of course the omnipresent CNN.
The next morning, the cave tubing group headed off to their second safari Canopy Zip Lines. They were faced with an early morning departure and the second group decided to sleep-in and remain around the hotel and surrounding areas to do some shopping. The Zip Liners returned after lunch, indicated they had a good time. (As a side note, the price for both trips totaled US$180 per person booked ahead of time for 11 people. Another couple on board our ship was able to get roughly the same package for $105 per person on-site at the end of the week. A partial explanation was both of their events were on the same day, so there was clearly less expense for travel and one fewer lunch still it seems that booking ahead mostly helped to pay the US booking agent arranging the activities. At the end of the week, several us opted to go visit Altun Ha (Mayan ruins) while the remainder stayed on board. While small by comparison to other Mayan ruins, it was still pretty incredible to think that they had been there for nearly two thousand years. Cost was $55; excluding tip)
At 3PM, we ventured down the dock to board our home for the next 6 nights the Sun Dancer II. All of our luggage had been transferred from the hotel and was waiting in our pre-assigned rooms. After a short safety briefing, we unloaded our diving gear and placed it in our diving location. Afterwards, there was food and drink as our party met the crew and the other 5 folks we would be on-board with.
Diving
As a disclaimer to what will follow, I will say that there were winds that (according to our Captain) affected our choice of dive locations. That being said, over the course of the week, we did visit the sites that they claim to be Belizes number 1 & 2 sites Aquarium and Painted Wall. We were unable to get to Turneffe Reef until the last day (due to the wind), but in talking with other divers who had been in Turneffe during the week, it was calm. Its unclear to me what the real story was, but it seems like we might have been unnecessarily limited to too few dive sites.
It was explained to us at the start, that the Sun Dancer IIs standard protocol for diving was to make two dives in the morning at one location, move during lunch, and then make 3 dives at the next location (2 during the day and one at night). Understanding the value in seeing the site during the day, before diving it at night, I was still disheartened that we would be making multiple dives to the same location during roughly the same time. I am ok with visiting the same site twice, but I would prefer if it was separated by some time .unless of course it was REALLY good.
For the most part the diving was rather homogenous regardless of the site. Rather than describe each site in detail, I will give you a summary of the diving. For the most part, visibility was in the 50-75 foot range. One location was closer to 25-30 and thankfully we moved after one dive. Currents were mild to non-existent. Most of the dive sites were on the edge of a deep wall with the shallow areas ranging from 40 feet to as shallow as 10 feet. The reefs were moderately healthy but still clearly recovering from hurricanes, over-fishing, polution over the past few years. Perhaps the best summary was one offered by one of the SDIIs crew. Belize is a good place for the new diver. There are no currents, no big fish to worry about, and lots of little pretty fish.
A couple of highlights of our dives included: sighting a Manta who came in close on our first dive. Unfortunately, it was our only Manta sighting and may have raised our expectations slightly. There was a small Nurse Shark spotted of in the distance as well as a few Eagle Rays. With minor exceptions during the year, the Caribbean remains void of most of the big fish. We did spot two octopus one at night and one during the day, multiple turtles ranging from a cute little one the size of a frisbee to several moderately sized ones, and ten or so Eels Green, Goldens, and Sharptail. While exploring the shallows, we can upon a small squadron of squid during the day, which was a nice surprise.
An exception to much of the above was our dive at The Blue Hole. As many have stated before, the Blue Hole is an over-hyped dive. In my opinion, it is far more beautiful from the air, but the few stalactites and stalagmites at 130 fsw are interesting. But at least we can say we dove the Blue Hole (and optionally buy a I Dove the Blue Hole for only US$20 in the ships store I chose not to) as well as having bragging rights (whatever thats worth) to new maximum depth records. The hole is rather dark and lifeless.
continued on Part 2.....
