Trip Report - Turneffe Island Resort

[Stoo]

Would this be an ok resort for novice divers? It sounds amazing, and I like the everything on one place part, but I don't want to do it if I'm going to be slowing up the rest of the group.

I guess it depends on how your skills are. The diving is very easy drift diving for the most part. Most dives are not deep, the blue hole being the exception. (And you can still enjoy that dive regardless). Most people probably didn't get below 70' all week. I don't think I made it to 100' other than at the hole.

Perhaps the only thing that might be an issue is that you need to be able to maintain buoyancy for your safety stops. As has been mentioned, most of the reefs top out at perhaps 45' - 50' so you tend to rack up nitrogen pretty well. As a result, you end up needing to be able to hold your depth midwater, and drift. "Novice" covers a broad range of abilities... And because the dives are generally drift dives, there isn't usually a mooring line to follow down. There were certainly many divers there with limited experience on this last trip.

Just bear in mind that there is very little "stuff" to do here, other than dive, eat, sleep, dive eat, dive, nap, drink... Little swimming. Not much of a beach etc. As long as you are going to be happy diving non stop, then I think you would have a great time!

 

[sbroh]

Eeeh! The dives I have done before I've never had to do a safety stop as I wasn't near the no decompression limits. I generally feel pretty good about my buoyancy skills, but never having had to hold in one place for an extended length of time makes me a little worried.

Edit: I am aware of the very little other stuff. We'd dive most days, and maybe do some kayaking one day if we feel like it.

 

[peterbj7]

Yet again the need for a DSMB is demonstrated. If you don't know what this is then say so. If you don't have one then get one - DAN Americas have a pretty good one at present. You'll also need an enclosed reel with maybe 100ft of line - easy to find. Then learn how to use the DSMB/reel combination.

The point about a safety stop is that it ISN'T obligatory. You should make on on every dive, except maybe if you never went below say 25ft.

 

[Stoo]

Eeeh! The dives I have done before I've never had to do a safety stop as I wasn't near the no decompression limits.

"Eeeh" is right! Being able to maintain neutral buoyancy is a very fundamental skill, that should have been part of your basic training... On the upside, after you have banged off 15 or 17 dives at Turneffe, you'll have it down to a science! The DMs there ask that divers work on a fairly conservative plan. As I mentioned in my original posting, this place is very remote, so a trip to the chamber would take many hours! (And be very expensive = DAN Insurance!) Mastering the ability to do a safety stop is going to be necessary where ever you go!

Yet again the need for a DSMB is demonstrated. If you don't know what this is then say so. If you don't have one then get one - DAN Americas have a pretty good one at present.

Peter makes a going point. A SMB is a definite must have. Mrs. Stoo and I tended to lag well behind our little group, being the anti-social, photographer that I am. (She makes me watch "Open Water" before every trip!) We deployed our SMB three times, not because we were afraid that Capt. Brad wouldn't find us, but because it made it easier for him to find us. Several days, we found ourselves in six foot swells when we surfaced. When it comes to SMBs, "size matters". The DAN marker that Peter mentioned is what I use. It's big, holds air and has lots of reflective stuff on it. I used a little finger spool so that we could blow it off from 20 feet or so which helped with inflation and gave the boat guy a head start in tracking us.

Having said that, I would NOT suggest trying to launch a SMB from depth if you are still struggling to maintain your safety stop... too much to cope with at one time!

 

[Downing]

I'd say TIR would be a great place for a novice. The diving's easy, and you'll have a very competent dive master looking after you. If you're a good novice diver, you won't have any issues. If you're a bad novice diver, then you'd probably have issues anywhere so Turneffe would be a good place to get better.

If you haven't done a safety stop before (!), you'll be an expert at it by your third or fourth dive there. It's a fundamental skill that will be simple to master in the conditions at Turneffe.

I don't mean to be contrary, but personally I didn't bother with an SMB.

Stoo, were Matt and Morag still the managers when you were there? Per the other TIR thread going at the moment, they've moved on.

 

[Stoo]

Downing, Matt and Morag had left back in January I think. My sense was that it was a sudden departure as Chris from Head Office had been plopped in to run things. There was a new Brit couple that had just been there for a couple of weeks and were still getting the hang f things. They were perhaps a little "enthusiastic" in their duties. I think that so many of the staff has been there for so long that things chug along pretty well regardless of who is "managing".

As for the SMB, they can be mighty cheap insurance. As someone who operates a small dive boat in the Great Lakes, I can tell you that it doesn't take much of a swell to make it very difficult to spot a diver in the water!

 

[Stoo]

Welcome to the 2 Timers Club, and I'm going to be so jealous when you blow past me and join the 3 Peaters! I'll get there eventually.

Well Downing, we just booked again, for March. This is the only place we have ever booked three times. Because we travel at school break, we need to book a long way ahead to get the flights we need.

In order to help pass the time while we wait, we are heading off on the Turks and Caicos Explorer II in a couple of weeks...

 

[Downing]

You are a very bad man, lol.

Have fun! I've done my summer dive trip to Belize already this year, and next year I'm probably headed for Florida again to work in a visit to my Mom around my diving.

But then there's the year after that...

 

[bsppc]

My wife and I just returned from a week at Turneffe. Diving was great as usual. They were getting a strange current from the south and the vis was not good all week, getting much worse by weeks end. There is much trouble at the island today as the staff has lost the confidence of the current managers. We had an ugly situation when attempting to depart the island. I will not return ( we have been there 3 times now) until major changes are made in how and who are managing the resort.

Bill

 

[Stoo]

There is much trouble at the island today as the staff has lost the confidence of the current managers. We had an ugly situation when attempting to depart the island.

Bill I would be interested in knowing more about this. Were Nick and Vanda the managers in question? I'm curious about the "ugly" situation. PM if you prefer...