desperoadie
Registered
This is my report on our trip to Belize; we arrived in Belize on April 7 and staid at the island 8 days:
The travel:
From Brussels to Amsterdam by plane; from Amsterdam to Houston, to Belize City, to Dagringa (in a 12 seater) and then by boat. Our dive bag was heavy and posed no problem. My wife and I both have a Pelican case with our u/w housing and strobes, which we took on board. They fit (just) in the overhead compartment. We both had a bag on top of that. Only in Brussels they raised the issue of my Pelican, but after some haggling we just went on Security was kinda curious and we had to open the Pelicans on the international flights.
We staid on Isla Marisol, which is a 1 hour boat ride from Dagringa. The island is small and there is only one resort. The food is reasonable, the price is not 
There are sand flies which are a nuisance so one should be prepared for that.
The cabins are basic with OK comfort.
The reef is one of the healthiest weÃ×e seen and weÃ×e been diving at at least 10-15 locations in the Caribbean, Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
There are about 3 dives a day; mostly the boat comes back between dives. There are enough dive masters and they are competent. They set up the equipment before and between dives, so they only thing to do is roll back and dive!
Our reason for going to Isla Marisol was to see the whale sharks. My wife went out once alone and once together with me and we didnÃÕ see the whale sharks. A bit of a disappointment. The boat ride was both times a bit tough and sea legs would come in handy.
I havenÃÕ made a selection yet of the pics I took; IÃÍl post some later. As it was the first trip with my Ikelite and Canon 20D, I had to struggle a bit in the beginning.
Our son is almost 10 and we asked for an introduction dive. He liked it a lot and we hope that soon weÃÍl be diving the 3 of us.
Would we go back? For the reef, definitely yes. But I know that my wife and son suffered too much from the sand flies, so I guess it will be a no.
The travel:
From Brussels to Amsterdam by plane; from Amsterdam to Houston, to Belize City, to Dagringa (in a 12 seater) and then by boat. Our dive bag was heavy and posed no problem. My wife and I both have a Pelican case with our u/w housing and strobes, which we took on board. They fit (just) in the overhead compartment. We both had a bag on top of that. Only in Brussels they raised the issue of my Pelican, but after some haggling we just went on Security was kinda curious and we had to open the Pelicans on the international flights.
We staid on Isla Marisol, which is a 1 hour boat ride from Dagringa. The island is small and there is only one resort. The food is reasonable, the price is not 
There are sand flies which are a nuisance so one should be prepared for that.
The cabins are basic with OK comfort.
The reef is one of the healthiest weÃ×e seen and weÃ×e been diving at at least 10-15 locations in the Caribbean, Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
There are about 3 dives a day; mostly the boat comes back between dives. There are enough dive masters and they are competent. They set up the equipment before and between dives, so they only thing to do is roll back and dive!
Our reason for going to Isla Marisol was to see the whale sharks. My wife went out once alone and once together with me and we didnÃÕ see the whale sharks. A bit of a disappointment. The boat ride was both times a bit tough and sea legs would come in handy.
I havenÃÕ made a selection yet of the pics I took; IÃÍl post some later. As it was the first trip with my Ikelite and Canon 20D, I had to struggle a bit in the beginning.
Our son is almost 10 and we asked for an introduction dive. He liked it a lot and we hope that soon weÃÍl be diving the 3 of us.
Would we go back? For the reef, definitely yes. But I know that my wife and son suffered too much from the sand flies, so I guess it will be a no.
