Pacific Diver
Registered
(I just discovered that I never posted this report written shortly after a 2015 trip. Posting it now in case it might still be useful.)
My wife and I spent a week diving in Belize in August at Turneffe Atoll. We stayed at the Turneffe Island Resort (more on that below) and did most of our diving at sites within a five minute boat trip from the resort at the southern tip of the atoll - specifically at The Elbow, Myrtle’s Turtles, Lefty’s Ledge, Front Porch, Gailes Point, Majestic Point, and a night dive at Sayonara. Overall, we’d rate the quality of the diving as at or above what we’ve encountered elsewhere in the Caribbean - Roatan, Bonaire, Curacao, and Little Cayman.
The density of fish and coral was not what we expected, we don’t know how much that might be due to the lion fish problem. The variety of fish is about what you’d expect, but there were a few notable things about the the dives around Turneffe. There were plenty of moray eels, and they were very active. In the past I’ve only seen moray peering out of their dens, but on the reefs around Turneffe they were out and about continuously, swimming over the reef unfazed by our presence. Very unusual. We also saw a fair number of black-tipped reef sharks, small, usually alone (though there was one group of four) and keeping their distance out in the blue. A fair number of turtles and lots of rays as well.
Visibility was fair. The water seemed murky. This was our first summer dive in the Caribbean and I understand visibility can suffer in the summer. Weather was fine, mostly moderate overcast which might have added to the visibility issues. We descended one morning in a heavy rain, but it had cleared by the time we surfaced and it ended up being one of the better dives.
We did one day trip (three dives) to Lighthouse Reef, first to the Blue Hole, then Tarpon Cave and Long Cay Ridge. Blue Hole is a “tick the box” dive; you dive down to 30-40m for a few minutes, note the stalactites, then make your way up to the surface. There were few fish to see on our dive. The other two dives were the best of the trip. Coral was denser and the fish more plentiful at the sites around Lighthouse than the sites nearer the resort.
It’s hard to find any faults with Turneffe Island Resort, particularly given the resort has no connection to mainland infrastructure - water, sewer, electricity, telecommunications. The resort maintains a high standard despite the disadvantages. The rooms were very comfortable, the food was terrific, and unlike a lot of offshore resorts, the water pressure was just fine. There is no cell phone service on the island but there is wireless internet, slow but adequate for keeping up with your email. The property itself was in very good condition, seemingly not suffering from the usual toll that humidity and salt air take on wood floors, furniture, etc. They maintain this standard by keeping a very high level of staffing. It seemed like they were cleaning continuously while we were there and they even brought in extra workers from the mainland to clear the sargassum from the beach. Of course, this comes at a price. The resort is not cheap, but we did get a pretty good deal because we visited in the low season.
My wife and I spent a week diving in Belize in August at Turneffe Atoll. We stayed at the Turneffe Island Resort (more on that below) and did most of our diving at sites within a five minute boat trip from the resort at the southern tip of the atoll - specifically at The Elbow, Myrtle’s Turtles, Lefty’s Ledge, Front Porch, Gailes Point, Majestic Point, and a night dive at Sayonara. Overall, we’d rate the quality of the diving as at or above what we’ve encountered elsewhere in the Caribbean - Roatan, Bonaire, Curacao, and Little Cayman.
The density of fish and coral was not what we expected, we don’t know how much that might be due to the lion fish problem. The variety of fish is about what you’d expect, but there were a few notable things about the the dives around Turneffe. There were plenty of moray eels, and they were very active. In the past I’ve only seen moray peering out of their dens, but on the reefs around Turneffe they were out and about continuously, swimming over the reef unfazed by our presence. Very unusual. We also saw a fair number of black-tipped reef sharks, small, usually alone (though there was one group of four) and keeping their distance out in the blue. A fair number of turtles and lots of rays as well.
Visibility was fair. The water seemed murky. This was our first summer dive in the Caribbean and I understand visibility can suffer in the summer. Weather was fine, mostly moderate overcast which might have added to the visibility issues. We descended one morning in a heavy rain, but it had cleared by the time we surfaced and it ended up being one of the better dives.
We did one day trip (three dives) to Lighthouse Reef, first to the Blue Hole, then Tarpon Cave and Long Cay Ridge. Blue Hole is a “tick the box” dive; you dive down to 30-40m for a few minutes, note the stalactites, then make your way up to the surface. There were few fish to see on our dive. The other two dives were the best of the trip. Coral was denser and the fish more plentiful at the sites around Lighthouse than the sites nearer the resort.
It’s hard to find any faults with Turneffe Island Resort, particularly given the resort has no connection to mainland infrastructure - water, sewer, electricity, telecommunications. The resort maintains a high standard despite the disadvantages. The rooms were very comfortable, the food was terrific, and unlike a lot of offshore resorts, the water pressure was just fine. There is no cell phone service on the island but there is wireless internet, slow but adequate for keeping up with your email. The property itself was in very good condition, seemingly not suffering from the usual toll that humidity and salt air take on wood floors, furniture, etc. They maintain this standard by keeping a very high level of staffing. It seemed like they were cleaning continuously while we were there and they even brought in extra workers from the mainland to clear the sargassum from the beach. Of course, this comes at a price. The resort is not cheap, but we did get a pretty good deal because we visited in the low season.
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