Turneffe Island Resort trip report (July 7-July 18, 2018)

[KeithG]

In my experience the liveaboards do not frequent Turneffe until (very very early) Friday morning on the way back to Belize City from a week of Lighthouse. I vaguely recall reading once about some nasty storm that kept the boats at Turneffe for the week? That is not normal.

Often the Aggressor IV visits the Sandy Slope dive site (just west of the most sothern tip of Turneffe?) on Friday morning. Sandy Slope is a wide patch of sand (200 yards-ish?) that steeply slopes down at about a 45 degree angle and goes way too deep. I claim the back of the boat is at around 120 feet or more: we splash and swim forward and often hit the sand around 70 feet and then go left or right to find some coral and work our way upwards. It is a simple site and often a bit of a boring conclusion to the week.

Here is the Aggressor captains log from our trip: Aggressor® | Official Site | Liveaboards, Safaris & River Cruises

 

[mcpowell]

Okay, I did a little research by texting my friend who used to own the island. When we went it was Turneffe Island Lodge. And again, it was awesome! Having your golf and duck hunting buddy own a tropical island was pretty nifty.

 

[Erwin Poliakoff]

Excellent trip report! Thanks.

Turneffe Flats is to the north, about the middle of the atoll. Turneffe Island Resort, which used to be Turneffe Island Lodge until maybe 10 years ago when they changed the name, is at the southern tip. Both were originally fishing lodges that morphed into diving as well, TIR more than TF for whatever reason.

Erwin, who were the dive guides at TIR? I was in Placencia a couple of months ago and heard that a local friend of mine, Marco, is now working there. I've known Marco since he was just a kid coming up through Splash Dive Center's Kids Club. We did the Deep Dive cert together years ago off Laughing Bird Caye. That was quite a series of dives as the algae bloom was in full force and visibility was less than the length of my arm. We've explored a bit of southern Belize together, so I was disappointed that I didn't get to see him this year.

My wife and I have been to TIL/TIR twice (the first time it was "Lodge" and the second time "Resort") and really enjoyed it. Brad and Marcel were our guides both times. Daniel and John ran the other boat. George was the bartender and cut me some slack on a bottle of rum. Are any of them still there? The Belizean staff was pretty stable, but the place changes managers, who tend to be American or European, like I change my shorts. The first time we went, the managers were great. The second time, not so much.

I had been to the resort once before when it changed its name from "Lodge" to "Resort". I suspect that this name change is the source of some of the confusion. I caught a bad cold on my previous trip, and only did a few dives, so this trip was to make up for the lost dives, in a way.

To answer your question, Marco was our guide for most of the days we were at the resort. He was very good. I forget the names of our other guides, but they were also quite good, particularly a woman (whose name I forget) who was our guide for our last few days there. John was one of our boat drivers. George was the bartender who was there during our first week, and Fidel took over from him when George left for his week off. They were both very good with the wide range of guests who were at the resort.
-Erwin

 

[KristenK]

Beautiful photos, thanks for sharing!

I'm planning our family summer vacation and Belize is on the short list.

 

[salth2owannabe]

I forget the names of our other guides, but they were also quite good, particularly a woman (whose name I forget) who was our guide for our last few days there.

The only female Dive master at TIR that I'm aware of is Marcella. (Not to be confused with Marcel, who as I recall is Brad's brother? Both have been at TIR for some time) Marcella is great and we have requested her for our return stays there. We have always left there impressed with the staff. We think TIR is a great destination and we look forward to going back soon.
On each of our stays there were three dives/day offered, which is consistent with their web site. If the conditions were favorable they offered a night dive mid week. We were usually given the option of the afternoon dive or the night dive.

 

[Downing]

Regarding the Thursday Night Dive, the first time we went we were told we could either skip a Thursday day dive and do the night dive or do all three Thursday day dives but no night dive. The second time we went, we were told we could do all four dives but had to pay extra for the fourth dive. I always did the night dive, although frankly it never was that great. But I do like night dives because it helps sharpen your skills.

Both times we were there, we were assigned to Brad and Marcel's boat so I didn't really get to know John and Daniel, who ran the other boat. I did notice that John was really hard to understand because his accent was so thick. He also seemed kind of shy, and didn't say much to the guests who weren't on his boat. (I learned later that if you get enough alcohol in him he won't shut the **** up but that's a different story, lol.) But Daniel and John took us out on the second night dive because it was their turn. Just as we were getting ready to get in the water, John stopped by and said something to me, but due to his accent I had no idea what. I thought it was probably something like "Watch your head" or "Be careful with your fins" or whatever, so I just nodded my head, said yes and went over.

I was the last one to come up from the dive. When I got to the ladder, I popped my weights like Brad and Marcel had always told me to do. John was standing right in front of me, and he clearly said, "Didn't I just tell you NOT to pop your weights when you come back up? Damn!" Everybody got a good laugh, and I apologized profusely. I learned a valuable lesson that night: when the boat captain or dive guide says something to you that you don't understand, just swallow your pride and say "Sorry, what did you say?"

When we went the second time, I was disappointed to learn that the owner's son had just decreed that the staff could no longer fraternize with the guests. They weren't even allowed in the Lodge unless they worked there. I knew from my first time that some really interesting characters blow through the Lodge after the guests turn in, so this was a major bummer. But there was no rule that the guests couldn't fraternize with the staff, which I would have ignored anyway, so I bought a bottle of rum from George and we had a party at the staff quarters at the back of the island.

If you are so inclined, you can ask them to take you to a fishing camp on a nearby caye where their kids hang out for the summer. Very cool.

 

[Erwin Poliakoff]

The only female Dive master at TIR that I'm aware of is Marcella. (Not to be confused with Marcel, who as I recall is Brad's brother? Both have been at TIR for some time) Marcella is great and we have requested her for our return stays there. We have always left there impressed with the staff. We think TIR is a great destination and we look forward to going back soon.
On each of our stays there were three dives/day offered, which is consistent with their web site. If the conditions were favorable they offered a night dive mid week. We were usually given the option of the afternoon dive or the night dive.

Thanks! Your reply jogged my memory. Marcella is the name of the female dive guide that I could not remember. And yes, she was excellent. Your description of the number of dives is also correct.
-Erwin