Turneffe Islands Dive Report

[Turneffe Flats]

DIVE REPORT - 13 to 20 November, 2014
Air Temperatures – Upper 70s to low 80’s
Water Temperature – 80 to 82F

Overall Weather – This dive week started on Thursday 13 November, and ran through to Thursday 20 November. On Thursday through Monday, the weather offered mostly sunny conditions with a few passing showers and a gentle northwesterly breeze of less than 10 knots. On the following Tuesday morning a northwesterly blew in carrying lots of rain clouds bringing on showers and overcast conditions with winds speeds of 15 to 20 knots through until Thursday morning. Winds speeds then began to drop to 10 knots and less, but rain showers persisted.

Crew - Our week started out on a Thursday with divers arriving on Wednesday evening and staying through until the following Saturday. Our diving days ran from Thursday and Friday, to Sunday through Thursday. Dive Instructor Anne-Marie was the dive guide, with both Divemaster Denroy and Carlton (AKA Capt) as boat captain for the week.

Sightings – On Thur 13 Nov on the northwest side of Turneffe divers found a Golden Coral Shrimp tucked under an isolated small coral head in the middle of a sand bed, while on the surface, the boat captain observed three large Wahoo circling the boat off the wall. On the following day to the northeast side, divers on a small critter hunt found a Black Spotted Nudibranch, and Banded Clinging Crabs disguised with red algae and tucked away around the edges of Branching Anemones. Two White Spotted Toadfish were found on the southeast side, and divers watched fish-hunting behavior as a large Great Barracuda made after a school of small Bar Jack with lightning speed. Then a cluster of groupers (Black, Nassau, Tiger and Yellow Fin), all stalked an injured fish that was hiding in a coral hole. Even a Green Moray joined in to try and sniff the fish out. A healthy helping of shark sightings were available with both Nurse Sharks at Turneffe, and Caribbean Reef Sharks at Lighthouse. Hawksbill turtles and rays (Spotted Eagle, Whiptail, and Southern), showed up on dives throughout the week. The highlight of the week came halfway through the end of the third dive on Wed 19 Nov when a large pod of over 20 individual Spotted Atlantic Dolphins came zooming by divers after barreling down to 40 feet from the surface. The boat captain kept them expertly entertained, corralling them toward the divers, and frolicking around as divers came to a safety stop at the end of the dive. Of course, divers didn’t want to come out of the water after surfacing as the dolphins kept shooting by to get close looks at them, giving the divers some really close encounters. Everyone was laughing in amazement as they finally exited the water, leaving the dolphins darting about the boat and continuing to play in the wake and at the bow as we headed for home. There is something truly magical about observing these creatures underwater.

Thursday 13 November
Little or no wind. Mostly sunny conditions with a few puffs of passing clouds.
Dive Sites: #1 Elkin’s Bay - 60ft visibility / #2 Tunnels & Barrels – 60ft visibility / #3 Chasbow’s Corner - 70ft visibility

Friday 14 November
Winds less than 10 knots from the NW. Mostly sunny conditions all day.
Dive Sites: #1 Lindsay’s Back Porch - 60ft visibility / #2 Lettuce Lane- 70ft visibility / #3 Cockroach Caye Shallow - 70ft visibility

(No diving on Saturday 15 November)

Sunday 16 November
Little to no wind and flat surface conditions. Showers in the morning followed by mostly sunny conditions.
Dive Sites: #1 Creekozene S - 70ft visibility / #2 Amberhead – 70ft visibility / #3 Elgene’s Inn – 60ft visibility

Monday 17 November
Less than 10 knots easterly winds with mostly sunny conditions all day.
Dive Sites: #1 Terrace – 70ft visibility / #2 Tunnels & Barrels – 70ft visibility / #3 Night Dive @ Northern Bogue
Tuesday 18 November
Winds at 10+ knots from the N and increasing to over 15 knots and continued until evening. Rainy and overcast conditions.
Dive Sites: #1 Blue Hole - 30ft visibility / #2 Half Moon Caye Wall – 50ft visibility / #3 Calabash Caye Wall – 70ft visibility

Wednesday 19 November
Continued winds from the NNW at 15 to 20 knots. Rainy and overcast conditions.
Dive Sites: #1 Jojo’s Split – 70ft visibility / #2 Ellen’s Melons – 70ft visibility / #3 Chrissea’s Place – 70ft visibility

Thursday 20 November
Continued winds from the NNW at well over 15 knots, and decreasing to 10 knots in the afternoon. Heavily overcast and rainy conditions.
Dive Sites: #1 Black Beauty – 70ft visibility / #2 Myrtle’s Turtle – 70ft visibility / #3 Front Porch – 60ft visibility

 

[Thook]

Diving with Turneffe Flats - Awesome Stuff! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25oFFtVKU68

 

[ibj40]

Diving with Turneffe Flats - Awesome Stuff! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25oFFtVKU68

Have to agree, can't wait to go back.

 

[judypots]

DIVE REPORT - 13 to 20 November, 2014
Air Temperatures – Upper 70s to low 80’s
Water Temperature – 80 to 82F

Overall Weather – This dive week started on Thursday 13 November, and ran through to Thursday 20 November. On Thursday through Monday, the weather offered mostly sunny conditions with a few passing showers and a gentle northwesterly breeze of less than 10 knots. On the following Tuesday morning a northwesterly blew in carrying lots of rain clouds bringing on showers and overcast conditions with winds speeds of 15 to 20 knots through until Thursday morning. Winds speeds then began to drop to 10 knots and less, but rain showers persisted.

Crew - Our week started out on a Thursday with divers arriving on Wednesday evening and staying through until the following Saturday. Our diving days ran from Thursday and Friday, to Sunday through Thursday. Dive Instructor Anne-Marie was the dive guide, with both Divemaster Denroy and Carlton (AKA Capt) as boat captain for the week.

Sightings – On Thur 13 Nov on the northwest side of Turneffe divers found a Golden Coral Shrimp tucked under an isolated small coral head in the middle of a sand bed, while on the surface, the boat captain observed three large Wahoo circling the boat off the wall. On the following day to the northeast side, divers on a small critter hunt found a Black Spotted Nudibranch, and Banded Clinging Crabs disguised with red algae and tucked away around the edges of Branching Anemones. Two White Spotted Toadfish were found on the southeast side, and divers watched fish-hunting behavior as a large Great Barracuda made after a school of small Bar Jack with lightning speed. Then a cluster of groupers (Black, Nassau, Tiger and Yellow Fin), all stalked an injured fish that was hiding in a coral hole. Even a Green Moray joined in to try and sniff the fish out. A healthy helping of shark sightings were available with both Nurse Sharks at Turneffe, and Caribbean Reef Sharks at Lighthouse. Hawksbill turtles and rays (Spotted Eagle, Whiptail, and Southern), showed up on dives throughout the week. The highlight of the week came halfway through the end of the third dive on Wed 19 Nov when a large pod of over 20 individual Spotted Atlantic Dolphins came zooming by divers after barreling down to 40 feet from the surface. The boat captain kept them expertly entertained, corralling them toward the divers, and frolicking around as divers came to a safety stop at the end of the dive. Of course, divers didn’t want to come out of the water after surfacing as the dolphins kept shooting by to get close looks at them, giving the divers some really close encounters. Everyone was laughing in amazement as they finally exited the water, leaving the dolphins darting about the boat and continuing to play in the wake and at the bow as we headed for home. There is something truly magical about observing these creatures underwater.

Thursday 13 November
Little or no wind. Mostly sunny conditions with a few puffs of passing clouds.
Dive Sites: #1 Elkin’s Bay - 60ft visibility / #2 Tunnels & Barrels – 60ft visibility / #3 Chasbow’s Corner - 70ft visibility

Friday 14 November
Winds less than 10 knots from the NW. Mostly sunny conditions all day.
Dive Sites: #1 Lindsay’s Back Porch - 60ft visibility / #2 Lettuce Lane- 70ft visibility / #3 Cockroach Caye Shallow - 70ft visibility

(No diving on Saturday 15 November)

Sunday 16 November
Little to no wind and flat surface conditions. Showers in the morning followed by mostly sunny conditions.
Dive Sites: #1 Creekozene S - 70ft visibility / #2 Amberhead – 70ft visibility / #3 Elgene’s Inn – 60ft visibility

Monday 17 November
Less than 10 knots easterly winds with mostly sunny conditions all day.
Dive Sites: #1 Terrace – 70ft visibility / #2 Tunnels & Barrels – 70ft visibility / #3 Night Dive @ Northern Bogue
Tuesday 18 November
Winds at 10+ knots from the N and increasing to over 15 knots and continued until evening. Rainy and overcast conditions.
Dive Sites: #1 Blue Hole - 30ft visibility / #2 Half Moon Caye Wall – 50ft visibility / #3 Calabash Caye Wall – 70ft visibility

Wednesday 19 November
Continued winds from the NNW at 15 to 20 knots. Rainy and overcast conditions.
Dive Sites: #1 Jojo’s Split – 70ft visibility / #2 Ellen’s Melons – 70ft visibility / #3 Chrissea’s Place – 70ft visibility

Thursday 20 November
Continued winds from the NNW at well over 15 knots, and decreasing to 10 knots in the afternoon. Heavily overcast and rainy conditions.
Dive Sites: #1 Black Beauty – 70ft visibility / #2 Myrtle’s Turtle – 70ft visibility / #3 Front Porch – 60ft visibility

 

[judypots]

We are thinking about booking Turneffe Flats for next March. How was the resort itself, including the food? We've been to Turneffe Island resort and liked it very much. Thanks.

 

[yaml]

so- watched the above video because our small group (5) want to go somewhere out of our "rut" (coz-favorite; bonaire and caymans - great; T&C,g. turk - like a lot; ambergris caye, Bahamas and roatan- hit and miss: pretty much the typical places) - as such, we wanted to try the caye caulker, turneffe area: 1. decent camera work for being new to the camera; 2. in general, I must say relatively unimpressed with : the visibility and coral growth but most importantly, where were the fish?-except for a bit of film, I saw very few fish; again, liked the video, but doesn't really make me want to book my trip there anytime soon: so- for the divers experienced with the area- was this representative? or just pretty good footage during an "off" dive time? thanks

 

[judypots]

I agree with your assessment of the video, Yami. It wouldn't inspire me to go there either. We went to Turneffe Island Resort about 5 years ago or so and really enjoyed it. I remember seeing quite a bit more life - eagle rays on many dives, schools of squid and many more fish. Then again, we were pretty new divers, so perhaps it was like the video and we didn't know any better. Our dives at Little Cayman were way more interesting. I would suggest Saba if you want to stay in the Caribbean but get out of your rut. We've been there twice - the last time just a year ago, and it's great.

 

[mmmbelows]

Yami - If you're going all the way out to Turneffe and you're not getting the chance to dive the elbow I think you're really short-changing yourself. Being able to dive the elbow is about 75% of the reason to stay out there. I wouldn't stay anyplace out there that isn't giving you a shot at the elbow dive site at least 2-3 times during a week stay.

 

[Thook]

Yes marine life was sparse and visibility not the best... every area no matter where you dive can exhibit non-optimal conditions with a lot of contributing factors, but we had a great experience non-the-less. In our book...
there is no such thing as a bad day of diving. Judy, the resort was quaint, quiet, and comfortable. Mostly catering to flats sport fishing. The food was good... even took home a cookbook if that tells you anything. Rooms were comfortable and had everything you would need and we were treated well. It was a good experience.

 

[Hank49]

Yami - If you're going all the way out to Turneffe and you're not getting the chance to dive the elbow I think you're really short-changing yourself. Being able to dive the elbow is about 75% of the reason to stay out there. I wouldn't stay anyplace out there that isn't giving you a shot at the elbow dive site at least 2-3 times during a week stay.

Very nice video. Those horse eye jacks and permit are always there and not shy. But all you bubble blowers scared off the school of dog (L jocu) and cubera snappers. There's usually come muttons around too. Not to mention the king mackerels cruising through. You see a lot more fish there if you free dive it. Yeah, this is Scubaboard....but that's the facts.....