Where to dive near San Pedro, Belize?

[danvolker]

I am headed to Belize in early December for a short Business trip, and would like to spend a half day diving there. As a diver, I do tech, recreational, and can freedive to 90 feet. What I am hoping for, is suggestions from people who know Belize, on what would be a really exciting dive. I'd be fine just freediving, as an ideal freedive location can be awesome--and it is much easier to bring my freedive gear than to bring bp/wings plus reg and the rest. But, if locals say that there are dives you really need scuba for, and that by just freediving I would be missing out--this is something I would want to know.
I will be in the Free Trade Zone area for the meetings...Access to diving will be from there.
My company is possibly buying property there, so future diving is likely if this happens.
Any thoughts?
Regards,
Dan V

 

[LanSluder]

Are you talking about the Free Zone at the Mexican border near Corozal Town? If so, it will be difficult to do a half-day dive from there, as you're a long way from the cayes and barrier reef. The nearest body of water is Corozal Bay/Chetumal Bay, which is not a good diving area.

--Lan Sluder

 

[danvolker]

Are you talking about the Free Zone at the Mexican border near Corozal Town? If so, it will be difficult to do a half-day dive from there, as you're a long way from the cayes and barrier reef. The nearest body of water is Corozal Bay/Chetumal Bay, which is not a good diving area.

--Lan Sluder

Apparently we are staying in San Pedro..how is this/
Dan

 

[darkstar]

Apparently we are staying in San Pedro..how is this/
Dan

The the only San Pedro I know of in Belize is on Ambergris Caye. It's not anywhere near the Free Trade Zone in the North, but if Ambergris is where you are going, the good news is that there is lots of diving, free diving and snorkeling very nearby.

 

[danvolker]

The the only San Pedro I know of in Belize is on Ambergris Caye. It's not anywhere near the Free Trade Zone in the North, but if Ambergris is where you are going, the good news is that there is lots of diving, free diving and snorkeling very nearby.

The Free Trade Zone I am talking about is at Belize City..And San pedro is supposed to be a ten minute flight on a puddle jumper.
So this San pedro
Dan

 

[peterbj7]

Perhaps you mean the Tourist Village, near the swing Bridge in Belize City? About 30mins from San Pedro airstrip, though of course you then need to get to a dive center. There is excellent diving on the barrier reef 1/2 mile offshore and the best diving is from c.50ft-120ft. I wouldn't bother to bring tech gear as you won't get the opportunity to justify carrying it, though if you bring what you'll need to side sling a standard 80 on a rec rig that will have an 80 back-mounted, that will give you all the flexibility the standard boat trips will allow you. Lots of good dive centers here, though if you're tech inclined I'd probably choose AquaDives, as they're the people I sold all my tech gear to when I went out of business.

 

[darkstar]

The Free Trade Zone I am talking about is at Belize City..And San pedro is supposed to be a ten minute flight on a puddle jumper.
So this San pedro
Dan

Belize City is a hole and there is not much in the city itself to do. It can also be dangerous, especially at night.

There is a tourist village on the cruise ship dock. You can arrange pretty much any excursion from there as long as a ship is in port. Otherwise, it is closed. And, you will end up paying too much.

There is a dive/fishing operator on the dock in front of the Radisson Fort George. They do day trip diving with fast boats and so I'm sure you can get a half day trip.

Ambergris Caye is a 15 minute plane ride from the municipal airport in Belize City. Round trip is about $75 USD, and the planes fly every hour. There are two airlines to choose from and you basically walk up, pay and get on the plane. In the afternoon, you sometimes have to wait, as the flights from the airport tend to fill up the planes. If for some reason you can't take a plane, there are water taxis from a terminal near the bridge in Belize city to Ambergris and Caye Caulker. 75 minute transit to Ambergris.

Lot, and lots of diving opportunities in Ambergris. It's basically the Belizian version of Cozumel.

I'm going there two weeks from now. Can't wait.

 

[LanSluder]

The Commercial Free Zone in Corozal is the largest, but there are export processing zones near the international airport and elsewhere. I don't think the Tourism Village downtown is considered a free zone.

If you're staying in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, that's a good base for diving. With only a half day, you won't be able to get to Lighthouse or Turneffe atoll, which have superb diving but are full-day trips from San Pedro, but you will be able to do sites around Ambergris. There are about a dozen dive sites around Ambergris, in the intermediate and novice categories.

Plenty of good dive shops on the island, and most will pick you up at your hotel.

A good source of information on San Pedro is Marty Casado's AmbergrisCaye.com

If you're flying to San Pedro, especially if there are several going, you'll save money (almost half) by flying out of the municipal airstrip in Belize City rather than the international airport at Ladyville just north of Belize City.

If you want info on Ambergris Caye, you can download (free) my 200-page guide to Ambergris and other islands in Belize. It's called San Pedro Cool and can be downloaded in PDF from the home page of BelizeFirst.com. I haven't updated it this year and need to do so, but the basic information still should be useful.

--Lan Sluder

 

[danvolker]

The Commercial Free Zone in Corozal is the largest, but there are export processing zones near the international airport and elsewhere. I don't think the Tourism Village downtown is considered a free zone.

If you're staying in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, that's a good base for diving. With only a half day, you won't be able to get to Lighthouse or Turneffe atoll, which have superb diving but are full-day trips from San Pedro, but you will be able to do sites around Ambergris. There are about a dozen dive sites around Ambergris, in the intermediate and novice categories.

Plenty of good dive shops on the island, and most will pick you up at your hotel.

A good source of information on San Pedro is Marty Casado's AmbergrisCaye.com

If you're flying to San Pedro, especially if there are several going, you'll save money (almost half) by flying out of the municipal airstrip in Belize City rather than the international airport at Ladyville just north of Belize City.

If you want info on Ambergris Caye, you can download (free) my 200-page guide to Ambergris and other islands in Belize. It's called San Pedro Cool and can be downloaded in PDF from the home page of BelizeFirst.com. I haven't updated it this year and need to do so, but the basic information still should be useful.

--Lan Sluder

Great info, from all of you guys... thanks!
My inclination will be to freedive...ideally in 40 to 65 foot depths..I like seeing large marine like, not tiny macro stuff
Apparently we have reservations for some place near where we are doing business in Belize city, and we also have rooms at the 'Villas at Banyan Bay" , so as soon as I conclude my participation in the business meetings, I will be out ofBelize city and over at Banyan Bay. If I can get a whole day, I think the atol diving sounds pretty awesome, but it is unlikely that I will get this--probably what I will have is my last day there, where the plane flight leaves around 4:30pm ( so I would have all morning and maybe till 1pm...) If I can't make this work, I could always miss the flight on purpose, and retrun home the next day
So..do you have any dive siters you would suggest for my freedivng...and would my hotel ( Villas at banyan bay) be a reasonable place to stay for diving?
Thanks,
Dan V

 

[peterbj7]

Banyan Bay is just south of the center of San Pedro and is an excellent kicking-off point for local diving. You will need a boat to get to any scuba or freedive sites and the boat operators will all be geared to scuba. All the dive sites in the area are pretty similar and you probably won't have a lot of choice anyway. Just make sure the boat will do an anchor dive and not a drift dive - the latter is pretty common and you'll find it pretty difficult to freedive from.

When you say "your plane flight" leaves at 4:30pm, which plane is this and where will it leave from? If you're referring to a local puddlejumper then that's probably OK, but for an international flight you'll need much more time beforehand. Shouldn't dive shortly before an airliner flight either.