Where to dive near San Pedro, Belize?

[Sharkbully]

Just came from there. It is actaully about a 25 - 30 minute flight.

 

[Sharkbully]

We saw plenty of Eagle rays, nurse sharks, some tarpon and 'cudas, some turltes, lots of southern stingrays. We even got into a pod of dolphins at Turneffe Atoll, about a 2 hour boat ride south af Ambergris.

The reef generally begins at at about 60 feet. Most of our divese were in the 60 - 90 foot range.

It is easy drift diving for the most part, light current. But, they will enforce bottom times -- we were generally required to end our BT at 45 minutes. This seems to be fairly standard their. Also, they may feed and handle the marine life. This is prevalent there - it is seemingly encouraged by the tourists.
Also, there is some noticaeble bleaching at the shallower depths on the reef.

 

[peterbj7]

Bottom times are enforced by some dive centers but not particularly by others, given that you don't want to have lots of people waiting on a heaving boat for the one person who wants to drag it out. But I've often taken people who've had dive times of well over an hour.

 

[danvolker]

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.

My flight from the International airport in Belize leaves at 4:05 pm....My plan would be to freedive in the morning, and get on a puddle jumper right after the dive, and head to the international airport --to get there early enough so that I do not have any huge time issues to make the 4:05 flight back to Florida. Since I will be freediving, there is no "wait time to fly" issue to worry about..

Would you or anyone else recommend a boat in particular, that has some experience taking real freedivers out ( as opposed to snorkelors )...as to a scuba boat doing a drift, I have done this off Boynton Beach florida many times, where the current is often 2 mph or faster..not a huge amount of fun because the freediver has to spend so much time on the surface getting back over the top of the scuba divers, after being blown down current after the last drop and ascent. But if the reef is spectacular enough, I would be fine with this....Maybe my question should be, would a dive master or good local diver be able to swim upcurrent in scuba gear, on the typical drift dive..?..If they can do this fairly easily, then I should not have too much trouble freediving it..if they can barely maintain position against the current, then I will not want to freedive in that much current, with scuba divers who may stop or be in a very different bottom current.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[peterbj7]

Hi Dan

See my answers embedded below:-

My flight from the International airport in Belize leaves at 4:05 pm....My plan would be to freedive in the morning, and get on a puddle jumper right after the dive, and head to the international airport --to get there early enough so that I do not have any huge time issues to make the 4:05 flight back to Florida. Since I will be freediving, there is no "wait time to fly" issue to worry about..
I'm sure you know far more about freediving than I do, but I've always understood that nitrogen absorption issues are the same as for scuba, given of course that you're not actually down long. It's lung over-expansion issues that are quite different for freedivers.

Would you or anyone else recommend a boat in particular, that has some experience taking real freedivers out ( as opposed to snorkelors )
Not really. We get very few freedivers here and a minimum number of paying people is required for the boat to leave dock, so you're likely to be with scuba divers

...as to a scuba boat doing a drift, I have done this off Boynton Beach florida many times, where the current is often 2 mph or faster..not a huge amount of fun because the freediver has to spend so much time on the surface getting back over the top of the scuba divers, after being blown down current after the last drop and ascent.
The problem is that the boat will (normally) follow the scuba divers and their guide, and if they wait for you they may lose sight of the scuba divers. I have given up trying to persuade dive guides (and divers) here to use a DSMB, so the problem is that until the divers pop up the boat captain won't know where they are. But most "drift" dives here are actually merely linear dives in fairly still water

But if the reef is spectacular enough, I would be fine with this....Maybe my question should be, would a dive master or good local diver be able to swim upcurrent in scuba gear, on the typical drift dive..?
Given that there is seldom much of a current here, the answer is "probably yes, but irrelevant"

..If they can do this fairly easily, then I should not have too much trouble freediving it..if they can barely maintain position against the current, then I will not want to freedive in that much current, with scuba divers who may stop or be in a very different bottom current.
There is a rule here that all divers must be accompanied by a guide, though I've not implemented that for freedivers and I doubt most other operators would. It does mean though that the boat cannot leave station above you until you've surfaced

Thanks,
Dan

 

[danvolker]

Hi Dan

See my answers embedded below:-

Great. From your answers, my choice would be to find a boat going out with scuba divers to a reef that is 35 to 55 feet deep..in this range, it is pretty easy for me to exceed any movement/travel of the scuba diving group--ie, any place they swim to, I can keep up easily. Scuba divers swim very slowly compared to freedivers, even with the up and down issue..only big currents will negatively effect this.

For freedivers, Pinnacles are awesome, and walls are awesome, because we can stay on them for nearly the entire duration of the drop and ascent. If nothing like this is available within half day dive trip distance, then spur and groove stuff would be fine, again, 35 to 55 feet deep will work well. I don't like 20 foot deep reefs in florida, as they tend to be baby sites....however, in Fiji I found some awesome stuff only 20 feet deep

Dan

 

[DarcyBurrell]

I will be in Belize in about 60 days
Looking forward to some amazing dives.

Anyone recommend a dive company on Ambergris Caye?
I hear Chuck and Robbies is the best... ?

What is the best place to buy equipment on the island?
I need a reg set up and if my custom suit is not in yet, I will need a long suit too.

 

[peterbj7]

Darcy - you PMd me and I replied.....

But from what you say here you clearly aren't a complete novice. Yes, you can buy regs and suits here, but given that you have plenty of time you might be better buying at home. But the caveats I gave in my PM still apply.

 

[peterbj7]

Sorry Dan, didn't spot your further post. Most dive boats here (Ambergris Caye) tie up to fixed moorings at around 35-45ft, and near some of those mooring there's some quite interesting stuff that you'd like. There aren't any pinnacles, and at the depths you're mentioning no walls either, but the spurs-and-grooves at many sites should be ample for you. Not everywhere though, so you do need to be careful before boarding a boat. Your only problem will be choosing an operator, not knowing at that point where they'll be going and not knowing what those places are like even if they do tell you. Most operators will only have one boat going out at a time, so it'll be Hobson's choice there and by the time you discover that their trip isn't suitable there won't be time to get to another operator. I've forgotten when you're coming, but that's critical to your choices - at the moment you would have absolutely no choice even with the biggest operator, but at busier times you may well have options so long as you go to a big operator.

Sorry not to be definitive, but I don't want to make you promises that you then find aren't met.

Peter

Great. From your answers, my choice would be to find a boat going out with scuba divers to a reef that is 35 to 55 feet deep..in this range, it is pretty easy for me to exceed any movement/travel of the scuba diving group--ie, any place they swim to, I can keep up easily. Scuba divers swim very slowly compared to freedivers, even with the up and down issue..only big currents will negatively effect this.

For freedivers, Pinnacles are awesome, and walls are awesome, because we can stay on them for nearly the entire duration of the drop and ascent. If nothing like this is available within half day dive trip distance, then spur and groove stuff would be fine, again, 35 to 55 feet deep will work well. I don't like 20 foot deep reefs in florida, as they tend to be baby sites....however, in Fiji I found some awesome stuff only 20 feet deep

Dan