Who to Dive With - and Where

[Downing]

Here's an outstanding guide book that may help you decide: Belize Insight Guide.

Belize is a small country but it's still a big place. You're going to have a great time anywhere you go so don't put too much pressure on yourself to get it right. Besides, you can always make multiple trips. I've been to Belize twice and have gotten pretty familiar with the northern half of the country. So this time, my third trip in four years, I'm headed south to Placencia to dive with Splash.

You can do it all, but not in one trip--unless it's a long one.

 

[sbroh]

Peter -- I'd love to hear your diving and accommodation recommendations for AC.

 

[bnelsonpublic]

I just returned from a 9 day stay on Ambergris. I am a fairly experienced diver (about 150 dives) and my girlfriend is a newbie (about 15 dives before she got there). We both had an amazing time. The diving was great and I've been to a quite a few places around the world. We say dolphins, rays, sharks, eels, etc. The nice thing about the island is that all of the dive sites are only a short 10 minute ride to outside the reef. If you want to take a day trip to one of the Atols, you have that option. The winds were much to strong while we were there last week to convince ourselves to take a longer boat ride.

There are plenty of places to stay and eat to enjoy your topside time. We stayed at Paradise Villas. I negotiated a rate through vrbo. It was a great value. Perfect location, walking distance to everywhere. The condo was certainly not fancy, but did the job with a small kitchen and small living room. Again, for the money it was a great value.

We dove with Ecologic Divers. It is located about 40 yards from Paradise Villas. So each morning we would just walk 3 minutes down the beach to do our diving. Ecologic Divers was a great choice for us. They are a bit mis managed in terms of communicating confirmed dive times, etc., but that kind of just goes with the "island time" vibe down there. More importantly, the captain (Charlie) and our guide (Shorty) were fantastic. Super nice and funny, and always willing to do anything to make your experience fun and safe. My girlfriend was not as experienced and they did everything to make her feel safe and enjoy the dives. Shorty would even hold her hand for our safety stop because she was having problems staying down. They took care of all the gear, setting it up, taking it down, cleaning and storing (even if you didn't rent their gear). Overall we were extremely happy with them.

If you decide to go there, let me know and I can offer up some other suggestions for dining/activities.

Brad

 

[nelsonrl]

My wife and I just returned from Belize Sunday. We spent 7 great days on Ambergris. I have to say, the people there are probably the friendliest I have had the pleasure to meet in my short diving experience. We dove with two dive companies - Tuf Enuf and Amigos Del Mar. Both provided great service. Tuf Enuf has small boats. Small number of divers, but very helpful DM's and Boat Captains. Amigos had a much larger boat and more divers but far from crowded. We dove the Blue Hole with Amigos. I can mark the Blue Hole off my bucket list, but would once is enough. The other dives at Half Moon and The Aquarium were fantastic dives.

Lots of good restaurants in San Pedro, just take a bundle of money to pay. Prices are not cheap. You will enjoy it there.

 

[blanchre]

I am a new diver and completed my SSI certification in Belize in March. My husband and I had a wonderful experience at St. George's Caye
Resort. St. George's Caye is south of Ambergris and just a few miles east of Belize City. I received extremely personalized service there, especially from the DM (Jose) as I certified and even thereafter. The Caye is very small with this Resort being the only commercial entity on the island. You would have to want a "private" experience to go there. There are only 12 cabanas at this Resort (and they are lovely), meals are included in package price and you eat family style with the other guests. It is a very "homey" experience. Diving and/or fishing are the main focus of this lodge. The service was out of this world and the location/accomodations were extremely peaceful and relaxing. However, you have to really want that kind of seclusion in order for this to be the place for you.

As a new diver, I am probably the least qualified on this thread to comment on the relative quality of diving from this dive shop. However, I can tell you that the local dives were great from a newbie perspective. My family is returning in August this year and this time I will likely also book a dive day in Turneffe. St. George's Caye is closer to Turneffe than Ambergris so a little bit less travel time.

If you are interested, check out gooddiving.com.

If others on this thread have comments or suggestions about diving with St. George's Caye Resort -- I would really like to hear your thoughts.

 

[Downing]

blanchre, why don't you start a separate thread with a dive report detailing your experience with St George's Caye Resort? No detail too small and photos are always appreciated. I've been following this board for a couple of years and don't remember ever reading anything about it. Your report would be greatly appreciated.

And welcome to ScubaBoard!

 

[blanchre]

Good suggestion. will do!