Belize V Honduras v Cozumel

[Hank49]

Belize has strong currents in the cuts in the reef and on the atholls, and as observed by ronscuba, it does stimulate the food chain resulting in a gathering of larger fish. The cuts are best at an in coming tide which improves visibility. And just outside the cuts are usually big schools of dog snapper, lone cuberas, muttons, large grouper, horse eye and yellow jacks, permit, tarpon and other smaller schooling fish. Large eagle rays are also very common along with turtles.
But, the dive shops don't frequent these cuts except in the south, near Tobacco and Southwater Cayes, which are in the SW Caye Marine Reserve.
Anyone who has done whale shark dives in Gladden has seen the fish biomass that we have here. The whale sharks come because we have a LOT of fish eggs to eat here. There are other spots that are similar but at different times of the year, minus the whale sharks. Thousands of snappers. Amazing to see. And the accompanying other fish.

I'm not trying to sell Belize to the OP. I just want to give an accurate description of what's here. Diving off Ambergris is not what all Belize diving is about.

 

[scubajunky17]

SO if I dove anywhere in Belize where would it be ? I keep hearing about the Blue hole, is it all it's cracked up to be ?
Thanks to everyone else for their contributions. I will defo check out Cozumel diving.

 

[Hank49]

Turneffe Island Resort on ....Turneffe. It's about 3 miles from the Elbow....a very fishy spot.

Marisol Adventures. Glover's Reef. South tip. Same position as the Elbow on Turneffe.

There is also a resort on Lighthouse. Never been there. I need a bigger boat.

The good thing about the Atholls, besides great vis and really nice dives, is there is always a lee side that you can find calm water on. Unless it's a hurricane...

 

[Lorenzoid]

SO if I dove anywhere in Belize where would it be ? I keep hearing about the Blue hole, is it all it's cracked up to be ?
Thanks to everyone else for their contributions. I will defo check out Cozumel diving.

There must be a dozen threads here on "Is the Blue Hole worth it"? There was one a week or so ago. Try a search. My comment on that latest thread was in the form of anecdote:

Planning a trip to Belize, I once asked a wise diver whether the Blue Hole was worth it. The wise diver replied, "No, it's not worth it. But you will dive it anyway, and then when someone asks you whether the Blue Hole is worth it, you will wisely reply, 'No, it's not worth it,' and that person will dive it anyway."

I would absolutely not recommend choosing Belize over another destination just because of the Blue Hole. But if you find yourself in Belize, you're going to dive the Blue Hole.

 

[chillyinCanada]

My last dives at Halfmoon Caye Wall included no less than four sharks up close and personal on each dive. Sharks were also there but somewhat more distant at the Great Blue Hole.

Visibility was not great last week for the local dives just off of Ambergris Caye. So I didn't catch sight of any sharks there last week, however, in March, saw a shark on many of the local dives.

Still saw lots of schools of fish large and small, large groupers, eagle rays and the ubiquitous nurse sharks.

But one particularly special local dive was when the dolphins came to us whilst at depth and stayed almost throughout the entire dive. Breathtaking!!

Belize. Sigh.

 

[arietyler2]

I was going to start my own thread, but given that many of my questions I believe would be rightly filed under this heading, I'll post and hope they sufficiently fit this discussion.

I'm planning a trip for my girlfriend to get her certification (a long held desire for her). We'll have 10 days, but I doubt she'll want to dive all 10.

Any thoughts or recommendations, in recognition of the insightful advice above, would be very much appreciated.

My primary criteria for deciding on where to head between Belize/Honduras/Cozumel is:

-Affordability for introductory classes and certification ----> I believe Roatan or Utila have the best prices from what I've read
-Interesting land based activities (ruins and wildlife, not nightclubs) since we cannot afford to dive constantly ----> I believe Belize may be most conducive to this
-Potential to see pelagics -----> I realize this is restricted by location and the nature of the coast, but to whatever extent possible we'd like to dive with as many pelagics as possible

I should say she is primarily interested in getting her certification and laying on the beach at the end of each day. If anywhere else in the region can offer better opportunities in the same price range, I'd love to hear reviews.

Thanks in advance for any and all assistance. I've traveled a bit and was fortunate enough to live in the Galapagos and fear I may have gotten spoiled diving there, so I'm hoping to make sure this trip build great experiences I had there. We're probably heading somewhere at the end of August

Cheers!

 

[tphelps]

HI All,
Which offers the better diving and why ?
Many thanks.
I like sharks, mantas, big schools of fish etc

I lived on Utila Island last summer, it was the best time of my life! Diving was fantastic but depends on what time of year you go. The whale sharks are more scarce in the summer.
Here is my video I made from Honduras:
[video=youtube;pSRR1wxW9K4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSRR1wxW9K4[/video]

Here is a shorter version:
[video=youtube;BMZ_6S53CnM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMZ_6S53CnM[/video]

Im also diving Belize in 2 weeks, I'll update you when I get back! If you have any questions about Utila, please feel free to send me a PM.

 

[thejamez]

If I had to rate them without taking anything but 'fun level' into consideration I'd say
1. Belize
2. Cozumel
3. Roatan

I can't speak for the diving in Utila as I haven't done it.. but each of the 3 offer alot of the same, and very different. In a nutshell my experiences:

Belize - the most 'big' things. Grouper, Nurse sharks, turtles, rays.. they're easy to find and see here. Visibility and water temp are amazing.
Cozumel - smaller creatures but also very unique and neat things I didn't see anywhere else. There's always drift and stingy things in the water (wear sleeves not shorty).
Roatan - awesome swim throughs, lionfish hunting, not a lot else.. saw very few sharks/turtles/rays. There is a neat shipwreck. Can pay to dive with dolphins though.

 

[Carlos Danger]

HI All,
Which offers the better diving and why ?
Many thanks.
I like sharks, mantas, big schools of fish etc

I have done them many times, but it's always a tough choice and is somewhat subjective and open to variables like where you stay, who you dive with, likes/dislikes, time of year, etc. Generally speaking I don't think you can go wrong with any of these destinations, and I would encourage you to venture out to all of them at least once if you can. Cozumel is pretty hard to beat overall, which speaks to its' popularity due to the great variety, quality, access, culture, value, etc. But, that's not to take anything away from Belize or Honduras which are great destinations in their own right.

Belize (San Pedro/Ambergris Caye) has a great topside experience, but requires additional internal flights to get to/from the popular areas. The local diving is good, but the exotic stuff (Blue Hole, Turneffe, etc) is way off shore (4-5 hour round trip) and expensive to access. Honduras (Roatan - Westbay/West End) also has a great topside experience and is super laid back. The beach in West Bay is just beautiful, and the little town at Westend is rich in village charm. There is a lot of diving variety to be had around the island too (wrecks, walls, channels, shark dives). As for the big stuff, they are around all of these areas, but like most, luck has a pretty big part to play in actually seeing anything. I have dove with Whale Sharks and big schools Tarpon in Playa Del Carmen (across from Cozumel), and have seen dolphins, sharks, and lots of rays in Honduras and Belize. Coz has its' share as well, some years better than others.

Overall, my trips to Belize and Honduras were probably more fun on the topside, but the variety and quality of the diving/reefs/visability is arguably better in Cozumel. So, it's kind of a tossup. Of the three, I have been to Cozumel the most just due to cost and proximity. I'm sure you'll get plenty of other feed back here on Scubaboard. After you've made your choice you can start planning your next trip to one of the other two.

Hope this helps, and best of luck!

 

[scubajunky17]

Thanks guys, Is Roatan better than Utila and is it much more expensive in Roatan