February Trip to Belize (Ambergris Caye)

[joecad]

As of right now, I’ll be staying at Aqua Marina Suites and diving with Aqua Divers. I’ve been on epinions.com, tripadvisor.com, and expedia.com to review the hotel, which has very little, but very positive feedback. Has anybody an opinion on the place? Anybody have any feedback on the folks at Aqua Divers?

 

[jaydub]

I know nothing about either. I walked past aqua marina suites quite a few times and the place looked ok. Never heard of aqua divers, I dove with protech.

 

[cjredd]

As of right now, I’ll be staying at Aqua Marina Suites and diving with Aqua Divers. I’ve been on epinions.com, tripadvisor.com, and expedia.com to review the hotel, which has very little, but very positive feedback. Has anybody an opinion on the place? Anybody have any feedback on the folks at Aqua Divers?

First trip to Belize was last April. Stayed at SunBreeze and dove with AquaDive for 4 days. Very convenient location. The rental equip was pretty standard. The dive masters were laid back and friendly. The local AquaDive boats were adeqaute for the 5 minute trips to the numerous Ambergris sites, only required 3 divers to make a local trip. My only complaint was the day trip, 3 tank dive to Turneffe Key (The Elbow). This larger boat only had 2 motors so it was a very slow pounding trip there and back. Several other dive boats (3 engines or bigger 2 engines) passed us on the way there and back. We also had a scare when the boat captain turned off the engines and took out some tools to work on the throttle and trim linkage. Added 30 - 45 minutes to a 3 hour trip. The lunch was rice, chicken, potato salad - not very appetizing or plentiful. Bring snacks.

 

[yakivet]

As of right now, I’ll be staying at Aqua Marina Suites and diving with Aqua Divers. I’ve been on epinions.com, tripadvisor.com, and expedia.com to review the hotel, which has very little, but very positive feedback. Has anybody an opinion on the place? Anybody have any feedback on the folks at Aqua Divers?

My Wife and I looked through the Aqua Marina Suite facility on our last trip to Ambergris in March of 2005. The pool was a little small, but other than that I think its a very nice place. You'll enjoy the accomodations.
During our 2005 stay we were staying at the Sunbreeze Hotel and were able to observe the Aqua Dive Belize shop on a daily basis. I know that Aqua Dives has had some good reviews on this board. They've also had some less than complimentary comments. I suggest you do a little more research and check out all the feedback that you can. There seemed to be a "lack of professionalism" at their shop while we were staying at the Sunbreeze, and therefore prompted us to alter our diving arrangements. Aqua Dives would probably be fine for the close, local reef dives, but I'd be a little reluctant to use their services for the "Blue Water" full day trips to Turneffe or Lighthouse (Blue Hole) Atolls.
There are many dive operators on Ambergris, but there are 2 that seem to stand out on the message boards. Protech Belize http://www.ambergriscaye.com/protech/ and Amigo's del Mar http://amigosdive.com/ are consistantly rated two of the best.
We walked PAST the Aqua Dive shop every morning and were picked up by Protech on the Sunbreeze Hotel Dock. Protech is a small, very professional, dive operation. Owned and Managed by Peter Jones. He typically responds quickly by email. Protech provided my wife and I with some fantastic diving over our 10 day stay. We'll be returning to dive with them this next March. Their boats are not overcrowded and their Divemasters are Top notch. They also have very nice rental gear if you're in the need. For several days it was only my wife and I diving on one of their boats and they still took us out. Protech coordinated our full day trips to Turneffe (the Elbow) and Lighthouse Atolls. On these trips, we dove with Amigo's del Mar. They have a very nice Pro48 boat for the rough water, 2 hour trips. Their Divemasters are also very professional and well trained. Overall Amigo's is a nicely run operation.
You'll have a great time on Ambergris. Enjoy the trip. Ken :42:

 

[hil71]

Aqua Marina suites is very close to amigos del mar who i have dived with a number of times. I went into Aquadives a couple of years ago (walked the beach getting prices etc for doing our OW) Got a better feeling for Amigos though - stayed at Sunbreeze (aquadives is on site there) but still dove with amigos - (like Yakivet - we walked PAST the shop every morning on the way to dive!!) Protech has a great rep too. Been in some of the rooms at Aqua Marina and they were nice - kitchenette area too so you can self cater or at least keep some cold Belikins in the fridge! I agree with Yakivet and say maybe read a few more reviews. You'll have a brilliant time on SP - i love it there - Hilary