Roatan and Belize in a day

We are taking a family cruise vacation over our kid’s spring break in March. We choose a cruise because it allows our entire family to be together. We choose an itinerary that would allow some diving on the side. Two of our ports of call are Roatan and Belize. We will be in Belize from 9 am to 6 pm and Roatan from 7 am to 3 pm. Yes, I know this is a short amount of time so no one lecture me on the fact that a cruise is not the best way to truly dive these locations. This is a family vacation, not just a diving vacation, but as we are in these ports, we are trying to slip in some diving. Besides, I am a PADI instructor from Kansas, so even a poor ocean dive is 100 times better than the frigid fresh water dives we do in our area. Has anyone dived these locations via a cruise itinerary? What would be best o maximize our short time there? Any suggestions would be appreciated. We typically do our own thing rather than using dive operators through the cruise ship, but we have never been to these destinations.

Thanks for any help!

Where will you be making port in Belize?

The cruise ship docks in Belize City. I am told there is no good diving (compared to the typical Belize dive sites) there around Belize City. Is there any way to connect up with something that is diveable in the area.

There's certainly diveable sites within 30 mins of Belize City. Check out www.belizediving.com - Hugh Parkey's site - they're probably one of the largest that leave out of Belize City. I would not do any of the sites that are several hours away (Turneffe, Blue Hole) - you probably couldn't get there and back and do 2 dives.

I highly recommend you find either diving, or nearby ruins to visit - Belize City, while fairly safe and easy to get around in, is not worth killing a day in...

Cruise ships do not mesh well with diving, a subject well discussed here and other boards.

All cruise ships dock in Belize at the Government dock, as far as I know.

In Roatan, most cruisers wind up with Anthony's Key Resort, which makes their living servicing such clientelle. You can sign up for the Dolphin snorkel (a lot of interaction) or the more expensive Dolphin Dive (more expensive). A cab ride of 25 minutes- they know the cruise ship drill very well.

The best dive op accessed easily by cruise ship divers is Subway dive from French Harbour Yacht Club. Very professional.

You can do a shark feed dive from Waiakula (sp?) which is in Dixon Cove, a common shore shopping spot fro cruisers.

Thanks gj62 for the info. And yes roatan man, I am well aware of the frequent discussions on the fact that one can't be a real diver if they are doing so from a cruise ship. The fact is, we have made some great diving connections from cruise ships. And yes, we have done "real diving vacations", but those don't always mesh well with full family vacations. I have certified my children as open water divers, but they enjoy some of the other activities that a cruise experience provides rather than diving from sun up to sun down the way we would at a dive resort. So please don't be critical of our choice to mix diving in with our cruise. We have had a great deal of success doing so at a variety of locations, but we have never been to Roatan or Belize and hence my question as to the logistics in those locations.

I recently did the Dolphin Snorkel at Anthony's Key Resort. As an avid diver, I had really balked at the idea of seeing dolphins in a contained environment. A DM we dove with on Roatan recommended it though, and noted that the "snorkel" was better than the "dive", due to the amount of interaction. She was right - it turned out to be pretty cool. It was amazing to have these beautiful 7' - 9' long beings come up and look straight into your eyes. The beginning starts off pretty cheezy with a "dolphin encounter" - small groups 6-8 people gather with an instructor and one dolphin. It's informative, but the dolphin has to do a few "tricks" (cringe - smile for the camera), but you can touch them. The better part is after that for about 30 minutes you get to snorkel with about 12 dolphins who dive and play in the same bit of sea as you and come right up and check you out. If you decide to do this, book it well in advance before you arrive. We stayed in West End and dove out of a West End dive shop - Sueno del Mar. I believe they will pick up cruise ship passengers - contact www.suenodelmar.com. Either way, you'll have to decide between diving or doing the Anthony's Key Resort dolphin thing. You won't be able to do both in the time you have in Roatan. - Ariel

Thanks Ariel. As an avid diver I, too, am somewhat skeptical of the dolphin thing, but it does sound pretty cool. I appreciate the input from another diver.

Hmmmnnn... I was just in both Roatan and Belize (& Cozumel) and dove a total of 5 tanks between the two. The Dock in Roatan is very nice; it gets you off quickly and on your way. We dove with Subway Watersports, while some of our party members went snorkeling and touring on their larger boat. Echo the comment on professional; they were great. Robert was the best boat captain I have ever had... We got three tanks in due to the mostly shallow diving; and it was by far the more entertaining and beautiful diving out of the three sites. Quite a compliment if you think about it. BTW, they have an AL100 tank for use by special request…

Belize is serviced by tenders: small and fast; but it takes hours to unload from the ship. The diving was a 30-minute ride out, lunch on a little 'island' and back out to the closer reef. Not as dense or as colorful as Roatan nor as clear as Coz. But, it wasn't out on the outer reefs, just close and wet. Coz was very nice, but that is another story. BTW, there were seven cruise ships in port when we came in, and all were anchored out a fair way from Belize City and all were being tendered. I didn't see a dock in BC for cruise ships, RoatanMan, but I may have missed it. There weren’t any obvious on the way in, and several of the ships anchored were huge.

BTW, we were on NCL, and they had just cut ties to the local dive shop in Belize. I would strongly suggest using the cruise line dive op in Belize if they have one, due to time. The ship excursions get first priority getting off and they won’t leave w/o you.

Diving from the cruise ship was OK, it just limited your options to dives that you could do safely and timely. It wasn’t a liveaboard dive vacation; but it sure beat the cold of D.C. during the last week of January. Besides, the other activities made up for limited diving. Certainly, not as horrible as some make it out to be, but then almost every choice has pros and cons.

On the dolphin snorkel/dive, I would echo comments made by Ariel. One family member did the snorkel at AK, while a friend did the one in Cancun. Both described it as the most fun thing they had ever done.

Thanks Yogi. I have seen Subway pop up several times. They have emailed me back already and they sound very professional, so I am glad to hear that they follow through with their promises. I am not sure if we will dive in Belize or not. Sounds like it is really a hassle. Anyway, we will have a good time regardless, and don't worry RoatanMan, we won't eat too many ice cream sundies or be locked up on the ship. Maybe we will see you on our next cruise; no probably not, as you are scared of your weight gain. LOL.

M