Belize in May

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Dirty-Dog

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Having already booked our fall trip (Bonaire in October), I'm investigating options for our Spring trip. Sue wants the Bahamas. Kim wants Belize. I'm tasked with the job (as usual) of researching and presenting them with the options.
Not being at all familiar with Belize, I'm seeking opinions on places to stay, operators to use, and sites to see.
We like all inclusives for the convenience (but do still go out to eat other places as well). The ladies like luxury (I'd be happy sleeping under a tree on the beach, if it meant I could go diving...).
I like big tanks, if there are ops that provide something other than the usual AL80.
So Belize fans, time to break out the cheerleader suits. Except you, NetDoc... we've all seen the pics of you in the cheerleader outfit, and don't need to see more... :rofl:
 
You wouldn't be happy sleeping under a tree here. Sand flies will chew you to pieces. :D Especially out on the cayes. The white wing sandfly is worse….for me anyway. I'm used to the one on the mainland.

You want luxury, ability to eat out and see other things…Belize has places like that here on the mainland. San Pedro has lots of places to eat and drink but it's far to go he mainland and do other things. Like…..all day trip far.

The mainland has the convenience of being closer to Mayan ruins, cave tubing etc, but it's a 12-20 mile ride to the barrier reef for good diving. The diving in the south is good though. We have walls down here. San Pedro has spur and grooves……there is a wall but it doesn't start to drop until about 200 feet deep.
Hamanasi, Jaguar Reef and Placencia resorts offer this type of place down near Hopkins.

Or, you could go to the atolls. Turneffe and Glovers have really good diving. They have only inclusive type resorts because there is absolutely NOTHING else out there.

Don't know about the big tanks.
 
Not too worried about other tourist stuff. We've seen enough Mayan ruins; they're interesting, but one site is pretty much the same as another (to a non-archeologist...).
Is there more than one airport choice?
Mostly, we're there to dive. And lay in the sun. If the only restaurants are at the resort, that's fine too.
 
There's only one international airport. From there you can fly small planes to other parts.

Yeah, some of the Mayan ruins here aren't even ruins anymore. They've rebuilt them with concrete blocks. ???

If you really want to dive, I would look at the atolls. Turneffe Island Resort, Blackbird Caye, Turneffe Flats. On Glovers there's Isla Marisol Resort. And Gover's Atholl Resort. It's more rustic but they do have good food.

The nice thing about the atolls also is that when the weather is rough…..like stiff trade winds, you can dive the lee side of them and get calm water. From San Pedro or the mainland, you're dealing with the chop. It's all east facing.
 
Speaking of only one international airport, I wonder how that second one at the top of the Placencia peninsula is coming along. Last time I was there, there was zero progress from when I was there two years before.

D-D: I agree with Hank. Head for one of the atoll resorts. Eat, sleep, dive, it's like summer camp for adults. Great food, great service, all in a tropical island setting. I don't think TIR has steel 100s but you could check in advance.
 
There is also the choice of 2 live aboards, agressor & dancer.
 
One thing to consider about May. The farmers in Guatemala burn off their farms in May and the smoke drifts across much of mainland Belize.

If you are considering staying in San Iganico you could have air quality issues.

Out on the atolls should be fine.
 
We didn't make the atolls on our trip to San Pedro. I got pretty bored with the diving off San Pedro after a couple of days. Nice vacation but not nice enough for a return trip.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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