Turneffe vs. Barrier Reef dives for one day

[bilboinsa]

I usually book indie dive ops in ports, and was setting up a trip to the Barrier Reef through Seasports. They are well reviewed here and I have no worries about tenders, etc.... They know their drill well. So well that they do not recommend Turneffe Atoll for cruisers, due to time constraints. Now Royal Caribbean has dropped the price of an excursion to Turneffe Atol. (Either RendeVous Point in the north or Big Cay Bokel in the south, depending on waters). I understand that the cruise ship uses Hugh Starkey, which is generally well regarded as an op.

My question is this, eliminating cost as a factor, how different from the Barrier Reef dives is the Turneffe diving? More pelagics? Thanks!

 

[jimbeeler]

I went with the Royal Caribbean cruise ship excursion in Belize and liked Turneffe last September. It's over priced but it was good none-the-less. For us, they picked us up from the ship, transported us to an island resort where we completed the paperwork, got tanks and weights and left for the sites.

I don't remember any large animals other than a big moray that charged me several times at one site. After the diving, we relaxed a little while on the island and they returned us to the ship. No time issues at all that I can recall.

Jim

 

[mi000ke]

I did the Turneffe dive last week with Hugh Starkey while on an NCL cruise. Can't compare it to the barrier reef as have not dived that, but HS was a great outfit. We had a good (if not spectacular) dive and got down to about 80' over a small reef wall. They broke us into groups of 6. Getting picked up at the boat was a big time saver as we would have had to tender in, and the price was competitive with the independents. Not much going on at their island other than the dive shop and a place to get a cold beer afterwards (which was greatly appreciated).

 

[bilboinsa]

Yes, RC has lowered the price now to 165. That is cheaper than Seasports can do it from shore. Maybe they drop the price as it gets closer to emabarcation date and they want to fill the spots? Well, I went ahead and booked with RC, but wouldn't have done so without the good words on Starkey's op. Thanks for your input.

 

[mi000ke]

FWIW, we got it via NCL for $139 including all equipment. They combined us from two NCL boats in dock on the same day, so they were pretty sure to fill the boat. Two groups of 6 and one group of 5. Did not feel crowded at all, though.

 

[bilboinsa]

Wow, great deal! We are hitting it on Spring Break, so I am sure everything goes up a bit. Earlier they wanted 195, and for that much, Seasports 125 for a Barrier Reef package was going to be my choice, considering it is my son and me. (I absolutely love that he dives now, but man does that jack up the cost of diving!!!)