diving and non-diving family, where to stay in Belize?

[delbuort]

I'm taking a trip to Belize next March with the wife and kid. My Mom and Dad, brother and his wife, aunt and uncle, and grandma is also going to meet us there. I've been looking around for a place we can all stay at but also all have something to do. My wife and I'm the only ones that dive so there has to be plenty of stuff for the rest of the family to do when I drop my kid off with his grandparents for a week.

I'm looking for a typical divers spot... dive shop, trips, boats, etc. but still is within distance of the rest of the stuff.

I would really like hit up one of the caye's but I've been told the mainland would be better for us.

Place that offers a diving package and a discount rate for non-divers would be ideal I guess.

Any suggestions? Not TOO expensive though.

Thanks,
Jason

[Ecologic Divers]

one place you might look into is Paridise Villas, they are located on the north end of town.
as for a dive center i reccommend Ecologic divers, www.ecologicdivers.com
they take out small groups. Another dive center is Protech, they also run a good operation. either way you can't go wrong.
if you contact the dive centers they can provide packages on diving and rooms.

[peterbj7]

You won't want to stay in Belize City. With a mixed group you'll be better off at Placencia (in the south) or one of the cayes in the north - Ambergris Caye (San Pedro) is busier and more expensive, with more non-diving alternatives, and Caye Caulker is cheaper, quieter and more laid back, but with potential for the non-divers to get bored.

Only one or two operators do accommodation/diving packages, and many people prefer to bargain for accommodation up front and arrange diving once they're here. In March that will be perfectly feasible.

If you're interested in visiting the mainland then consider a two-center holiday. Probably start with the diving part, then relocate inland (hotels in San Ignacio, or various resorts in that general area). From an inland base you can do all sorts of fun things far more cheaply and with less travelling than travelling daily from the cayes.

You can do all of this at different budget levels, from backpacker to luxury. But don't expect Belize to be a cheap country.

[delbuort]

Great information. Just what I'm looking for. My biggest problem so far is I don't know where anything is located at. I was looking at one of the Caye's but, like you said, I don't want the non-divers to get bored. I do want to be able to dive pretty much every day I'm there. I will probably take a day or two at the end to explore a little bit, but I would rather live underwater.

I've heard, and read, a lot of good stuff abour Protech (I guess that's you Peter) and I'm going to look into them more.

I've seen a couple different prices for non-divers but I'm not sure what it entails so I need to dig a little deeper before my parents will spend that much on them. I think they are all wanting to do the trips on there own and are just looking for paying for the rooms only... not sure though, I'll be underwater!

While staying on one of the Caye's is transit back to the mainland difficult (expensive) for the little excursions?

I'm keeping in mind this is a tropical paradise and I'm certainly not looking for super cheap, but I'm also not trying to spend $10K either.

Thanks,
Jason