Diving Guatemala

[Dharker]

Hello,

Just wondering if anyone has been diving here and if so what was it like?

La Iguana Perdida

Cheers,

Dante

 

[Angry Turtle]

looks cool. I'll tag along to read of any reports

 

[vvitola]

The visibility is low.. not a lot of life... Not worth it. If you are going to go to Guatemala contact PANADIVERS, they dive on the Atlantic Cost, near Belize, better diving that Lake Atitlan.

 

[USdiver1]

I used to live in Guate. The only good diving occurs on the Sapodilla cays which are technically part of Belize, which should still be part of Guatemala, and which are claimed by Honduras. This caused the cays to be occupied for many years by the British military (kind of like a little piece of Northern Ireland in our own back yard). Needless to say, development suffered on the cays and was limited to Harrier Jump Jets juxtaposed to islanders who had no access to basics like ice and regular electricity. Still it did leave these cays pristine and free of development. The sea life around the Sapodillas was some of the best in the Western Caribbean, definitely worth a trip from Guatemala, Honduras or Belize.

 

[toozler]

Old topic but worth adding info in case anyone is interested.

Dove with ATI Divers in Lake Atitlan back in 2011/2012, spent New Years eve at La Iguana.

Equipment was in fairly good condition and the DM was great. They take the altitude diving serious, will instruction you on how things are different and will warn you not to leave the crater before 24hrs have passed. You can do your altitude dive there towards the PADI AOW cert. They have a small boat but groups are usually small (in our case, 3 divers). There is not a lot of life other than some small fish and crab. The rock formations are different and interesting due to how they were formed. One of the sites you can stick your hand in the warm muddy bottom - reminiscent of the volcanic activity.

Other than the novelty of altitude diving on the extinct crater of a supervolcano (which is a big deal) it might not be worth the trip for most, but if you are in the area, DO go diving there. Lake Atitlan itself is a great place to spend a couple days and worth the visit. La Iguana was great, so was the food and the sunsets drinking Gallo sitting on the dock.

I have no UW pics, but this one might be inspiring:

 

[wreckdiver1715]

I just dove Lake Atitlan, and the Ruins of the underwater city of Samabaj. I put a video together, so please check it out. I used the GoPro Hero 2 to video the underwater segment.

[video=youtube_share;CPglw8f64zk]http://youtu.be/CPglw8f64zk[/video]

 

[USdiver1]

@wreckdiver1715,

I seriously doubt that the Guatemalan authorities would take kindly to unauthorized subaquatic expeditions at Samabaj. Here is a pamphlet in Spanish indicating those areas protected as part of Guatemala's Cultural Heritage:

http://patrimonio.260mb.org/leyes, ...laprotecciondelpatrimonioculturalynatural.pdf

Of special interest is Article 10 which prohibits subaquatic expeditions without prior approval from the Guatemalan Institute of Archeology and History or the Guatemalan Agency for Natural and Cultural Heritage.

P.S. The waters of Lake Atitlan are horribly polluted with cyanobacteria (Blue-Green Algae) which is both a hemotoxin and neurotoxin. Massive algae blooms in the lake have been occurring regularly for the past five or so years. Be careful while swimming/diving and make sure that you have no open sores or wounds where the cyanobacteria could enter your system.

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hsb/hab/default.htm

http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases/cyanobacteria/en/

I never remember the lake having a green appearance (blue-green algae) and long mossy algae when I lived in Guatemala in the 1980s.