Diving the Great Blue Hole Belize from Carnival Glory
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Diving the Great Blue Hole Belize from Carnival Glory
My buddy and I want to go to Belize specifically to dive the Great Blue Hole. Airfare is so expensive that we can book a 7 day western Caribbean cruise with a port call in Belize (Carnival Glory) for less. The problem is that Carnival doesn't offer an excursion to the blue hole and will only be in Belize from 8AM until 5PM. Can anyone tell me how to arrange a dive trip to the blue hole that would fit into our cruise itinerary? We'd prefer to take a seaplane because the boat ride is so long and often rough.
Not possible in that timescale. The BH boat leaves Ambergris Caye at 6am, Caye Caulker about half an hour later, and returns to AC any time after around 4:30pm. Trips from Belize City (where your cruise ship moors) will be at least as long.
Check into flying to Cancun instead. It's usually vastly cheaper. You then have to spend the better part of a day getting to Ambergris Caye (San Pedro) by express bus and light aircraft, with of course the same on the return. But many people choose this as it is SO much cheaper. No good if both money AND time are short, of course.
And there's no seaplane service to Lighthouse Atoll, where the BH is located. Just boat, a 2.5-3 hour ride each way.
You can't do justice to diving in Belize on a one day cattle boat! Go back and do it right! Go to the ruins or Jaguar Paw! Zipline and Cave tubing are a hoot!
Check threads on the Blue Hole and dive operations serving it before you make a trip JUST to see that... Our research 2 years ago when planning a live-aboard trip suggested the dive was highly overrated and that the blue whole is best viewed from a plane.... As well as some issues with the trips there. That being said, if you were IN BELIZE anyhow, why not tack it on...
Check threads on the Blue Hole and dive operations serving it before you make a trip JUST to see that... Our research 2 years ago when planning a live-aboard trip suggested the dive was highly overrated and that the blue whole is best viewed from a plane.... As well as some issues with the trips there. That being said, if you were IN BELIZE anyhow, why not tack it on...
I dove the BH off the Aggressor last year. I'd rate it as nothing special. You drop to 130', stay a few minutes and then ascend.The light isn't great and there's not that much to see. Plus the DMs are so paranoid about someone going into deco, that they rush you up. On our trip we had several newbies who had no business making that dive to 130'.
The comment about seeing it from the air is right on. It's great from a plane, but not worth the trip at 130'.
I agree with divengolf and the others, the Blue Hole is not that great. I suppose everybody needs to do it once but, in retrospect, if I ever get out to that remote part of Lighthouse atoll again, I'll save my bottom time and ask to do more dives on some of the spectacular nearby sites like Half Moon Caye.
The Blue Hole is not worth the time it takes to get there (and I've done it a dozen times). The reef at the top of the hole has storm damage (it is very shallow), the depth makes it a very short dive, and there is not much to see (there are some cool stalagtites at 145'). When the liveaboard I used to work on first went down to Belize we had the BH as part of our regular itinerary, but we got some many negative comments about the mediocrity of the dive that we discontinued doing it for many years.
The BH looks great from the air, but from sea level you can't even tell it is circular. If you want To do some awesome blue holes, go to the Cay Sal Bank. These holes start in 25' of water so there is little storm damage, are small, so they can be circumnavigated 2-3 times on a single tank of air, and some of them are filled with caribbean reef sharks.
Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory or defeat
OK, I'm convinced. I won't bother with the Great Blue Hole in Belize by itself. I dove the Blue Hole in the Red Sea near Dahab, Egypt. It was very cool, although there wasn't a lot to see there either. That one is definitely worth doing when in the area, partly because it's a shore dive
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Originally Posted by Papa_Bear
