Ambergris Caye vs Placencia Diving

[chillyinCanada]

Bridge toll is $10BZ and do save your ticket to prove you paid it for when you return backoover the bridge. So $5 USD.

Scuba kbell, is it your intention that this trip be all about diving snd nothing else, then yes, Turneffe is the place to be. If you want access to a little town life and great restaurants and beach bars, then San Pedro is the place for your first but probably not last trip to beautiful Belize.

 

[Hank49]

It's a trade off. I like the diving better in the south. More walls. But, a long ride from Placencia. Hopkins may be a consideration. They're much closer to the reef and it's the same wall dives. Southwater Caye area is really nice.

But for out of bed, onto the boat and into the water , in 20 minutes, you can't beat San Pedro. But it's spur and groove topography. It's okay....

But yeah, Turneffe is the spot. The Elbow....now a Conservation Zone which I hope can be enforeced. It's a fish rich area. Try to get a boat to take you there and free dive it. Yeah, this is Scubaboard, but you'll see tons more fish. Unreal. As good as I've seen anywhere.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Who are the dive ops out of Hopkins?

 

[Downing]

Hamansi has an in-house dive op that is supposed to be very good.

Splash Dive Center opened an office there last year. We picked up and dropped off divers there a couple of times last year.

And there's one more but the name escapes me. Maybe Hopkins Underwater Adventures?

And there's Hank, if you can drag him away from his job.

 

[Hank49]

Jaguar Reef had a dive shop. I live just up the river from there now but I'm not sure of all the hotels now. It's growing.

It's a really nice place to go out of. When you leave the river, it's only 10 miles to SW Caye. And about 5 miles out is a long chain of cayes which breaks up the waves. So even on fairly windy days, it's not a bone jarring, banging ride going out. And as I said, that whole stretch of reef is nice. And it's a marine reserve. There are fish there.

I just sold the Carrot Juice (my boat) Didn't want to to waste away, sitting in the yard while I'm working in Vietnam. But I'll be back. Downing, you may see it down around Placencia. I sold it to a guy down there.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Thanks downing! I knew that Splash had plans for Hopkins but I hadn't learned of the result. Perhaps I should have just asked in the first place since that was what I wanted to know.

 

[ScubaJill]

Both Maya and Tropic are the same price, depends on the departure time for us. Down here in Placencia Seahorse and Splash are regularly going out. I go out with Seahorse which actually has a smaller boat but I like the crowd better. Its an hour out to the reef here and yes, lunch is provided on a sandy caye. I prefer the dives out at Turneffe (from AC) over anything down here FWIW but that is also a long ride out to the site. June is SLOW so keep that in mind. Snorkel Hol Chan, its not that spectacular of a dive.

Rydog - I'm heading to Placencia for a few days in early July and I'm looking at the dive shops there. Seahorse Dive Center is associated with one of the hotels I'm considering staying at. Its reviews are not as good as Splash's on TripAdvisor, but I do take TripAdvisor reviews, in general, with a huge grain of salt. Could you share your thoughts on why you prefer Seahorse? I'm looking to do some diving around Placencia, rather than heading up north, since I'll be at Huracan the week prior.

 

[scuba kbell]

Bridge toll is $10BZ and do save your ticket to prove you paid it for when you return backoover the bridge. So $5 USD.

Scuba kbell, is it your intention that this trip be all about diving snd nothing else, then yes, Turneffe is the place to be. If you want access to a little town life and great restaurants and beach bars, then San Pedro is the place for your first but probably not last trip to beautiful Belize.

I decided to split my time between Turneffe and San Pedro. Turneffe was definitely worth the trip. The dives were great, and I wish I could've stayed longer. I was actually a bit disappointed in San Pedro diving after being out at Turneffe. I stayed a bit north of San Pedro, which I enjoyed since it is quieter and you can relax on the beach there.

 

[katzgar]

You knew that the reef wasn't going to be as good as the atoll
before you left didn't you

 

[scuba kbell]

You knew that the reef wasn't going to be as good as the atoll
before you left didn't you

Let me elaborate...I knew the reef was different, which I was ok with. I also saw good stuff in San Pedro. It mostly had to do with the conditions. At Turneffe, we dived leeward as much as possible so that it was mostly easy surface conditions. This made diving pretty easy. I knew there would be chop in San Pedro, but the surface conditions were a bit rough (no leeward option here...). Good thing for Dramamine.

I saw the Aggressor boats out around Turneffe and Lighthouse reef. Does anyone know if they spend more than one day at Lighthouse Reef? It would be great to spend more time out there too. One of the dives we did at Lighthouse reef, I would probably consider in the top sites list of all places I've dived.