Belize - advice welcome

[divetraveler]

Stayed at Banana beach and dove with Amigos Del Mar and Bottom time. Had a good time with both, no problems and they will dive where you want. Blue Hole needs to be set up when you get there and the ones we looked at were either all day or over night trips. The hotel is nice, clean and rooms are new and large. As for the ruins this too will be an over night trip and a couple of hundred dollars, easy to book through the hotel. Rent a golf car, we had a blast with it and saw the entire island. Another nice hotel was the Victoria House. Happy travels, safe dives.

 

[steeliejim]

We had a great time in Belize (except for Blackbird Caye's management--see my note above). We stayed at Chaa Creek which was great for our inland tours. However, we did not make it over to Tikal and would like to on our next trip. I am told that a great way to do the trip is to stay overnight there. Is that what you did? If so, where did you stay? Would you recommend it? Thanks,
Jim

 

[divetraveler]

We did not do the Tikal trip because at the time of our trip ~ Jan 2002, there were recent safety issues. (as two girls traveling sans male escort, we decided against it.)The hotel, Banana Beach, had it all worked out, puddle jumper plain ride, tour and hotel for well under $200 per person. . .were told that the hotel was similar to theirs. Still sorry that I missed it, hope that you get to see it.

 

[gangrel441]

Is that cashew wine any good? I've been tempted the couple times I've been there, but haven't had an opportunity to try it first.

Quite tasty.....pretty potent too...

 

[RockyHeap]

when in the Cayo district, if you are into horse back riding, I'd really suggest staying a night or two at Banana Bank. GREAT place to stay for a family run place, and the jungle tour horse ride up a flowing river was really fun, but not as cool as Caves Branch and their adventure tours.

 

[Barracuda2]

If you get a chance, tube the Mayan River from Jaguar Paw resort; it's a blast. About an hour's ride out of Belize City - $100 per head, at least the last time I was there. Finish with dinner at the resort; good food and atmosphere; about $15 and up a dinner.

 

[jaydub]

I stayed at bannana beach and dove with protech. I checked out other dive ops and found that protech had top notch rental gear, and since I was renting I chose to go with them. Bannana Beach was on ok hotel, nice rooms and super cold AC. I especially loved the free breakfast every morning that is included with the price of the room, and it wasnt no continental cheapy breakfast...it was tasty with your choice of eggs, fresh fruit, fresh squeezed OJ or other juices, and pastries. Make sure you sample the marie sharps hot sauce with breakfast, I prefered the fiery hot.

I also took a visit to some mayan ruins and chose to go to lamanai. It was nice but would have prefered to go to tikal as I heard those ruins are spectacular. Not to take away from this board but if you are looking for good info on ambergris caye then check out this site as it has loads of valuable information http://ambergriscaye.com/message/ultimatebb.php

 

[vladimir]

I dived on the Belize Aggressor in April. The vessel had been recently refit and was in great condition. The crew was the best I've had on 8 liveaboard trips, and the diving was excellent for the Caribbean. However, after my most recent trip in September, I would encourage you to think twice before taking a non-diver along on a liveaboard.

I stayed at the Turneffe Island Lodge the previous June and can recommend that highly. Great diving at The Elbow is just a 5 minute boat ride away. They do make a once-a-week trip to the Blue Hole and Lighthouse Reef. The accommodations are good--not ultra-modern by any means, but more than adequate. Again, however, there's not a lot to do for the non-diver except lay in a hammock and read. If your wife is ok with that, it might be the perfect spot.

 

[boogeywoogey]

Thanks all...a fair bit to get my teeth into.

Doole - when you say deep what are we talking? It's all within recreational limits as I don't want to be lugging my tek rig down there? Regarding an analyser, I have my own and on your advice I shall take it.

Gangel441 - my wife is BSAC qualified but she's rather nervous and complains that I have left her behind on the diving front. She only likes diving with me but then she doesn't like the diving I do so it is a bit difficult. She prefers 12 meters max and pottering around on the shallow reefs. Is there much scope for that around Ambergris Caye, for example?

The Caves Branch Resort and Ambergris Caye sound great and I will be following up on those. My wife will be very happy to see the ruins and that will be the trade off for my TDI cavern course.

We're used to mosquitos as we live in Curacao at the moment and we've just had heaps of rain so the mozzies are all over.

If there's any more advice or pointers please keep them coming.

Thanks for all the help.

boogeywoogey

 

[swingorchid]

We are also planning to visit Belize April 2006. Has anyone stayed at the Hamanasi Dive & Adventure Resort and if so what did you think of it?