Belize Diving - Worth it?

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Per Gaz's above recommendation to dive the Belize atolls, that is what my wife and I are doing in June. Given how spread out the atolls are, it seems an ideal situation for a live aboard trip. Sundancer II Jun 5-12.
 
If the weather's good, I"m going to Glover's this weekend. I'll post here how it was.
 
Thanks for some great feedback. How difficult is it to find a good dive operator in one of the larger towns and take a daily dive boat out to sites? We don't want the usual beach dives, something that my 12Mpixel camera will enjoy shooting. We looked at some of the resorts on atolls, like Turneffe, but it seems a bit restricted in terms of anything above water. Any ideas? Thanks!
 
My recommendation is for you to focus your trip to Belize on the Belize Atolls.

You have mentioned all the places you have dove and in my many years of experience taking divers diving in Belize, I dont think Barrier Reef diving will keep you happy based on the nmber of places you have dove.

Ambergris has some great photo ops such as close up Nurse Shark ops or Stingray or even eagle Rays also Hol Chan has some great photo ops but I think the Atolls offer much better opportunities.

The Belize Atolls are superb and certainly some of the very best diving in the Western Hemisphere.

Ideally a Live aboard would be the best option for variety and being able to cover Turneffe islands and Lighthouse Reef but Liveaboards are not for everyone so outside of that option Turneffe Island Lodge or, where I would choose is Isla Marisol on Glovers Reef.

Glovers Reef is superb diving, all Wall diving and very few divers and great photo opportunitys.

Gaz Cooper

Yep, what Gaz said.
 
Thanks for some great feedback. How difficult is it to find a good dive operator in one of the larger towns and take a daily dive boat out to sites? We don't want the usual beach dives, something that my 12Mpixel camera will enjoy shooting. We looked at some of the resorts on atolls, like Turneffe, but it seems a bit restricted in terms of anything above water. Any ideas? Thanks!

The towns with diving are San Pedro, Caye Caulker and Placencia, pretty much. There are a couple shops that will go out of Belize City too but BC isn't much of a vacation type of town.
There is no shore diving really....maybe at Glovers. The reef is San Pedro and Caulker is about half mile out at least, plust the other 100 yards or more to the dropoff.
The farther you go from the mainland, the better the diving, but the more you are isolated... basically. It's a tradeoff.
 
There are a couple shops that will go out of Belize City too but BC isn't much of a vacation type of town.

That's putting it mildly. Personal safety is definitely a concern, especially at night, plus there's not much to see or do there. In general, I advise avoiding BC except to use as a departure point the first night or a return point the last night.

Having said that, my wife and I will be spending three nights in BC before returning to Turneffe Island Resort for a week this summer. But that's because there are some mainland things we want to do nearby, and since we've been there before we have a certain comfort level with the place. For whatever reason, I kind of like the funk that is Belize City but only in small doses and never in the dark.
 
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Thanks for some great feedback. How difficult is it to find a good dive operator in one of the larger towns and take a daily dive boat out to sites? We don't want the usual beach dives, something that my 12Mpixel camera will enjoy shooting. We looked at some of the resorts on atolls, like Turneffe, but it seems a bit restricted in terms of anything above water. Any ideas? Thanks!

I think you kind of missed what Gaz and other have said.

You can dive out of boats from the resort towns, but it's nothing spectacular. The really good diving is out on the atolls. The atolls are far out for a day boat and so the best way to dive them without spending a lot of money and travel time is to stay at a resort like Turneffe, or on one of the live aboards.

Being out there and away from the crowds is kind of the point of the place.

Belize Aggressor - Feb/Mar 2009 - a set on Flickr

I've been twice now and have it on my list of places to go back to.
 
How difficult is it to find a good dive operator in one of the larger towns and take a daily dive boat out to sites?

We would be happy to take you out. We have daily boats out to and from Belize City and are only about half hour from the city. Turneffe Atoll is our main destination at less than half hour from the Lodge and we also have some really great diving on the Barrier Reef off Belize City which few Board Members have experienced. It is very easy to flip-flop your itinerary as you please when you are with us.

We are also on Facebook and on the cover of this month's Dive Training Magazine.
 
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