My Wife and I are going to Belize in January we have our air fare taken care of- but now we need a place to stay and dive- open for suggestions.
travis
travis
Belize in January
- Thread starter Travisc
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Hank49
Contributor
if you want to dive and party, San Pedro or Placencia. If you want to just dive and be in a quiet place there's a lot of other options. The outer atholls, southern Belize are great.
Thatch Caye is a nice place because you can get to the mainland activities easily as well as being only 15 minutes by boat from the Southwater Marine reserve, which has some of the best barrier reef diving in Belize.
Thatch Caye is a nice place because you can get to the mainland activities easily as well as being only 15 minutes by boat from the Southwater Marine reserve, which has some of the best barrier reef diving in Belize.
OP
any other suggestions?
Thatch Caye Belize
Guest
Southern Belize is getting to be the best area to dive for those who want a laid back vacation without lots of other people on the dives. More personal attention from the divemasters and instructors in our area as well as good wall dives in which one commonly sees eagle rays, turtles, big groupers, snappers, an occaisional shark, and often even dolphins. Lots of places in Belize can offer good diving (after all, Belize is pretty famous for that) but if you want smaller groups and a more intimate and relaxing experience, try the south. For the ecologically minded, a place like Thatch Caye is also quite refreshing as compared to much larger resorts that can't offer their divers the natural beauty of the real Belize when they get out of the water.
Agreed. Thatch Caye provides great "eco-friendly" luxury and with such small numbers great flexibility. Go diving where you want, when you want, how you want, for as long as you want, and all that in an area with superb walls and underwater creatures - mantas, turtles, dolphins to name just three. What more do you want? MUCH more relaxed and laid-back than Ambergris Caye (but no good for you if you like bar-crawling).
Gr8ful Diver
Registered
Travis,
Without knowing your budget or type of action your looking for, it's a little hard to give too many suggestions -because Belize has a lot of options. However, I will say that the Hugh Parkey's Belize Dive Connection is the best dive operation in Belize (IMO). They have great boats, great rental gear and a top notch staff. They are based off of Spanish Lookout Caye, which is about 20 minutes from Belize City. The good thing is that they are very close to the Barrier Reef -literally a few minutes and Turneffe Atoll (45 minutes). The accomodations at Spanish Bay Resort are comfortable, but I would call it more of a Dive Camp, than a resort. If you're looking for great diving with a class act, you should check them out. I did a Whale Shark trip with them in May and had a blast! Some pics are on this site.
Without knowing your budget or type of action your looking for, it's a little hard to give too many suggestions -because Belize has a lot of options. However, I will say that the Hugh Parkey's Belize Dive Connection is the best dive operation in Belize (IMO). They have great boats, great rental gear and a top notch staff. They are based off of Spanish Lookout Caye, which is about 20 minutes from Belize City. The good thing is that they are very close to the Barrier Reef -literally a few minutes and Turneffe Atoll (45 minutes). The accomodations at Spanish Bay Resort are comfortable, but I would call it more of a Dive Camp, than a resort. If you're looking for great diving with a class act, you should check them out. I did a Whale Shark trip with them in May and had a blast! Some pics are on this site.
HAOWDIVER
Registered
i'll be doing a 2 tank boat dive at Turneffe Atoll in Belize on January 6th. Taking the Royal Caribbean ship Independence of the Seas to the western Caribbean stopping also in Costa Maya and Cozumel.
i'll be diving in cozumel on the 8th. this will be my second scuba trip since my certification last year, i can't wait
anyone else dive off Belize or Cozumel in January? how was it?
i'll be diving in cozumel on the 8th. this will be my second scuba trip since my certification last year, i can't wait
anyone else dive off Belize or Cozumel in January? how was it?
Cajuncru Diver
Contributor
Travis: you might want to google up caye caulker and look at that as another option with either Frenchies or Bellize Dive Center
Also have a look at Belize Vacations, Tours, Resorts, News, Hotels, Travels, Flights, Weather, Maps, Real Estate, especially their discussion forum (found at the bottom of the Home page under "messages".
The major differences in Belize are that the cayes in the north (Ambergris Caye aka San Pedro, and Caye Caulker) are close to the reef, typically 1/2 mile. Caye Caulker is much quieter than San Pedro and may offer lower prices, but is too sleepy for many. San Pedro is the busiest single area in Belize, with lots of expats, dive businesses, hotels, new building, etc.
The other main center is Placencia in the south of the country. Like San Pedro a hive of activity and new building, but a long boat ride from the reef. Perhaps a great place for boating (all of the bareboat charter companies have gravitated there) but far from ideal for diving.
There are several small islands near the reef that also offer accommodation and facilities, to various standards and prices. Four I can think of near Dangriga (a bit north of Placencia) are Tobacco Caye, Southwater Caye (at the northern end of the eponymous marine reserve), Coco Plum Caye and Thatch Caye (the northern end of the Coco Plum range, renamed). I've been to all of these and IMO the nicest is Thatch Caye, followed by the neighbouring Coco Plum Caye. Southwater Caye is way down the scale of attractive accommodation (they don't even have an on-site dive center) and Tobacco Caye is (pardon my use of this expression) a tropical slum. It does have an on-site dive operation, which like everything else is housed in a tattered plywood shack, but it's not a place I would want to spend even a single night. Forget it for a family holiday - it's only suitable for undiscriminating backpackers, and they find it's not as cheap as it appears at first glance.
So for a family diving holiday I'd pick either San Pedro in the far north (my base), Caye Caulker 15 miles to the south, or one of the two adjoining islands 9 miles off Dangriga, Coco Plum or Thatch. I like Thatch Caye and have stayed (and dived) there several times. I've not stayed on Coco Plum but it gets good reviews. The buildings on Thatch are more immediately attractive and I'm told they have less of a sandfly problem than Coco Plum. Both places offer only full board - there's hardly anywhere you can pop out for a burger! Food at Thatch Caye is superb home-style, can't speak for what Coco Plum provides.
You could even try a two center holiday, a while at one of the two northern cayes followed by a period at one of the two off Dangriga. I knew some guests recently who spent time at Portofino resort on Ambergris Caye a few miles north of San Pedro town (a lovely small, peaceful, up-market and highly regarded resort), then switched to Thatch Caye (where I met them). They loved both places, and the transfer was pretty easy.
From all these places it's easy to take mainland trips of various sorts. From San Pedro it's possible to do these by air (maybe also Caye Caulker) but most people use boats. Down south it has to be by boat. Visiting Mayan ruins, exploring underground rivers and discovering ancient Mayan sacrificial chambers, floating down an underground river on a truck innertube, zip lining through (and above) the tropical jungle, mountain biking in the mountains, or just browsing through local food markets and smelling the oriental spices of offer - all are easy from any of these destinations.
To misquote a current TV ad - "It's your holiday, spend it where you want to".
The major differences in Belize are that the cayes in the north (Ambergris Caye aka San Pedro, and Caye Caulker) are close to the reef, typically 1/2 mile. Caye Caulker is much quieter than San Pedro and may offer lower prices, but is too sleepy for many. San Pedro is the busiest single area in Belize, with lots of expats, dive businesses, hotels, new building, etc.
The other main center is Placencia in the south of the country. Like San Pedro a hive of activity and new building, but a long boat ride from the reef. Perhaps a great place for boating (all of the bareboat charter companies have gravitated there) but far from ideal for diving.
There are several small islands near the reef that also offer accommodation and facilities, to various standards and prices. Four I can think of near Dangriga (a bit north of Placencia) are Tobacco Caye, Southwater Caye (at the northern end of the eponymous marine reserve), Coco Plum Caye and Thatch Caye (the northern end of the Coco Plum range, renamed). I've been to all of these and IMO the nicest is Thatch Caye, followed by the neighbouring Coco Plum Caye. Southwater Caye is way down the scale of attractive accommodation (they don't even have an on-site dive center) and Tobacco Caye is (pardon my use of this expression) a tropical slum. It does have an on-site dive operation, which like everything else is housed in a tattered plywood shack, but it's not a place I would want to spend even a single night. Forget it for a family holiday - it's only suitable for undiscriminating backpackers, and they find it's not as cheap as it appears at first glance.
So for a family diving holiday I'd pick either San Pedro in the far north (my base), Caye Caulker 15 miles to the south, or one of the two adjoining islands 9 miles off Dangriga, Coco Plum or Thatch. I like Thatch Caye and have stayed (and dived) there several times. I've not stayed on Coco Plum but it gets good reviews. The buildings on Thatch are more immediately attractive and I'm told they have less of a sandfly problem than Coco Plum. Both places offer only full board - there's hardly anywhere you can pop out for a burger! Food at Thatch Caye is superb home-style, can't speak for what Coco Plum provides.
You could even try a two center holiday, a while at one of the two northern cayes followed by a period at one of the two off Dangriga. I knew some guests recently who spent time at Portofino resort on Ambergris Caye a few miles north of San Pedro town (a lovely small, peaceful, up-market and highly regarded resort), then switched to Thatch Caye (where I met them). They loved both places, and the transfer was pretty easy.
From all these places it's easy to take mainland trips of various sorts. From San Pedro it's possible to do these by air (maybe also Caye Caulker) but most people use boats. Down south it has to be by boat. Visiting Mayan ruins, exploring underground rivers and discovering ancient Mayan sacrificial chambers, floating down an underground river on a truck innertube, zip lining through (and above) the tropical jungle, mountain biking in the mountains, or just browsing through local food markets and smelling the oriental spices of offer - all are easy from any of these destinations.
To misquote a current TV ad - "It's your holiday, spend it where you want to".
Does Thatch Caye offer Scuba packages?
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