Belize/Roatan Questions

[Hank49]

Blue Hole is overrated, but we did have a nice school of sharks check us out. Cool! Half Moon Caye was awesome. I do plan to go back to Belize but I will do a liveaboard. Why not Turneffe? Because a liveaboard (Aggressor or Hughes) is ~ same price and since everything is a boat dive anyway this way we visit a little more places... at least thats my view.

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I was talking to one of the liveaboard workers while we were waiting at the airport over Christmas and he told me that all the liveaboard boats only dive Lighthouse Reef (Atholl). He said they'll stop at Turneffe....I forget why but it wasn't the normal schedule. I was surpirsed that they don't do Glovers and Turneffe but according to him, they don't.

 

[Scuba Scotty]

I talked to a DM on the Nekton Pilot while I was in Belize city. The liveaboards are to large to dive blue hole but extensively dive Lighthouse Reef. From what I could tell it sounded like they did lot's of diving at Turneffe (he really liked the "front porch" site). I don't think they do much around glover's but between Lighthouse and Turneffe I can't imagine you'd be missing anything... sounded first class.

-Scotty

 

[bfuqua]

My wife and I dove the blue hole 3 years ago... we would not do it again. We stayed at San Pedro and had a long, long, long ride to get to the blue hole and then it was a 7 minute dive to 135 feet and back up. It is much nicer to see the picture.

 

[rkapuya]

i am headed to belize next wednesday, for a week. would you please share a bit more of your recent experience?
what activities did you do? where did you stay? who did you dive with?
how does one get to st ignacio? bus? rent a car? how far is it?

thanks so much.
rk

 

[rkapuya]

Just got back,

Well if reading this board and reconciling my experience shows anything, it's that personal preference trumps all.

We had an absolutely fabulous time in Belize. Loved Caye Caulker, weren't hassled for drugs at any time and we're prime candidates in our mid-twenties. Great diving, nice and cheap, good food.

Loved San Pedro and Ambergris Caye! Expensive? I guess it depends on your style, it was cheap for us and had great variety, super fun. A few marginal dive sites, mostly great diving though. Pretty damn good corals, and wildlife like crazy.

San Ignacio was great. Did ATM, went to Tikal, tons to do in this area.

Placencia - we had a great time there and enjoyed the decent beaches. This place is so in flux though, it identity is changing and the place doesn't seem like it will be at peace with the changes for a long time to come. We didn't enjoy the endless gringo developments - homes, second homes, exclusive hotels... gives the place a weird feel. It seemed like most of these new inhabitants had no interest in assimilating into a Belizean lifestyle, they just want their own piece of paradise and they're happy to push out the locals in doing so. We me some great locals and had a great time, but I doubt I'll ever be back...

Orange Walk and Lamanai were interesting and fun. Barely saw any other travelers in town, and we really got a taste of normal life in inland Belize. Lamanai was awesome, different than Tikal, had its own special charm.

Belize City, run down and feels a bit scary at first but we ended up doing a lot there with no problems, people were actually quite friendly, and we had fun.

Belize Zoo, great fun for a few hours. We got there early and had the place to ourselves, it was a special and unique experience.

Diving: The local dives were great, of 10 local sites we dove only 2 to were marginal. Turneffe was awesome and had much better corals, similar marine life. We were rained out 5 days straight for Blue Hole/ Lighthouse. Much cheaper of Caye Caulker and, in our opinion, more solid operators. We dove with a few shops, all were safe, most were great and left nothing wanting, some were a little less organized...

Belize is great, we'll be back for sure. Very surprised to hear by the negative tone of this thread, it seems almost like we visited different places. I wouldn't hesitate to send any friend to any of the places we went.

-Scotty

i am headed to belize next wednesday, for a week. would you please share a bit more of your recent experience?
what activities did you do? where did you stay? who did you dive with? how expensive were they?
did you take a water taxi to caye caulker? to san pedro?
how does one get to st ignacio? bus? rent a car? how far is it?
i forget how long you were there for, but i feel pushed for time, so i want the path of least resistance to and from all that is worthwile doing.

thanks so much.
rk

 

[Scuba Scotty]

Okay first the stuff I can answer for sure.

To get to San Pedro (ambergris caye) or Caye Caulker you take the same water taxi. Short of flying that's the only way to get either. It takes ~40min to get to Caye Caulker and 1hr to get to San Pedro, the last boat only goes to Caye Caulker and leaves around 6:00pm. $20US roundtrip to SP, $15 to CC.

Get the hell out of Belize city as fast as you can, with only a week don't waste any time there. There's plenty of fun to be had there but it's a bad choice with your time constraints.

We dove with Belize Diving Service on Caye Caulker, they were our favorite in Belize. We also dove with Big Fish Dive, also good. In San Pedro we dove with Aqua Dives, they are the most inexpensive option on the island (cheaper than hiring an independent dive master as well).

To get to San (not st) Ignacio you take a bus from Belize City. If you get an express bus it's much more comfortable, costs an inconsequential amount more, but generally won't get there any faster. The other buses are packed to the brim, they're old school buses, suck it up and don't complain (most people travellers don't mind it) this is the real Belize. It takes 3.5 hours to get San Ignacio - maybe faster but budget for 3.5hrs and ~$5-10USD. The bus you catch is labeled "BENQUE" (which is past San Ignacio)

All the good tours from San Ignacio leave between 6:00am and 9:00am - it's not possible to get there that early by bus (rental car?), you book the night before (the shops are open til 9:00 or 10:00pm). If you take the bus: You can't do a tour that day so get a taxi to take you to the Xunantunich Ruins (nearby, no need for a guide) - once back into town book your tour.

"ATM Cave" (Actun Tunichil Miknal) is by far the coolest inland adventure we experienced, it's pretty much safe to say coolest in Belize. Mayawalk Tours is the best service (by a big margin) it costs $80US per person - all day and simply incredible - TIP WELL! these guys deserve it.

Other San Ignacio Options:
Caracol Ruins - biggest and best in Belize
Tikal Ruins - biggest Mayan Site period. in Guatemala - more expensive more travel more spectacular) we went there without a guide, it was amazing but takes 2 full days that way, so if you do Tikal you should take a tour ($100US and up).
Mountain Pine Ridge - the only pine forest in Central America (hiking etc).
Rio On Pools - waterfalls, waterslides, and swimming pools.
Barton Creek Cave - do ATM instead.
Cave Tubing.
Other Mayan Sites - are small and nothing to write home about (eg Cahal Pech).
--Accommodations-- There's resorts but we're budget travellers so we'd recommend Casa Blanca ($30US two queen size beds, cable TV) or Plaza Hotel (same but $25US), they are right next to each other.

What I'd do with a week:

San Pedro - 4 days, do it first get your diving out of the way. Best local sites in order - Tackle Box Canyon (amazing - sharks), San Pedro Canyon, Cypress Tunnels, Tres Cocos, Finger Canyon, Mayan Princess, Dardenelos* (*not that good). The atolls are better, Turneffe is cheaper and closer.

San Ignacio - 3 days. one day is a travel day + Xunantunich, day 2 ATM, day 3 Caracol or Tikal.

Don't bother with Placencia, and don't be tempted to do Lamanai from San Pedro (Lamanai is awesome though) - Save it for San Ignacio (Caracol or Tikal).

-Scotty

 

[DECKHAND]

WOW! Impressive post by Scuba Scotty you must to lived there before ,good work buddy.

 

[kmcneer]

I dont understand the people that say the Blue Hole is a 7 Min dive. Bottom time is short but enjoy the rest of the dive too. we had a large group of shark following us the entire dive that made the slow accent very enjoyable as well as the safty stop. its not all about bottom time at deep depth for some of us i guess.

 

[Damselfish]

IMO there is little to see on the rest of the dive. I suspect people that get lucky with sharks hanging around tend to come away from it with a better opinion than those who don't.

 

[Ralph Capeling]

You might want to consider Placencia (on the beach of the mainland in sourthern Belize). It started as a fishing village, then was discovered by back packers who were eventually followed by developers so there is now a mix of accommodations from budget to five star. You can get there by bus and there are bus connections to San Ignacio as well. There is a national park (Laughing Bird Caye) close by as well as several marine reserves.
Regards
Ralph