Cave Diving in Belize

[k-valve]

My girlfriend and I are heading to Belize this coming December. I'd like to do some cave diving there if I can. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[peterbj7]

I used to offer it but closed my dive center last year for lack of demand. AFAIK no-one else does, though there are one or two resident cave divers who make the occasional private trip. You'd need good credentials to join them. What sort of cave diving have you in mind and what do you have experience of?

If you're unfamiliar with cave diving and want training or to build up experience then Belize is the wrong place. Go to Playa del Carmen to one of the cave operators there.

 

[k-valve]

I've dove a variety of caves. Everything from the shallow, complex caves in Cozumel, to deep caves like Mante and high flow, medium depth caves in Florida.

I'm certified full cave and through hypoxic trimix. I was planning on bringing my sidemount rig with me if that matters...but mostly for the convenience of being able to put a set of doubles together easily.

As far as what I'd like to dive goes, I wasn't thinking of anything extreme. Just a simple penetration that doesn't require stages. Deco is OK if there is O2 available. I don't mind working to get to the cave either. A little trek through the jungle is fine too.

 

[Thatch Caye Belize]

Don't hear many people doing cave diving here in Belize but maybe you could try the Black Hole between Colombus and Cross Caye. It is in the ocean, not the jungle, but it has a lot of cave features. It goes off in all directions at about 60 feet deep under the roof filled with stalactites, and according to the divemaster who I dove it with, they never found the end of the east side when they did some mapping. You would have to talk to Peter about trimix and stuff like that though, since no one really does it in this area.

 

[cyberdyver]

Belize is not the place for this stuff. I have a buddy who used to come down every year and get air fills and some gear from me. Good friend of Lamar Hires, had lotta Dive Rite gear too. He did his own thing (can't mention his name) in the mountains. Stayed at Five Sisters and mapped some caves there. I am expecting another friend, S Rutherford, IANTD insructor, from Kansas soon. I will do some mapping and training around Goffs Caye but just for the training. As Peter said, the demand is not there, but I think it would be a good thing to pioneer in Belize since the Barrier reef and the Maya Mountains have several systems. We do have lots of swim-throughs at Half moon Caye (try The Chimney or HMC Wall) and NW Turneffe, but few Dive Masters know there way around. Thank you for the inquiry though, hope you are not disappointed in our dive paradise.

Safe diving
Cyberdyver