How is Hamanasi Resort/Dive Operation?

[Revid1]

Thinking about staying at Hamanasi. This happens to be the top ranked place to stay in Belize. We have dove off of Ambergis and Turneffe. Thought this might be a nice place in the south to visit. My wife won't be diving that much and wanted a nice place for her to enjoy. I've heard the reef dives are about 40 minutes. I know that they have trips that go to Glovers, Turneffe and the BH. All of those are 3 dives and take the majority of the day. How rough would it be in April?

Has anyone stayed at this resort? Thank you.

 

[Pedro Burrito]

We stayed there at the end of March, 2010 for a week. It is an incredible resort. You will be well fed and well taken care of. I recommend the Treehouse if you can get one. We did two dives a day for five days and three dives on the Blue Hole dive. The Blue Hole is a very long boat trip and we did it in rough seas so it took about 3 1/2 hours to get back to Hamanasi. They offer other trips for the non-divers but we only went to dive. We did take a day off and walked and biked around Hopkins which is a friendly, but very poor, village just north of the resort. The roads are unpaved and rough with heavy ropes laid across the road occasionally as speed bumps. There is no night life. Everyone is so tired after a day on the water or hiking or climbing the Mayan ruins that Hamanasi is deserted by 10:00 pm. I don't even think there is a TV in the resort. There is wi-fi but it's less than 1 megabit per second download (I measured it!).

The diving is excellent except for the Blue Hole. It's one of those bucket list things but it's not worth doing. Try to get there around the full moon so that you can do the Whale Shark dives at Gladden Spit. Hamanasi charges extra for the Whale Shark trip but I thought it was worth it, even though we did not see any Whale Sharks. They did see Whale Sharks the day we left, however. All the divers got in a circle at about 60 feet deep and blew bubbles. We were surrounded by a huge spiral of jacks coming up from the depths attracted by our bubbles. We also saw three tiger sharks that were chased away by a pod of dolphins. That was one of my favorite dives ever!

The only rough day we had was the Blue Hole dive day. It was very rough and rainy. We were beaten badly by the time we got back to the resort. Hamanasi did receive a bigger, better boat a few weeks after we were there so that trip will probably be more comfortable.

Their dive masters and boat captains are professional and competent. Many of the nearby resorts send their divers to Hamanasi so the boats were always full (about 10 divers, 2-3 DM's and the boat captain). There are always two DM's in the water on every dive. If you're experienced and calm in the water, you will not be bird-dogged by the DM's. They pay particular attention to the less experienced divers. Every dive is a drift dive. The water was warm and clear. Almost every dive is on a protected reef so there was no fishing or touching. I never saw one fish hook or dangling fish line on any dive.

I would go there again and they have a very loyal customer base that goes there regularly. Let me know if you want any more details.

 

[peterbj7]

I live in San Pedro, just up the beach. I've never been to Hamanasi though I hear consistently good reports about it. A place in the vicinity that I have visited a number of times is Thatch Caye Caye Catcher | The Thatch Caye and I can very strongly recommend it. It's much closer to the reef than Hamanasi so diving is quicker and easier, and they run trips to both the Blue Hole and Gladden Spit (for the whale sharks). I would give it serious consideration.

 

[Steve Egner]

Hamanasi looks like a really well-run resort. I did most of my diving with them over the Christmas holiday, so I was on the grounds almost daily for 11 days. Their dive operation recently changed its name to Hopkins Divers, but it's still the same operation, and still run by Hamanasi.

Hamanasi's beach is one of the nicest in the area, with nice chairs everywhere and sun or shade. My non-diving companions would sometimes wait on the beach for my kids and I to finish our dives, and take advantage of the bar service.

While the near reef offers great diving, the outer reefs are the best. A brief (nearly a bounce) dive in the Blue Hole may not get you too excited, but the reefs next to it are stunning, and shouldn't be missed. Glover's reef was a close second;
Many of the photos in my dive report threads are from dives on those reefs. Those dives do take up a large portion of your day, but I was back from Glover's by 3:00, and back from BH by 4:00. We were fortunate to have calm conditions on both of those trips.

Hopkins Divers also offers the option of adding Lionfish spearing to your dive, and Hamanasi will prepare the fish for your lunch afterward. This insures that you will be with a smaller group, and a dedicated DM. I found all of their DM's friendly and professional; They certified my kids on this trip.

Pedro, was the Driftwood open when you were there? Pizza place on the beach, on the North End of Hopkins? Great food and music, mix of locals and tourists, and home to a fantastic Garifuna drumming exhibition.

 

[Revid1]

Glad to see that Hamanasi rums a good operation. I have dove the BH while at Turneffe Lodge, but would make the trip again just to dive around that area. Probably some of the best diving that I have witnessed in the Caribbean. Never dove around Glovers, but it sound good also. 10 divers/boat would be fine if their boats are larger. Probably won't venture too far from the resort, since diving is the reason for making the trip. I was trying to decide between the treehouses and the beach front accommodations. Thanks for the replies.

Do they offer the Lionfish spearing on each trip? Anything to help decrease the population and they probably are good to eat?

Thanks for your replies.

 

[Steve Egner]

Do they offer the Lionfish spearing on each trip? Anything to help decrease the population and they probably are good to eat?

Thanks for your replies.

Yes, they do, all you have to do is ask. Any of their DM's will help you out, and you'll have such a blast, everyone will want to do it. After our first Lionfish expedition, our fish were prepared right at Hamanasi, where we dined on the deck immediately following our dive. These were lightly battered, fried, and amazing:

But if you don't get off the Rez to sample the local food scene, you'll be missing out. After our second LF outing, DM Sam delivered our fish to Jude, the owner of the Watering Hole, and made reservations for us. Her presentation was seasoned and baked, with rice and beans on the side. Sam explained that rice and beans are a staple here, with the rice cooked in coconut milk. Simply delicious:

The local restaurants were one of the highlights of our trip. They're all within an easy walk of Hamanasi, and well worth the stroll.

 

[Downing]

Revid1, if you do go to Hamanasi I'd appreciate a trip report and a compare/contrast with Turneffe Island Lodge would be great, too. I've stayed at the latter but not the former which is why I'd be interested to hear about your experience.

I've heard nothing but good things about Hamanasi over the years.

 

[Revid1]

Again, great replies. They are booked in March, so looks like April is the month. Was planning on doing the all inclusive, but would still try to get off the property to sample the local fare. Plan on signing up for all the "special" trips (BH and surrounding areas, Glovers and Turneffe). Even though I've done all before except Glovers, looking forward to those dives. Just hope the sea is calm enough to make the voyage.

 

[tobytruelove]

Hi Revid1
Toby here from Hamanasi, i see you have had lots of very kind replies, which is good, the barrier reef is about 30mins away on a flat day, Turneffe and Glovers are about 90mins away, with the blue hole around 2 and a half to 3 hours depending on the sea that day. We have plenty of land activities for your wife to enjoy, or she can relax on our beach, there are plenty of hammocks and sun beds for her to chill on. Please feel free to drop me a line on toby@hamanasi.com if you have any questions for me .

 

[peterbj7]

Just one added point. I don't know where Revid got his information, but TripAdvisor recently published that the best hotel in Belize, the Caribbean, and indeed the World is Phoenix in San Pedro. Hamanasi was placed third in the Caribbean. If you place much credence in TripAdvisor (I don't, for hard reasons) these are exceptional results, for both places.

This happens to be the top ranked place to stay in Belize