Our forthcoming trip to Belize

[Aragorn]

Hi everyone!

So I'd like to get some feedback on our trip to Belize this February(16th through 24th). My wife and I are taking the boys(14, 16, and 16) for 8 days of diving. Initially I was thinking about Placencia but I haven't heard back from any of the resorts there. Perhaps the area is still "down" from the hurricane maybe? Anyway, we'd like to do most of our diving on and around Glover's Reef. I've noticed that Dangriga appears to be about the closest land based location to Glover's Reef and I found the following resort in Dangriga:

http://www.diveguide.com/p2916d.htm

Any suggestions on dive locations and perhaps other accomodations? We're not "touristy" type folk and certainly don't need fancy accomodations and/or night life. All we want to do is dive. Any experiences of diving Belize would be appreciated as well. TIA

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi Strider,

Yes, I'd avoid Placencia for now. It's inhabitable, but still rebuilding. More importantly, the diving there is nothing special, and IMHO not worth doing unless you're there for the spring whale shark migration.

I've been to Dangriga, and you needn't worry about too many touristy actvities or wild night life. Have seen but not stayed at the Hamanasi, and it looked very nice.

Have fun.

DocVikingo

 

[Gaz]

Placencia had a direct hit from I think Iris (we are so confused down here so many Hurricanes inthe past 2 years can't even remeber which one is which

So basically Placencia is out of the Picture I would say for now so you have a few other choices around belize and it depends on what you are looking for.

If you want to be able to dive a couple of dives in the morning and do something differnet in the afternoons, Ambergris Caye is a great option. (dive sites approx 5-15 minutes form resort MAX)

If you do not mind longer boat rides etc then farther south might be a good option ie Hamanassi which I hear is nice but again much longer boat rides as they are far from Dive sites.

Glovers also took a direct hit and are still rebuilding also, not sure of the progress in that area.

If you would like me to check for you I would be happy to do some investigation on the possibilites of Glovers Reef in febuary But I know Manta reef was leveled in Hurricane Iris.

All the best

Gaz Cooper
Gaz Cooper's DIVE BELIZE
Playa Blanca beach Resort
www.divebelize.com
www.playablancabelize.com

 

[Aragorn]

Gaz,
Thank you. That is most kind of you. We haven't made any reservations as of yet though we will be within the next 2 weeks(we're closing escrow on the sale of some property by then). Since I initially posted I've been emailing a few of these resorts w/ no response. I was going to wait until we had the cash "in hand" to call them directly. We want(ed) to dive Glover's and even considered staying at Manta...I guess that's out of the question. Anything you can help with would be tremendously appreciated. I'll check our literature regarding Ambergris Caye. Again, thank you and Merry Christmas.

P.S. We just got our Zeagle BC's today(Zena for my wife, Ranger for me...WOOHOO! )

 

[Gaz]

Hi

I just checked with Manta Resort and they are not accepting any bookings unitl May 2002 when they will re-open the resort.

www.mantaresort.com

I have a small dive resort on Ambergris you might like to consider.

www.divebelize.com
www.playablancabelize.com

or you can go to www.ambergriscaye.com where you will find a wealth of information on Ambergris Caye


Let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Gaz Cooper
Gaz Cooper's DIVE BELIZE
Playa Blanca Beach Resort

 

[Aragorn]

Gaz,

Thanks again. Just sent you a Private Message.

 

[Zagnut]

Gaz,
Welcome to the board! My wife and I were down there last Summer. We stayed at Journey's End resort and bought a dive package through the resort to dive with Belize Ocean Divers. Steve and his staff there did a great job, and we loved diving with them. While we were out and about down there, we noticed your boats. People I talked to all said you have a fine operation down there. We knew before we even left to come back home that we would definately be back to Ambergris Caye! The people there are so friendly! Journey's End is a good ways up the beach from San Pedro, so we didn't get to spend as much time in San Pedro as we would like to have. The next time we are down there, we would like to stay a little closer to San Pedro. When we are down that way again, we will have to stop in and get in a few dives with your outfit. I have heard and read good things about you.

Aragorn,
Welcome to you as well. Talk about coincidence?!?.. My wife and I went to Belize right after purchasing our new gear (me/Zeagle Ranger...her/Zeagle Zena), so I can say from experience that you will love the gear and you will love Belize. We also went right after Chantal blew through. Thankfully, Chantal didn't reach hurricane force and did nowhere near the damage that Iris did. I read that Plancencia suffered a direct hit from Iris. Unfortunately, she devastated Plancencia, and took several lives. It may be awhile before that area is back to normal. If you are planning to go to Belize anytime soon, you might want to seriously consider Ambergris Caye.
Do a search by username here on the scubaboard for my name and type "Belize" in the search by keyword area. You can read several posts I posted to others about Belize, including my trip report. My wife and I went to Ambergris Caye and we loved it! San Pedro is a neat little town and the people are wonderful. You can't go wrong with Ambergris Caye!

Again, welcome to you both!

 

[Aragorn]

Thanks for the welcome and advice Zag. Yes, it looks as though we'll have to change our plans and Ambergris Caye sounds good. I'll check your other posts. As for the BC's, we got such a deal too(see my post in BC forum)! We're really excited about Belize. You see, we are Reef Aquarists(5 tanks) and I've studied Reefs and their inhabitants. We(my wife and I) want our boys(3 of 'em) to experience the reef structures of the Carribean. Speculation has it that they are endangered and may not be around in a few decades! We dove on the Cook Islands earlier this year and in 2003 would like to get to Indonesia(most biologically diverse reef structures in the world).

 

[Zagnut]

If you go to Ambergris Caye, you gotta check out the dive site they call Love Tunnels. It's cool!
I don't have any other blue water dives in the ol' log book to compare it to, but I thought the reefs at Ambergris Caye were excellent. Lots of life and variety.. especially at Hol Chan...and we got real up close and personal with the nurse sharks and stingrays at Shark/Ray Alley. I got some real close up photos of rays and sharks... I think you'll dig Ambergris Caye!

 

[Gaz]

Hi Zagnut

Thanks for the welcome

I used to have the dive shop at Journeys end and Steve used to work for me, he finally got his own shop and it is well deserved as Steve is a great guy and excellent instructor.

I am actually a couple of minutes North of Steve at journeys end at my New Resort I was in town for many years but now have my own resort up North and I absolutely love it.

Town is approx 10 minute boatride

I understand some will want to be closer to town but as long as there is sufficient trnasport into town you get the best of both worlds.

Unfortunately some resorts don't make it easy for guests to get into town when they want and this sometimes has a negative effect on the Northern resorts.

But in my opinion as you point out in another Post Love Tunnels is a great dive and its right on my doorstep and the Northern dive sites of Ambergris get dove less frequently so have a lot of variety and less damage than some of the heavily dove sites closer to town.

All the best

Gaz