Trip Report - San Pedro, Belize 2/25-3/1/08

[reefduffer]

Executive Summary:
Amigos Del Mar - (Dive Op) Recommended with some caveats, see below.
Blue Tang Inn - Recommended.
Barb's Belize - Recommended (Travel agent, for "surf 'n turf" trip).


My wife and I went to Belize Feb 25 - Mar 7 for a combined dive and "jungle tour" vacation, what the Moon Book calls "surf n' turf". Five days of diving in San Pedro AC, followed by 5 days of Mayan ruins and botanical gardens inland, centered on San Ignacio in the western Cayo district. This was our first trip to Belize. Since this is a dive forum I'll focus on that, just touch on the other.

I could have arranged just San Pedro without this, but we weren't sure what we wanted inland, so I enlisted Barb to plan that part in particular, and the rest as long as we were at it. Barb's Belize, Travel, Mayan, Ecotours, Ambergris Caye is a travel agency specializing in Belize. They are paid from a negotiated cut from the hotels etc. I don't think this actually cost us anything extra, and her guidance in suggesting where to go, and arranging all the transfer details, was helpful. She gets no cut of the US->BZE air, so we booked that ourselves (she offered to), but she did suggest the AA flights through Dallas that worked out for us.

There are plenty of reports about Belize dive sites here on Scubaboard and elsewhere, and I won't spend a lot of time duplicating those. My emphasis will be on what I'd have wanted to know before I made this dive trip, or what I'd want to remember before I do it again.


Hotel, Blue Tang Inn

We stayed at the Blue Tang Inn, on the beach a little north of downtown.
all inclusive Belize resort vacation – Blue Tang Inn San Pedro
In spite of the link title, it's not an all-inclusive. Small 14-room hotel, an easy walk to downtown, restaurants, etc, and about 100 yards from the two largest supermarkets, but quiet enough. Full kitchens, AC and fans, decently equipped small suites. Everything worked to our satisfaction. The continental breakfast was adequate AFAIC. Coffee and some slightly sweet roll was enough for me, the fruit was a plus, and pretty good - we discovered that we've probably never actually had ripe pineapple before. Nice views from the rooftop sundeck. A pleasant little pool area with tables and umbrellas.

There's a watchman that sits all night in the courtyard from which all rooms are accessed. Three stories, no elevator. Wifi reportedly works near the office (I didn't bring a laptop) and there's a PC in the office you can buy time on (I didn't). Pay phone in the courtyard (purchased phone cards). No phone or TV in the room, although you can rent a TV, they say, and there was a coax outlet. Electrical outlets were US-standard 3-prong, no adapter needed.

A negative was no dedicated secure space for hanging wet dive gear, but we managed.

One bit of surrealism that just has to be reported: Blue Tang had a modern electronic set-your-own combination safe in the room. Comparable to those I've seen in good rooms in the states. Maybe 12" high, 15" deep, 18" wide. It's designed to be bolted to the wall from the inside; while the sides and front are quite solid, the back is sheet metal you could probably hack through with a BFK or a can opener. Ummmm.... OK - but it wasn't bolted to anything. You could pick it up and walk away with it under your arm. I tried it to be sure. With one hand. Maybe 35 lbs. I'll admit that it does provide more security than say, a locked suitcase, and we did use it, but really ...

I asked at the desk, and they said this makes it easier to move guests between rooms. And that they know other hotels in Belize do this the same way. My wife was guessing it lets them avoid a locksmith "house call" when some guest leaves it locked on checkout, or forgets their combination. Whatever. But really ...

In any case, the desk staff, Allan and Fanny, were quite competent and courteous, taking care of coordinating our transfer inland, syncing with Amigos Del Mar and Barb's Belize without much bother to me, and other details and help.

 

[reefduffer]

Diving, Amigos Del Mar

Blue Tang Inn offers dive packages, by default they use a small operator Reef Adventures located on the dock in front of the Inn. This was our first trip to Belize and I wanted to minimize surprises and complications, so based on the many recommendations here on Scubaboard, and minimal info on Reef Adventures, I requested to dive with Amigos Del Mar. They were happy to accommodate that for an extra $5/day each over their package price, which I thought was reasonable; I'm sure Reef Adventures charges them less.

The first thing I would do differently is not buy a hotel/dive package. It's quite easy to just walk up to ADM or other dive operators with a credit card and dive as much or as little as you want. In particular, I might have wanted to try a day with Ecologic or Reef Advantures or another operator. Not a tragic mistake, but I'd do it a la carte next time.

Amigos Del Mar is a 5 minute walk (timed twice) south on the beach from Blue Tang. Ecologic would be a minute less. We started out with ADM picking me up at the Blue Tang dock in their boat, but after one screw-up and missed dive, and realizing I was wasting more time waiting for them than it took to walk there, I walked the remainder of the trip. I'm sure the boat pickup is more of an issue for those staying at more distant hotels.

An oddity worth commenting on considering that ADM is one of the biggest operators in San Pedro: In five consecutive days of diving with them, I never saw any one other individual diver twice. Minimum any trip excluding the Turneffe trip (thirteen divers) was three including me, max was about eight.

The local dive sites are just outside the reef, which is visible from the beach. It's about a 10 minute trip, with a couple of that a pretty rough ride as they go though the channels to outside the reef. The ride is so short that they come back to the dock/dive shop between dives for the surface interval. Nice, because there's complimentary coffee and fruit and sometimes chunks of coconut, and restrooms. They advertise things as a morning and afternoon 2-tank trip, but actually, it's four 1-tank trips, with an hour or so between each, and you can do whichever you choose to. Kinda nice.
I was told, though, that while they always do the morning pair, they may cancel the last two depending on turnout.

All dives were drift dives. A DM leads the group, the boat captain follows the bubbles and picks up the group. A little scattering on exit is expected and they prefer you just float and wait for them to come to you. Once the boat wasn't there on surfacing; the DM used a whistle and the boat was there in 2 minutes. Even without understanding Creole, I'm quite certain that the verbal exchange that followed between DM and captain was not about soccer scores. On the Turneffe trip with thirteen divers there were two DMs and they split us in two groups. I didn't see any sign of radios or navigation equipment on the local boats, I didn't look on the larger Turneffe boat. But one time, the captain used a cell phone to call the dive shop. I guess that works.

The boat setup, gear, and entry procedure was a new one to me, although I'm really not that experienced. There were no tanks/BCs/regs at your seat; they were all kept at the stern, where there were tightly spaced tank racks. Divers would go to the stern, one or two at a time, be helped into their BC/tank/reg by the DM or captain, and do a back roll entry over the gunwale. We were usually instructed to clear the boat, signal OK, and wait for the DM at the bottom. The DM would rig your BC and regs, put in weights, do all the tank changes between dives etc. I call it valet diving, and I don't really care for it. (I don't like valet parking, either).

Well, one part I did like: The staff will rinse whatever part of your gear you care to let them for you, and store it in a locked room overnight. I let them keep my BC, wetsuit, fins and booties, which made the trip back to the hotel, and the gear handling in the room, a bit more manageable. An argument for using one dive op. I can't comment on their rental gear since I didn't use any.

On the third day, the staff missed connecting my BC inflator hose, which another diver noticed as I geared up (I hope I would have noticed it when I tried to inflate before entry), and it got fixed. I bitched pretty loudly, although briefly, about that being why I want to set up my own gear, and on subsequent days they let me do that on the first tank, on the dock before we left.

I will say, though, that they were usually very good at knowing whose gear was whose, remembering how much weight you use and where it goes, and getting things right. Briefings were clear and crew actions were professional and polite. Really, they were very much on top of almost everything, as they'd have to be to stay in business doing things that way. And of all the things you could screw up, the BC LP hose might be the least critical. But that's not really the point, eh?

They also want you to remove your BC in the water; they lift it out for you. The ladder just slips over the stern gunwale and is high, narrow, and not particularly stable. I asked to be allowed to climb up with gear on, and after demonstrating the first time that I could handle this easily, I was allowed to do it for the rest of the week. Some divers might prefer this valet-type of operation; I didn't care much for it at all. I want access to my gear during the boat ride, I want to set it up myself, and I want my gear on me and my reg in my mouth until I'm fully on the boat. If a DM wants to check me over, fine, but as good and experienced as these guys are, I'm the one with the skin in this game.

That's another reason for wanting to try several Ops, maybe others do things more the way I prefer them. But a few casual/random inquiries to other divers said they were all pretty much the same as far as procedure, so maybe not.

I did four local days and an all-day 3-dive trip to Turneffe Elbow. Getting my 3-minute ticket punched at the Blue Hole doesn't interest me. The trip to Turneffe was 2 hours each way, and the diving was almost worth it. It was clearer and more interesting than San Pedro. A few rays, turtles, and morays, a couple of sea cucumbers picked up by the DM and handed to us, and a little better viz than San Pedro. But I'd go back to Bonaire first (starting to plan it now).

They served us a hot "Belizian stew chicken", rice, fruit, and coconut pie lunch on a tiny little island with about four palm trees between the second and third dives. No coffee, though. Beached the boat in the sand and we waded ashore. The beach was so littered with empty conch shells the DM felt obligated to clear a path. A pleasant SI. Also, there was a nice continental breakfast at the dive shop before we left, and fruit, water, and cold sodas on the boat throughout.

The ride out was smooth and I actually got a little sleep. A front was coming in as we returned, and the ride was fairly bumpy, wet, and unpleasant. I saw some seasick pills being passed around within family groups, and some green faces, but nobody actually lost it. The crew broke out rain jackets (very welcome). That was one time I was glad my wife wasn't with me. She doesn't do that stuff well.

They seem to go to Turneffe once a week, Wednesday when I was there. The office guy said they don't get enough demand, everyone wants to go to the Blue Hole. Talking to other divers who'd gone there, they said the trip was three hours each way, and they enjoyed the other two dives on the trip more than the Hole. But that's hearsay.

The Turneffe trip leaves ADM dock at 5:30 AM. They said they'd pick me up at the Blue Tang dock at 5:00. At 5:12 I decided to play it safe and walk, and made the trip. They said they'd sent the pickup boat already. The next morning they said they'd pick me up, I waited until 20 after, then walked over, and missed the first dive, because they said they thought I'd be walking over, and was a no-show. They offered to put me on the 2nd and 3rd dive, but we had afternoon plans, so I did the 2nd dive and left it at that. From then on I just walked over.

The dive conditions: An oddity that I haven't seen on a trip before was that my computer never displayed a water temp other than 81 degF. That's the recorded end-of-dive and max-depth temps for 10 dives, and at least a dozen random mid-dive manual temp checks. No variation at all, over 5 days, variable weather, and ten different sites. And I know the Cobra records other temps. Just a little strange. I don't judge wave/chop sizes well, but conditions ranged from fairly smooth to a chop that made boat reentry require attention, but not arm-wrenching or really challenging.

Visibility ranged from about 70 feet, to 40 feet on Saturday after a storm the night before. This was a bit disappointing given Belize's reputation. My own hunch is that the near misses from hurricanes in 2007 silted things up a little more than they want to let on. But that's really a very uninformed guess, I've never been to Belize before. Just not what I expected, viz and reef silt closer to that of Key Largo than Bonaire or Negril, my other Caribbean diving experiences.

The most exciting charismatic megafauna was a pod of 6-8 Spotted Atlantic Dolphins that circled the group a few times at the safety stop on my very last dive of the trip. Pretty special. But of course, I'd already shot up the disposable underwater camera on previous days, on nothing much, and hadn't bothered to break out a new one the last day. I also got to hold a nurse shark like a baby and stroke its belly. The DM says they'll put up with almost anything if you feed them, which I didn't see, but is apparently what they do.

 

[reefduffer]

Personal and Medical

To fully explain our experience on this trip, I have to say that my wife came down with a severe respiratory infection four days before we left for Belize. The antibiotic she was prescribed didn't help, and she ended up not recovering in time to dive at all. A major bummer for her obviously, and for me as well - a big part of my enjoyment of diving is doing it with her. Yeah, it's some fun by myself, but not nearly as much. We went to Belize to dive, and toured the ruins mostly because, what the hey, we were already there.

She was so bad off she went to a local doctor in San Pedro, and was actually pleasantly surprised by his perceived manner and competence. If anyone needs a doctor in San Pedro, try Dr. Eduardo Giovanni Solorzano at the San Carlos Medical Center (across from Caramba!). My wife would go back. He gave her a different antibiotic that got her recovered in time for the Mayan ruins at least, although unfortunately not for diving. She says to add the advice to get the international collect phone # for your insurance before traveling, so the doctor can use the right treatment code on the receipt.

I managed to fight it off until after diving. The day we travelled from San Pedro to San Ignacio I had a very runny nose and some sneezing. I just kept a series of paper napkins in hand all day. Mostly recovered the next day, and completely the day after. Must be the clean living.

I can also report that although we'd prepaid for the dive packages, the price for my wife's package was refunded by Blue Tang Inn (who didn't need to pay ADM) to Barb's Belize, and from them back to us. No nonsense, no service fee, no significant delay. It's always nice to deal with businesses that play it straight.


Food

We didn't have a bad meal in San Pedro. Pretty much all seafood except the Mayan Chicken at Elvi's which had been recommended somewhere - meh. I hit the conch hard and often. On our last trip to the keys, a DM told us that it's illegal to take conch at any time anywhere in Florida (at least commercially), and so all the conch at local restaurants was probably from Bermuda or elsewhere, and likely frozen. So I figured this was a rare chance to eat fresh conch, plentiful and cheap. Platefuls of it, not shreds. Yum.

We ate and enjoyed at at:
Reef Restaurant: Grilled conch, sauteed shrimp.
Elvi's Kitchen: Mayan chicken, some fish dish.
Fido's Pasta (upstairs): Sauteed shrimp over green salad, fish with pasta.
Caramba!: Blackened conch, conch fajitas.
Jam-Bel jerk pit: Creole shrimp, coconut curry shrimp. (They were out of conch).
. And pretty good key lime pie.
All of them, and the supermarket, took credit cards.

My favorite was the blackened conch at Caramba!, my wife's was the coconut curry shrimp at Jam-Bel. We also cooked in the room one night when it was raining too hard to walk downtown. A quick dash to the market for a pound of frozen shrimp, a package of frozen Terriaki veggies, and a package of ramen noodles. A little microwaving, a little prep, a little stove-top mixing, and not bad for improv.

As we were leaving Caramba!, I chatted with the manager at the door. I asked him about the seafood. He told me that pretty much everything at every restaurant in San Pedro would be local and fresh with the exception of scallops and squid (calimari) which would be shipped in from somewhere else, I don't recall where. But interestingly, all the shrimp is farmed; there are two shrimp farms on Ambergris Caye.

We also walked north to the cut and got some sandwich rolls and sweets at the bakery just south of the bridge. Pretty good. At least, worth the walk.

 

[reefduffer]

Odds n' ends

The AA plane from Dallas to BZE had mechanical problems they couldn't fix, so they took us off the plane and we waited for what turned out to be three hours. They did send us to a different gate at the other end of the terminal, then back to to the original gate, which was a PITA, but if you've been in DFW, I guess I should just be happy it was still just the same terminal. When we finally took off, I was actually thinking of requesting a flight the next day, because we would got into BZE after nightfall, and I didn't think the plane to San Pedro could land in the dark. I was pretty sure we'd be scrambling for accommodations in Belize City, and still not get to San Pedro until the next day. I'd rather scramble for a room in Dallas, thanks.

But it turns out San Pedro has a lighted runway, and Tropic Air "left a light on for us", flying six of us to San Pedro in the dark. About 15 minutes in a ~10-seater prop. I expect some employees didn't make it home for dinner, and had other inconveniences, to make that happen. I had called Barb's Belize from DFW, and she had emailed Blue Tang Inn that we'd be late, so they synced up with Tropic Air and picked us up at the airport way later than planned, and stayed late to check us in, but without any more hassle for us, and a saved day of diving.

We flew from Belize City to San Pedro, but took the water taxi back on Sunday so we got a full 24 hours no-fly after the last dive day. The boat trip is about 1.5 hours with a stop at Caye Caulker about halfway. Semi-covered ~40 foot boat with bench seats the length of both sides. Central luggage hold/pedestal with more seating. It was a nice smooth clear day, and a nice ride under those conditions. A crew member helped with our luggage. The boat cost US $10, each, one-way. No head that I saw, or food/drink for purchase.

I travel for diving with a few tools. TSA's current policy, since December 2005, is that pliers, wrenches, screwdrivers etc under 7" are legal for carry-on.
TSA: Where We Stand
I carry them on to keep my checked bag weight under 50 lbs; everything legal that's small and heavy, or valuable, gets carried on. I've been through US TSA with them several times now, including to Belize. But the security theater clown at BZE insisted that there was no such 7" rule, and I'd either have to throw them out or put them in my checked bag. Fortunately, we were early, and the AA baggage guy was helpful in retrieving my bag from the innards of their baggage room, and it worked out. (With another couple of bucks in gratuity, but cheaper than new tools).

Maybe Belize TSA rules are actually different. Maybe this guy was either a fool or a sumb*tch (hey he's TSA, I guess that's redundant). But maybe he'll do this to someone else, so be forewarned.

There is no coffee in BZE airport after you get through security. A bar, snacks, gifts, duty-free shop, yes. Coffee, no. I survived on a Pepsi Max until the plane beverage service.

We were almost always in places that run on tourist dollars, and generally tipped what I thought was generously, and often. Things ran smoothly, people were friendly. US currency was accepted everywhere, at the official 2:1 exchange rate for all cash transactions. English is the official language and everyone spoke it quite well enough, although almost always Creole (the native mixed Spanish/Mayan/English) among themselves. We always felt pretty safe where we went, but just like any unfamiliar city in the states, we mostly stayed away from places tourists don't usually go.

Although most places took credit cards, cash was handy for tips, taxi rides, and other incidentals, even more inland than in San Pedro. Based on previous reports here I took a lot of cash, including what seemed like a silly amount of US $5 and $1 bills. I'm glad I did, we went through a lot of it, and I never had to worry about getting stuck with a bunch of Belizian currency on exit. But the ATM does work, and the fee was nominal, so this isn't critical.

I've read reports that the Belize exit tax must be paid in cash. At least on Mar 7 2008 at BZE airport they were happy to take my credit card for the US $32.50. I'm looking at the card receipt as I write this. Maybe it's different at other ports of exit, maybe their card verification link goes down sometimes and you need cash. I only have a sample size of one to report on.

 

[cxg31s]

WOW, thanks for making the time and effort to post this! It's a very honest and balanced report with lots of good info. I have been to Belize twice and REALLY want to go back. There are a lot of people who don't care for the diving, I loved it. We saw more fish and critters on the local dives than I expected, although we didn't get to see dolphins.

I dove with ADM both times and liked their level of service--you could call it "valet" but they also don't have a problem with you checking/setting up your own gear. I let them set it up but I always check it before gearing up. They are really a good op--they're safety conscious and attentive, but they don't ride herd on you.

Enough blabbing, I just wanted to say great report!

 

[HenrikBP]

Excellent report. Thanks for taking the time to post it. Lots of useful info for such a trip ...

I'm heading to Ambergris Caye on May 3. and am excited as a kid on Xmas morning

Henrik

 

[scratchmyback]

Thanks for posting this great trip report. We are heading there this weekend - will be my first time ever in Belize as well and now I'm better informed than I was 10 minutes ago!

 

[PNW Dive Girl]

Thanks for the great report! We head out in 11 days!!

 

[PARADISE HUNTER]

Wow!

Thanks for all the information!

I am starting my research for a trip to Belize and your insight was very helpful. I can understand some of your frustrations with ADM, but overall, they sounded like a very good op. IMHO, from your fair account of the trip, the good from ADM certainly outweighed the bad.

Sorry to hear about your spouse. I always enjoy diving with my wife better than diving by myself. Maybe next time?

Thanks again for your time.

PH