First Time Visiting the Island
Ambergris Caye/San Pedro Belize Update Jan 2016
First time visiting any place is confusing so this info might help.
Ambergris Caye is a long narrow island (22miles) that runs North and South. The Barrier Reef runs parallel to the island on its East side, so that’s where we dive. Almost all the development, Hotels, Resorts, Restaurants, bars, Dive Shop etc. are lined up along the East shore. The West Side of the island for the most part is mangrove and shallow lagoon.
The international airport is on the mainland of Belize in a town called Ladyville. After you land you will need transportation to the island. As you exit customs the door to the local carrier’s ticket counters are on the left. It’s easy to catch one of the small aircraft to the island from international and they leave every hour. You will land at the islands airstrip which is in the town of San Pedro on the South end of Ambergris Caye. If you came by boat from Belize City you will dock in San Pedro as well. Here is the water taxi link
Belize Water Taxi | Belize Charter Boats - San Pedro Water Taxi
Cabs on the Island are cheap and easy to use for short distances around the town core where streets are paved. Commercial Taxis have green licenses plates and are painted yellow.
Your US dollar spends without problem and the exchange rate is $2. Bz to $1. USD. However you don't need to exchange it because it's accepted everywhere. Prices are expressed in US and BZ making it a little confusing so it's best to ask first.
Tourist and residents travel up and down the island along its East shore either by The Costal Express Water Taxi
http://www.coastalxpress.com/schedule/ or by golf cart. Dive shops, resorts and some restaurants have boats that pick up and drop off guest for their variety of activities. Our dive shop has a boat that picks up and drops off at almost all the resorts. Address are peculiar on the island. We don't have zip codes and few streets are named so house numbers are rare, instead most houses simply use the Name of the House for the address such as Iguana House, Casa Rana, Tree House, Sunset House, etc. It will help to just give the house name when describing where you are on the island.
Almost all the dive shops have Snorkeling adventures departing each morning at 9am, visiting
Mexico Rocks or
The Hol ChanMarine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley.
These two stop snorkeling trips return you to your dock at 12:30 pm, just in time for lunch. Trips cost from 55 to 45.usd.
Dive Trips to the Barrier Reef depart daily. One of the boats is always headed out for either a Two-Tank trip (80.usd) or a Single-Tank dive (60.usd) on the Barrier Reef. The island has 30 sites or more they visit and they typically begin on the edge of the wall at 45 feet and range in depths along the Spur and Groove formations from 60 to 80 feet. The sites are approximately 5 to 15 minutes from the dive shops and depart daily at 9am returning at approximately 12:30 (lunch time) from the Two-Tank trip and 10:30 AM from the One-Tank trip. All the dives are led by a Divemaster/Guide. Which dive site we visit is determined by the Divemaster who considers sea conditions such as current and visibility, and also the divers on the trip; his goal is to not show the divers the same site twice and we try not to mix beginners with experienced.
I hope this helps.
