Hi there,

I am starting a trip in a week where I will be backpacking from Playa Del Carmen, Mexico through too the Bay Islands in Honduras and I need some filler info for diving in Belize!

Unfortunately I don't think I will be there for the snapper spawn and whale shark action but I am looking for suggestions for the best sites, locations, accoms, dive operators etc. Keeping in mind this is the start of a fairly extensive world wide filming trip so keeping the cost down is fairly important. I don't believe a live aboard will be an option in this case however if there are any reasonably priced ones out there I am all ears!

By all means I do no need luxury accommodation, I am totally fine with hostels. I am not shooting anything specific but diversity is always nice!!

Thanks for the help!!!

Kelly

I worked in Belize last year, on the Turneffe Atoll.

The best diving, for me, was definitely on the trips to the Blue Hole. I enjoyed the Blue Hole itself. Not massive amounts of fish life, but incredible structures down at 100ft+, with the stalactites. You get the occasional big grouper, and when the water is cooler, which it will be when you are there, there are usually some nice big Caribbean Reef Sharks there. The vis is not usually that good though.

The best thing about the trips to the Blue Hole is that after diving The Hole you then do two other dives, one on Half Moon Caye and one on Long Caye, and they are beautiful. Great vis, exceptionally healthy reef and good life. Really worth doing.

The diving around Ambergris Caye, where you can get good cheap accommodation, is poor (no matter what they say there). The diving on Turneffe Atoll, where they also sometimes do trips from Ambergris, is very good, especially at 'The Elbow' where there is a good chance to see schooling jacks. Unfortunately there is no cheap accommodation in Turneffe.

I also spent four years diving in the Bay Islands, mainly in Roatan. If you need to know anything about the dive sites there, let me know.

Have a great trip

Kaj

Thanks so much Kaj!

That is some very helpful info and I look forward to checking it out! Any info on Utila and Roatan would also be great! I am shooting with the same set up as you are so I will be sure to post some vid over the next few months!

Cheers

Kelly

I dove Isla Marisol several years ago. By Caribbean standards it is good diving. Here is the link: http://www.islamarisolresort.com/

I've been to Belize twice . First time on a live aboard and then at Ambergris . Agree with Kaj , Ambergris is not worthy and the atolls have some good dive sites but most of the accommodation on the atolls are not cheap .
I can recommend to spend a couple of days inland , the caving is really interesting specially a cave named Actun Tunich Muknil ( or something like that ) .

I used www.cavesbranch.com , they have different types of accommodation an lots of activities to do .
Also Belize have some really good spots for wildlife watching at the jungle, one of them is one of the few places in the world that you have good chances to see a jaguar in the wild but accommodation is not cheap .

I was in Utila about 9 months ago and was not impressed by the diving , i think Roatan maybe will be better .

If you need more info , let me know

Good luck

Great thanks for the help!

I wonder if Utila is becoming some what of a certification factory like Koh Tao, Thailand. From what I understand they do a lot of DM and instructor traineeships as well as newby certs on Utila. Could be having an impact on the reefs! I will likely hit Utila to have a peak but sounds like Roatan would be a wise choice too. Accoms seem to be very cheap in both places but no point if the quality of diving is low.

Thanks again everyone

Utila has been a certification factory for many many years, at least the last 15. Having said that, there can be good diving and staying with one of the real resorts is still a good experience. The majority of Dive Centres really just cater for Open Water, Advanced courses, then the students hang around to do a few more dives before either continuing their backpacking journey's or signing up to do their DMs. I saw my first Whale Sharks in Utila and my first dolphins, so I have fond memories. The better diving is on the north side of Utila.

Roatan has, is my opinion, much better diving. I did perhaps 2000 dives there from 1998 to 2002 and it offers great walls, good marine life, good vis, many sites with swim-thrus, caverns, tunnels, through the limestone walls. There are also good wrecks there. The best value, and diving, is from the West End, where the dive centres do offer many courses, but also have a lot more leisure divers. I returned there early in 2010 to visit old friends and the diving was better than I thought is was going to be. The have a functioning Sandy Bay/West End Marine Reserve and it definitely looked like it was working. I recommend Native Sons diving and staying next door at Acro Iris, though Native Sons have good cheap rooms with their sister hostel, Chillies. Alvin, the owner, is a local and knows the reef like no one else. his wife is Mish, from the UK, and she runs Chillies.

Kaj

Thanks Kaj,

I have received some more info from another friend that worked on Utila years ago and he stated that after the hurricane the diving was really poor. I think I will still go because of the whalesharks and the consistency of them being in the area this time of year. I was planning on a month between Utila and Roatan so this may change if Utila is a let down.

Thanks again for the help, just another way this site is so useful!!!

Kelly

Sorry, for Belize is it best to based out of Belize city for trips to the Blue Hole etc???

Cheers

Kelly

Uhmmm, i doubt that Belize City is a good option for the Blue Hole , it's too far . Also Belize city is no the safest place to be around .

Since you will be around Playa del Carmen , i can recommend you to consider the cenotes , even if you are not a cave diver you can do some cavern dives ( you will see the surface all the time ) it's really nice experience and good for photos/video .
Also another thing to do , if you are interested on turtles , you can go to Akumal beach and there you will find a resident population of green turtles that allows to get very close on snorkel ( it's about 8-10 feet deep ) . Most of the time they are feeding on algae from the bottom ; best time is late afternoon for dramatic light and less people.

Good luck

So Ambergris is the best place to be based just dont bother with the local diving? Just the outer trips stated earlier?

I will be doing some cenotes again without a doubt! Earlier this spring I did Dos Ojos and The Pit and I must say The Pit was a sensational dive!

Cheers

Kelly

You can stay on the mainland further south toward Dangriga or even Placencia I think, and get to the atolls without too much pain. It will be a 60 min boat ride or so though.

We stayed at Hamanasi Adventure Resort in Hopkins (Stann Creek) - very very nice place, not exactly "backpackers" type budget though.

Let me second those who suggested the ATM (Actun Tunichil Muknal) cave trip. It's a longish hike and a bit 'energetic', most of the way in ankle to chest-deep water. I'm a big guy and doubt I could've trekked my DSLR rig in the housing in with me...but if I had it to do over again, and could plan a private guide instead of being in a group of 8 or so and having to 'keep up' - I'd really want to try for it. The larger mayan pyramid site near the Guatemala border (Xunantunich) is also worth it - Cayal Peche isn't quite as good.

My wife got a few good pics @ ATM with a little point-n-shoot -- the guides will have a dry bag for small handhelds. Her pics are on my flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rtrski/sets/72157624321581387/ ... the cave shots should be pretty obvious in the thumbnails. It had poured buckets just before we arrived (tropical storm actually diverted our landing so we missed the 1st day of our trip) so the 'good' skeleton at the end was pretty submerged. I also wish I took my camera out on a kayaking trip along one of the lazy river meanders...the water was chocolate brown muck...but there were bright iguanas, all sorts of bright birds, even bats to be seen in the shadows clinging to tree trunks if you had a good guide who helped you spot.

Don't let my underwater pics get you down - like I said, we were there right after a serious tropical storm so visibility was not that great, and we were stuck at most of the inner barrier reef dive sites vs. the atolls due to lingering wind and high water. But we could tell if the water were less snowy the diving would have been excellent even on the inner barrier reef sites. I know we definitely saw multiple turtles and spotted eagle rays every single dive - although the latter were usually in the distance barely visible in the murk. Just our bad luck, but if you're planning a longer stay you should have way more options!

Well thank you all again for the tips.

I did end up going to Belize and did my diving from caye Caulker. From what I could find most of the diving was slightly cheaper than other spots and it was also cheap to stay on the island. I also did one dive from Tobbaco Caye which was nothing to write home about but the dives after the blue hole and also at turneffe were great. By far the best Caribbean diving I have done compared to Mexico/Utila/Roatan.

I didnt get to do any of the southern diving around Placencia but did do a howler monkey river tour there which was awesome. The friends I was traveling with returned to Placencia a month later and were robbed at gun point which blew my mind because it seemed like such a small quiet little town.

Overall I really enjoyed Belize, it had a very caribbean feel to it and I wouldnt hesitate to return. Belize city itself was quite a sketchy place though and I would likely avoid that place!

I have posted a short video that shows a bit of jungle and diving.

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=42083

Thanks again for all the advice

Kelly