unbelizable
My husband (non diver) and myself spent 2 weeks+ on Ambregris and Caulker Cayes. We stayed at low price lodging, ate at local spots(not the white table cloth)and dove 20 times on the reef. I met up with my brother-in-law, Bert, who purchased a package deal and his brother on Ambregris Caye. I stayed at $35.00/night lodging(Hotel del Rio)and Bert stayed at the $150.00/night (Cap't Morgan). My hotel had a Caribbean view and breeze, place to hang and swing in the hammock, place to rinse dive gear. Del Rio was located at northern tip of town, less noise but easy to get on foot or bike to center of town. At Bert's, the a/c broke the first night, windows did not open and he suffered the whole stay with "we're getting it fixed" and sweating thru the whole night. Plus Cap't Morgan's is situated at least 3 miles north of San Pedro, Bert had to rent a golf cart in order to come in for dinner (eating at the resort was double the $/meal) or take water taxi to town pier at $7.00/one way.
Cap't Morgan Resort was very pushy on who we were going to dive with and not making it easy to make one's own mind up. We dove with Ambergris Divers for two days. We were not happy with their non-professionalism, no roll call before and after dive, crowded boat, dive locations,and divemaster's total lack of care during the dive. We then switched to Amigos del Mar and I thought I died and went to heaven. I have never been treated so royally and able to dive for long adventures with returning psi of 800#. I can't say enough about this dive charter, we had Rene as captain and Tony as Divemaster. I would follow Rene and Tony to the ends of the earth.
The reef of Belize was not as awesome as I thought it was going to be. The colors of coral were mostly brown, few fish, lots of sharks, turtles and eagle spotted rays. I was disappointed in the reef but mother nature is a powerful force. Belize has quite the history of hurricanes passing by.
I dove from Caulker Caye and stayed at Lena's (low $ posada) but then again I had a front row seat overlooking the Caribbean sea, with breezes rocking me to sleep each night. The food wasn't as varied as Ambergris but it was less $/meal. I dove only with Big Fish. I dove 2 dives in Hol Chan, 3 dives in the Lighthouse Atoll including Blue Hole (which is 2 hour boat ride to get to). I was hoping that in the further atolls the barrier reef would be more beautiful,less destroyed with more fish but it was pretty much the same.
After leaving Belize, I dove 4 more times in Cozumel. I dove with Deep Blue charters instead of Dive Paradise which I'm glad I switched because of how crowded Dive Paradise's dives were the last time I was there. I'm glad to report that Cozumel's reefs were looking better now than last May. The reef is radiant with new growth, and the summer storms rinsed alot of sand off the reef. I can't say there were more fish but I'm sure as the reef returns to its glory so will the fish. hope this aids another diver!
My husband (non diver) and myself spent 2 weeks+ on Ambregris and Caulker Cayes. We stayed at low price lodging, ate at local spots(not the white table cloth)and dove 20 times on the reef. I met up with my brother-in-law, Bert, who purchased a package deal and his brother on Ambregris Caye. I stayed at $35.00/night lodging(Hotel del Rio)and Bert stayed at the $150.00/night (Cap't Morgan). My hotel had a Caribbean view and breeze, place to hang and swing in the hammock, place to rinse dive gear. Del Rio was located at northern tip of town, less noise but easy to get on foot or bike to center of town. At Bert's, the a/c broke the first night, windows did not open and he suffered the whole stay with "we're getting it fixed" and sweating thru the whole night. Plus Cap't Morgan's is situated at least 3 miles north of San Pedro, Bert had to rent a golf cart in order to come in for dinner (eating at the resort was double the $/meal) or take water taxi to town pier at $7.00/one way.
Cap't Morgan Resort was very pushy on who we were going to dive with and not making it easy to make one's own mind up. We dove with Ambergris Divers for two days. We were not happy with their non-professionalism, no roll call before and after dive, crowded boat, dive locations,and divemaster's total lack of care during the dive. We then switched to Amigos del Mar and I thought I died and went to heaven. I have never been treated so royally and able to dive for long adventures with returning psi of 800#. I can't say enough about this dive charter, we had Rene as captain and Tony as Divemaster. I would follow Rene and Tony to the ends of the earth.
The reef of Belize was not as awesome as I thought it was going to be. The colors of coral were mostly brown, few fish, lots of sharks, turtles and eagle spotted rays. I was disappointed in the reef but mother nature is a powerful force. Belize has quite the history of hurricanes passing by.
I dove from Caulker Caye and stayed at Lena's (low $ posada) but then again I had a front row seat overlooking the Caribbean sea, with breezes rocking me to sleep each night. The food wasn't as varied as Ambergris but it was less $/meal. I dove only with Big Fish. I dove 2 dives in Hol Chan, 3 dives in the Lighthouse Atoll including Blue Hole (which is 2 hour boat ride to get to). I was hoping that in the further atolls the barrier reef would be more beautiful,less destroyed with more fish but it was pretty much the same.
After leaving Belize, I dove 4 more times in Cozumel. I dove with Deep Blue charters instead of Dive Paradise which I'm glad I switched because of how crowded Dive Paradise's dives were the last time I was there. I'm glad to report that Cozumel's reefs were looking better now than last May. The reef is radiant with new growth, and the summer storms rinsed alot of sand off the reef. I can't say there were more fish but I'm sure as the reef returns to its glory so will the fish. hope this aids another diver!
