20 replies to this topic

[sea nmf]

Great report. I went in 1993 and the streets on Ambergis Caye are all sand. It looks to still be the case in some of your pictures.

[DandyDon]

Great report.  I went in 1993 and the streets on Ambergis Caye are all sand.  It looks to still be the case in some of your pictures.

Some blocks have been paved with a nice, hexagon shaped, cobblestone, and the newspaper said that they are going to pave Main street next. Really appreciated after a rain, and we had two that week...!

[Ariesno1]

Hey Don, this is a great and helpful report.
Thanks
Doris

[WreckWench]

Very entertaining report Don! Thanks - I'll be in Belize in Sept. and am looking forward to using your information wisely :-)

Who are you planning to dive with? I'm looking at operators now for possible trips there. Doris started a thread about diving Belize in the Where in the World section of the board....maybe all you Belize "Been There Done That" types can post your results with the dive operator that you dove with as well as where you dove etc. That will help us put together a much better trip and hopefully avoid the problems that Don's LDS encountered. Thanks to all -ww

[sea nmf]

Do I have a story for you. I went to Belize very shortly after being certified. It was my first warm water trip (I was certified in Seattle). My brother was a travel agent at the time and this was a "FAM" trip.

The guy on whose boat we were to travel overnight to the blue hole was a hippie from the U.S. His boat was a piece of crap. The trip was delayed due to mechanical problems. Finally, he told my brother "We can go, but we don't have any reverse". After much coercian, I decided to live dangerously and go.

The diving was spectacular.

I was in the top bunkhouse as we pulled into Half Moon Key. The captain was on the fly bridge right outside the open bunk house communicating with the guy at the dock. I couldn't hear what the captain was saying but the other guy was on speaker and he said "OK. But you took out our dock last time, so be careful."

All went well and we returned to Ambergis Caye.

When we went diving with some locals, they told us they couldn't believe we went on that boat because it has sunk three times!

I swear this is true - I have the T-Shirt to prove it. That boat sells shirts that show a reef scene with the boat on the bottom - tag line "Dive with the boat that dives with you".

Now that's a sense of humor. Wish I had known that prior to going out with him, though.

Moral of the story: I can't recommend this guy, if he is still around.

[DandyDon]

Very entertaining report Don!  Thanks - I'll be in Belize in Sept. and am looking forward to using your information wisely :-)

Who are you planning to dive with? I'm looking at operators now for possible trips there. Doris started a thread about diving Belize in the Where in the World section of the board....maybe all you Belize "Been There Done That" types can post your results with the dive operator that you dove with as well as where you dove etc. That will help us put together a much better trip and hopefully avoid the problems that Don's LDS encountered. Thanks to all -ww

I'd try to go with Pro Tech, first. Ask for Roni, one of the owners, and tell him I referred you - he would remember me as DandyDon from the other board.

His prices are currently about the same as the others - $1 higher here, $1 cheaper there, on some things, and then you get better prices on Nitrox, free use of computers if you don't have one, etc. He'll go up, I'm sure, after he gets more established and well known, but he's a bargain now.

Amigos del Mar is well regarded, too. Pro Tech is currently referring dives to them for Blue Hole trips.

Hope this helps...

Sea nmf, it's amazing what we survive before we learn better, but that's too bizare to be a fairy tale. Glad you're still with us.