Dive Belize – Do it Right
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So you are thinking of Scuba Diving Belize? that’s all very well but just how and where in Belize are you planning to Dive.
Belize is a diverse diving destination with multiple locations to Dive Belize each offering different types of diving. What I plan show you in this article, Scuba Diving Belize, is how to plan your Scuba Diving Vacation to suit not only your pocket book but also your dive experience level.
Let us first talk about how NOT to Scuba Dive Belize, and that is doing it by visiting on a cruise ship. While many Scuba Divers visit Belize on cruise ships and understandably want to dive Belize, the problem with that is the cruise ships dock in Belize City.
Belize City has never been a top diving destination as it’s mainly used as a base where all the Belize Live Aboards use to dock and re supply for their next trip.
The waters around Belize City are a nice shade of chocolate due to the river mouths that empty into the ocean there, if you dive from Belize City you have to travel about 45 minutes to an hour to get to the Belize Barrier Reef where the visibility is much better.
The dive sites that you will be able to dive from a cruise ship will NOT be the best dives in Belize and as long as you understand this then go ahead and dive, my only problem is I read people saying oh yes I dove Belize and was not impressed, once asked where did you dive, I am told oh we went on a cruise ship and dove for a day.
You absolutely cannot dive Belize in a day and especially not from a cruise ship, at best you will dive along the Barrier Reef close to Goff’s Caye the sites will be nice sites but certainly not the best diving Belize has to offer, so by all means take a dive but plan a trip back to Belize for a week of the very best diving Belize has to offer.
Let’s look at the different types of diving Belize has to offer
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Scuba Diving Belize, Belize Barrier Reef Diving
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Belize Barrier Reef diving is incorporates the following areas starting in northern Belize starting with Ambergris Caye, Caye Caulker,Caye Chapel, St Georges Caye gradually heading south for 175 miles. The further south you go it’s normally a longer boat ride out to the Barrier Reef.
You will be diving in spur and groove formations that you can clearly see in the picture above.
As you can see the inside of the Barrier Reef (sandy color) is a protected area and is at most 8-10ft deep.
The white you see is waves crashing over the reef (Calm Day) you can also see the Cut which is the only access the open sea, you can see it just to the left of the middle of the picture at about 10 o’clock..
These islands are the most popular destinations for Scuba Diving Belize as they offer the visitor a nice array of activities other than Scuba Diving however both these destinations can offer challenging diving at times.
The Barrier reef which is the type of diving you will be doing from these islands can be quite challenging for many divers. The Barrier Reef runs 175 miles the entire length of Belize, the reef actually comes right up to the surface and the waves crash over the reef as they head to the shore, what this means is the only way to get out to open sea is by negotiating the breaks in the reef called Cuts, these are natural paths out to sea and deep enough for boats to pass through.
Negotiating these cuts in all but calmer weather can be quite tricky for the boat captains.
During the months of Dec through April you can expect 4 to 8ft rollers to be coming through the cuts, the boat captains are very skillful at getting through the cuts, once through the cut its less wavy.
Many divers are not prepared for this type of diving, most expect flat calm seas like they experienced in the Cayman Islands or Cozumel and find it a little beyond there comfort level only because they are not used to it. After diving on the Barrier Reef divers are much better divers afterwards.
The best dive boats for diving in these waters are the ones that exit from the side and enters from the side , after owning more than 20 boats during my dive operator days in Belize including side entry and swim platform boats I can speak from experience when I say rear entry platforms are dangerous in these swells, if you can imagine being thrown around as you try to de kit with the rear of the boat bouncing up 4-8f its not only dangerous but unnecessary keep the dive platforms for calm waters.
On a positive note you will become a better diver for it and there will not be many other tropical places that will challenge you like diving the Belize Barrier Reef. Once you have dove the Belize Barrier Reef from these locations most other tropical destinations will be a walk in the park.
The reason the majority of visiting Divers to Belize tend to stay on these northern islands is they offer other things to do than diving such as Mayan ruin tours, Cave tubing trips, the islands have shops restaurants and nightclubs so all in all it’s a nice mixture of things to do other than just diving. For more information on Diving Ambergris Caye check out the Ambergris Caye section of this site.
Scuba Diving Belize in the south of the country has become famous over the past few years with the discovery of migrating Whale Sharks that visit Gladden Split to coordinate with the Snapper spawning..
This happens from March through June each year the best time to dive is on the full moon where you will see these behemoths and thousands of Snappers spawning.
The ride out to the reef takes about 1 hour from most of the mainland resorts from Hopkins down to Placencia.
You can also access Glovers reef from the southern resorts this is my favorite atoll.
Diving further south is more expensive since the reef is so far away and it normal to travel 45 minutes to an hour away to get to the dive sites and with fuel at over $5 a gallon the diving is about 1/3 more than in the Northern dive areas.
Diving the Atolls of Belize such as Turneffe Islands, Lighthouse Reef and Glover’s Reef all offer spectacular diving as they are all located in very remote areas.
This is Belize’s best diving but that is all you can do from these locations, it is a dive, eat, sleep, fish, snorkel, lay on the beach kind of places.
Each of the Atolls have specialized Diving or Fishing resorts that are normally inclusive of meals etc there are no restaurant choices or bars to visit, there are no shops other than the resorts gift shop no nightlife etc.
These are not negatives as you will dive the best diving Belize has to offer but it has to be said as that type of place does not suit everyone just as a busy resort town does not suit everyone.
So as you can see Belize offers different types of diving and very different experiences depending on where you decide to base yourselves when you visit Belize
Hope this small article gives you an insight on the different types of diving that Belize has to offer.
Gaz
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me using the contact form, I am happy to answer any questions on diving Belize you may have.
Gaz Cooper
Comments or questions are welcome.
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