The TREE HOUSE Belize

A Diver’s Beachfront Dive Base

Why not rent a private beach house when visiting Belize?  This beautiful 2 bedroom home is located on a secluded stretch of beach 4 miles north of San Pedro Town and close to some of the island’s top restaurants and resorts.

When you book and confirm the Tree House as your island accommodation, Lorna the owner will set you up with your diving and will pass along a massive 20% discount off all your diving.  This can save you a considerable sum.

Here is the info on the home.  Be sure to tell Lorna that Gaz sent you over and have a great time in Belize. There is nothing better than firing up your own private barby and drinking a cold one looking out over the reef.

THE TREE HOUSE

A unique 2 bedroom beach house 4 miles north of San Pedro

www.treehouse-belize.com

CONTACT US:  

For reservations contact: info@cayemanagement.com. For additional information call the
owner Lorna McKenzie-Pollock at (617)734-5042

RATES:

Nov 15 through April 30:  US $190 per night for 1-2 guests.  Five nights minimum stay
US $ 230 per night for 3-4 guests 

May 1 through Nov 14:  US $165 per night for 1-2 guests.  Four nights minimum stay

US $ 200 per night for 3-4 guests 

There is an additional 9% Belize Lodging Tax

Until confirmed, prices are subject to change without notice

A Great afternoon we had filming Rasta Ray

2000-05 Rasta Ray   By Rick Frehsee Move over stingrays, and make room for the friendly Eagle Ray of Belize. Divers visiting the northern islands of this small Central American country’s barrier reef chain can now look forward to a real nose-to-mask greeting from one of the most beautiful and most timid marine creatures in the world. At the invitation of dive operators from Ambergris Caye, I was recently privileged to experience and photograph this phenomenal behavior for myself. Although seeing is believing, every sighting, every velvety touch of this magnificent creature, made me pinch myself. Was this real or just lingering effects of last night’s margaritas?

The Spotted Eagle Ray, Aetobatus narinari, is considered by many divers to be the most handsome and most graceful of the ray family. Although widely distributed throughout the western Atlantic, the Bahamas and the Caribbean, sightings and encounters with Eagle Rays are nevertheless usually rare, especially in well-traveled dive areas. Cautious and extremely shy, Eagle Rays normally make a hasty retreat when approached by a potential predator, which is exactly what a big, ugly, bubble-blowing scuba diver looks like to an Eagle Ray. Popular dive sites such as Eagle Ray Pass and Eagle Ray Point are usually devoid of their namesakes; as soon as divers arrive in numbers, these flighty creatures head for calmer pastures.

Just the fleeting glimpse of a single Eagle Ray cruising at the edge of visibility is memorable. All the more spectacular, then, is an Eagle Ray conditioned to accept divers as welcomed visitors.

Several years ago, a dive guide from Caye Caulker (about three miles south of Ambergris Caye) embarked upon a special quest. Rasta Bob (just one of his many nicknames), an athletic, wire-thin Belizian Creole-cum-Jamaican, is a spiritual man with an affinity towards all birds and beasts. Daily visits with snorkeling guests to a sand flat just inside the barrier reef allowed him to observe Nurse Sharks, stingrays and an occasional Eagle Ray that frequented the area. Evidently these critters were originally enticed to this spot by fishermen who cleaned their daily catch here behind the reef (shades of Grand Cayman’s Stingray City). Well, Rasta Bob began chumming with conch meat—an Eagle Ray gourmet delicacy. After two years of extreme patience, he finally succeeded in getting an Eagle Ray to take food directly from his hand. Naturally, this first contact took place on the date of Bob Marley’s birthday, prompting the name: Rasta Ray.

Spiritual, but not without an appreciation of commercial value, Rasta Bob began taking snorkelers to see his new friend. Behind his dive boat he rigged a wooden dowel hang-bar long enough to string four to six snorkelers in a row. Still a little shy, the Eagle Ray could then approach the divers within inches of their masks without feeling threatened. As the Eagle Ray became more confident, Rasta Bob eventually allowed each snorkeler to hand-feed from the hang-bar during the encounter.

As more time passed, Rasta Ray became completely relaxed among her new human friends. Now, like her better known stingray cousins, she noses divers and caresses them with her wings. These encounters have provided breathtaking experiences and amazing frame-filling photos that were previously nearly impossible in the wild.

I was also struck with the unique physical appearance of an Eagle Ray. The numerous white spots and circles on the jet black dorsal side provide the less well-known common name of Leopard Ray, but the body shape is almost entirely different from stingrays. The head is very pronounced with a tapered snout and a pig-like upper lip that is quite muscular and mobile. The wing tips are pointed, not rounded.

Rasta Ray has grown nicely on its diver-supplied feedings, reaching a wing span of almost five feet. Rasta Ray is sometimes accompanied by Rasta, Jr., a smaller juvenile that has made regular appearances for over two years. ]]> http://www.divebelize.com/2011/04/a-great-article-by-the-late-rick-frehsee/feed/ 0 http://www.divebelize.com/2011/03/muck-diving-indonesia/ http://www.divebelize.com/2011/03/muck-diving-indonesia/#comments Fri, 11 Mar 2011 04:41:43 +0000 admin http://www.divebelize.com/?p=1067 I just completed a website all about Muck Diving in Indonesia for a friend of mine Andy from Maluku Divers and I have to say some of the Muck diving underwater photography is breathtaking and if you dont know what muck diving is, it refers to diving in an area devoid of Coral but not of life, and some of the critters that can be found are weird and have stunning color patterns, perfect for Underwater Photography especially Macro.

Some of the weird and wonderful underwater life you can expect to see when you Dive Ambon Indonesia  is the really weird looking Frogfish and when you dive with Maluku Divers you will see lots of different species they even discovered a brand new species of Frogfish not known to science which is really cool.

Also the Rhinopias which for most of us divers we have never heard of and this is another weird looking critter kinda resebling a frogfish but a longer snout.

Now I have never really done much Critter Diving but after building this website for Andy its has really peaked my interest simply because there are so many tiny things that I have never seen before and also i suck at underwater photography but it seems that Macro photography is not so hard and normally on a dive site you may find one or 2 macro critters to photography but at Ambon in Indonesia you will be able to spend hours underwater taking underwater photographs of these stunning critters.

So if you ever want to go to Indonesia for some fantastic Underwater Photography be sure to drop Andy a line at Maluku Divers and tell him Gaz sent you I have not been yet but I am definately on my way.

Gaz Cooper

Stunning Resort Stunning Beach and best of all STUNNING DIVING I always reccomend divers dive the very best diving Belize has to offer and that is either Lighhouse Reef Atoll Turneffe Atoll or Glovers Ree Atoll, these 3 location are without doubt the best diving Belize has to offer the visiting Diver. I highly recommend Turneffe Island Resort and the reasons are many.

1.) Excellent resort with consistent high customer satisfaction

2.) Superb diving right on your doorstep

3.) They dive both Turneffe Atoll and Lighhouse Reef Atoll so you get to dive 2 of Belizes 3 Atolls.

4.) Excellent value and only just a bit more when you calculate the costs of a regualr package to Placencia or Ambergris Caye but the diving is 100 times better and its only a few bucks more when every cost is taken into account.

When you take a dive package to Turneffe you will do 3 dives daily plus a night dive is included and a trip out to Lighhouse Reef and the Blue Hole. You will also be able to dive the famed ELBOW which is just a few minutes away by boat and the private island is just beautiful.

With the exception of a Liveaboard this it the VERY BEST option if you want to dive Belize right and dive the very best dive sites Belize has to offer. If you would like to get additional information on staying at Turneffe Island please fill in the request form below

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Dive Belize

Mayan Princess 8 Days 7 nts 5 Days Diving

7 nights, tax, service charge, 5 days of 2 tank local boat dives, r/t Tropic Air and taxi transfers with daily Continental breakfast included.

Low season: May 1 – Nov. 14
$US 933.00

High Season: Nov. 15 – April 30
$US 1010.00

Rates are per person based on double occupancy.
Dive Belize – Blue Hole Dive Package

7 nights, tax, service charge, 4 days 2 tanks local boat diving, the Blue Hole day trip (3 dives, lunch, snacks), r/t Tropic Air and taxi transfers wit Continental breakfast daily included.

Low season: May 1 – Nov. 14
$US 1083.00

High season: Nov. 15 – April 30
$US 1160.00

Rates are person based on double occupancy. $US40 Government Park Fee for the Blue Hole is not included.

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Contact: Phone: (000) 6661462 Fax: (000) 00000 Email: AMD@connect.com Website: www.divebelize.com

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Dive Belize – Mayan Princess 8 Day & Night 5 Days Diving Package

7 nights, tax, service charge, 5 days of 2 tank local boat dives, r/t Tropic Air and taxi transfers with daily Continental breakfast included.

Low season: May 1 – Nov. 14
$US 933.00

High Season: Nov. 15 – April 30
$US 1010.00

Rates are per person based on double occupancy.

Dive Belize – Blue Hole Dive Package

7 nights, tax, service charge, 4 days 2 tanks local boat diving, the Blue Hole day trip (3 dives, lunch, snacks), r/t Tropic Air and taxi transfers wit Continental breakfast daily included.

Low season: May 1 – Nov. 14
$US 1083.00

High season: Nov. 15 – April 30
$US 1160.00

Rates are person based on double occupancy. $US40 Government Park Fee for the Blue Hole is not included.

If you are Interested in this Package Please drop me an email to divebelice@gmail.com and I will get back to you within 24 hours.