epitopeX

I'm thinking about spending a week in Belize just for diving. I have not been there before but heard many good things about diving in Belize. I guess in this forum the Turtle Inn is probably the only luxury resort, but since my main activity in Belize will be diving, the Turtle Inn doesn't seem to be the best fit.

I sort of decided that I would like to stay on Turneffe Atoll, and I wonder if you can give me some advice on where to stay. I'm looking at Turneffe Island Resort and Blackbird Resort, but I really cannot tell which one is better for divers.

Many thanks!

farbster

I wonder if there are any lux travel agents that also dive? they might have a unique perspective.

Ever thought about a liveaboard?

I also wonder if some dive websites might have any good suggestions.

epitopeX

Ended up booking the Turneffe Island Resort. It's a little more expensive but closer to the Elbow, one of the most famous diving sites in Belize. Will report back after the stay.

bhrubin

We stayed in 2006 at the Cayo Espanto private island and did a TON of diving while there. We did a group dive excursion for the (long) day to the Blue Hole and Half Moon Cay/Wall, since that is so far from the Ambergis Cay, but it was well worth the trip--those dives remain as two of our top 4-5 dive trips ever (along with the Egyptian Red Sea, Manta night dive off Kona, Liberty off Bali, and Cod Hole by Lizard Island Australia).

Otherwise, we did all our diving near Ambergis Cay, and had fantastic diving. Shark Alley right off the Cay was fantastic--we actually were able to hold nurse sharks. We did night diving with thousands of rays on the same day the news came of Steve Irwin's death from a ray sting through his heart--making our dive even more exhilarating in a twisted way.

As long as you are in the vicinity of Ambergis Cay, I think you'd be able to do any and all of what we did, regardless of the place you choose to stay.

For the record, overall, we think Belize is a far more impressive dive destination than the Great Barrier, though we've not been back to Australia again to discover more of the Great Barrier. We also tend to prefer the bigger pelagic life than macro, so that might influence us in a way that is not comparable to your preferences.

epitopeX

Thanks bhrubin for the valuable information! I had been thinking back-and-forth about staying at Ambergis Cay or Turneffe Atoll. From what I have gathered, Ambergis Cay is a lot more luxurious in terms of accommodation and has way more options for food thanks to San Pedro being a well developed tourist destination, but on the other hand Turneffe Atoll is more remote, less crowded and a lot closer to some highly sought after diving sites like The Elbow. Both offer day trips to the Blue Hole and the Lighthouse Reef including Half Moon Cay/Wall, but from Turneffe the boat ride is significantly shorter as it is a lot closer. It's really a tough call but in the end we decided to stay at the Turneffe Island Resort which is about 3 min boat ride to The Elbow.

Haven't been to the Great Barrier Reef and Red Sea yet. They are both quite high on my list. We dived in Maldives, South East Asia, Caribbeans, Mexico and Iceland (into the fissure that separates the two tectonic plates) so far.

bhrubin

It sounds like you're set! We tried to include the Elbow, but didn't have time. So I hope you'll report back after your trip. Lighthouse and Half Moon Cay/Wall are fantastic, and the Blue Hole is unbelievably amazing. There are a couple of caves at about 120 ft below where you can take out your breather and breathe air! Talk about crazy and unexpected. Some of the best diving we've ever had, not the least of which was just the surreal environment, dead calm at depth, with hammerheads, even rays, and many other reef sharks.

Curious about the Maldives--we've had conflicting reports on the dive quality. What was your experience and where did you stay (or did you do a live aboard)? We are considering the FS Explorer live aboard for 2017, but unsure if it's worth the long haul.

If anywhere, go to the Egyptian Red Sea whenever you can find the time. It truly is the best diving we've ever had anywhere. Ever. So many incredible sites, and your bouyancy is far greater since it's so salty, with crazy visibility and incredible pelagic and macro and walls and drifts and wrecks. It's got it all. We're planning to go back in the next few years, perhaps when things calm down a bit in the region.

epitopeX

Maldives diving was good but wasn't as good as we thought. I think it really depends on the diving sites. We stayed at the Conrad using points and used cash to upgrade to one of their top tier water villas. Overall the accommodation was ok but nothing special. In retrospect it was a poor choice on hotel selection, given that we eventually spent north of $10K on not so great accommodation+terrible F&B+mediocre activities.

On the other hand, I was amusingly surprised by snorkeling at Conrad Maldives. I'm not a snorkeling person in general and I would always go diving instead of snorkeling. But for some reason we decided to give snorkeling a try at the Conrad Maldives since the house reef is just a couple minutes' swim away, and we were quite surprised that we saw way more fish during the half hour snorkeling than any diving trip at the Maldives. At one point we were completely surrounded by a huge group of Napoleon fish (>500 of them) that we could not see anything else -- it was both trilling and a little bit scary.

In general I think it really depends on where you dive in Maldives. I would go for a better reef than Conrad if we were to return to Maldives. The FS Explorer is probably the best shot in terms of maximizing one's chance of visiting the "good sites".

Which season did you dive in the Red Sea? I am thinking about going there next spring, if the situation there is stable...

bhrubin

You reinforce what we've heard about diving the Maldives. It does seem the FS Explorer offers the best opportunity for the best possible diving, but still it sounds a bit like a crapshoot relative to people like us who have dived in excellent conditions and locations around the world. The opening of the new StR Vommuli Island Maldives also offers some interesting possibilities, since it is located in a region that is most often dived only by other live-aboards, and so might offer a second chance for good diving quality. Our reticence is all about traveling so far only to not find diving worthy of the trek.

We dived Mozambique for the end of our honeymoon in 2010 (after our South Africa wedding and honeymoon), and it was quite disappointing--despite being listed and often described as having some great diving. Perhaps we were unlucky--as diving is always circumstantial and can also be seasonal--but at least there we already were in the relative vicinity. I was glad we didn't make a whole trip of it to solely dive Mozambique!

We tried to incorporate diving into our Dec/Jan visit to Madagascar, but couldn't make it work. Another time, perhaps.

We dived Sharm El Sheikh in May 2001 and June 2007. We stayed at the RC and FS, respectively. We had amazing dives everywhere we went. and the reef right offshore the RC allowed EASY and tremendous snorkeling, as well. We arranged a few private dive excursions to reach Thistlegorn wreck, Hurghada, and Big Brother, but otherwise did excursions right from SES for Shark & Yolanda Reefs and the rest of Ras Mohammed. The Red Sea is BY FAR the most exciting and varied diving we've ever done...though I can imagine the cold water dives in Iceland, Galapagos, etc will also be thrilling!

epitopeX

I vaguely remember that Soneva Fushi is launching a similar concept to FS Explorer, named Soneva in Aqua, either later this year or early 2016. I guess this may be another good option for diving in Maldives. I heard not-so-great experiences about FS Explorer, mainly about accommodation and F&B. Maybe Soneva would do better on that front.

I've also been keeping an eye on StR Vommuli Island Maldives, partly because of my platinum status and many great experiences with high-end Starwood properties.

We haven't been to Africa, but I somehow had this impression that the eastern African coast is really good for diving. We almost went to andbeyond mnemba island last year as part of an East Africa Safari+diving adventure, but ended up canceling the entire trip due to last minute schedule change. Good to know that diving in Mozambique is not on par with other top sites...

epitopeX

Just realized that the RC Sharm El Sheikh is now managed by Monte Carlo...

Kagehitokiri

soneva will be 2RB charter yacht, very expensive, same as most places

not like FS/alila (and wakatobi) booking cabins with inclusive rates
seems FS continues to do 50% off (free for single occupant?) via agencies
alila did 2 special itineraries last month, something to keep an eye on
also http://www.northstarcruises.com.au/cruise/ (no hotel like above 3)

aesla11 said maldives can be good for large pelagics

banyan tree velaa sold cabins for 1-3 nights, seems long gone like BT madivaru

epitopeX

Thanks Kage for the info! I had no idea that Alila also has something similar to Amandira or Amanikan in the same region.

Kagehitokiri

aman is charter only, alila sells cabins
i posted re alila and their 2 special itins

edit >
one of the two special alila included banda/alor, one to watch for in future
just noticed FS explorer annual manta trust specifically mentions whale sharks
(and the 'unpublished' agency offers for FS explorer overlap the manta trust?)

i wonder if hotel yachts would work with operators, let them charter and resell cabins

epitopeX

? you just copy/pasted one line in my original post...

slawecki

use a live aboard. most of the diving is pretty far from the "resorts" which are not too thrilling.