Belize anyone?
 

Well...I'm going to do it. Bound and determined to make my dream trip a reality in January or February. You see, I've been talking about going to Belize C.A. for almost 15 years and something always came up where I did not go. An old diver friend told me about this Central American land where some of the most pristine waters lap at the shoreline. I had never heard of this place before(neither, did a lot of other people at the time)
and I thought What a cool place to go...someplace tropical that no one else heard of. A few days after having talked to my friend about this new geographical wonderment I was reading the classifieds in the back of my "Rolling Stone" mag. Flipping the page my eyes were immediately directed to an ad that said,
"~See Belize"~ and that was it.
I sent for brochures and bought travel books and began a romance with the idea of going to this place...whose sing-song name has lilted and rolled around in my mind ever since. I don't know why I've been fascinated so by this destination.
It may be because I see two very distinct and appealing elements such as the diverse marine environment( I would like to get PADI certified down there) as well as the ancient
Mayan civilization which lies in ruin just a stones throw from the coast in the lush interior.
All I know is that in these 15 years of synchronistic reckoning and
promises to myself, I stand fully resolved to do it.
to Go.
I can't help but feel that something is calling me and I need to find out what it is. I will probably be borrowing money from my 401k to be able to take this trip like I know it needs to be taken.
I can't fucking wait!

Anyway
I would love to hear from anyone who has lived in Belize or travelled to or knows people who have been there.

It looks as though I'll be making this journey alone. which is maybe how it should be. Something is waiting for me there...
and I hope it ain't the goshdamn yellow fever!:)

I want to go there one of these trips...

I'd love to see a wild tapir...

oh yah!
jaguars,howler monkeys...the tarpon are HUGE...
I've always wanted to see an ocelot ...

Belize has recently caught my attention (because they had some dual citizenship deal advertised in the Economist).

i believe that it has the second largest reef system in the world within its boundaries. so the diving should be spectacular (i wonder if there are ships to dive on, or just reef - you´ll have find out for me)

i´d love to see this wonderful country (esp its incredible wildlife...tapirs, jaguars and ocelots... wow!)... but it is a long way away from Sydney.

have an awesome time Quasi... i´m sure you will.

btw, (in case you didn´t already know) you´ll probably need to get a certificate of proof saying that you´ve got your Yellow Fever jabs... i did to travel through africa.

Australias Great Barrier Reef is the only thing that surpasses Belizes' natural barrier reef(but i imagine that you knew that:))

I'm not sure about diving shipwrecks in Belize bundy, I'm only starting to delve back into this.
I don't believe I'll be needing any shots on this voyage nor will I need a passport.

1 American dollar= 2 Belizean dollars

I would like to continue this thread 'till I actually Go. giving updates to my tfp community on my plans....

heynow, I just thought of something!

TFP GATHERING @ AMBERGRIS CAYE Belize....sometime January or February
YEAH.

i had a friend who went to Ambergris Caye last year.. i'll need to ask her about it.

I have a friend that had a bar until 2 years ago. She and a friend ran the place for about 8 years. She loved the place and still talks of going back. The reason she came back was mother became very sick up here and needed help.
She told me about some fantastic diving and hiking down there. The bar is still there being run by a guy from Calgary...can't remember the bars name, but I know it's just out of Belize city.

I'm sure you'll have a good time, especially since you've been waiting so long to go down there.

I could do that...
/whistfully thinking

I could fill scuba tanks.... work on fishing boats...dig at Carocol...

Thanks for your responses...it helps to keep the dream alive

I would love to go to Belize. I think I may this coming spring. I want to learn to dive and I want to lay on an empty beach and look at my wife in her swimsuit.

Re: Belize anyone?
 

my mom's been there a couple times at least, and she's in the travel business, so i could perhaps get some advice from her for you.

may be a few weeks before i can get back to you onnit, she's busy, but yeah, i'll ask her. :)

I was in Belize for a day with my wife last year as part of a tour. We went on a boat ride up New River (I think) to Lamanai where there are some partially restored Mayan ruins. This was somewhere in northern Belize. I don't know if this is the best site in Belize, but the boat ride and the ruins were both interesting.

Well, I've decided to get PADI certified for open water.
It was suggested that I do this "here" instead of waiting until I'm
"there" and this makes sense for a whole host of reasons.

cost- $325.00 + mask,snorkel,fins,weightbelt and...booties.

thanks to those who've made comments on this.

You may have come down the southern tip of the Rio Bravo, dogzilla(that is if you were in Mexico)

Remember-there is no Summer/Winter seasons in this part of the world. Only Wet/Dry.

Also...

I am leaning towards taking a tour as opposed to making all arrangements myself(being that this is my first time there and am not,what you'd call a world traveller) I've selected a travel agent
who pretty much said- "Whatever you want, i'll make it happen"


I really like this
http://www.freegatetours.com/ca14.htm

10/7

signed up for the PADI cert. open water certification.
this sunday nnext sunday and the following sat and sun.
I am psyched.

I began The Scuba certification process....What fun this is turning out to be. another confined dive this Sunday...then quarry dives the following weekend. Also I put my money where my mouth is and paid for my Belize trip.

February 3rd Baby......

I stopped by Belieze on a cruise my family took a few years back. Go here no matter what: http://www.maruba-spa.com/ It was an amazing get away!

Wow, really want to know how your certification went. I have been to Belize and Austrilia. Dove them both. Loved Great Barrier Reef.

On the cruise I went on Belize had the roughest water but none of us got sea sick (all got sun burnt). Be prepared to see great sights but don't expect the surroundings to be USA. Also, don't forget about the blue hole, something special Belize has. I've never seen it but imagine that it's great.
http://www.scuba-diving-belize.com/i.../blue_hole.jpg
Have fun!

I haven't seen that particular pic of The Blue Hole. cool :)
a 400 ft collossal sinkhole!!!! just beautiful. Thanks!

Just stay out of the caves. My best friend was in Med school, went cave diving outside Belize City, contracted hepatitas b. Had to drop out of school for 2 years. Turns out they didn't treat the sewage from the city well enough. Whoa! Hope I didn't ruin it for you........

Due to my inexperience I shan't be doing any cave diving. Although there are vast networks of caves that run throughout Belize that people go tubing and kayaking within.
Underground rivers!!!!
I think it will take something short of Armegeddon to ruin this trip for me! :)

BTWay
I had my last confined(pool)dive on 10/20 and took the final written test.

passed.

using the dive tables(figuring out how long you can stay down based on previous dives and previous depths)were a bitch.
Now for 2 days of open water checkout dives in a quarry.
can't wait.

Feb 3-10
last three days, free on Ambergris Caye.

C'MON LET'S GO!

OH Man!! diving is fun. You're gonna love it.

I am a Certified Open Water Scuba Diver
 

I spent the last two days diving in a quarry...I saw freshwater jellyfish and have seen fish on their own home turf( that made me reconsider my love of fishing).. experienced frigid thermoclines at 40 feet that rendered a pre-arthritic right forearm a painful appendage. But when it was all said and done I have emerged a certified Open Water Scuba Diver....

now after a few celebratory beers I still feel water-logged.

And I have this curious floating feeling!

TFP Gathering at Ambergris Caye
Feb 7-9

anyone????

:)

Did I tell you I'm going to Belize?

I went to belize when i graduated high school with one of my best friends for a week. We stayed on Ambergris Caye. I've been wanting to go back ever since. We originally went to go scuba diving but ended up spending all our money on alchohol (the drinking age is 18 but they dont care if your younger anyways, and fresh outta high school we took advantage of it).

Remember to bring some sunscreen. I was living in florida at the time so i figured i could handle a little sun with minimal sunblock and um.. mistake.

If you are inexperienced with diving, be sure to get a reputable guide or someone that really knows their shit to go with you. Some people we met down there went on some dive trips with the "guides" and were pretty sketched out by the way they handled things and the equipment. None of them even had a depth gauge that worked properly, and didnt seem to educated on the dive tables.

Even if you dont dive there is awesome snorkling. On ambergis caye the barrier reef is like 500 yards off the beach and it was inexpensive to get a guide with a boat to take you to the interesting spots.

Also took a trip to the mainland to see some mayan ruins. Was a pretty nice experience cept it rained the whole boatride over and our boat didnt have a cover. Part of the package was stopping at the maruba resort someone mentioned earlier in this thread.

One thing Ill never forget about that place was some of the liquer they had. All kinds of rum with dead things fermenting in the bottle. Scorpions, and other mean looking things. The bartenders at maruba gave me and my friend two free shots of 180 proof viper rum (you can guess whats in that bottle). Shoulda known something was up with a bartender handing you a free drink trying (and failing) to keep a straight face. Im never one to turn down a free shot so I went for it anyways. Felt worse than moonshine afterwards but actually tasted great.

But man that trip rocked. I went in the summer time (hot as hell) when the tourist season has died down. Met a few americans there and partied with em the whole time.

Ive heard in mainland Belize the natives arent to friendly with white foreigners. On Ambergis Caye, however, they love ya (tourism is what keeps that place alive).

Go have fun, and dont spend all your money on hookers (you'll get propositioned alot by pimps). :)

Also theres something pretty cool about standing on the island looking at the ocean, then turning around 180 degrees and seeing... the ocean

my itinerary~
 

thanks Sprocket, for the info. I am really jazzed about going.
still looking for someone to go with. If I can get someone to come along I'll get a nice little refund of around 500 bucks. hmmmmm...
how many Belizean hookers can I get for 500 bucks? sheeeeyit thats 1000.00 Belizean dollars.Woo Hoo!


Itinerary
Day 1 : USA-BELIZE CITY-CAYO (D)
Depart USA to Belize City. Meeting and assistance upon arrivaland transfer to your hotel in the Cayo area. Balance of day at leisure. Dinner at your hotel.

Day 2 : MOUNTAIN PINE RIDGE FOREST RESERVE (B,L,D)
Following breakfast, you will visit the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. Here you will have a chance to see the natural beauty of the reserve including the Rio Frio caves, 1,000 ft. Hidden Valley Falls and a chance for swimming in the cool waters of Rio On Pools. Dinner and overnight in Cayo area.

Day 3 : PANTI MEDICINAL TRAIL- CAHAL PECH (B,L,D)
This morning you will board your motorized canoe for a tour on Macal River en route to the Panti Medicinal Plant Trail (there is a bounty of wildlife to observe) Continue to the Mayan site of Cahal Pech, a site with 34 buildings currently being excavated.

Day 4 : BELIZE ZOO-XUNANTUNICH MAYA RUINS-BELIZE CITY (B,L)
Today's full day tour includes a visit to the "Belize Zoo," Belize's natural wildlife habitat. From there you depart via the western highway to the Maya site of Xunantunich, on the banks of the Mopan River (you are hand-cranked across the Mopan River by a 19th century ferry). Among the partially excavated ruins are 1,400 year old stucco friezes, stone carvings, vaulted buildings, and El Castillo which is a classic Mayan temple and the second tallest building in Belize (127 feet). Tour the site and view breathtaking scenery of untouched jungle. Continue to Belize City for overnight at your hotel.

Day 5 : BELIZE CITY-AMBERGRIS CAYE (B)
After breakfast, you will be transferred from your hotel to the airport for a 15 minute commuter flight to San Pedro (Ambergris Caye). Meeting and assistance upon arrival and transfer to your hotel.

Day 6 : AMBERGRIS CAYE (B)
Day at leisure to enjoy the sun and cool Caribbean breezes. Overnight.

Day 7 : AMBERGRIS CAYE (B)
Day at leisure. Enjoy the beach or perhaps take an optional tour to the Barrier Reef for spectacular snorkeling or diving (you must present a dive card).

Day 8 : AMBERGRIS CAYE-BELIZE CITY-USA (B)
After breakfast, transfer to the airport for the short flight to Belize City International Airport with connecting service for your international flight home.

My Passport
 

I got my passport the other day. It only took a week for it to arrive. If anyone needs to get a passport- you need to have 2 photos of yourself(they can be taken for you at a U.P.S store or a Mailboxes Etc store or the like) and a copy of your birth certificate.
NOT a certificate of birth. they are two different things as I found out. it needs to have the state emblem on it. If you don't have a copy you can purchase one on-line for $4 at www.vitalchek.com
then you just have to fill out the application which you can pick up at most post-offices. (It will ask information such as dates of marriage and divorces and place of birth of your spouse or ex.)
you need then to write two checks. One for $55.00 made out to the Dept of State and the other for $35.00 to the Postmaster.
The passport is good for 10 years.

I understand that floating feeling. It makes dreams very nice.

It is cool to go to Cancun and then drive to Belize. What a trip!

Quasi, I hope you have a great trip, Belize is on my short list for my honeymoon right now, I have a little while longer to decide, but have heard Belize is unspoiled and perfect.

Wow, I spoke with someone this fall who went to Belize by herself and she loved it. She promised her daughter she would take her next year.

I am so excited about a trip I have scheduled for March to Bonaire becuase I just bought all of my dive gear. I got certified not quite 2 years ago and decided to get my own gear. Now my new BCD and reg are hanging in my closet just calling to me about how they want to get wet. I have read and reread the instructions for the computer, but you can only see how the screens work when it is submerged. My sink just is not deep enough to register a depth.

If this trip goes well, I am seriously thinking about Belize for the following year.

Greytone-
I've heard great things about Bonaire and when you go I wish you a Bon Voyage`!! You are a step ahead of me as far as dive gear goes. I only have the basics but a BCD is definitely on the horizon...I got my PADI cerification card in the mail a few weeks ago. I feel like I'm part of an exclusive club now. : )

Long thread. Belize would be an great place to visit, I'd love to work there.

I to have carried this dream for the last 5 years. I will be going in late Jan and into Feb. I will just land there or someone near there and make it up as I go along. I did this in Guatemalla and loved being somewhere beatuiful without any plan other than to have fun. I can see from above that you have a pretty full schedule, if you can get off the main tourist sites for a day, ask the locals where you should go. They will always know more than any tour guide, and you will save a fortune.
You should go to escapeartist.com they have very valuable information and just about everything you could possibly need to know. Lots of help from people who are there and people who have been there. Maybe I will join you for the TFP gathering Feb 7 to 9, just let me know what hotel, or just look for the pastie white balding thirty something drunk guy, and that will be me.

Hey there
The TFP Gathering is just a fantasy...an idea that iI floated out there to see if there was an interest. The last 3 days of this trip are going to be at "my leisure" on Ambergris caye.
Warf rat--
when you come back please feel free to post some pics and recollections of your trip right here. Or mayhap your own thread.

Oh, and thanks for the escapeartist site. it provided a whole host of links and resources that I had as yet uncovered.

http://www.tropicabelize.com/

(arrows pointing upwarrrrrrds)

this here is where I shall B
from thseventh to theninth

anyone for a humancarribean?
!

I went on a 10 day trip to Belize about 5 years ago. We stayed on Turneffe Island, which is about 20 miles off shore of Belize City. The diving was incredible, and this is one of the places where you stand a good chance of seeing a whale shark, due to the low number of boats/divers. I love Cozumel, but this place is just as good for diving and about 1% of the people!

Bugs can be a real problem, make sure to take 100% deet.

The Great Blue Hole is a very surreal dive, there is no entrapment chance, most of the cave structure starts about 150feet, so I doubt you'd be going there if you're newly certified. Lots of big sharks to see in the hole too!

(aside: we went down to about 150 feet on our dive there, and it was the first experience I had with getting narced. The bubbles were red man, RED!!!) Anyway, be careful!

A word on Belize City, when we were there, we were followed around by Tourist Police. Their job (as explained by our dive master) is to protect tourists from theft, etc. Be on your guard and be safe there. Women are advised not to travel alone in the city.

Hope this helps, and hope you have a great trip!

wow...yeah I understand things can get a little...dicey in the depths if you're not careful. or even sometimes if you ARE careful.
I won't feel comfortable yet with going down more than 60 feet or so for right now...enough to to experience the beauty and grandeur of the underwater world.
I would love to see a whale shark. The largest fish in the ocean.
They are migratory though and they don't pass through until spring(I think)
Thanks for your story Smoky
Happy Diving!

Going to Mexico, Belize and Guatemala in January/February. (Leaving in two weeks...) Haven't planned much for Belize yet tough. I'll probably try to stay clear of the really tourist infested places ..

As for Tourist Police .. I'm quite sure that's just a way to get more money from charter-tourists.

I'll be travelling backpacker style.. So I'll look like hell, stay in the cheapest places and eat at the dodgiest places so I doubt that anyone will think that I'm worth robbing :P

We spent our honeymoon in Belize. Paradise, pure and simple. We plan to retire there when we're old and grey. Every time I get a whiff of decaying vegetation or a taste of coconut, I am transported right back.

Maruba jungle spa and resort is the most unbelievably beautiful, purely perfect place on the planet.

I've been diving for 11 years (all Carribean), and I must say that Belize has been one of my favorites. 8 days of diving out of Ambergris Caye. The rides out were almost without exception the choppiest water I've delt with, but they were also very short (Cozumel, by contrast, had a 30-40 minutes ride out).

Enjoy Belize, it's a lot of fun, and Congrats on the certification!

The time draws nigh!!!!

the countdown continues as I bought myself a big-ass suitcase
with wheels(big enough to keep all my basic scuba gear and most of my clothes...light colored, summer weight...) and a 128MB
memory card for my digicam.

The weather here has a bitter, icy edge to it which makes my countdown to the carribean sun and eventual placement closer to the equator even more urgent.

I dove cozumel last fall for the first time and loved it. From what I understand, Belize is supposed to be better, one of the top dive spots in the world. I hope to dive there one day myself.

If you have good or even half way decent buoyancy control, check out a cenote, I dove one myself and it was an unforgettable experience. You can't even see the water its so clear. It was a bit cold though, around 65F.

Report back when you return, love to hear how it went.

...and don't forget to exhale on ascent... :)

Lemme bring this back to the surface...

just completed the last day of {work} before my vacation and I can't really believe that I will be leaving the country for a week.
I took 2 weeks off even though I'll be in Belize for only 1 week.
(I like the idea of winding INto my trip and then...winding OUTfrom
my trip....)

I want to thank everyone that commented on this thread-
and be sure that all my photographic memories will indeed be
posted in one form or another HERE.

Decompression
 

Back to the real world....
thought i would post an e-mail to some friends that i made while I was in Belize

!HOLA!

How goes it my friends? I trust the trip back to civilization went well. my journey back could not have gone any better...with the exception of customs hassles, a confiscated torch lighter,(which I had bummed from the tropica bar and had not given back) and a crying baby on the final flight into Philadelphia.
Did you have to take your shoes off at Belize Int'l ?

Cindy was coming into the airport right when i was preparing to exit so the timing was excellent there...I took the whole next day to....
"decompress".... doing little to nothing as I equalized myself back into my real life. ( I know...I'm subconsciously using diving jargon here) : ) I slowly and with no real plan began to unpack. this process took about a day and a half. The only discrepancy was the discovery of a broken coffee mug that i brought back as a souvenier. Those baggage handlers must've WHIPPED my shit around cuz I wrapped all of my booty pretty carefully with layers and layers of dirty laundry. Fortunately, the One Barrel and the cashew
wine went through the ordeal virtually unscathed.

So...Anyway, I just wanted to let you guys know how nice it was for me to have some folks from "back home" to pal around with and allow me to have this shared experience. From the steps of Xunantunich to the cool, clear pools of the 5 sisters, the touring that I did with you guys in Cayo will not be soon forgotten. And the manic golf-cart expeditions when we met again on "La Isla Bonita"and San Pedro town....
will remain ingrained for quite a while. (Wendy....you are the golf-cartinest Gringa I'll ever know:)
And Ryan....it would've been great if you guys could've joined me on my dive trips to the local reef and the Blue hole and Half-Moon Caye. Perhaps the bug I put in your ear about the otherworldly grandeur of the underwater realm will inspire you to get certified there in Las Vegas and we could dive at another time in our lives. The Blue Hole Experience and the reef dives literally changed me as a human being and were beyond words...I just hope that when I get my pics back that they will relay just a 16th of what I was going through(which was sheer bliss.)

I will shoot you guys a CD of my land pics within a couple of days. The underwater ones will take a bit longer because they will need to be scanned.
I will now raise my glass of One Barrel and coke - to the Greatness that was my trip to Belize...And to my company that was bestowed.
Cheers!

B.

Glad you had fun! I'm planning a trip now for spring break. Hopefully it will be something like Belieze :D

tales from the Blue Hole
 

B.another dispatch

The diving was fffffffffffffffffreakin' awesome. Unfortunately my stupid underwater cameras just didn't quite capture the majesty that IS the underwater world. and my digital camera went kind of haywire on the last day of my trip but I still have plenty of pics from the Mayan ruins. The whole country is in a state of burgeoning development and there are ruins that are literally undug and waiting to be discovered when the funds become available. can't wait to tell you about it all.

did I tell you I dove the Blue Hole!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the second day of dives and there I was.....130 feet straight down into a collassal sink hole that goes 480 feet. (I didn't even bother with my camera this dive)

otherworldly, man....ooootherworldly.

I actually had to quit thinking about what I was doing for fear of freaking out and just had to concentrate on anything else.(other divers...that BIG fish that just swam by...) I don't know, but I think I may have gotten a bit narc-ed, meaning the nitrogen began having a decidedly intoxicating effect on me. this is not an unnatural occurance when diving depths approaching 100 feet but it is something a diver needs to be fully aware of. The divemasters this day informed the less experienced of us about this possibility and said simply that if it happened,
"stay focused and enjoy the high. It's legal and there's no hangover."
So there I was...floating, going down...down... glancing left and right, up and down catching glimpses of my floating cadre, my submerged brotheren the only thing giving me comfort at times during this watery jaunt. I don't know if i was experiencing nitrogen narcosis during this time or i was just entering that survival zone where sheer adrenaline takes over, all I know is that felt a blissful feeling that is very, very hard to replicate above the surface.
And just when I felt like i could have stayed down there forever, It was time to ascend and chill out for our safety stop. By then I had to constantly secure my reg because of the shitty grin that was erupting from my joyous face.
and as I broke the surface I thought,
I did it. I dove the Blue Hole. It was only the third dive outside the chilly quarry dives in Pennsylvania and I dove the freakin' Blue Hole.
This dive wasn't the most beautiful of my reef dives in Belize, But...WOW. It WAS one of those occasions that when I look back upon it in years to come I will count it right up there as one of those ....Life Moments. (If you know what I mean)

tfp
I do believe that i am ruined. I don't ever want to dive this far north(Pennsylvania) of the equator. I mean...when you can see 80 feet in front of you and you stay down for 45 minutes + without a wet suit....Keeeeryst, I am changed man....

I went cave tubing in Belize last month...It rained but it was still beautiful, I'd love to go back.

you can't let mirevolvers thread, "most loved/hated cities" surpass
my Belize thread!!!

I'll get my pics up!
I will!!

: )

I'd love to see them!

work faster! your thread reminds me of spaulding gray for some reason...watch swimming to cambodia as a reference.

Hahah...thats funny!!!!:)
Thanks for the *bump* I have seen the aforementioned monologue but I'll have to watch it again for the reference.
(damn...this project is gonna make me jump off a goddamn BRIDGE before too long...sorry)
My prob is, that I suffer from extended bouts of slothfulness at times. That, AND the fact that I am having difficulties uploading my pics to my webpage(which is how I would like to show them) is making this foray entirely too extended.
stay tuned!

I may soon have to break down and ask for help. aaiiieeeee!

i went there for one day on a cruise a few weeks ago... didn't really get to see much of the place because it was only for a few hours but i do remember the weather was perfect and the people could not have been more friendly. i'd love to have stayed for a week or so to get the full effect.

Been there 3 times
 

You will love Belize....I have been to three areas and all have been great...Caye Caulker (see gocayecaulker.com) where the accommodation can be very cheap (had a 2 bedroom kitchenette about 75 yards from the beach on either side of the island for $250 / week US...cheap food and close to the reef...quite quiet and no cars...not a lot of night life but nice little bars and restaurants with good quality food and very cheap...

Placencia is also very good and reasonable (better beaches) but a long way from the reef (15 miles)..also quite quiet...great community dances on Sat nites...

San Pedro (Caye Ambergise) is more up beat and more action..cars etc....one of the reality series was done there...(not sure of the name, but couples with distractions etc.)

Belize City is somewhat dangerous....just go straight from the airport to the water taxi and head out to the Cayes....

The country was the former British Honduras...therefore English spoken..

Hey, what happened to the photos that were going to be posted? Did I miss something? Am thinking about Belize, now, myself. Thanks. :)

/grimaces

damn!
:)
I will need to get over to photobucket i guess and see about getting some free hosting. I uploaded my pics onto my online storage with comcast and now have no idea how to access them.
So, no tropicdiver, you didn't miss anything...except for the fact that I just may be an idiot!
btw most of my pics are of the Mayan ruins(so you won't be disappointed) the underwater pics that I took with the disposable turned out to be an abomination. Keep thinking Belize my friend...it will be a reality. (ya missed the whale sharks though)

I'm very interested in the Mayan ruins. May not have the name right, but looking into Altun or something like that. I'm not worried about the dive photos. The dive run to the Blue Hole seems rather expensive for a 2 hour trip. Seems like the going rate starts at $185.00. Any info is appreciated. Thinking this December.

your thinking of Altan Ha...I went to Xunantunich and Cahal Pech. Wonderful glorious places both. And I must say that if you've never been there, the tour guides really make the adventure stand out. I had a guide by the name of Fidelio who worked for a company called Discovery Tours...insanely knowledgable on every aspect of his country.
Tropicdiver....spend the $185 when you get to Ambergris.

here is a list of my dives in while in Belize

on 08 Feb 04
Local reef dives...about 15.min out

1) Dardanelos- 66ft for 45 min.

2) Tuffy- 60 ft for 50 min.

this was a half day trip and cost about $80 US...(please don't quote me because i only recently threw out my receipts)

Then on 09 Feb 04
I went on the Blue Hole trip. Now this was an all-day 3 dive adventure
that cost somewhere around what you mentioned. It took about 2 hours to get where we were going

1) Blue Hole- 130ft for 30 min :) those 30 minutes seemed like an eternity actually....

2) Half-Moon Caye- 56ft for 50 min.
then we docked at Half Moon Caye for lunch consisting of rice and red beans, bbq chicken and potato salad....god i can taste it still!
on half-moon caye there is a national park where they have the only sanctuary for the red-footed booby birds who live side by side with their natural enemy, the frigate bird. I remember spying an iguana in the bush there and noticed that it had a forked tail....
I thought i discovered some mutant until i saw the sign indicating
that this island was a habitat for the....you guessed it, Fork Tail Iguana.
I am digressing

then onto our last dive spot
3)The Aquarium at Long Caye- 50 ft for 50 min.

I didn't have a computer tropicdiver so I gathered my info from a seasoned diver who I kinda never let out of my periphery.

In writing this here today I find myself really longing for my next underwater journey.

Thanks

Sounds like a great time to me. Thanks for the tips. :)

This is a really nice newsletter about Belize~
http://www.belizeanjourneys.com/

Thanks for sharing. :)

xunantunich
 

http://image.villagephotos.com/p/2004-7/782203/x14.jpg



http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-7/782203/x7.jpg


voila`

Are the archelogical areas something that you can explore for hours or are they small areas?

man, I could have hung out for days in Xunantunich...Cahal Pech(Mayan for "the place of ticks") was was smaller acreage-wise but had more rooms and passageways to explore.

I managed to do some online searching of Altun Ha, but didn't check out Xunantunich...Cahal Pech (is that one or two different places?).

I just came back from my trip, where I've also been to Belize.

Didn't spend much time there, except for at Caye Caulker, wich was nice. I despised Belize City tough, even if the people was really friendly.

As for the reason I left Belize quickly: I got the impression that they have so little to offer and is so much more expensive than their neighbouring countries.

Cahal Pech is just one place. very easy to get to from San Ignacio. Whats really wild is, as you move around and especially when you exit, your guide will point out these mounds where they tell you that archaelogists know that there are undiscovered ruins buried within.
They just don't have the funds to go ahead and explore.

I believe I expressed my feelings that all I needed was a shovel and a brush and I could be slave to the past.

I can dig what your saying about Belize City. I helped spend 'bout an half hour downtown searching for a battery pack for my compadres camera 31 minutes before they were to fly out to Ambergris Caye. What a third-world rush.

From what I understand Caye Culker is Hippie central.
we had to stop at Culker to pick someone up on the way to Ambergris Caye. I think that their backback was filled with cannabis.

If you get the opporitunity, shrubbery...check out the country.
I don't agree with the last part of your response. I found everything from beer and rum (carribean) to furniture (hardwood teak) to be very inexpensive.
You Better Belize It

I feel like I should revive this thread because I am so excited about my future trip to Belize. It is a year later than I hoped, but I am going. It will be a full year after my last vacation, and 18 months after my last dive, when I get to Belize in March. I will not get to see much of the country, because I will be on a SCUBA live-aboard. They pick us up at the airport and we will spend the rest of the week on the small boat (big enough for 32 passengers) around Turneffe Island and Lighthouse reef. I had my regulater refurbished and I have a new wetsuit.

By the way, trying on wetsuits may just be the most strenuous form of exercise I have ever participated in.

Belize is fabu! Went August of 2005 and stayed in the Placencia area (Maya Beach, to be specific)

Have a friggin blast! You're missing the lovely wet season I got to enjoy!