Diving Belize, Suggestions?

We are less than two weeks away from our trip to Belize and my fingers are crossed that the housing that I ordered four weeks ago will actually arrive sometime before I step on the plane! Apparently, ordering from Ikelite is no simple matter!

If anyone has suggestions for dive sites or for photo-friendly operators, they would be greatly appreciated! We'd also like to know who/what to avoid. After four days in the jungle we will be staying on Ambergris and plan on at least one run to Lighthouse Caye where we will skip the Blue Hole.

Thanks in advance.

Lee

Everyone we talked to loved Amigos del Mar. We didn't listen and went with a "Technical" diving specialist, nearer to our hotel. We regretted our choice, as we spent most of our time with novice divers on lessons, and too short surface intervals.

Cheers,

Marli

Yep - I have dove w/ Amigos twice and love them. They do a trip to the Turneffe atolls that is really great - not many people dive there and it's is not trashed at ALL. I recommend it.

Cheers

James

I dove with Amigos for my two longer trips and they were great. They seem to be the biggest dive operator on the island and have the biggest boats. They also supply most of the tanks to the smaller operators. I did both the Blue Hole and Turniffe Atolls trips and both were excellent. They are both safe and competent. They also serve good food. Both these trips are long and in one case we encountered a storm and had to take the long way back so its good to have a big boat.

A lot of people dismiss the Blue Hole. I think this is a mistake. Besides the exciting deep, partial cave and shark encounter on the Blue Hole there were a lot of other fun aspects to the trip. We had a nice walk at the Booby Sanctuary and saw pleanty of the big birds. Lunch is on the island not in the boat. We also dove two other fantastic reefs. I'm glad I diddn't listen.

For the local diving I liked Bradleys. The reef is very close ~5 minutes so you want a small operator. These two brothers operate as a team and are very competent and very safe. They also take small groups I think 4 max. My brother and I even went just the two of us. Mostly it was only 3. Their family has been operating several fishing/dive boats on the island for years. They are also very friendly and show up on time. I was stood up a few times by others in Belize. Bradleys is the dive operator for Victoria House.

I also dove with Ramons and they were OK. They take out bigger groups though and they are less personalized. I also like the fact that Bradleys own their own boat.

Hi Lee, which housing did you order? EDIT....camera?

Karl

I think he got an Ikelite Karl. He sure asked me enough questions about it! :-)

Cheers

James

I did get the Ikelite for the 20D. I have to say that I am really pleased with the set-up and even more pleased with the customer service from Ikelite. I had issues with the eyepiece after my first dive with the housing and within minutes of notifying Ikelite about the problem, I was assured that a new eyepiece would be shipped. It arrived the following morning.

The kit includes 20d, 100mm 2.8 Macro, Tamron 17-35 2.8, Sigma 15 FE, 8" dome, dual DS-125's

I have alreay used the housing on a commercial shoot here in Austin and I am really looking forward to getting it in the water when we hit Belize next week.

Karl, the lens shade works wonderfully. Thanks.

Thanks for all the input on the housing and dive operators. Amigos Del Mar has been recommended time and again so I am sure we'll spend a day with them. For the local stuff, we'll likely use a smaller operator.

Best to all,

lee

PS: So, James. Just one more question...