Belize Dive Trip Report
Heading to San Pedro town on the island of Ambergris Caye, Belize is an adventure of it’s own. As we walk across the tarmac headed to a small Maya airplane, a man tells me to hand off my bag and get into the co-pilot’s seat. As I sling my bag over to Matt, he hands me his camera. “Take pictures!” he says climbing into the back of the little plane.
Yes, it was cool sitting next to the pilot, but out the windows was a whole new world. Passing over shallow sholls, small Cayes, islands, every shade of blue in the ocean speeding by, we could tell we were headed somewhere special.
We knew San Pedro was going to be a small airport in a small town. It did not disappoint. We landed less than 100 yards away from our hotel. As we rolled our bags to our beachfront abode we watched the golf carts and bikes cruise by. Smiling tourists and locals at the helms gave us a great vibe right away.
The SunBreeze Hotel was our home for the week. Two levels of large, air con rooms shaped like a horseshoe with a sand courtyard, lounge areas and hammocks in the middle. Close to the beach are the restaurant, bar, pool, dive shop and boat dock. Local school children play on the beach, soccer and laughter aplenty.
Beach level rooms all have a big lanai with tables and chairs. (The lanai was a fantastic place to hold our nightly happy hour.) Centrally located, you could walk anywhere in San Pedro. Cruise down the beach in either direction and pass eateries, pubs and dive shops. Walking along the streets brings you to more of the same, with a few trinket shops, bike or golf cart rentals and grocers thrown in the mix.
The food in Belize was quite good. Our hotel hosted a delicious breakfast each morning. Off the menu, you could choose American items, Mexican choices, Belizean breakfast, fruit, pancakes and more. Lunch and dinner we choose from the eateries near by. A few of the popular choices were Carolines (fish & chips, fish tacos, chicken with rice & beans), El Fagon (stewed deer, stewed gibnut- aka royal rat, frozen sangria), the Papusaria (El Salvadorian tortilla dish) and our own Blue Water Grill (conch chowder, fish & chips, nachos).
We even headed down the beach to watch and participate in the crazy “Chicken Drop” at Wahoos lounge on the beach. Picture this, a numbered grid, a dreadlocked DJ, “chicken security” guard (aka Coconut Willy), a confused chicken and a circle of barefoot, beer clutching people cheering for the chicken to poop on their number, printed on the slip of paper waving around in a sweaty fist. Both Barry and Sara got to be the chicken master for a round. Shawn and Jill actually got the lucky “drop” on their numbers and took home a little extra Belizean money!
The whole reason for the trip, diving. Our first few dives were a little bumpy on the surface, but below was beautiful. We splash into the world of soft coral and fans flowing with the current, sandy bottom canyons, swim throughs and the ever present nurse sharks gliding along through the soft corals and divers alike. Some of the wildlife we encountered: giant green eels, 
friendly loggerhead turtles, lobsters twitching their antennae like underwater orchestra conductors, fire darts hovering over their hole homes, huge groupers, invasive lionfish (which our DM would spear and feed to the nurse sharks), barracuda hunting along the canyons, huge sting rays in the sand, flamingo tongue cowries climbing up the coral stalks for a snack, snappers eyeballing us as we swim by, parrotfish, jacks on reef patrol, and cleaning stations where small striped fish service their clients.
Some of the most remembered encounters… Group 3 (Matt, Sheila, Bob, Kathy, Barry & Garret) took a giant stride right into a group of huge bottlenose dolphins! What a treat, you could not see them until you were in the water. This playful group of dolphins kept showing up along our dive and even made an appearance as we joined up with Group 2 (John, Donna, Lisa, Sara, Shawn & Geoff.) Group 2 also had “The Flying Ray Experience”. An eagle ray was getting bothered by an overzealous remora, right in front of Geoff at their safety stop (as he was filming) the ray launched itself out of the water in a full breach!
Group 3 (Vanessa, Fred, Ann, Ken, Steven and John) found a GIANT stingray. Our group was lucky enough to run across them as they were filming this 6’ plus specimen. Group 3 also had the best lionfish hunter, so they got to see shark feeding often.
Night diving in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve was something special. Back roll into warm water as the sunset fades. Looking down in the shallow sandy bottom the huge hermit crabs crawl through the seagrass looking for their next conch shell home. Making our way to the natural channel in the barrier reef, we see a stingray! Then another, and another and another… Eagle rays cruise by as the green eyes of the resting stingrays warily watch. The channel edges teem with small shrimp, crabs, their hermit crabs cousins and fish bedded down for the night. Huge eels slither on the hunt, an iridescent green/blue octopus looks for dinner, lobsters tiptoe from their hidey holes as the reef comes alive. We thought ahead and had some beers to share on the star lit boat ride back, chatting about all of the wonderful things under the water we were so lucky to see.
About half of our crew opted to take a day trip to the famous Blue Hole. It’s quite a trek, a 3 hour speedboat ride each way, but this is a “bucket list” dive for some. Their tales were happy ones about the journey and dives. The Blue Hole itself was once a cave in the center of an underground tunnel complex whose ceiling collapsed. Stalactites and other proof this giant hole was part of a cave can be still be seen. This day, the divers were luck enough to see a beautiful large Caribbean reef shark cruising along the crater wall. Little life is in the hole itself, but the surrounding Lighthouse Reef dive holds more than enough to make up for that.
Our final full day was spent trekking to and exploring the Mayan ruins 
of Lamani. No diving planned so we could ridourselves of extra nitrogen before flying home. An hour of speed boating gets us to the mainland of Belize. Sea birds, small islands, mangroves and even a few manatees greet us along the way. Riverside breakfast, then off for the bus ride to the next leg of the journey. (One van was a little late after a mechanical issue, but our groups took it in stride, after all, that was the van holding the beer.) Another hour speeding down a twisting river watching for the egrets and kingfishers. We leave the narrow curves of the river and come out onto a vast lake fronting the Lamani Mayan ruins.
After a local Belizean lunch we start to head off to the temples but a howler monkey resting in a tree distracts us then we spot the coati in the same tree and are delayed by photos. Finally we get it together and head through the jungle and arrive at the temples with steps headed up to the sun. Mask Temple, Jaguar Temple and High Temple are all stunning. We manage to get our whole group together for a few photos. Walking through the ball courts causes an eerie feeling, knowing the winner would literally lose his head. Just as we are about to head back to the boat, we hear some rustling in the trees. Howler monkeys! John, Matt and I went to investigate. There was gang of howlers hopping around and checking us out. They got louder and louder, we could still hear them calling as we made it to the boat for our trek back.
Additions to a dive trip to Belize:
Vanessa and Coop took a few days before the dive trip to Placencia. This tiny coastal town is know for it’s visiting whale sharks. Seahorse Dive Shop led trips out to snorkel with these awesome creatures. Vanessa and Coop also enjoyed the quaint town, friendly people and delicious food in Placencia.
Matt and I spent 4 nights prior to the dive trip at Black Rock Lodge. We had a wonderful time at this riverside eco resort. Canoeing, bird watching (3 kinds of toucans!), hiking, mountain biking, tubing both in the river and an underground cave system kept us busy during our stay. The food was great, bonus!