Belize Accomodations

"Charlie C." <charliec1_snospam@excite.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9439EC3583A8Acharliec1excitecom@130.133.1. 4...
> "JS" <reevecg@hotmail.com> wrote in
> news:LYcsb.3131$IK2.287400@news20.bellglobal.com:
>
> > Looking for first class diving and first class accomodations...any
> > suggestions would be appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks.
>
> If you're going to stay on Ambergris Caye, check out
> http://www.ambergriscaye.com. It's a great site to do research about the
> island.
>
> Someone mentioned that staying on the north part of the island was
> inconvenient. I just got back from a week at Captain Morgan's (about 3.4
> miles north of San Pedro) and I didn't find it to be that bad at all.

Next time you go back, compare it to staying somewhere that you can walk
most everywhere at any time of the day or night. :^)

You
> do have to take a boat (or rent a golf cart) to get to San Pedro but we
went
> to town probably 4 or 5 of the days we were there.

True, but the hand ferry over the cut shuts down at 8 pm, so no getting the
golf cart back to the resort after that and if you stay a bit further north,
the golf carts can't go up that far, no road and/or batteries run low. Did
you have a gas cart or a battery cart?

> We just asked Captain
> Morgan's when they were going and hopped a free ride.

Most of the north resorts have a shuttle service of some sort. So sure,
you have to be flexible.

>To get back at night
> we did take a water taxi ($5 per person U.S.) but if you have at least 4
> people they will make a special trip. Just ask at the ferry dock. You do
> have to flexible on when you want to go to town but, hey, you're in Belize
> to relax, right? And while San Pedro is very quaint and cool, you can see
> the main part of it in 20 or 30 minutes walking.

Have you ever walked all over it, every street, over to the lagoon side?
Checked out the way the locals live? Find a few funky bars for some beers?
Check out the local restaurants, have a quick bite at the street vendors?
Walk up and down the beach of an evening and people watch? Wander out onto
different docks on your way back to your hotel, listen to the reef? Well, I
guess you could do that at Capt. Morgan's too, so never mind that last one.

>
> The only way I can see the water taxi/hitch a ride with your resort to be
> inconvenient is if you want to consistantly drink/dance late night in
town.

Or even inconsistently. All it takes is once for it to be a real drag.
There ya are, half or more loaded, trying to find someone that may or may
not be sober to take you back up north. Not to mention, it will likely cost
one heck of a lot more than $5/head at that time of the night. It's even
worse if the seas are kicked up for some reason.

> We were in bed by 10 pm most nights so it really wasn't that big of a deal
> for us.

Nope, wouldn't be, but I still think you missed out on a bunch of the
atmosphere of the place, just by being somewhat isolated up there. Of
course, I'm somewhat biased, which no doubt shows.

>
> I'm guessing that most dive operations will pick you up from your resorts
> pier anyways. The tour companies did. Obviously check first.

To my knowledge, all dive ops will pick you up at your dock. Many resorts
have their own dive op and so if you are happy with the resort dive op,
that's not a problem. If you choose to go with a dive op that is not from
your resort, most will still come and pick you up. It is only some of the
one boat operators that can't be running around to a bunch of different
resorts picking up one or two divers. If you have a big group and decide
that you want to have a dedicated boat and like the idea of going with a
smaller operation, you may get a dedicated boat from that small op and then
still get picked up at your resort dock.

Ok Chilly, you've convinced me...Victoria House it is. Thoughts on casitas
vs plantation rooms? Since we're going in mid December what sort of diving
and water conditions can we expect? I've heard the Blue Hole is sort of a
waste of time but The Elbow is well worth the trip.....thoughts?

Thanks.
JS




"chilly" <slarson@shaw.canada> wrote in message
news:UwZub.438586$pl3.296568@pd7tw3no...
>
> "RC" <reevecg@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:iYOub.11823$iT4.1364537@news20.bellglobal.com ...
> > Victoria House has their own onsite dive shop..... not so good?
> >
> > Any comments on the Portofino Resort?
>
> I have not been to Portofino but I do know a few things about it. 1) it
> does not have a pool. Ok, well, it has a pool, but it is an ocean pool.
So
> not a pool like you expect at a resort. I think it is just an area in the
> ocean off of their dock.
>
> It usually gets high marks. It would not be my pick because it is so far
> north and to travel to town and the action, requires a boat trip. They do
> have a boat shuttle from the resort but it is only certain times and the
> rest of the time you will be paying for the water taxi. If you stay in
town
> one night spontaneously, you could find yourself in a pickle trying to get
> back. If you want to stay there, and not venture out much in the evening,
> then it would probably be pretty nice. I don't know their dive op or dive
> masters. I don't think they use Playa Blanca's anymore, if they ever did.
>
> Have you looked at Playa Blanca's Dive Resort? Gaz Cooper's place. Andy
is
> their dive master, he's great, and he's a hoot too. Gaz's place is
supposed
> to be pretty nice but you've got a similar problem there with getting back
> at night.
>
> > Their web site looks good....now, I'm
> > trying to compare it to Vicotoria House.
>
> Victoria House is a beautiful, beautiful property. Ever since I first saw
> it, I said, if I were going to honeymoon or anniversary in SP, I'd do it
at
> Victoria House. They've got a decent stretch of quiet beach, a beautiful
> pool area, a very nice bar, good/great restaurant, lovely grounds. You
can
> rent a golfcart and go back and forth to town all the day and night. It is
> quiet down there too but you still have the access to town and all the
many
> and varied restaurants and clubs south of town and in town.
>
> I'm not familiar with the dive op at Victoria House either, but Fantasea
is
> supposed to be pretty good, from what I hear. I'd be surprised if a place
> like Victoria House had a bad op.
>
>

"JS" <reevecg@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:tqwvb.18779$ZF1.1835690@news20.bellglobal.com ...
> Ok Chilly, you've convinced me...Victoria House it is. Thoughts on
casitas
> vs plantation rooms?

I like the plantation rooms but others like the casitas. I've heard that it
can be hard to cool the casitas down well enough, if it is very hot out. I
dunno for sure.

>Since we're going in mid December what sort of diving
> and water conditions can we expect?

Hey, what can I say? I've been there from mid-Dec into Jan, the past 3
years in a row. I'm hurting now because I'm not going this year. Sigh.

Two out of 3-4 years have had some seriously crappy weather, but because of
the length of my stays, I was able to deal with it. By that I mean, there
were good days and bad days. However, what if I'd only been there for one
week? Well heck . . .could have gone either way.

That said, the same damn thing happened when I went to Cuba in Feb, one
year. There are never any fricken guarantees. . .weather is what it is . .
..Northers come down into the Caribbean in Dec., Jan and sometimes Feb. and
that's just how it is. Last year, it was beautiful the first week, but got
kind of crappy towards the end. I've been there in April and it was
magnificent. Others have been there at the same time the next year or the
year before and found it horrid. OK, I'm going on and on here . JS, the
long and the short of it, is this. You've been on holiday before, sometimes
the weather makes all the difference and sometimes it doesn't. :^)

I will tell you that even if the weather is lovely, sometimes the seas are a
bit kicked up, but you can deal with it. Don't worry about it, don't think
about it. ENJOY it. :^)

> I've heard the Blue Hole is sort of a
> waste of time but The Elbow is well worth the trip.....thoughts?

Myself, I always try to do both trips. I love the Blue Hole. It's all in
your perspective. Last year I did it twice. It is a short deep dive into a
dark hole. And at depth there are stalactites and a bit of an overhang, if
you are so inclined. I do not recommend it to new divers, though they take
new divers in there all the time. I'm against that.

There's sharks in the Blue Hole, very cool, very cool. It is a different
kind of dive than a reef dive, no doubt. No pretty fishes, no coral
formations, but think of it. The geologic history alone. Amazing. Check
this out: http://www.ambergriscaye.com/pages/t...tbluehole.html

First of all it makes mention of diving to 150', that is incorrect, the dive
is only to 130'. And perhaps because I haven't been as deep as they
mention, I've never seen this extended visibility they discuss either. I've
never seen a hammerhead in there but ya never know.

For myself, I take down my flashlight and check out the walls, I've found
some little chambers and they've had some little fish in them. Last time,
when the sharks rose from the depths, I saw one that was swimming parallel
to us. What a beauty. So of course, I shone my flashlight all up and down
the length of it. When it turned and started towards me, I quickly doused
my light and swam off with my group. But my spidey sense were tingling, so
I looked behind and sure enough . . .there is was coming up from behind me.
I turned and went vertical, it slid by eeeeeevvvvvvveeerrr sooooooo
sloooowly, just beneath me. First its snout, its eyes, its dorsal, its tail
fin and then it was gone. I rose with the rest of the group to make the
extended safety stop just above the rim. There were a number of fish
swimming around to amuse me while I waited out my time, not to mention the
occasional shark lazily circling our group. We ascended and I came out of
the water singing "Again, again, I want to do it again!!" :^) That was my
5th time in the Hole.

If you do decide to do the Hole, you will probably be on Amigos del Mar's
Pro48. They break the divers into groups to dive. Make sure that you get
into the last group to step into the water. Sometimes the first group
doesn't see any sharks.

The two followup dives are excellent and the surface interval that includes
lunch, is on Halfmoon Caye. An idyllic little island. Then on the trip
home, if you are so inclined you will be served panty rippers and/or a
Belikin beer or two. A most excellent way to spend a day. Sigh.

If you do go, make sure to see as much of this little island as you can.
Scarf down your lunch, head over to the booby bird sanctuary, don't spend a
bunch of time there. When you go back down to the path that would take you
back to where you started, you will come to a sort of T intersection. Go
right instead of left. Watch for the iguanas and hermit crabs. This path
will take you out to the far side of the island. If it is not too hot, you
can walk from there back to where you had lunch, and then it's pretty much
time to head out for another dive. Oh, damn, now I've made myself
'homesick' . . .

>
> Thanks.

Have a wonderful time JS, a then come back and tell us all about it. :^)

Just wanted to clarify that my guests do not have any problem getting
back and forth to town, we provide a personal water taxi service at a
subsidized cost and you will find that none of my guests have any
issue getting into town when they want to even if they want to go in
to party we will take them in and wait for them and bring them back
when they are done.

It is very important to me to ensure my guests have easy access to
town because North Ambergris IMO is one of the most beautifukl areas
on the island and the only negative that keeps popping up is gettin to
town thankfully that is not a negative at Playa Blanca Dive & Beach
Club & Gaz Coopers

all the best

Gaz
Playa Blanca Dive & Beach Club
www.DiveBelize.com


"chilly" <slarson@shaw.canada> wrote in message news:<UwZub.438586$pl3.296568@pd7tw3no>...
> "RC" <reevecg@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:iYOub.11823$iT4.1364537@news20.bellglobal.com ...
> > Victoria House has their own onsite dive shop..... not so good?
> >
> > Any comments on the Portofino Resort?
>
> I have not been to Portofino but I do know a few things about it. 1) it
> does not have a pool. Ok, well, it has a pool, but it is an ocean pool. So
> not a pool like you expect at a resort. I think it is just an area in the
> ocean off of their dock.
>
> It usually gets high marks. It would not be my pick because it is so far
> north and to travel to town and the action, requires a boat trip. They do
> have a boat shuttle from the resort but it is only certain times and the
> rest of the time you will be paying for the water taxi. If you stay in town
> one night spontaneously, you could find yourself in a pickle trying to get
> back. If you want to stay there, and not venture out much in the evening,
> then it would probably be pretty nice. I don't know their dive op or dive
> masters. I don't think they use Playa Blanca's anymore, if they ever did.
>
> Have you looked at Playa Blanca's Dive Resort? Gaz Cooper's place. Andy is
> their dive master, he's great, and he's a hoot too. Gaz's place is supposed
> to be pretty nice but you've got a similar problem there with getting back
> at night.
>
> > Their web site looks good....now, I'm
> > trying to compare it to Vicotoria House.
>
> Victoria House is a beautiful, beautiful property. Ever since I first saw
> it, I said, if I were going to honeymoon or anniversary in SP, I'd do it at
> Victoria House. They've got a decent stretch of quiet beach, a beautiful
> pool area, a very nice bar, good/great restaurant, lovely grounds. You can
> rent a golfcart and go back and forth to town all the day and night. It is
> quiet down there too but you still have the access to town and all the many
> and varied restaurants and clubs south of town and in town.
>
> I'm not familiar with the dive op at Victoria House either, but Fantasea is
> supposed to be pretty good, from what I hear. I'd be surprised if a place
> like Victoria House had a bad op.

"Gaz Cooper's DIVE BELIZE" <playablancabeachclub@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:11a1aa2a.0311230619.1d0214ec@posting.google.c om...
> Just wanted to clarify that my guests do not have any problem getting
> back and forth to town, we provide a personal water taxi service at a
> subsidized cost and you will find that none of my guests have any
> issue getting into town when they want to even if they want to go in
> to party we will take them in and wait for them and bring them back
> when they are done.
>
> It is very important to me to ensure my guests have easy access to
> town because North Ambergris IMO is one of the most beautifukl areas
> on the island and the only negative that keeps popping up is gettin to
> town thankfully that is not a negative at Playa Blanca Dive & Beach
> Club & Gaz Coopers
>
> all the best
>
> Gaz
> Playa Blanca Dive & Beach Club
> www.DiveBelize.com
>

Well, there ya have it, straight from the horses mouth. :^)