Has anyone ever done the shoretrips fly and dive to ambergris caye?

[TrqoisWtrs]

Good videos. If you do it again, you'll have to ask - they let me sit up in the co-pilot's seat. :)

[mdrobtx]

Good videos. If you do it again, you'll have to ask - they let me sit up in the co-pilot's seat. :)

Darn, knew I should have asked about that.:D

[CaribKng]

Your welcome.

 

Hey CaribQueen and King, did you get to see the review and videos?

 

We saw them and they are awesome :D. They have been a huge help. We are so anxious to get there. We are counting down every day. Thank you again for posting...we appreciate it! I'm sure my wife will come on and add so much more...she was really looking forward to it.

[mdrobtx]

Great, need anymore info I'll check the board daily for awhile.

Michael..................

[CaribQween]

Your welcome.

 

Hey CaribQueen and King, did you get to see the review and videos?

 

Michael,

 

Sorry I didn't write back sooner. I've been working 13-14 hour days and been a little under the weather too.

 

We're really looking forward to our day at Ambergris Caye especially after seeing and hearing about what a great time you had. Your pics and videos were fabulous. I also think you've already answered a lot of our questions in your review and helped us make our final decisions. We've decided to do the whole tour independently so that we can take the 2:00 p.m. flight back. We'll buy our plane tickets ahead of time and just grab a cab from the tourism village to the municipal airport. Most of the dive shops even say they'll pick us up right at the airport. We're going to do a combo where we'll scuba dive the Hol Chan Marine Reserve and then do a snorkel at Shark Ray Alley. I know you said that you could really do Hol Chan as a snorkel too, but we're really inexperienced at snorkeling and this way we'll sort of get the best of both worlds. We're thinking of diving with the dive shop at Ramon's Village which has lockers you can use for your gear (we'll have to double check to make sure that divers can use them even if you're not staying at the resort). Afterwards we should still have a couple of hours to rent a golf cart and check out some of the island before heading back to the airport for the flight back. I think the only question we still had was whether taxi cabs can come into the tourism village or do you have to hike outside the fence and if it's very far? Besides that I think we're all set. But thank you so much for your review and all of the pictures. It's really helped us realize that we'll be very comfortable doing this all on our own. I think it might just end up being the best tour of the cruise. We can't wait :D

[mdrobtx]

Ok, we caught a cab also because Eco tours driver was caught up in the tour buses traffic.

Yes you have to go outside the gates and face the hawkers. They are very aggressive but the eco tour guy says they are harmless. It is only about a 30 or 40 yard walk to get outside the gate from the tender pier. We had the eco tour guy with us, but after we got back we went out there to check out the flea market and I got a couple of beers that were cheaper than inside the fence. There were plenty of cruisers walking around checking out the market but the hawkers were still trying to get you to take a tour even though it was 3pm. Those guys need to take a chill pill.:D

This is how we walked out there. After you get off the tender, you'll see the Wet Lizard (has a balcony) just to your right facing the buildings. We walked thru the jewlery store right under it and out the back. Once out the back you'll see the stairs that go to the balcony of the Wet Lizard on your left. Keep walking forward another 30 yards on so and you'll see a black iron gate out to the street. There was a security guard standing there in the afternoon. That street will be Font St. Walk to your right. One of the buildings with have an overhang the covers Font ST. Keep walking and the Font St will curve a little to the right. You'll find taxi drivers lined up there.

If for some reason that gate isn't open there will be plenty of persons around that'll help you. Ask one of the tour operators holding the signs up right there on the pier.

I talked to Marvin the eco tours guy and then a Belizian business man on the flight back about the safety of the area around the pier. They both said it is safe and it's just the hawkers and aggressive individuals trying to sell stuff there that makes it feel uncomfortable.

Have fun. Hope the water is warmer for you than it was for us. My wife couldn't feel her hands and the other wife lips turned blue. Both could only snorkel the shark ray alley for about 10 minutes and then they were out.

[Friscorays]

CaribQween,

 

How was your diving in Belize (and Grand Cayman)?

[Sailfish]

My husband and I did the fly/dive package through ShoreTrips several years ago, but as we were on a very tight schedule, we nearly missed the flight back to Belize City! The dive operator in Belize was not well run and the diving, unfortunately wasn't great the day we were there. But that's not what bothered us so much - it was the group on the dive boat! They were a group of 6 divers, all friends, who thought they owned the boat. They objected to having us on the boat from the start because we were off of a cruise ship. Not only were they very anti social, but they were not what I would call great divers. I thought things would get better after the first dive, but they were rude and obnoxious. It was because of them that we almost missed our flight back to Belize City.

 

We have a done a lot of diving in Belize, and know the diving to be very good. I recommend the dive shop within walking distance of the tender pier over the fly/dive package to Ambergris Caye. The dive sites closer to the city are no where near as good, but diving in Belize can be hit or miss on a good day! If you can manage to stay in Belize ALL day (I think we had to be back on the ship by 3pm) it's probably less stressful. Remember, there will be huge lines to get back on the ship - we waited in line for over an hour!

 

Good luck!

[CaribQween]

CaribQween,

 

How was your diving in Belize (and Grand Cayman)?

 

 

 

The diving was magnificent. We actually didn't get to do Grand Cayman because our ship had mechanical problems so they changed the itinerary on us. But we still did the Fly/Dive to Ambergris Caye and we also dove in Roatan. We loved the diving in both places. In Roatan we booked through the cruiseline because they use Anthony's Keys Resort and they came highly recommended to us through our local dive shop. They ended up being as good as we had hoped they would be. We did two dives with them of which one was about 70 feet and one was about 60 feet. They just picked us up right at the cruise pier and shuttled us to the resort and then afterwards they actually dropped us back off at a dock right next to the ship pier (Mahogany Bay). It was very convenient.

 

As for the fly/dive to Ambergris Caye, we did that completely booked independently ourselves (not through shoretrips). We had to make sure we were on the very first tender of the day which was no problem. When we got to the dock, we just walked through the building and outside through the gate (which is just outside the front door) and there were cab drivers all over. We asked one gentleman if he could take us to the Muncipal Airport and he grabbed our equipment and walked us about a block to his van. He was very nice, and asked us what our plans were for the day. We said we were flying to Ambergris Caye for the day and flying back in the afternoon. He asked us what time we were flying back in and he said he would be there waiting for us. We gave him a nice tip in hopes that he truly would be there waiting for us. When we got to the airport, it was extremely small, just one room. We checked in which took about 5 minutes (maximum) and were told that they would board in about 20 minutes. We could see the plane sitting right outside the building. They boarded right on time and we took off in about 2 minutes. The flight was very smooth and it was absolutely one of the coolest things we've ever done. It was a truly beautiful view. I mean just breathtaking. When we landed at the San Pedro airport, they said they would call us someone to pick us up. We were booked to dive with the dive shop at Ramon's Village and it was really just across the street and up the road maybe a block or two. We actually just started walking but then a gal on a golf cart came by and picked us up. She was from Ramon's Village and when we tried to tip her, she didn't want to accept it; however, we made her take it anyway. She dropped us right out front of Ramon's Village and we could see the dive shop right there at the water. We walked down and signed in and they went and found the boat captain and divemaster we were going out with. We actually went out on a smaller boat and it was just the two of them and my husband and I. When we went down to the dock by the boat, we started changing into our wetsuits and the boat captain actually grabbed our equipment bags and pulled out our dive equipment and started putting everything together for us. We were actually sort of shocked. We told him he didn't have to do that and he said it was no problem. Once we were dressed, we headed out. We had booked the combo which was a one-tank dive at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve and then a snorkel at Shark Ray Alley as Michael and his wife had done (mdrobtx). We first went out to the Marine Reserve and the divemaster went over some things with us and told us that we would be seeing a lot of marine life and he gave us some hand signals that he would be using to identify the different species. It was just the three of us that went down and it was absolutely the coolest. The dive never was any deeper than approximately 15 feet which didn't matter to us. We didn't feel like we missed anything by the dive being so shallow. Actually, I think it caused us to see more. We saw so much while we were down there. We saw barracuda, nurse sharks, green moray eels, grouper, sting rays, etc. etc. We were just in heaven. It was so awesome seeing all of that for the first time. At the end of the dive, we got back in the boat by handing our tank/bcd up to the boat captain and then using a small ladder that was no problem to climb. Next, we were off to Shark Ray Alley which was only a short boat ride away. When we got there, we saw other groups snorkeling. Our guides didn't even need to get in the water with us. There was another guide down there picking up sting rays and holding them for people to touch and so we could take pictures. We saw a huge number of stingrays. They were all around us. We saw them in all sizes. We saw four together which looked like a family (one huge, one large and two little babies-very cute). We also saw another couple of nurse sharks. We just had so much fun and we were able to take a lot of pictures. We loved it. After snorkeling they took us back to the dock and of course, the boat captain broke down all of our equipment for us while we changed. There was an area where we could hose off and then change back into our dry clothes. We absolutely tipped the divemaster/guide and the boat captain nicely because they both did an absolutely superb job. Afterwards, we had about 1 1/2 hours until we had to be back at the airport so we went up to the resort restaurant which had a nice covered porch area where you could just sit out and have lunch and drinks right on the beach where you just felt like you were in paradise. The food was good, reasonably priced and waitstaff was very pleasant. Actually everybody that worked at the resort went way out of their way to make you feel welcome. Right when we came up from the dive shop, a gentleman came and grapped our equipment and said he would take it inside. We told him we weren't staying at the resort (unfortunately), but he said that he would just leave it inside the lobby while we had lunch and walked around. After lunch we went inside and got our equipment and told them at the front desk how much we just loved it there and how impressed we were with EVERYBODY we met. We then just walked back over to the airport and waited for our plane. On the way back, the plane had to stop at both the International airport and the Municipal airport, but it only took an extra 5 minutes. We literally just landed and a couple people got off and they grabbed out their luggage and we were back on the airstrip taking off again. And once again, the whole trip back was very smooth and the view was incredibly spectacular. When we got back to the airport, our taxi driver was standing right outside waiting for us just as he had promised. It took about two minutes to get our luggage and he grabbed it and we headed back to the pier. He dropped us off right at the gate so we just literally got out of the taxi and took a few steps and we were back insdie. We headed straight over to the tender and boarded it immediately and it took off about 5 minutes later. I have to say, we had scheduled things so we didn't have much of a cushion anywhere in our itinerary, but everything went so smooth and it could not have been a better day. The tender ride back was about 20 minutes and we were back on the ship. It was one of the greatest days we've ever had. I would just recommend everything and everybody from that day. It could not have been any easier as DiverEarl had originally said at the very beginning of this thread. We were able to book our flight over the internet and we booked our dives with Ramon's Village over the phone through their reservation service which is somewhere here in the U.S. Because of our ship's mechanical problems and the itinerary change, we actually went to Belize a different day than we were originally supposed to be there. At first, they told us that Belize was cancelled altogether so we had to call and cancel everything from the ship. However, during the course of the cruise, they were able to fix the mechanical problem and therefore add Belize back on. And it was so easy for us to just book the flight again over the internet and call and make the dive reservations over the phone. It was so very easy. And my husband and I definitely want to go back to spend a week on Ambergris Caye staying at Ramon's Village. It's just a magnificent little resort and the prices are very reasonable. And as everyone has said, you can rent a golf cart at any number of places as it truly is the main mode of transportation on the island. We just really, really enjoyed ourselves and would recommend what we did to anyone. We can't wait to do it all again one day. I really have to thank the original poster FamilyPlanner for starting this thread so we got all of the information we needed to do this and have such an awesome time. We love diving in the Caribbean so much that we have scheduled another 7 night Western Caribbean cruise for October and we've also scheduled a 14 night Exotic Southern Caribbean cruise for April of 2011. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask us. Safe Diving Everyone!!!

[familyplanner]

Michelle,

 

I am glad you had such a great experience. My husband and I are anxious to go back to Belize and dive again. Thanks for your post and all the information.

 

Laura

[CaribQween]

Michelle,

 

I am glad you had such a great experience. My husband and I are anxious to go back to Belize and dive again. Thanks for your post and all the information.

 

Laura

 

Laura,

 

You have no idea how grateful we are that you started this thread. We probably never would have had the courage to do all of this if we hadn't been able to get all of this input from everyone. We just had the time of our lives. We absolutely want to go back and spend a week on Ambergris Caye diving.

 

Michele

[gratefulgurl]

We spent about 30 minutes here but could have spent much longer if we’d wanted. The dive master was very leinent about time. Also he was very knowledgeable and professional. But…the water was so freakin cold my wife couldn’t feel her hands and the other womans lips were blue. Of course this was unusual and was because of the extreme arctic cold front that came down from Canada and froze everyone in the states and even cooled the Caribbean considerably......... Once again we were allowed to snorkel as long as we’d liked but because of the cold water, we only lasted.....

 

Thank You so much for this info, videos etc. We had made our decision to do this exact tour because of all your posts, but have a nagging question.

:confused: I'm confused, everything I have read said that the water temp is always warm in Belize. How unusual was this arctic cold? I would hate to invest so much money into a day that might be so drastically effected by cold weather (we have never been able to afford this much on a shore excursion but it sounds like a once in a lifetime experience worth the $$)

[jetski3]

When the water is clear, it is hard to tell how deep you really are.

[SantaAna,CA]

I was on Seabourn's Legend through the Panama Canal in 2008. I did the fly to Ambergris and dive trip through Shoretrips. I want to say I was not impressed with the diving. The logistics worked perfectly, no problem. But, if it hadn't been for a few nurse sharks, there was practically nothing to see.

 

Got back to Belize, other divers on the ship were happier with their dive on the island! And it was expensive, the Ambergris excursion.

 

P.S. Please remember, if someone says "oh, the water temperature is 80 degrees", that means eighty degrees on the surface. When you dive, I can assure you, it is not 80 degrees at 60 feet. I always wore a full wetsuit and a hood to boot! People made fun of me, but they were shivering after their second dive, and I was warm as toast.

 

Jane

[divemedic]

Looking to do the fly/dive to ambergris key. A little gunshy about times. Arrive on Carnival Legend on Feb. 16th at 0800 and depart 1700. Is this plenty of time and worth it? I heard others that have been to turneffe and enjoyed it more. Guess it comes down to the day you go...hit/miss. I think Belize will be an hour behind so we would be there at 0700 to 1600 (local time)??? Do they pick the dive operator you go with in San Pedro? Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. We are looking at booking through shore trips.

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Divemedic

 

(great info reading all these posts!)