Never Before Scuba -- in Belize?

[niuchick02]

My finace and I are going to belize in december. We have never been scuba diving before. Is belize a good area for beginners. We are booking our excursion through our ship (RCL). Would you recommend trying scuba for the first time?? Has anyone ever done the "Discover Scuba Diving" excursion?

[JoeU]

My finace and I are going to belize in december. We have never been scuba diving before. Is belize a good area for beginners. We are booking our excursion through our ship (RCL). Would you recommend trying scuba for the first time?? Has anyone ever done the "Discover Scuba Diving" excursion?

 

From what I understand, Belize has the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world. There are a ton of dive sites. I am assuming you both are not certified. If you are not certified, any site in the Caribbean is fine for a discover scuba. I have done discover scuba in St Marteen, Cozumel, and Manzanillo. I am in the process of becomming PADI certified (one more OW dive!!). If the two of you enjoy the water, you may want to consider becomming certified before your trip. You can do and see so much more once you're certified, and you won't have to spend valuable time learning about what you're doing, and just do it.

 

Joe

[The Flying Pirate]

I would recommend the discover scuba in Belize. As the previous poster said, the reef is just awesome. Also Belize is an English speaking country so there will be less chance of a language barrier, than if you try it in Cozumel. Warning if you do the Discover Scuba you will probably get hooked and have to get certified. I did the discover thing on a cruise 15 years ago and am still at it! If you have time before your cruise you might want to consider doing the open water certification before you go. There is a local dive chop just about everywhere that can help with that. But if you don't have time, go out have fun and enjoy it.

 

Depending on what ship you are sailing on several of them offer SCUBA open water training right on board. They do the pool training and class room during the days at sea and then do the check out dives in port.

[scubaran]

Belize is great for scuba! Just be aware that you'll be taking a boat ride of probably an hour or longer to get to the reef to dive (it's quite a distance off shore). As such, I'd book through the ship just to keep the anxiety factor about missing the ship to a minimum (the ships guarantee that they wait for all their excursions to return). I did a seven day live-aboard on the reef and they're the best reefs I've been on since. You can check out the pictures on my website. A lot of them were taken in Belize. www.randallgamby.com Might be a good reference on the creatures/fish you'll see as well as I try to research to make sure I've got the names/pictures correct.

 

Randal

[scubadiver888]

The Discover Scuba Diving is an industry standard introduction to scuba diving. The cruise ships pick the dive operators so you'll have a safe experience.

 

Since you have never been scuba diving before, even a bad dive in Belize will be really good. You really cannot go wrong. One word of warning. Some people get a little freaked out when they wear a mask or get into open water. The only thing that will get you in trouble when scuba diving is panic. If you don't feel good just cancel the dive.

 

You'll know what I mean if it happens. When I did a Discover Scuba Dive one of the people in my group had all the gear on, she went 6 inches below the water stood up (the training is in shallow water so you should be able to stand up if you don't like it) and ripped her mask off. The dive instructor worked with her for a few minutes, one-on-one, but she just couldn't get used to it.

 

On the other hand, everyone else loved it. It was a fantastic experience for me. If you have been snorkeling you'll probably love this even more.

 

Darrell

[niuchick02]

Thank you all very much for your opinions! I feel much better about the trip! I just hope I'm not one of those people that freak out! LOL!