AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Talk Belize Trip Reports The Blue Hole

I'll be visiting Ambergris Caye for the first time in November and will be staying at Banyan Bay. Probably diving with Bottom Time. We're debating on whether we should dive the Blue Hole.
I've heard it's a very long 3 hour boat ride.
Is it worth the trouble?
We're advanced divers. How deep are you allowed to go on this dive?
Thanks
jimboom

You might want to try reposting this in another section, you will probably get a lot more responses.
My opinion is, if you are going to be here long enough, you should do this at least once in your life. The bluehole is great and the dozen or so bull sharks that follow you up from the depths adds to the awe of the place. The wall dives you do after the blue hole are spectacular! Plus, out at the Atolls, you see critters you will not see here on the reef. In one single day (during the boatride and the dives) we saw a HUGE pod of dolphins, had to be about 100, family of pilot whales with babies, manta ray doing his loops, hammerhead, and of course the dozen or so bullsharks. Unforgettable.

Thanks JZB.
I've also read about the stalactites and stalagmites in the Blue Hole. Were you able to dive to that level?

Jimboom,
The stalagmites are at about the 140ft. level which is usually max. depth, I maxed out at 156 one time but that was along time ago.
Amigos big boat is about a 2 hr. boat ride I think.
The 2 wall dives at Light House are world class & worth the trip.
Make sure you do the nite dive at Hol Chan, best nite dive I've made!!

Well worth the trip. You can swim between the stalagmites, but as jdog mentioned the bottom of first shelf is little deeper than the acceptable recreational dive depth of 130 ft.

Hi,
I just did the Blue Hole and you might want to read my review of the company I used - Aqua Dives. I thought the Blue Hole was a bit overrated, it is pretty dark and the dive is short, it's also cold. I'm glad I did it for the experience but I would not do a repeat. I loved the next two walls and and the National Park (Half Moon)island we went to for lunch so overall it was a great time but I saw more wildlife on the reef just off of
San Pedro. I dove locally with ProTech which is a short beach walk from your hotel and they recommend Amigos del Mar for the Hole trips.

Thanks for your input JDOG, Amanda, and Wendy.
This is my first chat room so I apologize for my slow response to your comments.
jimboom

Sorry for your bad experience Wendy. What happened to you was just plain wrong.

That aside, I'm a Blue Hole fan but I only champion it for people that have cold water experience or a minimum of 50 *recent* dives. It's a hard dive to appreciate for newer divers and IMO, it's a dangerous dive for really new divers. I also don't recommend it as a dive for people that will be diving gear they are not familiar with (in other words, rental gear or brand new gear).

I've been in the Hole 6-7 times and I'll be back. Anyone interested in some of my experiences should be able to find them by doing a search using me as author and the key word Hole or Blue Hole and maybe shark.

As much as I enjoy the Blue Hole dive, for what it is . . I particularly enjoy the two followup dives. They are superb. I enjoy the Blue Hole dive day more than Turneffe.

Seashell,
Several posts have referenced the dives after the Blue Hole as being pretty good. What, in your opinion, makes them special?
Also, what's an IMO?

IMO = In my opinion, sometimes you will see IMNSHO, which is = to "in my not so humble opinion".

The second dive of the day after the Hole, is usually Halfmoon Caye Wall. You drop off the boat into gin clear water, over a white sand bottom and as you descend, you can see the tracks of the conch crisscrossing about. Once all the divers have gathered, they head off towards the wall. Understand you can't see the wall yet, just some coral heads. As we snake our way through a beautiful little cut, the sand starts to slope away and suddenly we are out flying off the wall.

Once there, you may well be joined by spotted eagle rays, definitely will be buzzed by schools of creole wrasse, turtles, angels of all description and the life on the wall is stunning . .

The dive is always called long before I'm ready to end it.

Surface interval is spent on Halfmoon Caye, an idyllic island and lunch is served.

The third dive of the day is often Aquarium. I don't know if I need to give much more description than the name implies. It's a more shallow dive, with lots of coral, hard and soft, fishies everywhere, turtles, eels . . . just a lovely lovely dive site.

How do I get the pictures in my mind onto this screen? There just aren't words within me this evening that can do it justice.