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Hey Jude, you make that diving sound so comfortable. It sounds like a great way.

I don't dive, but if I did, I would want to go that way. I watched the divers from another caye, hustle to dive shop, get instructions, get on the boat, go do their dives, come back to the shop, eat, rest, go back out doing the repeated process again. Tired me out watching them trying to get ready again.

It didn't look like a very restful trip and they did this for 3 days straight, while we watched.
They were staying at the same resort, so we had many convrsations about their dives.

They had fun, but didn't have good rest.

I may add, they did admit to getting tired too, so it wasn't just me, the nondiver, watching.

Why is this up here? I didn't do it

mebbe somebody bumped it , you replied & they deleted post ? It's the darksideeeeeeee

It was last year

uh uh - i think i see what happend and I think i was right --HA! bumpity bumpity bump

I'm gonna cover my eyes and make it dark....then off to the bed, gnite

Gotta fess up, it was me. I was reading this post and the new ones at the same time. Replied to the wrong one and taaa daaa, here we are>
While we are here, what are your favorite dive sites. My hubby and I want to do the blue hole but have made no choices on the other 4-5 days. We're working with Amigos but no choices yet. Sorry again for the bump

I don't dive, sorry

I agree with most of what's been said so far. On equalising problems I'm against the use of any drugs. Any condition that needs a drug to overcome it can return or get worse while you're down there and give problems ascending. If you have congestion then best not to dive at all until it's gone.
On dive sites, I haven't found a bad site locally yet, nor any one that is much better than the rest. So much depends on exactly where and how deep you go, the direction you go in, and what the conditions on the day are. I had a VERY experienced diver with my center in December, and he chose to dive at the same site (Tuffee) for six dives - said it was so interesting. Mind you, he was going pretty deep.
In terms of intrinsic interest - mainly the "spur and groove" shape of the terrain - I'm hard put to think of anywhere I've been in the world that compares with the Barrier Reef. It's topologically more interesting than the atolls, though less attractive in some other ways.
We try whenever we have enough divers to make it economic to go well north (several miles) and dive unmarked areas. Away from the town with its past history of fishing you stand a better chance of seeing large pelagics (eg. a Mako and Tiger on the same dive).
The only problem with the barrier reef is that isn't circular so when the weather is coming from the east there's no "lee". I envy the guys at Grand Cayman - if they have bad weather they simply travel around the island until the weather goes away!
For a shallow/bad weather dive Hol Chan does very well. The only trouble is that there's only one of it and it can get quite crowded. And of course you need to be careful with timing to avoid strong tidal currents flowing in or out.
I've dived around Lighthouse a few times and rate it very highly. The Blue Hole is a superb dive for people experienced with diving in gloomy grey surroundings. It's not a dive for novices though and I try to deter them. Makes an excellent tech dive (deeper and longer than normal).
Half Moon Caye Wall and The Aquarium are world class open-ocean wall dives, and although the last time I went the conditions were a bit murky I'd rate them as excellent for anyone other than absolute beginners. I agree with the overnight option as well - if you can dive the BLue Hole around noon it makes for a much brighter dive, and of course it's much more relaxed.
Many books have it that The Elbow is the best dive in Belize. Each to their own, of course, but for me it doesn't come near the Lighthouse dives.
Haven't dived further south yet but I'd be interested to hear from someone experienced what it's like.
The only problem I have with the diving in (this area of) Belize is that there aren't significant wrecks, only reef dives. Most of my diving friends look for a wreck a day and we just don't have that here. Word is that there are one or two WWII subs at below-recreational depths, and if anyone has any more precise information on their location I'd be really grateful to hear, as we do dive to those depths and these could be great attractions for techies.

I agree with you about the Elbow. I've tried it a few times now and have never enjoyed it the way I've enjoyed the Halfmoon Caye wall and/or the Aquarium.

So far I've never been that enthused about wreck diving either. However, I have a big bunch of dive buds that tech dive and love to dive wrecks. This past October, I met up with a few of them in Florida. We did a bunch of diving out of Boynton and Pompano. Visited a couple of wrecks because that's what they wanted to do. I couldn't have been more underwhelmed.

The part I really couldn't figure out about it, was these guys dive there all the time and have been on these wrecks or similar before. Why on earth, they'd want to do them again, is beyond me.

Give me a nice reef dive any time. (all that said, I haven't made it to Truk yet)