i am staying at coral bay villas from 1/24-31 and want to know if anyone has advice on a good dive shop, must-do dives, etc. also, is the blue hole trip worth the long day? what about other dive sites away from ac?

we really enjoyed the trip to blue hole, the overnight at half moon caye wa awesome too...

check the pages at: //AmbergrisCaye.com/diving/

for details on some great dives around here...

Jon V
It depends on what type of diving you want to do. Where have you been diving? What did you like and not like? There are several very different types of diving in Belize. You'll get lots of help if you get more specific.
My dive buddies are mostly underwater photographers and the Blue Hole holds no interest for us. We did the Blue Holes in Palau which are smaller in circumstance but lead out through a tunnel onto a wall.

JUST GOT BACK 1/2 FOR S.P. 7 OF US DOVE WITH AMIGOS DEL MAR. GREAT DIVE SHOP. I HIGHLY RECOMMMEND THEM. CONTACT MELANIE, SHE GAVE US A GREAT DEAL ON OUR DIVES. TELL HER BILL C. SENT YOU.

ScubaLady:

i've been diving in thailand, indonesia and, most recently, the bay islands of honduras. the reef was great in roatan but the fish were not so big (except for some enormous grouper trailing a glass bottom boat.) i enjoy wall dives, swim-throughs, seeing some big fish in open waters (saw an impressive black tip shark at about 40 feet in thailand), etc. i have done about 30 dives but feel i still have a lot to see and learn.

John V - My suggestion would be to warm up with a couple of reef dives then go for teh Blue Hole trip. It would be sad to be so close and not do BH plus you get a chance to sample the outer attols.
Make sure when doing the reef your dive master takes you to the wreck. It is only a small barge but has a lot of fish life (large grouper & nurse sharks) plus a friendly 5' green moray in the bow of the boat. Make sure your dive masters takes some fish food.
Enjoy your stay.

TC

We've been three times and dive with Amigos every time. They are great, Melanie is very professional.

does anyone know about patojo's dive shop? they were cheaper than the rest.

How do we reach Patojo?

Definitely have to do the BH. Altho if you've seen one stalactite, you've pretty much seen them all. But, you're only talking about 15 minutes out of your day in the hole. I wouldn't waste time doing just the big hole itself more than once, but the exhilerating boat ride, beautiful scenery in the islands, the thrill of a couple of black tips up close and personal, plus the thrill of seeing my depth gauge just about pegged at 140' was worth the trip. Come to think of it, lunch on Half Moon, the booby nests and a couple of fantastic dives after the BH. Hell, maybe I will do it again.