Belize Belize
Fish Tale: Belize |
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Destination: Belize Time of year you went: March 2006 Boat/Resort you visited: Nekton Pilot Liveaboard - 2 weeks back to back Diving Report (Type of diving (walls, drift, wreck etc) What did you see? What was the best? Boats and crew): The diving was very good especially in the first week when the visibility was substantially better. Wind on the second week reduced the visibility from 100'+ down to about 50' on average. In almost 3 weeks I didn't see any rain which was GREAT!!! I heard from the crew that there was LOTS of rain in January and February which make me happy I delayed the Belize dive trip to March.
In the first week on the Nekton there was only 14 divers out of 32 max which made for a nearly empty dive boat which was GREAT. I had my own private cabin :) In the second week there was 27 divers which made the boat more crowded, however I didn't mind because I lucked-out again to have the same private cabin in the second week. I was able to leave my dive gear and luggage on the Nekton in my cabin during the Saturday between dive weeks. I only had to pack my bags incase they had to move me into a different cabin for the second week. The Nekton land transport dropped me off at the Princess Hotel for the half day between dive weeks which was nice.
Regarding the South and Central Belize dive itineraries.... they were the same with the exception of only 2 dive sites that I did on Glovers Reef which is considered part of the South Belize Itinerary. In the second week, for the Central Belize itinerary, it was about a 95% repeat of the same dive sites that I did in the first week on the South Belize Itinerary. There is virtually no difference in the South and Central Belize itinerary. I did a total of 55 dives in the two weeks, 6 minutes short of 52 hours underwater in only 12 dive days.
During the two weeks the Belize Aggressor 3 and Sun Dancer did the same dive sites... the other live-aboards were almost always only one mooring over from the Nekton diving almost the same sites.
Would you go back or recommend to a friend? I recommend the Nekton... it's a well run dive operation. The food was good too. The Nekton Pilot just needs an up-date with new paint, carpet etc. I heard the she is going into dry dock later this year for a big over-haul and up-date.
The Princess Hotel in Belize City was OK.
What could have been better, things people should be aware of? The Nekton is not a totally sea-sick free boat as advertised. One of the crew (a divemaster from Belize City) along with several passengers got sea sick on the first day of the second week during the high winds and high seas. The Nekton boat bounced around pretty good. In the high seas and big waves I believe the mono-haul Aggressor boats would have handled the big waves much better. In moderate to smaller waves the Nekton boat was good. Author of Report: Clayton Zwicker More Information on Belize |