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Who to book in Belize for Snorkeling & Shark Ray Alley


Lorenita2005
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We leave on May 24th.

 

Been doing a lot of research on Snorkeling & Shark Ray Alley. Any advice? Trying to decide between these three narrowed down. Would prefer not to go through the ship because I like smaller groups.

 

Belize Express Tours

http://www.belizeexpresstours.com/#_=_

Good reviews, $60 per person, 5 hours shark alley and a beach, King James, friendly party atmosphere, larger group

 

Coral Breeze

$75 per person with lunch, not sure of group size, seems OK

http://www.coralbreezetours.com/tour...eparture=21412

 

Belize Exotic Adventures

$70.00 per person, no deposit, good reviews, seems to be smaller group

http://www.discoverbelize.bz/belizet...ic-experiences

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We recently with coral breeze. $25 deposit, balance paid on the dock. There was 16 people on the tour. 3 guides and the captain were also onboard. We found that they were professional and everything advertised on their website was accurate.

 

One big suggestion: wear a rash guard for this tour. It's about 40 minutes to Caye Caulker each way in an open top boat, plus snorkeling for over an hour. Many in our boat were very sunburned when they got back to Belize City.

Edited by YubaSutter
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Ok, I can not personally recommend a private tour guide for this because we went using the cruise ship (which we "normally" don't do, but under the circumstance we had to).

 

However, I did do some extensive research prior to booking with the cruiseline and found that if I was to ever go again, I would book with Caveman. We did see him on our tour and I just kept wishing that we were with him instead. I do follow him on his social media site and everyone that I had talked to about him prior to our booking absolutely loved him. His reviews were pretty awesome as well.

 

HERE is a review someone did that I actually had just read today. It has a beautiful story of "Caveman" himself and his history.

 

Like I said, I can't "personally" recommend him since I didn't use him. I'm just saying check into it and it's another option. :)

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Well, I am on the ship now, and booked the tour through RCL. I know....I know.....but it's a boat with shade and limited to 34 people, plus it starts at 10am, guaranteed to wait for us to get back! All the ones I looked at for private tours, no shade on the boat and when I called, they told me up to 30-40 people per boat. Not exactly small, so the ship's excursion seems good. We will be on it in 2 days!

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We used Belize Express Tours in Feb. They were fantastic. There was the driver and a guide plus another girl(helper) who had a wifi hotspot for us to use on the boat. The boat was fairly new, speedy and had a shaded area. They then picked up 2 more local guides when we got the Caye Caulker. There were only about 12 of us on the boat so not crazy and crowded.

 

Everyone was super friendly and helpful in the water and with my kids. We plan to use them again next year. Afterwards they had tons of fresh fruit, punch and rum punch.

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My son and I went though Carnival and booked, and I am really glad that we did. We had tender issues with getting off the ship and as a carnival excursion we were the first ones off. Others had to wait. Our tour was through Carnival but the tour company was H20 Terra Ltd. My son is 6 and our guide was Lucio ( think that is right), he was wonderful. We were not even off the boat yet and he already had a shark laying in his arms. He was super informative, and answered all of my sons questions. We saw sharks, rays, starfish, coral, a moray eel, etc, etc. He also took us to feed the tarpon, and we were blessed to see a pod of dolphins on the way back. I highly recommend using your own snorkel gear, and taking extra sunscreen. My son wore a rash guard when out of the water along with sunscreen, and I just kept applying sunscreen (biodegradable type), and we were fine. Also the rum punch on the way back was yummy.

11038583_10153420695732323_8297389781412889260_o.jpg

 

GOPR0627.JPG

 

100_2160.JPG

 

GOPR0733.JPG

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  • 4 weeks later...
My son and I went though Carnival and booked, and I am really glad that we did. We had tender issues with getting off the ship and as a carnival excursion we were the first ones off. Others had to wait. Our tour was through Carnival but the tour company was H20 Terra Ltd. My son is 6 and our guide was Lucio ( think that is right), he was wonderful. We were not even off the boat yet and he already had a shark laying in his arms. He was super informative, and answered all of my sons questions. We saw sharks, rays, starfish, coral, a moray eel, etc, etc. He also took us to feed the tarpon, and we were blessed to see a pod of dolphins on the way back. I highly recommend using your own snorkel gear, and taking extra sunscreen. My son wore a rash guard when out of the water along with sunscreen, and I just kept applying sunscreen (biodegradable type), and we were fine. Also the rum punch on the way back was yummy.

11038583_10153420695732323_8297389781412889260_o.jpg

 

GOPR0627.JPG

 

100_2160.JPG

 

GOPR0733.JPG

 

Is this the excursion that you went on through Carnival? http://www.carnival.com/shore-excursions/belize/shark-rays-and-island-getaway-509071

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My son and I went though Carnival and booked, and I am really glad that we did. We had tender issues with getting off the ship and as a carnival excursion we were the first ones off. Others had to wait. Our tour was through Carnival but the tour company was H20 Terra Ltd. My son is 6 and our guide was Lucio ( think that is right), he was wonderful. We were not even off the boat yet and he already had a shark laying in his arms. He was super informative, and answered all of my sons questions. We saw sharks, rays, starfish, coral, a moray eel, etc, etc. He also took us to feed the tarpon, and we were blessed to see a pod of dolphins on the way back. I highly recommend using your own snorkel gear, and taking extra sunscreen. My son wore a rash guard when out of the water along with sunscreen, and I just kept applying sunscreen (biodegradable type), and we were fine. Also the rum punch on the way back was yummy.

11038583_10153420695732323_8297389781412889260_o.jpg

 

GOPR0627.JPG

 

100_2160.JPG

 

GOPR0733.JPG

Those are great pictures, may I ask what camera you used? Also, aprox how many people were on this excursion? Thanks!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Take the life jacket. The current is usually mild but it can affect you so take it.

It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

 

It doesn't matter how fit you are or how strong of a swimmer you are, take the life vest. (Or you may need to hand it off to someone in need)

 

This is a FABULOUS trip, I had an awesome time, but your in nature and you need to be responsible.

 

No matter which tour company you choose, when you're in a group situation, don't rely on guides to keep you safe. Take the life jacket and be aware of your position and try to stay between the safety ring or trailing guide and the boat.

 

We had a young man in our group that was free diving down and get close up pics. With the current and all the swimming around, he had tired himself out and didn't have a life jacket. He started struggling which led to a panic. Lucky for him there were divers in the area that helped him drift back to their boat.

I saw him, but stupid me, I didn't have my jacket and I felt myself getting tired.

 

Our guides were unaware that they were missing any one.

I got back on the boat just in front of the safety ring trio and I asked, "Where's the guy in the Capt America swim suit?' and the were like, "Who?". That's when I saw him on the dive boat and I said, 'That guy, he's ours.' The boat pulled up next to us and he and his gf jumped back in the boat with us.

 

It was scary that the guides didn't notice the guy struggling, but the 'safety' guy in the rear was having to pull 3 people on a safety ring back to boat against a mild current and so he was face in the water and didn't see me or the other guy was way behind him.

 

What happens is your face down in the water following a string ray or shark and it appears that since you're swimming with the animal that you are making progress to where you are heading, but that wasn't the case.

I was swimming (kicking feet with fins) just behind a shark heading in the direction of the boat, after about 20 seconds, I look up to make sure I wasn't going to run into anything and I discovered I was further from the boat than when I started filming. I had to freestyle swim back to ring, where my dh was.

Once I was sure he was where he could touch, I hopped in the boat to see about the other guy. I felt bad for not being able to help the guy but I didn't see the divers swim for him, so I was confident he was going to be ok. But you don't know until you see them, and that's a scary section of time.

 

Since you are going to asked, we booked the tour through the ShoreExcursioner site. It was Shark Ray Alley and Gardens by air.

I'll report back the name of the outfitter, they were super nice but the used regular life jacket fastened around your waste, like a noodle, instead of the yellow snorkel vest.

 

My best recommendation is to find a company using the Yellow Vest and smaller groups no more than 12-15, smaller if you can get.

 

We had 30 in our group.

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