Belize on a budget?

[airwick]

Is my thread title possible? My DW and I just booked the Legend on 3/23. But we are not looking to spend a lot of $ on shore. We are happy with being beach bums. I'll do a little snorkling off the beach with my own equipment. Any suggestion on if there is any beaches to go to for not a lot of $? Or do we have to book a tour?

[driftwood]

. . . the entire reef is protected by law, and as you want to snorkel, you will HAVE to use a licensed tour guide, as it is not LEGAL to visit the reef without one.

 

The reef extends from the north of the Bay of Honduras all the way south to Nicaragua I think, although we did not swim quite that far. My suggestion would be to book the least expensive snorkeling excursion that is offered--the more expensive ones are just going to take you farther by boat and consequently need more money to pay for gas (usually diesel fuel). Exotic places like the Blue Hole are expensive to get to and are essentially for SCUBA divers looking for deep water. So what then? Snorkeling excursions to Goff's Caye or Turneffe, perhaps--although the atolls are pretty far out, too. Read the descriptions and see what YOU are really interested in--and then pick the cheapest of these. US $90 per person is not an unreasonable charge, but of course the larger the boat the thinner the costs can be spread. The reef is really beautiful and very alive, and in fact you will find the guide a very valuable asset in getting to interesting environments and in pointing out a number of things you might not otherwise notice!

 

When we went we were a group of only four and one guide/captain; only four of us took to the water, my DW deciding the swimming would be too much for her--so the rest of us were led a merry chase! I am 64, and the other two were very healthy young women in their twenties who were probably just off a swim team at college, so I got a workout that day! The good news is that I was able to take over 150 photographs with my new underwater camera, and many of them are actually quite good. Also my very tanned wife was impressed that I did not drown . . . . :D

[H20life]

I think I read that the water taxi from Belize City to Caye Caulker is $30pp round trip. What's the beach like on Caye Caulker? Are there any operators offering snorkel excursions from Caye Caulker that might be less expensive?

[driftwood]

Let us say I am in Washington, D.C. I want to go to Miami, FL. I buy a ticket to New York, NY, and then fly from NY to Miami. Make sense to you?

 

Unless your ship is heading NORTH when you reach Belize, Caye Caulker is OUT OF YOUR WAY by a minimum of two hours round-trip; you will be paying (if your figures are correct) $30 pp to be taken out of your way; and then you will be hoping--no certain thing, believe me--that you will be able to get a trip to the reef from Caye Caulker in the narrow window of time you have given yourself. The three-hour reef tour will cost you $90 US pp if you are lucky. You do the math. And hope you can make the last water taxi--and that it will get in before your ship sails.

 

More fun than a barrel of monkeys! :D

 

P.S. The "beach" at Caye Caulker is like . . . "nothing."

[bluefins]

Hi there Airwick - just wanted to let you know that we have a pretty good group on our roll call for 3/23. I invite you to join our roll call!