"San Pedro, Caye Ambergris" a Ambergris Cay Travel Page by diver-x

The first Monday of September is a holiday here in the US, so we decided to take advantage of the long weekend to do some diving in Belize. We had been to Belize before and saw the mainland (loved it!) so we thought we should visit the Cayes this time. After much debate, we decided on Caye Ambergris due to the fact that it was off season in Belize and we wanted to have as many diving, hotel & restaurant options as possible. Caye Ambergris is probably one of the more visited places in Belize and there are plenty of hotels & resorts to choose from. Caye Ambergris is just a 15 minute flight from Belize City. We weren't sure if we should spend the money to fly there or if we should schlep our way via land taxi, then water taxi. A quick inquiry with Maya Island Air made our decision easy. To fly over costs about $47 USD and Cliff was able to get an airline employee discount on top of that, so the choice was obvious. And the flight was a scream! The tiny plane fit about 10 or 12 of us and is was NOT air conditioned, but the view and the time saved certainly made it worth it.

Our main objective going to Caye Ambergris was to scuba dive. While a day of diving at Ambergris sure beats a day of diving at home, I don't think we need to go back for the diving. Visibility just isn't up to par with the rest of the Caribbean, so it's not all that colorful. Dive masters aren't very ecologically minded either. Our dive masters didn't have a problem with handling the wildlife. One of them hugged a nurse shark, another chased a crab down and passed it around for all to hold (if you wanted). I've never seen any dive master condone wildlife handling before - not even in Jamaica. Overall we were disappointed with the diving due to our high expectations, but we still had fun. In my opinion, the best attractions in Belize are on the mainland.