snorkeling excursion Belize recommendations

[dramaqueenjan]

Just wamt a good snorkeling excursion and beach any recommendations

[iambeast]

You can check out Goff's Caye, it's only 30 minutes away from port by Boat. It's a relaxing island and makes good grounds for snorkeling.

[justin218]

I'm writing this post to sum up some of the research I did for snorkeling in Belize for a recent cruise I went on. I hope it will help out people in the future as I spent a whole night reading up on everything myself. I went on the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas in April 2015. I ended up taking a private tour(which was amazing) after I weighed all the options.

 

So Shark Ray Alley and Hol Chan Marine Reserve are the best places to see from what I read. These are where I ended up going. Hol Chan is a marine reserve/park which has an entrance fee. You boat out and rangers check the passes on your boat. Everyone anchors at around the same areas and then get out to snorkel or dive. Shark Ray Alley isn't the reef, but a nearby area where you can swim with tons of sharks, and have massive rays below you.

 

On to the options I found:

 

1. "Sharks, Rays and Island Getaway - BEF1" by Royal Caribbean; 5.5 Hours. I wonder where this actually goes to for the snorkeling? They don't actually say Shark Ray Alley or Hol Chan. Still have to tender to mainland I read. The easiest, pay Royal Caribbean and they take care of everything for you. But probably the most packed and overpriced.

 

2. Sea Sports: ~6 Hours. Specifically says they take you out to Hol Chan Marine Reserve and the Shark Ray Alley. These guys sound serious about the snorkeling, they do a lot of diving.

http://www.seasportsbelize.com/hol-chan-shark-ray-alley-snorkeling.html

 

3. Eco Tours by Boat: 5 Hours

This one sounds a lot like the cruise excursion, but its half the price.

http://www.ecotoursbelize.com/snorkeling.html

 

4. Eco Tours by Air: 5 Hours

This sounds pretty intense. You fly out to San Pedro, then boat to snorkel the reefs(Hol Chan I think?), and then snorkel shark ray alley. I was worried about all the different modalities of travel on this, so I elected against it.

 

5. Private tour by Ivar Marchand (recommended by a ton of people on these forums)

So Ivar is a highly rated tour guide in Belize that I came across mentioned many times in these forums. He will basically take you wherever you'd like to go. I emailed him inquiring about a Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley snorkel for 5 people and he got back to me quickly. He also said he would get us whatever beverages we would like, but we'd reimburse him for them. His email is pbuay at yahoo dot com

 

The decision:

After weighing all the options, we elected to go on the private tour with Ivar. It wasn't any more expensive than the other options, would be private, and we would for sure go where we wanted. I wasn't sure where some of the other tours went exactly, especially the Royal Caribbean one.

 

The excursion day:

So we grabbed the first tender off the boat to Belize City. This was a bit of an ordeal as the seas were pretty choppy and they could only tender on one side of the boat. On the whole way over we were worried about the choppiness in a smaller boat, even our fisherman companians with their sea legs. But we did make it to Belize City, and Ivar was waiting with a sign for us outside of the main port area. We walked with Ivar for a few minutes through the streets until we reached a smaller dock. Now I will be honest, at this point, the whole situation looks a bit shady. Ivar hires a boat and captain to take you out, but it is a smallish boat and the dock is pretty desolate. There was also a sunken boat at the dock which was a bit concerning. Glad we didn't go on that one.

 

But anyways, we mustered our way to Ivar's chartered boat and got the courage to hop on. We mentioned our concern about the choppiness, but we were informed it won't be as bad once we get out a little bit, that by the port it can be choppy. And this was true. It was not horrible at all and nobody got sick.

 

I will have to say the excursion from this point on was amazing. We boated out for awhile until we reached a nice area where Ivar asked any of us if we'd like to hop off for a swim. A few of us did and it was nice to get in the water. We also had a cooler full of water, beer and soda that Ivar had packed which was great. After this we rode out a bit more to Caye Caulker where we got our snorkeling gear. I had my own, but not all of us did. Ivar also picked up our passes for Hol Chan there. Then we went out to Hol Chan and snorkeled for awhile. Ivar got out and snorkeled with us, showing us around. It was a beautiful snorkel with great reefs and wildlife. One of the highlights was Ivar finding us a sea turtle after some of us had gone back onto the boat. He told us to come back out to see it, what a stand up guy!

 

After this, we went to Shark Ray Alley, where we swam with countless sharks, with massive rays underneath us. Ivar took a video of us with one of our phones so we'd be able to remember. Shark Ray Alley was really a mindblowing experience and I would recommend it to anyone. Ivar and our boat captain Mark were throwing bait out so that the sharks stayed by our boat for a while.

 

Then we headed back to Caye Caulker to return the snorkel gear, and explore for a little bit. We spent a lot of time snorkeling so we wouldn't have really had time to eat on the island. Once we left Caye Caulker we stopped to feed some big tarpon which was pretty nice too. Then we headed back to port while drinking some beers and sodas. Ivar also brought chips and salsa, and a pineapple. We made it back in time, by about 30-45 min probably.

 

Overall I would recommend Ivar to anyone for any kind of excursion, but our Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley snorkel trip was amazing! Our boat captain Mark was great too. I will say, this excursion might be for the more adventurous. We were riding on the boat for probably a good two hours in total, Hol Chan isnt close. But you have to be a little adventurous to jump in the water with the sharks or you wouldn't be looking to do it, right?

 

I hope this helps people in the future, I know it would have helped me!

[kimandtim]

thanks Justin218 for your review of Ivar. We have him reserved for our trip in a couple of weeks and I will also do a quick review to help others since there isn't a lot of information out there about him since he's a small operation

[kimandtim]

As promised, here is my review of our private tour for six with Ivar. First of all, I'm torn as I write this, but I wouldn't recommend him after our day. Here is the nicest guy and very knowledgeable about the sea life, but I felt like one of the small group tours would have been better and quite a bit less expensive. My main concern was the tiny, unshaded dingy that we went out in. It's a long ride to the snorkel areas and it was very uncomfortable. It was a busy port day and Ivar was on the phone most of the time out after we had waited at the dock for him for 30 minutes or more. Evidently, he is the manager or owner of some business and was having to give instructions to his crew. He is very interested in the reef itself, so the snorkeling was 90% looking at coral. Had less than five minutes with the sharks and rays. Maybe we just hit him on a bad day, but I can't justify encouraging someone to pay $550 for the experience we had just because he is a friendly guy.

[wantocruisemore]

As promised, here is my review of our private tour for six with Ivar. First of all, I'm torn as I write this, but I wouldn't recommend him after our day. Here is the nicest guy and very knowledgeable about the sea life, but I felt like one of the small group tours would have been better and quite a bit less expensive. My main concern was the tiny, unshaded dingy that we went out in. It's a long ride to the snorkel areas and it was very uncomfortable. It was a busy port day and Ivar was on the phone most of the time out after we had waited at the dock for him for 30 minutes or more. Evidently, he is the manager or owner of some business and was having to give instructions to his crew. He is very interested in the reef itself, so the snorkeling was 90% looking at coral. Had less than five minutes with the sharks and rays. Maybe we just hit him on a bad day, but I can't justify encouraging someone to pay $550 for the experience we had just because he is a friendly guy.

 

I think you definitely hit a bad day. We did a private snorkel last year and it was the best day ever. He was prompt at meeting us, the boat was fine, he gave us ample time at everything and was extremely knowledgeable about all the wildlife. I'm trying to talk my SIL into a girls cruise this spring, and we definitely want to use him again. Best day ever in Belize.

[42go]

Just wondering if you have the names of any of the "small group tours" that you think might be better than Ivar?

[lifes-a-beach]

sea sports Belize takes small groups but they won't take less than 6. I'm waiting on 5 more for a December 1 trip to shark Ray alley.

[Jhawktx]

We have signed up for the Nov. 26 Sea Sports Shark Ray Alley trip but need 3 more people to join the trip to make it a go.

[OCruisers]

Be sure to pick one that takes you to the Barrier Reef (2nd largest in the world) -- awesome snorkeling! :)