Dive Review of Belize Diving Services/Iguana Reef Inn in
Belize/Caye Caulker

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Belize Diving Services/Iguana Reef Inn , Aug, 2009, by Michael, MD, USA ( Reviewer 5 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 5032.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I just returned from a week in Caye Caulker, Belize. I traveled with my wife and two children. We stayed at the Iguana Reef Inn, which was lovely - I recommend it without hesitation. My daughter and I dove with Belize Diving Services, while my non-diving wife and son snorkeled with a different tour operator. Belize Diving Services is located immediately next to the Iguana Reef Inn, on the west side of Caye Caulker. It's one of three dive operators on Caye Caulker (the others are Frenchies and Big Fish, which we did not try; there are other tour operators that advertise diving, but are actually acting as booking agents for others). As I understand it, Belize Diving Services was sold by its original owners earlier this year (at the time of this writing, the shop's web site has not been updated). The new owners are a very nice couple from the US, Chip Peterson and his wife. He's a tech diver, and is one of the few people in the area to dive with a rebreather. Apparently the new owners updated and/or overhauled everything when they bought the shop, plus they hired a trained technician. No nitrox, here or anywhere on Caye Caulker, but Chip said that's in the works. Our main focus on this trip was for my daughter to do checkout dives to complete her open water certification. That went very well - she joined a class of three other students for these dives. The instructor, Anna, was patient and supportive. Pros: Well-trained staff. Boats carry oxygen. Divemaster on each trip. No feeding the fish, nor touching the reef. Pre-dive briefing before each dive. Tanks and rental gear all seemed to be good quality and well-maintained. Staff rinse and store customers' personal gear. Shop provides dive computers to all divers. Shop works to accommodate customers' needs/preferences (for instance, my daughter is a junior, & so is limited to 40 feet). Cons: I had two negative experiences. On one trip, there were a few logistical glitches - trouble starting one engine at the beginning, and at the 2nd dive site they dropped the anchor without it being attached to the line - and the staff made no effort to update the customers and mainly joked among themselves. And on that same trip, the choice of dive profiles was poor: 50 minute 1st dive, with a maximum depth of 85 feet and average depth of 54 feet; 46 minute surface interval; and then the 2nd dive at a site where the reef was at 65 feet. On my computer - Suunto Cobra 2, default settings - I had to spend fully half the 2nd dive floating 30 feet above the reef to avoid going into deco, and there was nothing to see (except, just before surfacing, a school of spade fish, the only thing that redeemed the dive). My daughter had stayed back due to illness; if she had been on the trip, we presumably would have gone to shallower sites in the first place... In short, I certainly recommend the shop - but I also recommend not being shy to say how you want to dive. We had to cut our diving short due to (unrelated) stomach problems, but otherwise would have been more proactive on subsequent dives. There are lots and lots of great dive sites in the area, to suit all kinds of divers - shallow vs. deep, inside the barrier reef (flat water) vs. outside (choppier), close and farther away, etc. The shop also offers night dives, which we didn't try. And, I believe, Chip is working towards offering tech diving, so people who are into that might request more info.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	26-50 dives
Where else diving	Florida, Bahamas
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	86-88°F / 30-31°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish	N/A
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	No rinse tank (of any kind) on the boat.

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Dive Review of Belize Diving Services/Iguana Reef Inn in Belize/Caye Caulker

Belize Diving Services/Iguana Reef Inn , Aug, 2009,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Belize Diving Services/Iguana Reef Inn in
Belize/Caye Caulker