Dive Review of Isla Marisol Resort in
Belize/Isla Marisol

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Isla Marisol Resort: "Rustic resort, relaxed diving", May, 2022, by Timothy C Barden, PA, US ( Sr. Reviewer 7 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 12039 has 1 Helpful vote.
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Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
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Comments	The June, 2022 Undercurrent issue was especially interesting to me because my girlfriend and I had just returned from a week of diving at Isla Marisol on Glover’s Reef. I thought the M. A. report on his February visit to Lighthouse Reef would give me a good chance to compare current diving at the two atolls off Belize that are separated by roughly 100 miles. I had been to Marisol 16 years ago and found it then to be a charming, rustic resort with a vibrant reef system. I was, thus, encouraged to make a return trip by another Undercurrent report several years ago that suggested not much had changed in the intervening decade or so. The trip out to Isla Marisol from Dangriga is in an open boat and is usually 1-1 ½ hours. May begins the transition to the rainy season so the journey can be rough and wet. In our case, the captain was racing to beat an ominously dark bank of clouds somewhere ahead of us. We were supplied heavy-duty rain ponchos, but mine was of more use as a seat cushion than to keep me dry. The gusty wind and three foot swells really bounced us around. As it turned out, we made the trip in 50 minutes and landed shortly before an impressive series of thunderstorms hit that lasted until well after midnight. Be warned: your luggage may stay dry in the front of the boat, but will get tossed about during a rough crossing. Ours ended up with a dusting of insulation that had shaken loose as the prow slapped down into countless troughs. Keep fragile equipment with you at the back. Topside, the coconut trees were larger and more plentiful, but the resort looked much the same as in 2006. Though tested by severe wind and thunderstorms, our sturdy cabana had no leaks and the AC unit worked when we used it. We generally just left the windows open with the overhead fan on low until the storms hit. Our cabana was comfortable enough although it could have used a few more hooks and another shelf unit to store clothes. It had a covered deck with a hammock, rail and clothes line for hanging clothes to dry-clothes pins included. The electricity was reliable but curiously, the toilet was not. The resort collects rainwater for showers and washing and uses salt water for toilets. After a rainstorm, they pump the rainwater into large storage cisterns but have to turn off the toilet pump to do this. We had to remind them several times to turn the toilet pump back on during the first half of our stay. A long-ago hurricane had separated a small piece of Marisol from the main island. Apparently, the family that owns the island sold off that piece and the new owners have built a small eco-lodge on it. They’ve put up a small cell tower that we seemed to be able to access. At least, I had a consistent internet signal through my carrier, if a little slow. We heard that they just started to offer diving in addition to the snorkeling and other activities. I wonder how that’s going to work. The bar and dining area were unchanged from my previous trip. Miss Jen, the cook, is a jewel. Breakfast consisted of eggs cooked to order, varied meat, fresh fruit and different juice every day. Various soups, stews tacos and such for lunch, then she fired up the grill for dinner – tasty grouper or chicken was especially good with local spices. Miss Jen, not surprisingly, makes a mean key lime pie. The over-water octagonal bar is an especially nice place to hang out in the afternoon and evening. No bugs and the seats all around the outside let you pick as much or as little breeze as you want while you watch the world go by. Paddle boards and sea kayaks were freely available by the dock. Sand fleas, which nearly drove me crazy the last time, weren’t as big a problem this go. I had a couple bites, but the staff kept the common areas raked which helped a lot. The seaweed washing ashore was just as big a problem here as elsewhere in the Caribbean. It was constantly coming in and we encountered many large patches when motoring out to dive sites. When conditions were right, they just pushed it back into the water and let the current take it away. Otherwise, the staff was kept busy carting it somewhere out of sight and downwind. We were well into the seasonal weather transition period. There were overnight thunderstorms the first few days that reduced the underwater visibility to a maximum of 60’ for the rest of the week. During the day, the weather ranged from cloudy/breezy to partly cloudy/calm. There was a fairly constant surge, even at depth. The water temperature was a consistent 82oF. I was comfortable with just a lycra dive skin. We were the only people at the resort for the first three days which had its pluses and minuses. Underwater, it was great having our own personal guide without a dozen other divers fighting for position to see the green moray we’d just spied. With just the two of us, though, our dive boat was just a skiff, no tank rack, with a handheld ladder for getting back into the boat. After the dive, we handed up our weight belt, BC and fins to the crew leaning precariously over the side before climbing up the ladder. The moderate swells and tiny drifting boat made that a little dicey at times (mind that sharp edge because ladder’s top left handrail was broken off). Luckily, travel time was short, usually 5 minutes, 10 tops. Another 4 guests arrived on our fourth day so we switched to a more standard dive boat with tank racks and a bimini. There was a dunk bucket for camera equipment at the dock, but no shower so we went back to the cabana for a quick rinse if we wanted it between dives. We had a standard dive package - 2 in the morning, 1 in the afternoon. We passed this time on the optional add-ons of night diving or day-trip to Lighthouse Reef to the Blue Hole. Mora, our dive master, had been at Marisol for 20 years, so I’m sure we met during my previous trip. He didn’t need a buoy or compass to find the dive sites. His wife, Letty, was better at spotting small and interesting critters. Although lionfish have invaded Glover’s Reef too, the local divers are working hard to keep them under control by spear fishing and teaching groupers to eat them. So far, the divers & groupers are holding their own. I didn’t see any lionfish at all on some dives, only one or two on others. They were all full-sized adults, no juveniles. I also noted a good population of juvenile reef fish, which disappear first from a heavy lionfish presence. Otherwise, the reef looked good to me. I loved the proliferation of the massive barrel sponges on every dive that reminded me of an old-growth tree forest. I didn’t see any signs of general coral bleaching or dying coral from stony coral disease. There were good-sized heads of brain coral and even the occasional tangle of stag horn coral. We saw groupers of all sizes and spiny lobsters on all our dives, which I took to mean that local fishing is well controlled. I was happy to see most of the notable Caribbean inhabitants that I remembered: drumfish, filefish, trunkfish, cowfish, grey and french angelfish, rock beauties and even a rare blue parrotfish. My only previous sighting of them had been in the Florida Keys. Curiously, queen angelfish and queen triggerfish, which are usually rather scarce, were as common as squirrelfish on this trip. As might be expected at season’s end, Marisol was ready for rest and recuperation too. The boats needed touch-up paint and maintenance after a season of use. The nitrox system was under repair when we arrived. It took a couple days to get the right parts and a couple more to get the mix back close to 32%. Mora told us about ambitious plans during the off-season to increase the water storage capacity and improve the pumping system. There are also plans to move completely to solar/battery for electricity from the current diesel power. All in all, it was a good dive trip. The weather mostly cooperated, the staff were peasant, the food tasty and plentiful, the accommodations comfortable, and the diving enjoyable – a perfect way to dive back into the sport after the pandemic-induced hiatus. I’ve dived the Lighthouse Reef area also, so I can compare the diving as well as the operation there and at Marisol. The two operations are different. People can read both reviews and decide for themselves which is most appealing. Lighthouse Reef is mostly wall-diving which can be spectacular. That’s not to say that there aren’t walls at Marisol, but we found a lot to see above 80’ and didn’t see the need to go deeper this time. Both reefs systems appear to be in good condition. As a final note, I’ve read a bit about the great 2022 Caribbean sea urchin die-off. I saw a few in nooks and crannies and didn’t notice a lot of algae on the reefs during our trip. I take that as a good sign that the problem hasn’t reached Marisol, at least not yet.
Websites	Isla Marisol Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	All over the Caribbean. Truk, Palau, Yap, Maldives
Closest Airport	Dangriga	Getting There	American to Belize City, transfer to local for Dangriga
Dive Conditions
Weather	cloudy	Seas	choppy, surge
Water Temp	81-84°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	40-80 Ft/ 12-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Minimal accommodations for camera equipment. Small bucket on boat and standard dunk bucket on dock. Bring your own repair kit.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Isla Marisol Resort in Belize/Isla Marisol

Isla Marisol Resort: "Rustic resort, relaxed diving", May, 2022,

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 Isla Marisol Resort in
Belize/Isla Marisol