Honduras and Belize

[brycegroark 0]

I'm putting together an itinerary for a trip to Honduras and Belize on a private boat in April - and was wondering if anyone knew of any areas that were difficult to access, off the beaten path or even the "must do" sections of both countries?

 

The main focus is the whale shark/snapper spawn at Gladden spit - but I'm needing to fill in some gaps around there as well - and looking for insight as to the best spots to hit.

 

We're considering not even diving Honduras - and spending the whole two weeks in Belize, but still not sure. Any advice/thoughts/experiences would be greatly appreciated.

 

Aloha,

Bryce

[ErolE 3]

Hi Bruce,

 

Not an expert in the area but did spend a a couple of months in Honduras and Belize a few years ago. I was shore based so dived Corn Island (nice structures but not as good marine life wise), Roatan (good diversity, from juvenile fish inshore in the margroves, to all sort s on the fringing reef) and Belize, (where the barrier reef was fantastic).

 

Depends what you are trying to hit but if you are after corals and reef fish, you need to keep offshore. The big rivers in the area, like the San Juan pump out a fair bit of sediment, so the inshore is likely to be pretty turbid, limiting the the diversity of corals.

 

If you it s mangroves that you are after then obviously north of the San Juan is where to aim, but be wary with navigation there are a lot of shifting sand bar that can cause headaches.

 

If I was you I ll pull out a chart and look for pinnacles and reefs between the Bay Islands and Corn Islands in Honduras. With out knowing the currents better I d make the assumption that coral and fish recruitment is going to happen in this area so there is the possibility of finding some cool sites.

 

Alternatively an easier way would also be to check the liveaboards schedule and see where they dive and aim to follow their routes.

 

Hope this is somewhat helpful.

 

Erol

 

 

 

I'm putting together an itinerary for a trip to Honduras and Belize on a private boat in April - and was wondering if anyone knew of any areas that were difficult to access, off the beaten path or even the "must do" sections of both countries?

 

The main focus is the whale shark/snapper spawn at Gladden spit - but I'm needing to fill in some gaps around there as well - and looking for insight as to the best spots to hit.

 

We're considering not even diving Honduras - and spending the whole two weeks in Belize, but still not sure. Any advice/thoughts/experiences would be greatly appreciated.

 

Aloha,

Bryce

[rtrski 20]

One other note re: the whale-shark diving: we just booked a trip to Belize for the June full moon, and in reading about the whale shark diving in the documentation the resort we picked provided us, they indicated that it is permit only, and the differen't operators have to be on a schedule as there's only a certain number of boats permitted on station a day. If you're coming in on a private boat, I don't know whether that means you'll have to get permits to do the same?

 

Anyway, good luck and let the board know how it went, since you'll be there a couple months before me.

[crubie 1]

One other note re: the whale-shark diving: we just booked a trip to Belize for the June full moon, and in reading about the whale shark diving in the documentation the resort we picked provided us, they indicated that it is permit only, and the differen't operators have to be on a schedule as there's only a certain number of boats permitted on station a day. If you're coming in on a private boat, I don't know whether that means you'll have to get permits to do the same?

 

Anyway, good luck and let the board know how it went, since you'll be there a couple months before me.

 

 

I can confirm that is the case, it is reservation only. The authorities limit the number of boats allowed on dive the site in 1 hour slots.

While I was there, (2 years ago) our operator would prebook 2 slots (1 morning, 1 afternoon). Boats have to check in with "security" on arrival at a nearby reef between dives at gladden spit.

We would snorkel on the reef between dives (the site is rather far offshore).

 

In addition I would suggest dives as early as possible in the morning as the snappers tend to sink deeper after a few dive groups and this reduces the chances of good up-close Whale Shark action.

 

A few of our afternoon dives did end up being nothing more than blue dives.

 

Hope this helps