Dive Review of Belize Pro Dive Center/Pelican Reef Villas in
Belize/Ambergris Caye

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Belize Pro Dive Center/Pelican Reef Villas: "A relaxing week on Ambergris Caye", Apr, 2016, by Henry Zenzie, MA, US ( Reviewer 3 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 9422.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We spent a relaxing week at Pelican Reef Villas (PRV) with 2 other couples in a 3 bedroom condo. The condo was in excellent condition, spacious, and clean. A delicious breakfast with a variety of hot entree choices was included in our rate. Lunch (but not dinner) was available at extra cost. Michaela was the activities director at PRV, and she did a great job of arranging all of our land and sea activities. Our land-based activities included cave tubing (a must do), zip lining (very nice), and touring the Mayan ruins at Lamanai (impressive). PRV has partnered with Belize Pro Dive Center (BPDC) to offer diving. We did a total of 4 2-tank dives on reefs within a 10-15 minute boat ride of BPDC's facility. On each diving day, we were picked up promptly at the PRV dock at 8:00 AM and dropped off at the BPDC dive center. Since the reefs are so close to shore, our surface interval was spent back at the BPDC dock munching on snacks put out by the staff. Except for the Hol Chan Marine Preserve dive and snorkel, all the dive profiles were similar: descend to a max depth of 60-80 feet on a spur and groove reef and slowly ascend to the top of the reef in 40-50 feet. The corals have suffered damage due to diver traffic, but nevertheless appeared to be reasonably healthy. I only saw 1 fully bleached coral head. The dive guides were all safety conscious and required each diver to communicate their tank pressure mid-way through the dive by using the fingers on the arm method. All dives were guided, and the bottom time was typically 45 minutes. I was a bit disappointed in the number of tropical fish we saw on the spur and groove reefs; however, my last dive trip was in 1991 and I have read that fish populations on many Caribbean reefs have declined since then, so this issue is likely not confined to Belize. We saw lots of active nurse sharks, which may be due in part to the dive guides spearing lionfish and feeding them to the nurse sharks. On one dive, a nurse shark followed our dive guide like a puppy waiting to be fed. BPDC offered effortless diving: they switched our tanks between dives and allowed us to leave our equipment at the center when we planned to dive the next day. I recommend them without hesitation! We did 1 dive at Hol Chan Marine Preserve and snorkeled at Shark Ray Alley. The Hol Chan channel, which consists of a cut in the reef 75 yard wide and 30 feet deep, is a very popular diving and snorkeling site. There were many boats at the site when we arrived mid-morning. On our dive, we slowly swam through the channel; I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of marine life and the health of the corals. While there was certainly damaged coral, I have seen much worse coral damage at other popular shallow dive/snorkel sites around the world. I even saw 2 marine animals (very large cubera snapper and beautiful flame scallop) that I had never seen before. I also saw an eagle ray in addition to the more typical critters (lobster, shrimp, barracuda, grouper, moray eels). Even though the dive is shallow and crowded with divers/snorkelers, I would have happily done it again if time had permitted. If you are planning to dive this site, I would recommend visiting at a less crowded time! The dive was followed by a snorkeling trip to Shark Ray Alley where we watched rays and nurse sharks being fed. I am generally not a fan of artificial experiences such as this, but it was fun to watch nonetheless. All in all, we had a great time in Belize and hope to return someday. The combination of land and sea activities is hard to beat!
Websites	Pelican Reef Villas
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Palau, Yap, Bali, Sipadan, Florida, Little Cayman, Bimini, Jamaica, Bonaire, New England
Closest Airport	San Pedro	Getting There	United Airlines Boston to Belize City, Tropic Air to San Pedro.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, no currents
Water Temp	78-80°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	All dives were guided.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
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	[None]

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Dive Review of Belize Pro Dive Center/Pelican Reef Villas in Belize/Ambergris Caye

Belize Pro Dive Center/Pelican Reef Villas: "A relaxing week on Ambergris Caye", Apr, 2016,

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 Pro Dive Center/Pelican Reef Villas in
Belize/Ambergris Caye