Dive Review of Turneffe Flats in
Belize/Turneffe Belize

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Turneffe Flats: "Good diving in Turneffe Atoll", Dec, 2021, by Jeanette Hartshorn, MO, US ( Contributor 19 reports with 17 Helpful votes). Report 12198 has 1 Helpful vote.
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	This was our fourth trip to Turneffe Atoll but the first time to Turneffe Flats Resort and diving with this operation. The accommodations are clean, comfortable, air conditioned and well enough appointed for a dive trip. Most are beach cabana ‘duplexes’ with shared porch areas. They also have a few villas with several bedrooms/ private baths and a shared common living room and porch area. The villas are best for small groups but they will assign villa rooms to individuals and couples. So the shared living space is awkward for people assigned to these villas when they don’t know one another. Most accommodations are nicely situated oceanfront. The food was very good and plentiful, some served family style with a good variety of local cuisine and American fare. We had a few different divemasters over the course of our 10day trip, some being better than others. Dive groups were max 6-8 divers. Our favorite divemaster was Ruban; he enjoyed pointing critters out to us, but we found plenty of reef life on our own to keep us entertained. Corals, both soft and hard, appeared most healthy and not overgrown with algae as they are in some parts of the Caribbean. We saw the usual reef fish including filefish, trunkfish, grunts, chromis, parrotfish, surgeonfish, groupers, hamlets, and others (and unfortunately lionfish); also saw spotted drumfish, nudibranchs, burrfish, barracuda, lobsters, hawksbill turtles, nurse sharks, reef sharks, octopus, spotted eagle rays, stingrays, loggerhead turtle, toadfish, permit, and more. Nice diversity of small to large creatures, which was a delight to experience. The owners and operators at Turneffe Flats take sustainability seriously. Today Turneffe Flats owners dedicate a great deal of effort towards the conservation of Turneffe Atoll. In 2002, Turneffe Atoll Trust, a donation-funded, non-profit company, was established. Its mission is to ensure that Turneffe Atoll is sustainably managed and that its unique and fragile environment is protected. During our stay, a Sustainability Inspector (I will call him) was present at the resort to oversee and “grade” the resort on its operations. And it came in with flying colors, as the inspector introduced himself to the guests at the end of his stay, talked about his work in Belize, and how Turneffe Flats meets their sustainability targets! Since 2002, Turneffe Flats has donated 1% of all revenue to Turneffe Atoll Trust through the 1% For The Planet organization. Major accomplishments of the trust include leading the effort to pass legislation protecting bonefish, permit and tarpon as catch-and-release-only species, and leading efforts to establish the Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve, which was accomplished in 2012. Turneffe Atoll is Belize’s largest marine reserve. We dive at many tropical locations around the world, many of which we will not return to because of reef degradation due to pollution, climate change and negative human impacts on the marine environment. But I believe we will return to Turneffe Atoll for diving as we continue to have good experiences there, as we did during this trip. Although the accommodations lack a bit of privacy with shared porches, we would stay at Turneffe Flats if we return to this atoll. The dive operation is well run; the accommodations are clean and comfortable, and the food is delicious and plentiful. But another aspect that is important to me is their leadership and dedication to responsible environmental stewardship of Turneffe Atoll, which is critical to helping preserve our precious marine and reef resources. We as divers should do our part in helping to support these types of operations.
Websites	Turneffe Flats Turneffe Flats
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Bahamas, Florida, Atlantic, Dominica, Saba, St Maarten, St Kitts, Grand Turk, Cayman Islands, Mexico, Indonesia, Maldives, Hawaii, Cocos Island, Galapagos, Belize, Roatan
Closest Airport	Belize City	Getting There	fly into Belize City; resort takes guests out to the island (30mi) on a comfortable boat
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	81-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-75 Ft/ 9-23 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	stay around the divemaster; no deco
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	no camera room; had to rinse equipment in our room's shower. Plenty of small, med and larger subjects to photograph

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Turneffe Flats in Belize/Turneffe Belize

Turneffe Flats: "Good diving in Turneffe Atoll", Dec, 2021,

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 Turneffe Flats in
Belize/Turneffe Belize