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Dive Review of Turneffe Flats in
Belize/Turneffe Belize

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

by Jeanette Hartshorn, MO, US (Contributor 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 4 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 3 stars
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 3 stars
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
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 2 stars
Large Pelagics 3 stars

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 3 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars Shore Facilities 1 stars
UW Photo Comments no camera room; had to rinse equipment in our room's shower. Plenty of small, med and larger subjects to photograph
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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