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Dive Review of Turneffe Island Lodge in
Belize/Turneffe Reef

Turneffe Island Lodge, Dec, 2006,

by David Dornbusch, CA, USA . Report 3124.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 1 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments The reefs near Turneffe Caye are in MUCH better condition than off Ambergris Caye, except that we saw many more nurse sharks near Ambergris. In fact, nurse sharks visited us at the Ambergris sites on nearly every dive. The sharks at Turneffe were fewer but bigger. Overall, the sea life was much more abundant at Turneffe.

Blue Hole is an interesting formation, but except for some reasonably-sized sharks, it's only worth the trip because it's combined with a dive at Long Caye. Most of the dive sites are only 10 minutes from the lodge, were in very fine condition, with the abundant and healthy life we hoped for. Long Caye is an outstanding deep wall near a wonderful coral garden at 15-40 feet to finish the dive.

The lodge facilities are better than they look on the website. The lodge is entirely on its own island, with no other lodges or dive operations anywhere nearby. The outsides of the cabins look simple, but are all natural varnished woods inside, with excellent beds, air conditioning, and both indoor and outdoor showers.

Have excellent boats and gear. The dive masters and all support staff are superb and eager to please.

The number and locations of the dives are very programmed, with few options other than as scheduled - generally two to three dives/day. They do only one night dive per week, but it was not available during the time we were there. They do NO diving at all on Saturday.

We might have opted out of the Blue Hole trip and dived the local sites instead. But that would have meant giving up Long Caye, which was the best dive of the trip. During all dives, we were allowed to continue our dives as long as we liked, well past many in our group finished their own dives, as much as 20 minutes longer.

The cabins were nearly full (capacity is about 40 guests), but it didn't feel crowded. Food was decent, plentiful, but not exceptional. However, they had a very tasty and extensive barbecue on Friday night.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving [Unspecified]
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, dry Seas calm, choppy
Water Temp 80-81°F / 27-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 80-100 Ft/ 24-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Dive masters kept divers together at beginning of dive, but allowed divers with low air consumption to continue dive as long as wanted.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks Lots Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 4 stars Large Fish 4 stars
Large Pelagics 2 stars

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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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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