+501 614-6722
travel@traventurebelize.com
Belize’s atolls consistently rank among the world’s top dive locations and Turneffe Flats is ideally located to take advantage of the country’s very best scuba diving. Our dive program offers 18 dives each week, including a day of diving at Lighthouse Reef and the Blue Hole, weather permitting.
We can easily access more than 65 dive sites around Turneffe Atoll, and are within an hour’s boat ride to the Blue Hole. At Turneffe Flats, we provide true valet dive service. Our staff will wash and set up your equipment on the dive boat each day. All you need to do is walk to the dive boat after a delicious breakfast and head out to one of our exceptional dive sites.
We recognize that a dive vacation is more than just diving, and we do our best to make your entire experience something special. While diving throughout the Turneffe Atoll, you will see a variety of hard and soft corals as well as all of the Caribbean tropicals, eagle rays, sharks, turtles, dolphins, moray eels, and large schools of permit, horse-eye jacks and dog snapper.
We specialize in providing personalized service for small dive groups and try to be as flexible as possible with our diving program. New divers can gain experience with the individual attention they may require and experienced divers can enjoy the freedom of spectacular wall diving, drift diving and underwater photography opportunities.
On the dive boat, we provide towels, cold drinks and fresh fruit as well as a freshwater rinse tank for camera equipment. Unless you request otherwise, you do not need to handle your dive equipment during your stay. Our staff will change all tanks and rinse your dive gear daily before storing it.
Your dive safety is of the utmost importance at Turneffe Flats. For this reason, and to ensure that you see the best of the marine life, a qualified divemaster and/or instructor is in the water at all times. We use the buddy system, conduct safety stops on every dive and plan adequate surface intervals between dives. Our staff is trained in First Aid and Oxygen First Aid and we are affiliated with Sub-aquatic Safety Services which operates the Hyperbaric Chamber in Belize.
Nitrox is available as well as Nitrox Certification.
Phillip Goldson International Airport https://goo.gl/maps/81Gra3VNkk8gwo5d7
3 Hours Before Flight Time
Following a delicious breakfast, our typical dive day begins at 8 am and includes three boat dives. Depending on our dive location, we either return to the resort for lunch or pack a lunch. Travel to our dive sites takes from 10 minutes to an hour, with our longest trip being to the Blue Hole. On Blue Hole day (generally Tuesdays, weather permitting), we leave between 7 and 7:30 am, which often makes us the first boat there. Our weekly night dive is usually on Wednesday evening. We often dive at the Elbow, which is at the southern tip of Turneffe, later in the week.
As the largest and most biologically diverse coral atoll in the Caribbean, Turneffe offers dramatic underwater features including spur-and-groove formations, sandy ledges and sheer walls that provide spectacular diving sites for every ability. Our location, near the middle of the seaward side of the atoll, allows convenient access to all of Turneffe’s dive sites. Our guests always have the opportunity to dive great sites each day regardless of the weather.
The eastern side of Turneffe is protected by 35 miles of reef. It shelves gradually to about 60 feet, where spur-and-groove formations meet the wall. Nutrients from the mangroves are dispersed to the reef by the tides causing large concentrations of feeding fish to congregate.
On the west side of the atoll, large mangrove stands provide shelter from the trade winds and heavy seas. A gently sloping white sand bottom covered with large coral formations lies at 30-50 feet. The reduced wave action allows sponges and soft corals to grow magnificently and sea feathers of five feet are common.
The north side of Turneffe is sometimes affected by trade wind swells, but on calmer days we can explore these mostly untouched dive sites. Schools of mutton snapper, Atlantic spadefish and permit hover 80 feet above the sea floor and blue runners make close passes, apparently attracted by the bubbles of divers.
Turneffe’s southern point offers a variety of popular dive sites featured in many of the Belize dive guides. The Elbow is probably one of the best known here, where the ocean current sweeps over the deep reef, attracting schools of pelagic fish. As you travel up the southwest or southeast sides of the atoll, dive sites vary from patch reef nurseries with dramatic coral formations to steep drop-offs.
