One-Week Scuba Diving Belize Vacation

What to expect on this itinerary
Explore Belize’s Barrier Reef and all its seduction and surprise with this one-week scuba diving excursion. Biodiversity dominates the Northern Hemisphere’s longest reef chain to provide incredible scuba diving. Descend the Great Blue Hole, surround yourself with spawning groupers, follow schools of fish, and go in search of the animals that are unique to Belize. Spend nearly a week on a private island in Turneffe Atoll with 15 dives.
Customizable Itinerary
Turneffe Atoll – First Impressions
You will land in Belize City, which is on the coast. Your driver will greet and transfer you to the harbor, and it will be a 90-minute speedboat journey to Turneffe Atoll. Turneffe Island is in the heart of Belize’s Barrier Reef. This location is best understood during the last few moments of your speedboat transfer because there is an abundance of life beneath the water. This is coral for exploring with a snorkel, which is something you can do after checking in to the island’s only resort. A snorkel will also give you an indication of the conditions, particularly the warmth of the water and the lack of currents.
What's Included:
Turneffe Atoll – Introductory Boat Dives
Turneffe Atoll – More Turneffe Dive Sites
Turneffe Atoll – Great Blue Hole and Lighthouse Reef
Turneffe Atoll – Customizing Your Adventure
Turneffe Atoll – Departure
Trip Highlights
- Dive the legendary Great Blue Hole and descend into a mysterious world of stalactites and stalagmites
- Surround yourself with nurse sharks, reef sharks, and the odd sighting of an eagle ray
- Embrace the private island life as you spend a week on a serene part of the Turneffe Atoll
- Enjoy 15 dives throughout the week with more than 30 dive sites to choose from
- Seven days of diving celebrates the biodiversity of Turneffe, from large schools of jacks and snappers to white-spotted toadfish
- Venture to Lighthouse Reef and dive Belize’s most famous sites
- Discover commotion when thousands of groupers come to spawn by diving The Elbow
- Improve your scuba diving ability in relatively calm underwater conditions with divemasters that can assist you
- Snorkel from the shore and explore the coral that surrounds your private island paradise
Detailed Description
Many scuba divers know Belize for its incredible Great Blue Hole. This is just one site among hundreds along the Northern Hemisphere’s longest reef system. Here, there are large populations of manatees, whale sharks, and eagle rays, which are rare creatures that divers may be lucky to encounter once in a lifetime. Great schools of groupers, jacks, and snappers spawn around the reefs and attract a commotion of other sharks and wildlife.
Diving the Great Blue Hole and Lighthouse Reef will take a full day, but diving Turneffe Atoll and appreciating the biodiversity requires a week. With this luxury Belize scuba diving vacation, you will have 15 dives over seven days, and the daily itinerary will be based on your interests and experience. At least one of the days will be spent at Lighthouse Atoll and will include the deep-water descent of the Great Blue Hole. The other days will take you past sponge coral, moray eels, horse-eye jacks, blue tangs, nudibranch, and loggerhead turtles.
No diving experience is necessary for this vacation because the conditions are ideal for learning how to scuba dive. Experienced divers also have 15 dives and will explore in small groups of divers with a similar ability. As most divers flock to the Great Blue Hole, 95% of Belize’s dive sites go unnoticed. When there are hundreds of different sites to choose from, it is rare that there will be other divers in the water.
Complementing your scuba excursion is a full week of island escapism. Your luxury resort will be set on its own private island. Low-key and laid-back, the island will help you reconnect with nature. Other than the birds, there is hardly a sound, and apart from your footprints, there is little to alter the white sand. The island is centrally located in the atoll to allow easy access to almost all the Turneffe dive sites. This also means that you will have more time to rest and relax after diving. This handcrafted itinerary provides a week of diving, and it can be combined with other adventures in Belize, particularly the rainforests and Maya cities of the interior.
Starting Price
$3,700 per person (excluding international flights)
Your Zicasso trip is fully customizable, and this sample itinerary is a starting place for your travel plans. Actual costs are dynamic, and your selection of accommodations and activities, your season of travel, and other such variables will bring this budget guideline up or down. Throughout your planning experience with your Zicasso specialist, your itinerary is designed around your budget. You can book your trip when you are satisfied with every detail. Planning your trip with a Zicasso travel specialist is a free service.
What's Included
The starting price is based on travel during the low season for a minimum of two travelers staying in shared 3-star accommodations. Please inquire for a custom trip quote based on your travel preferences and travel dates.
Verified Traveler Reviews
Based on 92 reviews
Belize is a great country. It has beautiful jungles and Mayan ruins as well as awesome diving and snorkeling along the Barrier Reef. Our South American travel agency was prompt and answered all of our questions regarding our trip. We had a lot of questions regarding our one year old daughter and they answered all of them and got things organized so when we arrived at the resorts things were taken care of.
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First, we want to say that our trip to Belize was exactly what we were hoping for! We reached out to Zicasso for help planning our honeymoon to Belize and were matched up with the travel agent at the travvel company. We had envisioned a beach honeymoon that included relaxing on the beach but also scuba diving multiple times during the week. We are also foodies and love to experience a countries cuisine via private dinners or cooking classes wherever we travel. Our agent heard all of our requests and brought it to life for us. It was a perfect combination of romantic and relaxing, while also being fun and adventurous at times.We spent 7 days total in Belize. The first portion was spent on a private island resort close to Dangriga. We could only utilize a boat to get on and off the island. We had one day of diving and the rest of the time was spent relaxing on the beach, drinking fruity drinks, and eating delicious food. The resort was very welcoming and accommodating. Our final night on the island included a private dinner with the head chef of the resort. That was certainly a highlight of the trip! This first leg of our trip was truly incredible and forced us to unwind and really detach ourselves from our hectic home lives and enjoy the moment in time that we had on this beautiful Caye. The second portion of the trip was spent on Ambergris Caye at another 5 star resort just outside of bustling San Pedro. We stayed in a beach front cabana. Having our front door open up to the sandy beach, with the ocean steps from our front door was breathtaking! The food and service at the resort were top notch and the diving excursions we had were something we will not ever forget. Throughout the trip the travel company was just an email or phone call away. They checked in on us throughout the vacation making sure everything was going smoothly. We constantly felt taken care of and that our happiness and satisfaction with our trip/experience were the most important thing to this travel agency. We cannot recommend the travel agent and her affiliates enough if you are planning a trip to Belize. Everything service related (both by the agency and the resorts) was impeccable and executed seamlessly and took any and all travel related stress away. When we go back to Belize we will be using the travel agency again! Thank you so much for the amazing honeymoon and the fantastic memories we created while in Belize.
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We had a great time on a trip to Belize in March 2024, planned by a Zicasso tour operator. He was great to work with from our first phone call. He had great ideas and suggestions, and pivoted well when we changed our minds about what we wanted to do.
He chose two excellent hotels, one in the jungle by the ruins and one on Ambergris Caye, that suited us to a T. He helped us choose excursions that allowed us to see everything we wanted to see and some things we didn't know we should see.
He was very accessible before and during the trip, answering questions and helping with whatever we needed. He also went above and beyond to make sure that two in our party were able to dive the Blue Hole (one of the main reasons we went to Belize) when the original trip was canceled due to unforeseen circumstances and that those who were snorkeling had an alternate tour. This was done in a matter of hours. He is definitely someone we would use again if we head back to Central America.
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Our travel agent was excellent, communication was effortless and their responses were very timely.
my children and I had an amazing experience in Belize. The trip was more adventure than laying on the beach. First half in jungle, exploring caves and Mayan ruins; second half on the water snorkeling with sharks and fishing.
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We had an incredible week in Belize -- just the right balance of activities in the inland rain forest and on the coast enjoying the reef.
Our travel agency understood quickly what we were looking for (traveling with teenagers, but looking for as nice an experience as possible). In addition, we had to adjust our dates due to a family situation, and our travel agent jumped right in and helped us salvage our trip and make the best possible choices.
Our travel agent was responsive at every turn -- last minute questions answered quickly even after regular office hours, etc. They really knew the region deeply and could advise with confidence.
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This was a great trip and we really appreciated the support we got from Zicasso’s travel agents in designing the vacation and then remaining in touch to help us and address questions during our time in Belize. We engaged several candidates to design the trip and this travel company did the best job listening to what was important and figuring out how to tailor the trip to meet our needs. We had several unforeseen things pop up (including one son rupturing an eardrum during a dive) and I knew the travel company would respond within minutes and be able to help with support.
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