BZPlacencia, Stann Creek, Belize
The barrier reef off Placencia
The second largest reef on earth, ten minutes off a wooden dock.
Watch it live firstWhen the light is best
April, January, February
Computed from five years of daily cloud, rain and temperature at 16.52, -88.37. Some cloud is what makes a sky burn, so this is not the same as the driest month and often disagrees with one.
- Cloud then
- 49%
- Wet days
- 16
- Daytime high
- 30°C
When to actually go
Dry season runs December to May. Whale sharks come to Gladden Spit around the full moons of March through June.
This is the window for the reason you are going, and it is a different question from the light. Where the two disagree, this one wins. An empty river under a perfect sky is still an empty river.
- Nights
- 6
- Getting in
- Belize City, then a short flight or a coastal road
- From, per person
- $3,200
Why here
Belize has the largest barrier reef in the northern hemisphere and almost none of the crowding that implies. Placencia is a sand street on a peninsula, the boats leave from the dock you are staying on, and whale sharks pass through in spring. English is the official language, which removes most of the friction from a first tropical diving trip.
What you actually do
- Snorkel and dive the barrier reef, daily, from the dock
- Silk Caye and Laughing Bird, both protected and both tiny
- Monkey River by boat, up into the jungle
- The Cockscomb Basin jaguar preserve, inland for a day
However many of you
On your own
Dive boats take singles without a supplement and you will have a buddy by the second morning. Placencia is small and friendly.
Two to six
Four to six people can charter a boat for a day for not much more than joining one, and go where the group is not going.
Seven or more
Take a whole beach house and charter two boats. This works extremely well for a family group with mixed swimming ability.
Book it
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