Lonely Planet Diving & Snorkeling Belize (Lonely Planet Diving and Snorkeling Belize) (Paperback)

~ Mark Webster (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In the former cradle of the Mayan empire, Belize is one of the world's top ecotourism destinations. Topside, tropical rainforests are populated by exotic birds, monkeys and wild cats, while offshore lie the world's second-largest barrier reef and three of the Western Hemisphere's four coral atolls. Shallow reefs ring the more than 450 cayes and islets, while towering walls plunge into the sea. More than 400 fish species and a host of corals and invertebrates shelter in the warm Caribbean waters. This book explores 66 of the best dive sites off Belize, with full-color photos throughout.

You’ll get specific information on:

• dive site topography and access
• common and hazardous marine life
• diving services on the mainland, cayes and atolls
• travel logistics and topside attractions
• 10 easy-to-read maps

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications; 3 edition (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1740590473
• ISBN-13: 978-1740590471
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #532,569 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pointless, April 3, 2003

By	"good_vibes" (Stanford, CA) - See all my reviews

This book has no discernible value to anyone planning a dive trip to Belize. First, it does not tell you which dive sites are good and which are worth skipping. This makes it difficult to plan your trip, assuming you have limited time and money to spend. The book does not even contain a list of top 5 or 10 recommended sites in the country.

Second, the book has no information on costs or other logistical aspects of a dive trip. For example, it mentions that Dangriga is the departure point for diving certain reefs, but doesn't tell you that there are no dive shops in Dangriga: to do any diving around there, you have to go thru an out-of-town resort, which is highly inconvenient.

Third, the capsule descriptions of 66 specific dive sites -- the heart of the book -- don't tell you anything meaningful and are irrelevant anyway because dive shops, not customers, choose which sites are visited. (Customers can choose which area they want to go to, but the dive shops select the specific sites within that area.)

Finally, although the book was updated in June 2002, it ignores the fact that in October 2001, Hurricane Iris devastated the sourthern diving hub of Placencia. The reefs in this area are heavily damaged and therefore not worth visiting. The failure to update the book to account for this major development can only be explained by bad faith on the part of Lonely Planet, which should be ashamed to have put such a lousy product on the market.

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Save your money, January 4, 2003

By	J. Lynch "eWalden" (Tahoe, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is not worth buying. It provides very little information on specific dive sites. I did not use the book once to make a dive choice during two weeks in Southern Belize. A good dive book for Belize is really needed - it was difficult to locate good dive operators for some areas...but this book was of no value.

It does have some nice pictures and a very basic fish/coral guide in the back.

3.0 out of 5 stars Misleading names, February 18, 2007

By	A. Brown "Snoobles" (Broomfield, CO United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It is a good overview book, but when we got to Belize realized that a lot of the sites that are listed are not called by the same name at all - so hard to determine what sites we had really dived compared to the book. Also it covers a lot of area in Belize (if you are going to Ambergris Caye then maybe 1/2 or 2/3 of the book is useful).