Best scuba in Belize for Junior divers?
We are going scuba diving in Belize. Hard to decide--Caye Caulker vs. Placencia? 12 year old is limited to 40 feet. Seems like most dives in Belize are deeper. Any thoughts?
Thanks! He's 12, and completed the PADI Jr OWD cert. So 60 feet? That helps a lot! I can't find it spelled out on the PADI website. A dive operator told me 40 feet. Good news.
You haven't said what qualification your child holds.
If your 12 year old holds a PADI (or SSI) Jr Scuba Diver rating, then yes, you are correct that they are currently limited to 40 ft (as are all divers with this rating, regardless of age). To expand his/her range of possible divesites it might be worth considering upgrading that to Jr OWD (which for 12 year olds has a depth limit of 60 ft), either before or during your vacation, since he/she has already completed more than half the requirements for the OWD certification.
This additional training will require ca. 10-15 hours, or 2 full days (1 day classroom + pool, 1 day diving). If you chose to do this on vacation, a good instructor would likely be more than happy to have you along on the qualifying dives, to act as a buddy for your child.
If your child qualified as PADI Jr OWD aged 10 or 11, then his/her depth limit _was_ 40 ft, but now he/she has turned 12 it automatically extends to 60 ft. This might open up your options somewhat.
That said, I would point out that the 'best' (read 'most exciting') sites described on dive resort websites tend to be those which are deep/ have no bottom (e.g. reef walls), are washed by strong currents, include overhead environments (e.g. caverns or wrecks), and/or require free descents/ ascents. Such sites may be a little too adventurous for inexperienced divers, regardless of age.
However, many people do their basic dive training in Belize, so there must also be more than a few sites which are suitable for beginners, which won't necessarily be touted as the 'best' sites for experienced divers. A good dive centre/ guide will tailor their daily selection of divesites according to who is on the boat on each day.
Blue fish while scuba diving at Caye Caulker
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