Turneffe Flats

BELIZE

THE PERSONALITIES

Divers. Salt fishing and fly fishing Enthusiasts. Travelers looking for a remote island experience.

MOMENTS

Tropical Caribbean seascape. Surf breaking over the reef. Expansive bonefish flats. Diving with sharks and eagle rays. Watching thousands of fish in a colorful underwater garden.

BEST VISITING MONTHS

Belize’s dry season runs from December to April. Turneffe Atoll has one of the most stable climates in the region, usually dryer than inland Belize. If you are fishing for tarpon, the migratory season extends from May to October.

COST

WHY STAY

Founded in 1981, Turneffe Flats has long been recognized as Belize's premier saltwater fly fishing, scuba diving, and marine eco-tourism destination. Located on the beautiful Turneffe Atoll in the Caribbean, the remote eco-resort sits on a picturesque white sand beach, surrounded by coconut palms, with an expansive bonefish flat right outside your door and a vibrant coral reef only a stone's throw away.

Stay in one of eight spacious beachfront cabanas; the Reef Villa, complete with three bedrooms and a large outdoor area; or the newest two-bedroom oceanfront Pelican Villa.

Watch the sun go down from your private oceanside deck. Enjoy an authentic remote island experience. Discover one of the last untouched corners of the world.

WHY WANDER

Turneffe Flats is ideally situated to enjoy the Turneffe Atoll’s 250 square miles of world-class fishing flats, coral reefs, and rich marine life. The Atoll is the largest of only four coral atolls in the Western Hemisphere and is best known for its variety of saltwater fishing, with the opportunity to land bonefish, permit, and tarpon. The interior of the Atoll offers miles of mangrove-lined bays, creeks, and lagoons where you can fish for snook, various species of snapper, jacks, and barracuda.

Belize's atolls rank among the world's top dive locations, with Turneffe Flats’ remote location being ideal for underwater discovery. The hotel’s dive program offers 18 dives each week, including a day of diving at Lighthouse Reef and the Blue Hole, generally followed by the Half Moon Caye and a visit to the Red-Footed Booby Bird Sanctuary. Enjoy some of the best reef snorkeling in the entire Caribbean. See a wide variety of tropical reef fishes, rays, sea turtles, lobsters, dolphins, and possibly manatees.

INDULGE IN

Coconut-crusted snapper. Grilled lobster. Cochinita pibil & tamales. Take a cooking class and learn how to prepare empanadas, tortillas, tamales, or garnaches the Belizean way.

GETTING THERE

The boat trip to Turneffe Flats takes approximately 90 minutes. You will travel through several offshore cayes, the barrier reef, across the open ocean, and then through the interior lagoon of Turneffe Atoll to Turneffe Flats. The transfer is done every Saturday and Wednesday. Most guests stay for a week with arrival and departure on Saturday. Partial weeks are offered Sat–Wed and Tues/Wed–Sat. Arriving on other days may be possible, but requires a private charter vessel or a helicopter to get here.

GET INVOLVED

“We were recently audited by Green Globe and received the highest score in Belize and the second highest in the entire Caribbean. We are responsible for all of our utilities and are 100% off-grid. We make our own water, are powered by solar and use high-tech biodigesters for septic. We have also funded our own 501c3, the Turneffe Atoll Trust (www.turneffeatoll.org) to protect Turneffe Fragile eco-system from threats. We believe strongly in protecting the fishery at Turneffe. With rare exceptions, all fish at Turneffe Flats is released. In 2009, Turneffe Atoll Trust, a non-profit organization associated with Turneffe Flats, led efforts to protect bonefish, permit, and tarpon as  "Catch & Release" species throughout Belize.”

*Images property of Turneffe Flats