Ambergris Caye

On the 19th January we headed to Chetumal, 30 minutes drive from Bacalar, where we left Mexico behind and took a boat to Ambergris Caye (pronounced 'kee') in Belize.

The boat ride was interesting, it was pretty rough and the skipper didn’t hang about. Surprisingly Elana and Bert managed to fall asleep whilst our spines took a battering for the 1.5hr journey! Ambergris Caye is often referred to as an island, in reality there are slithers of land that connect it to Mexico to the north. We stayed in San Pedro in the south of the island which is separated from the north of the island by a river. After almost a month away we had planned in some downtime and beach time to allow the children and ourselves to recharge our batteries. Our resort (Xanadu Island Resort) was right on the beach with a lovely beachside lodge meaning we could sip rum punch whilst the children played in the sand. Bert is never happier than when he is digging holes and rarely goes anywhere without his spade!

First impressions of Belize is that it has a completely different vibe, first off the main language is English making communication a lot easier. It is also how we would envisage the Caribbean to be, from the people to the food. It is known as the Caribbean of Latin America, people were immediately more forthcoming and friendly (not that they weren’t in Mexico). Belize is a former British Colony (was British Honduras) and still had a young-looking QE II on their bank notes. Unsurprisingly fish features heavily on the menus, sitting right on the coast of the Caribbean Sea we had fantastic seafood most nights, their prawns were the biggest we’ve ever seen and the lobster very tasty! We had a great selection of beachfront restaurants a short walk from where we were staying.

On our second day the weather turned and became windy and wet (warm rain!). Helen and Elana took a snorkelling trip out to the Belize Barrier Reef, the world’s second longest barrier reef after Australia. They snorkelled at two spots at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, one known as ‘Shark Ray Alley’ for obvious reasons! In addition to the nurse sharks and stingrays they saw lots of barracuda, two spotted eagle rays, snapper, sea grass beds and coral but unfortunately no manatees which are known to frequent the area.

With the island being compact and the roads narrow, one of the main modes of transport is golf carts (very few actual cars). With the weather being a bit windy on the east side of the island where we were, we decided to hire a cart, tour the island and spend some time on Secret Beach – a popular destination for holiday makers and locals alike. The speed limit across the island is typically 15mph, it would have been a struggle to do that in the golf cart. The novelty quickly wore off as the noise of the two stroke engine and fumes were overpowering, and it took ages to travel short distances due to the lack of speed! It was great to see other parts of the island though and explore as well as visiting 'Secret Beach'. Secret Beach itself was a bit of an anti-climax. It’s very commercialised with bars and restaurants lining the beach fronts and a lot of hard-sell going on for food and drinks. We did have a good time nonetheless, the sun shone and Elana enjoyed snorkelling around the clear shallow water whilst Bertie splashed about.

Rather than take a boat to the mainland to leave the island and begin our journey across Belize we opted for a short, and very scenic flight, from Ambergris Caye to Belize City. It was stunning to see the barrier reef and coastline from above and all the little, mostly inhabited, islands from above.Lue lisää