A Month-Long Dream Trip to Ambergis Caye, Belize

avatar
(Edited)

Preparing for the trip:

After working for the Postal Service for 30 years and living with the frigid winters of Illinois all our lives, my husband and I thought a February in Belize would be the perfect retirement reward. We started searching online and ordering brochures from the Belize tourism companies. Yes, I ordered actual hard copy brochures to arrive in the mail - I want the Post Office to live long enough to keep my retirement checks coming!

After many happy hours of research, we decided on the island of San Pedro in the Ambergris Caye area. We picked Belize for a few different reasons - the tropical climate and beaches, the value of their currency was 50 cents to our dollar, and English was the official language. The next decision was lodging. Being a retired postal worker, money was no object. Well I wish that was the case anyway. It was, in fact, a major consideration, especially since we were going to stay for a full month.

We are believers in AirBnb, having discovered it earlier in the year and had several good experiences with it. Not only is it more budget-friendly, but you also get to meet nice people and help them out with their life, instead of lining the coffers of giant corporations. So searching on AirBnb we found Brian and Lisa, owners of Belize Tropical Dreams Villas.
Brian and Lisa made this trip into something special in a way that no corporate hotel chain could have done. Lisa and I emailed back and forth prior to the trip and I felt like we were old friends before we even got there. She gave me information about the currency, how to get from the airport to San Pedro, some tips on what to bring, asked what we like to eat (for her weekly guest appetizer hour), and what kind of activities we might be interested in. Try getting all that out of the reservation desk at a chain hotel!

Travel:

We arrived in Belize City by flying from St Louis, MO with the plane tickets costing a little over $900. You have 2 ways to get to San Pedro Island. You can take a small charter plane or you can take a water taxi. It was around $135 to take the 15-minute flight or around $25 for a 90-minute water ride. Being from frozen Illinois, the water ride sounded perfect and definitely more economical. We envisioned sitting on the deck enjoying the sunshine and salt spray on our faces. HA! Not quite, we were herded into the belly of the boat and crowded shoulder to shoulder on hard plastic seats in tight rows. That makes a 90 minute ride a lot less enjoyable than imagined. This is the scene we saw from the water taxi as we pulled up to San Pedro Island:

We started out with a quick bite at a restaurant right by the water taxi dock. Red snapper deep-fried as a whole fish - fins, tail, body, head - was a new experience - but hey, that’s what we are here for right? It was delicious. We took a taxi to Brian and Lisa’s Tropical Dreams (our new home away from home for the next month) and got settled in. Our first excursion was a trip to a unique bar/restaurant called The Truck Stop, although no trucks are anywhere in sight. Brian and Lisa took us there on their golf cart (main mode of transportation other than walking) for an evening’s entertainment of outdoor trivia, good food, and local beer.

Activities:

You can imagine in a month’s time there was plenty of beach walking, trying out new restaurants, swimming, and mingling. Some of the highlights were:

Hidden Beach - We had to rent a golf cart for this one, it was out of our walking range. It took about an hour to get there on the roughest pot-holed large-rocks-in the-road journey you can imagine, but it was so worth the trip. The water was crystal clear blue and the beach was clean and not crowded. The vibe was very laid back and several small bars/restaurants lined the beach to keep you in libations and snacks. Bert the Coconut Man was plying his homemade “edible” products if you were interested in becoming even more laid back.

An all-day party Chill Cruise - out to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve where we snorkeled (for the very first time) at the Great Barrier Reef. A very large green moray eel right underneath of us was very disconcerting (make that scary!) but the underwater view was astonishing. Next, the boat moved to Shark Ray Alley, an area known for stingrays and nurse sharks. They anchor the boat and here comes schools of big brown nurse sharks and you are allowed to dive in with them. Supposedly they are not dangerous, but I thought - what if other “not so harmless” sharks decided to come by and see what the ruckus was about? So consequently we didn’t dive in with the sharks!
The cruise provided food and drinks all during the trip and toward the end, we anchored in the crystal clear water close to shore and played water volleyball in the 3-foot-deep water. It's a day trip that I highly recommend.

cropped cruise.jpeg

A day trip to San Ignacio - we visited a Mayan ruins site called Cabel Pech. There was a whole community of buildings there and we had an excellent guide that explained the functions of the different ruins. Next, we went cave tubing, which consisted of carrying very large inner tubes for at least a mile through the jungle (in pouring rain part of the time) to the mouth of a cave. Then you got in your inner tube, turned on the headlamps provided and floated on a river through the cave system. The final part of the excursion was a horseback ride through the beautiful countryside. The ride was supposed to cross a river on a wooden hand-crank ferry to more Mayan ruins, but the river was flooded from recent rains and couldn’t be crossed. The ride was very enjoyable none the less.

A day trip to Caye Caulker - we explored the small island and swam in the crystal waters on the lee side of the island. We also knocked back a few Bilikins (local beer) at the Lizard Lounge and hung out at the split. This is a beach that was created after a hurricane went through and split the island apart. There are several snorkeling and eco-tours that you can take from here to enjoy the beautiful area. This day though we chose to just hang out and enjoy the water, the sun, and the vibe.

19175.jpeg

Conclusion:

The weather was perfect! We walked everywhere (just for your information, a golf cart rental will cost you about $275 a week) because we love walking and everything was pretty much within walking distance. The people are very friendly, the currency is easy to exchange and understand. Prices are generally what you expect in any tourist driven area, but there are bargains to be had. That's part of the fun though, bargain hunting and talking with the locals to find where the real hidden gems are located.

All photos were taken by me with my Samsung Galaxy Note5.

signature_1.gif

View this post on TravelFeed for the best experience.

text15.png

If you enjoy writing short fiction stories (less than 1,000 words) I'd love to have you join me on Narrative. Don't abandon STEEM - there's room in your life for both! Here's a link directly to my page featuring Flash Fiction:

Join me on Narrative

Get in on the ground floor and see what it's all about. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in the comments.

FLASH_FICTION_LOGO.gif

blueeyes8960.gif



[credit@EdibleCthulhu]

99pyU5Ga1kwqSXWA2evTexn6YzPHotJF8R85JZsErvtTWYov37C6BjUdaTZT29DGryrTpwwdpqCgirPemMU3z3txPKvruXNYFGvejqt3VogK8zZfNHzdqCvnNPsC5V9vS9.gif

PHC-Footer-05.gif

2id58ntr4e.png



0
0
0.000
49 comments
avatar

Happy you made that! Waiting to see even more, a month is quite a lot of time. Smily face!

Posted using Partiko Android

0
0
0.000
avatar

What a cool trip, thank you for sharing this interesting post and the beautiful photos, @blueeyes8960 😊
$trdo
!BEER

0
0
0.000
avatar

Congratulations @johannpiber, you are successfuly trended the post that shared by @blueeyes8960!
@blueeyes8960 will receive 0.25552800 TRDO & @johannpiber will get 0.17035200 TRDO curation in 3 Days from Post Created Date!

"Call TRDO, Your Comment Worth Something!"

To view or trade TRDO go to steem-engine.com
Join TRDO Discord Channel or Join TRDO Web Site

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks for the Beer! and for stopping by my post!

0
0
0.000
avatar

You're much welcome 😊
I have seen the title A Month-Long Dream Trip and had to see the whole post. That was a wonderful and well deserved journey.
!BEER

0
0
0.000
avatar

This post has been resteemed by @original.content.

Follow me to keep up-to-date with posts tagged #oc and the author on ocdb's follow list.

If you don't like this message, please reply STOP and I'll cease notifying you ASAP.


Powered by witness untersatz!
0
0
0.000
avatar

Hello!

This post has been manually curated, resteemed
and gifted with some virtually delicious cake
from the @helpiecake curation team!

Much love to you from all of us at @helpie!
Keep up the great work!


helpiecake

Manually curated by @priyanarc.


@helpie is a Community Witness.

0
0
0.000
avatar

To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.

Brought to you by @tts. If you find it useful please consider upvoting this reply.

0
0
0.000
avatar

This post has been rewarded with an upvote from city trail as part of Neoxian City Curation program . We are glad to see you using #neoxian tag in your posts. If you still not in our discord, you can join our Discord Server for more goodies and giveaways.

Do you know that you can earn NEOXAG tokens as passive income by delegating to @neoxiancityvb. Here are some handy links for delegations: 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP. Read more about the bot in this post. Note: The liquid neoxag reward of this comment will be burned and stake will be use for curation.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
TIBLogo

You have been curated by @hafizullah on behalf of Inner Blocks: a community encouraging first hand content, with each individual living their best life, and being responsible for their own well being. #innerblocks Check it out at @innerblocks for the latest information and community updates, or to show your support via delegation.
0
0
0.000
avatar

Such an awesome trip! I think you can get to know a place fairly well if you are there for an entire month. I'm tempted to go, and I'll tell Brian and Lisa that you sent me!

Excellent pics too! I'd love to license then to use as sky, water and beach backgrounds for my @nftwav website in exchange for a NFTWAV card from the rare and exclusive Alpha set. :) Let me know if you may be interested!

we anchored in the crystal clear water close to shore and played water volleyball in the 3-foot-deep water

Of course I noticed that! WVB is always fun and even better in a scenic location, although I'd maybe be distracted so I think I do better in my friend's backyard. :D

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks for stopping by. You couldn't go wrong with Brian and Lisa's place! And you can use my photos, I have a few more from there as well. A rare card from the alpha set - woo hoo!

Posted using Partiko Android

0
0
0.000
avatar

Great, thanks! I performed my end of the deal; just sent you a Rexxie NFTWAV (Non Fungible Tokens With Added Value). He will throw you someValue most days as I test the project. The current Added Value is in the form of a random amount of Steem.

I didn't know you had any SteemMonster cards but I see you had 38 and now you have 39.
https://steemmonsters.com/?p=collection&a=blueeyes8960

BlueEyes8960SMcards.png

There's the new Rexxie NFTWAV in the right column. Do what you wish with him, but as long as you have him, you'll receive whatever Added Value is due to it. The current Value for this Set of cards, of which this Rexxie is a member, is https://steemit.com/nftwav/@nftwav/define-alpha-test-value-4

Welcome to the NFTWAV club! :)

0
0
0.000
avatar

@kenny-crane - awesome! Maybe someday I'll have time to learn and play the game, lol. Do you want me to send you the photo somewhere or can you copy them from the post? Plus like I said, I have a few more if you want to look at them. I'm no professional photography by any means! Just me and my 5 year old smartphone, lol.

0
0
0.000
avatar

They are great pics and just what I was thinking about for the site, since it has WAV(e) in its name. I wanted some wavy water. :) I can get the photos from the post. Thanks again!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=blueeyes8960
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=a-month-long-dream-trip-to-ambergis-caye-belize


Want to have your post on the map too?

  • Go to Steemitworldmap
  • Click the code slider at the bottom
  • Click on the map where your post should be (zoom in if needed)
  • Copy and paste the generated code in your post
  • Congrats, your post is now on the map!
0
0
0.000
avatar

Wow! It seems that you guys really had a great time there.
What a lovely holiday and you deserved it all.
Blessings!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Wow... that is one very nice looking holiday! I had no idea that you were a postal worker! How is that as a job? Isn't it supposed to drive you nuts... hence the "going postal" saying?

Anyway, great photos and looks like you had a decent time!

0
0
0.000
avatar

@bengy - I did pretty much every job as I worked my way up from clerk to city letter carrier to supervisor to finally the last 20 years as a Postmaster. So it made a pretty good career! We did have a great time in Belize.

Posted using Partiko Android

0
0
0.000
avatar

Oh my gosh, @blueeyes8960. I’m so thrilled for you! What a wonderful retirement adventure!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Congratulations! Your high-quality travel content was selected by @travelfeed curator @for91days and earned you a reward, in form of an upvote and a resteem. Your work really stands out! Your article now has a chance to get featured under the appropriate daily topic on our TravelFeed blog.
Thank you for being part of the TravelFeed community!

Did you know that you get larger upvotes when posting through TravelFeed.io? That is not all, we are also giving away a ticket to Steemfest to one lucky TravelFeed user. Make sure to read the announcement and opt in! Also, thanks to the travel writing contest by @invisusmundi you can now earn up to 100 STEEM on top of the post rewards when posting through our new platform TravelFeed.io! Read the contest announcement for more information on how to participate.

We are continuously working on improving TravelFeed, recently we introduced EasySignUp and EasyLogin, our first step to make TravelFeed ready for mass adoption.


Learn more about TravelFeed by clicking on the banner above and join our community on Discord.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Belize seems like a really nice place. I was nearby there once in Mexico and I also enjoyed a Maya Ruins.

Have a nice vacation and enjoy the good weathers.

0
0
0.000
avatar

How cool was that? I love Belize and most of Central America when there is no trouble brewing there. Airbnb is the best invention EVER! I can remember it used to be couch surfing that was all the rage, although, that felt odd to me, I have friends who did it. I have only had great experiences with them and I know that some people don't but, I did.

It sounds like a super, well-deserved vacation and I am sure you are happy to be retired and enjoying life in a different way. Oh, someday - I will just stop working and couch surf for a living. LOL

I am actually leaving for a month-long cruise on Friday! I can hardly wait... have a great night and thanks so much for the awesome details!

!tip .20

0
0
0.000
avatar

Your vacation is gorgeously perfect! I want to see the sting rays and nurse shark. I hope you have more photos to share soon. I want to go to Belize too!

0
0
0.000