Chillin' out maaaaan in Belize

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Before getting to the Belize update - we have updated the Guatemala edition to include our 2 days in Flores and Tikal on our way from Mexico to Belize. There are some new photos there too - Kez got another old fashioned film developed - so jump back to it if you have the time (and energy and inclination)!

On Monday 28th May we left Flores early to go to Belize city. We arrived just in time for a lovely lunch right on the water but our luck ended there cos the Mexican embassy was already shut for the day. So we had a chilled out afternoon instead. Poor Andy wasn’t feeling too great so getting lots of sleep was not a bad thing. In the evening we went to watch Pirates of the Caribbean III, the worst movie any of us has seen in a very long time. And the cinema was freezing which made it seem even longer than it already was.

In the morning, we went back to the Mexican embassy, all went well and Kez’s passport with visa was ready in the afternoon. We went straight from there to the dock to catch a boat to Caye Caulker, an incredibly chilled out island with very good diving. We stayed in a lovely little place called Blue Wave Guesthouse and it really was a stupidly laidback 6 days. There are no cars, only golf cars and the road sign in one of the photos is a good indication of the lifestyle on the island.

Three of the days we went diving, Kez got her Advanced certification and Andy got introduced to the wonderful underwater world and did his Open Water certification. We dived with Belize Diving Services and can definitely recommend them. The diving was great, much better than Utila in Honduras, mainly because a lot of the sites are part of a marine reserve and are therefore protected. We saw loads of nurse sharks, one was nearly 3m long and very cool. We also saw lots of the usual suspects for these waters including eagle rays, turtles, massive groupers, giant lobsters, angelfish etc etc etc. At Hol Chan we went through this 15m swim-through that was rather small, rather scary and very exciting! The last day Andy came out on the same boat as us and even came to find us underwater by mistake when he went exploring and thought we were his class under there.

The rest of our time we spent doing nothing really, just relaxing, swimming at the split (where the island was split into 2 by a hurricane about 10 years ago), drinking cocktails at sunset and eating really great food! They had an amazing bakery on the island and some wonderful restaurants. Our favourite was Fran’s Grill where Fran herself just has a small hut, a barbecue/braai and a few wooden picnic tables. She cooks up deliciously fresh fish, served with Caribbean spicy rice, baked potato, salad and then a heavenly cheesecake. Includes a rum and orange too. All for 5 quid/ R70. The locals on the island are ridiculously happy and friendly, everyone greets each other in the streets with thick Caribbean accents and smiles constantly. Such a pleasure! Only downsides are that there is no real beach, you can swim at the split off some concrete walls but everywhere else has eel grass; it is much more expensive than anywhere else in central America, prices are similar to the Yucatan in Mexico; and there are lots of mozzies!

On our last night we had some serious sundowners and made a very good attempt at finishing a bottle of rum, mixed with banana and strawberry juice. After dinner we hit the very funky I for I bar and carried on drinking there until it shut. On the way home we popped into Oceanside bar for a last drink, Nick outlasted Kez and Andy and entertained the locals with his class dancing skills!

The next day we just recovered from our night out and chilled out just a bit more in preparation for our long journey up to Playa del Carmen in Mexico the day after.

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Comments

[Rich]

Oops Sorry
With regards to the typo on your Venezuela comments page I regret to inform Nick that I was wrong in assuming SUFC's safety and would like to apologize unequivically for any inconvenience, sadness or even depression that my premature comments may have caused. Of course its a saving grace that the true team of Red n White stripes will be replacing them in the Division that should be called One and will undoubtably remain therein for many a year to come hauling a huge trophy cabinet with them as they batter any team put in their path. Ha'way lads! So your still goin' then? How much sun, sand, sea, sailing, snorkelling etc can you take? Glad your both still lovin it, lokking forwad to seeing you now that it's June and you promised you'd be back... hmph! Where are you? London you said, how about a day trip or a stop over at mine en Cambridge? Alwayts welcome guys. See ya soon, enjoy the final leg. Rich.