Flying into San Pedro is a bit of a magical experience, crossing over tiny mangrove islands and some of the clearest blue water I’ve ever seen. The airport is in the middle of the town, and it was relatively easy to get right down to the water to meet up with our catamaran, where we would be spending the next seven days with four other couples touring the cayes that run along the coast of Belize.
We stayed in the boat the first night and left in the morning. I immediately felt myself relax, out on the water with nothing but fresh air, beautiful sky and crystal clear water. A couple of us fished off the back, and dolphins joined us along the way, swimming alongside and up in front, jumping out of the water and dodging the hulls. It was a spectacular sight.
We were taken to a small island where a father and son lived and kept a small aquarium housing some of the marine life native to the cayes– lobsters, seahorses and a massive goliath grouper, just to name a few. It felt a world away from Los Angeles, and as the sun went down and we headed back to our boat for a freshly prepared dinner, I was already finding it hard to even remember my regular life back in Los Angeles.
The next day started out rainy, so we sailed slowly for English Caye, a beautiful island sitting out on its own with a lighthouse and beautiful sandy beaches. Just as we arrived, the sun had come out from behind the clouds, so we were able to do some snorkeling, seeing some amazing fish and coral life encircling the caye.
That night our guide took us through some mangroves, and, watching the sun set on our journey back to our boat, I felt I’d arrived in paradise.
The next day we were off to Goff’s Caye, a settlement during the Colonial times that has become a destination for the cruise ships that travel in and out of Belize City. We were lucky enough to get there when no one else was there, and it really felt like we had our own private island. We snorkeled and enjoyed the sun, and as we prepared to leave, it began to rain, just as the cruise ship tourists began to arrive.
Next stop was St. George Caye, where we were able to park the catamaran and take a kayak through the mangroves, searching for the elusive manatee. We never got to see one, but the peaceful experience of rowing through the trees and being told about the caye and the animal life was worth it.
That night we ate at the restaurant on the island; the food was amazing, and everyone had more than enough to drink. The sunset was absolutely breathtaking.
The next day was another fantastic day of snorkeling and sailing, fishing and playing games, eating and drinking and relaxing. We swam with the manta rays (and a few barracuda) off the coast of Caye Caulker, and the snorkeling on the deeper side of the reef was absolutely stunning. We came across a school of thousands of fish in a small channel from one side to the other, and as we reached the deeper side found ourselves looking down at a massive spotted eagle ray swimming just below us.
Caye Caulker is a wonderful little town that runs down a long strip of island – it’s a colorful little tourist trap, but there are some great shops and definitely stop in to the bar at the end of town - it’s the epitome of what I had imagined an island bar to be.
We stayed off the coast of Caye Caulker that night and then travelled back up to San Pedro the next day. San Pedro is a really wonderful place, lots of nightlife, including Fido’s, the Jaguar's Temple and Big Daddy’s, and different places to eat and shops to pop into. There are a variety of restaurants, ranging from Pirate Pizza and the Hungry Monkey Sub Shop to the higher-end Casa Picasso and Blue Water Grill.
It's best to get around by golf cart or even better, by bicycle, as none of the roads are paved and there aren’t many taxis. We stayed an extra night at Victoria House, a higher-end resort hotel, and it was well worth it. They have terrific accommodations, both casitas and regular rooms inside the main building, just yards from the beach, as well as two pools, a nice restaurant and bar.
It was a beautiful, relaxing and very romantic vacation, and it was incredibly hard to leave. I, too, fell in love with San Pedro.