Belize Vacation - Part 1

WOW - what a trip! Belize is a place that has been on my radar for quite some time - a few people I know have been there, and every single one has absolutely raved about it. And since I'm always seeking out those off-the-beaten path tropical destinations to explore, it made sense to put Belize on the list. And boy, I'm sure glad I did! 

Upon landing, we were immediately picked up at the airport and escorted through a large part of downtown Belize to the water taxi. The island where we stayed, Caye Caulker, is about a 40 minute boat ride from mainland Belize. Depending on the amount of people going back and forth, the ferry is sometimes half-full and other times, packed to the max. 

Once we got to the island, we were picked up and taken via golf cart (no cars on this island - it's either foot, bike, or cart) to our slice of heaven on the beach. Honestly, the ride on the golf cart wasn't necessary as our place was within short walking distance from the water taxi dock. (Lesson learned and we didn't ever hop back onto a cart the rest of the time on the island.) 

When we were researching the best places to eat on the island, the one that stuck out the most to me was an Italian restaurant. The owners are a couple who moved here from Verona, Italy, a few years ago. Each night, they make two dishes: one with meat sauce and one vegetarian. We opted to get one of each and share the meal. It was delicious and 100% Italian. 

(Belikin Beer - locally brewed in Belize)

One of the tours we opted to do while on the island was a full-day snorkeling trip. Matt had never snorkeled before, so this was a very new experience for him. We practiced the evening before in the pool, to sort of get him acclimated to the idea of breathing in the water, and after a brief moment of mild panic when he hit that ocean water, he really had a great time. It was a really fun day and our guides were awesome. Our boat had six other people, and it ended up being a really fun group!

After the snorkeling tour was over, we had a couple hours of daylight left so we quickly got cleaned up and ventured out to find a premier sunset-watching location. We ended up back in the deep residential section, and asked a person if we could walk through the back of their property to access an old dock. Turned out to be a great spot to watch the sunset!

There are a huge amount of shells all over the island - both in the water and on shore. It is strictly prohibited to take shells out of Belize, so we just left them all alone......even though I sure found some great ones I wanted to bring home. 

Since the sun sets so early down there, there is still lots of party time left in the evening. Our place has these awesome swinging chairs (and tables!), so we parked it in the chairs and enjoyed the ocean breeze with some island drinks.