Belize?

[northerngal]

Has anyone been there? How does it compare to our beloved STJ? maybe my daughter will go there!

[Coconuts]

NG: I went there on a whim with a buddy and his son back about ten years ago, having found a colossal deal on the now merged and gone U. S. Airways: $235 round trip, with triple miles. I don't know where you or your daughter wanted to go, but a popular destination is Ambergris Caye. You fly into Belize City, and then take a little hopper plane over to the Caye. San Pedro is cute; streets of sand, and golf carts as transportation. The narrow beaches were uninspiring; eel grass in most places, and nothing to see snorkeling; there is a very long reef, but it is half a mile offshore, and you need a boat to get to it. The continuous outer reef means that the beaches feel more like the inside of the Intercoastal, or like a bay, rather than proper open ocean. We took a short boat ride to "Shark Ray Alley", where they chum, and you jump in the water with lots of nurse sharks and sting rays. Nice food and bar scene; the latter were often in Tiki thatched structures, at the end of long wooden walkways out into the sea. We rented a place with stairs down to the beach, and ended up paying a crazy low rate of $8 per day per person (I expect that is no longer the going rate). We dove the Blue Hole and other offshore cays, but the boat ride to get to them took hours of pounding through the swells at top speed. At one point, we rented a car and drove over into Guatemala, staying the night in a small village, and getting up before dawn to catch sunrise from the top of one of the pyramids at Tikal. That was very cool, but after getting back and reading State Department travel advisories, we realized that it was more dangerous driving around Guatemala on our own than we knew at the time. Curiously, the maps in Guatemala don't even show Belize; they consider it their territory, and try to ignore the fact that it is actually a different, sovereign country.

I enjoyed the visit to Belize, but in my opinion, it doesn't compare favorably to St. John. That's my two cents; your mileage may vary. Equineannie has been further south to Placencia, which we heard good things about. That might deserve a closer look.

All the best,

Kevin

[Chardonnay]

Hi Northerngirl - I was going to suggest Belize - our second favorite. We flew to Belize City and took a puddle jumper to Placencia, a southern peninsula. We stayed in a cottage about 50 ft from the ocean. There was a beach bar within walking distance, as well as other resorts, restaurants, gelato shop, etc. We walked most places - maybe took a cab to go further north to check out Francis Coppola's Turtle Inn. I agree with Kevin, snorkeling wasn't as good as STJ but did see sea creatures, recall abundance of starfish and I saw my first Eagle Ray here. But we did spend several days sailing and diving the cays and reefs. The famous Blue Hole is here but we didn't have time to dive it. We also rented a driver and travelled inland staying at a "jungle" resort a few days and visiting several Mayan ruins including Tikal in Guatamala. Overall, a great adventure. People were friendly, and generally spoke English. I recall prices were reasonable if not inexpensive.

[equineannie]

I absolutely love this place, it is an eco tourist dream. Wonderful people and easy to get around. The entire southern part of the country is great diving, rain forest, organic cacao and coffee plantations. Placencia is a great town for your base, and you can see so much from there. Great small inns and lodges. Ambergris Caye is well know, its a dive mecca island, but can be overloaded with tourists. All beaches are nice and the diving is probably the best in Caribbean. I contemplated moving there, few years back, and may still do so.

[shoemak38]

Your best bet may be just ask your daughter were she wants to go. That's why we gave up and let them choose Cancun. Another idea we had looked at as this originally was supposed to be my daughter's high school graduation gift was the South of France. Aer Lingus has good pricing into Marseille or Nice I forget which. And I was looking very reasonably priced places between Cannes and Antibes from there you can do lots of day trips along the Riviera
if you still looking for other Caribbean ideas is a place I found (never went to) I believe from a comment on this forum

http://www.anthonyskey.com/about/about-us.htm

[GratefulDad]

I went to Belize about 10 years ago as well. I stayed in Placencia for three nights. We did a tour of the jungle/ruins and saw some cool wildlife like howler monkeys and toucans and colorful parrots. Then we went out to Ambergris for a week. We actually stayed on one of the outer atolls for a couple nights too. The snorkeling was decent. The fishing was great. I loved Belize.

[PatrickMcc]

We also went about 10 years ago. We went to San Pedro and intended to do some caving but my wife had a sudden back problem. If you are into caving the reviews say that it is very good in Belize. There are also some excellent Mayan ruins in western Belize that were fun to visit.We stayed in a hotel on the river in San Pedro that was owned by a Belizean family- very nice and reasonable but I can't remember the name. We then drove to Tikal with a guide on the worst road we have ever been on but it was worth it. Tikal is one of the world's great sights- don't miss it. You can stay right on the grounds overnight in Tikal or in nearby Flores. Then we flew to Placencia and stayed in the Inn at Roberts Grove. It is an all inclusive which we almost never stay at but not at all like a Sandals for instance. It has really nice rooms, a few pools and is right on the water and close to Placencia which is a nice small town. The beaches don't compare at all to St John and there was no snorkeling where we went. However you don't get caving or Mayan ruins on St John so it was a fun change. We have been to St John about 20 times since 1983 and are going back this February so we do love it but seeing different places is fun also. Have a grey time wherever you go.