Our welcome to the blue seas and jewel like cayes of Belize 

The remarkably stunning Ambergris Caye west coast 

The waiting room at Belize International Airport 

I'm leaving on a jet plane... 

Relax..don't worry! 

After a gruelling journey from London to JFK, then a ‘lovely’ stay at an airport hotel at La Guardia, followed by a flight to Houston – we were finally on our way to Belize. It was a quick acclimatisation to the heat, which involved me going to the ladies toilet to change into my shorts and sandals and then a panic when I realised I had left all my money in the toilet. Fortunately no one took it and we saw that as a good omen on which to start our trip.

The first person to greet us ...Iguana Rocks 

Maya had never been on a small plane before and was a bit apprehensive, especially when her seat belt didn’t work. This was followed by a conversation with a lady sitting near her who said ‘Don’t worry, I’ve been in this plane when it’s crashed before. It was fine, everyone just got out and walked back to shore’. Never mind – we made it to AC, grabbed a cab and headed for our first destination. Mata Rocks.

The view from our room at Mata Rocks 

We were greeted by the wonderful staff there. I cannot praise them enough. We dumped our stuff in our room, dipped our feet in the sea and headed off to Elvi’s Kitchen. The food was good, the staff were lovely but it felt expensive and geared towards USA tourists.

Our first sunrise on Ambergris Caye. 

We got up for every sunrise in Belize. In fact on the first few nights we got up at 4am and hung out with the hotel’s security guard, communicating as best we could with our limited Spanish and her limited English. Nevertheless we had fun exploring under the pier with our torches in the moonlight.

Breakfast at Mata Rocks beach bar - The Squirrel's Nest 

Mata Rocks preparing for my first open water dive 

The Squirrel’s Nest is Mata Rock’s fab little beach bar. It is usually buzzing with people and we met some truly gorgeous people from the northern USA and Canada who were escaping the freezing weather.

It was really tough relaxing on Ambergris Caye 

The beach at Mata Rocks is small, cute and perfectly formed. We enjoyed paddling and we took the opportunity to snorkel at Victoria House Hotel’s pier, which has a surprising number of interesting fish under it. We ate at their bar restaurant a couple of times and while expensive, the food was superb. We had our first conch ceviche there and loved it.

our snorkel guide spearing a lobster 

During our week on Ambergris Caye:
We went snorkelling to Hol Chan in a glass-bottomed boat.

colourful coral 

I did my diving certification with Pro Tech. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Hol Chan fish 

The SAGA animal shelter. They are doing a great job with few resources. 

An Ambergris Pot Licker looking for a new home at the shelter. 

We visited SAGA Animal Shelter.

This is 'The Cut' 

This Neighbourhood Watch sign gave us pause for thought 

Music played on the sea always sounds better - The Palapa Bar 

This dog couldn't wait for the hand ferry to carry him across so he jumped ship and swam 

Then hand ferry across the cut. 

Hammock House is a funky place to have a drink if you need a break heading up north 

This horse is waiting for his owner on the other side of the hand ferry 

We walked to the south and hired a golf cart for the day to go to the North. Up north we saw some great houses, bounced around a lot in big potholes, visited the Palapa Bar and ate some BBQ at Hammock House. We watched the ferry traffic jam. On one of our crossings a local dog joined the group on the hand ferry, but when it wasn’t moving quickly enough, he jumped off and swam.

The lagoon is beautiful at sunset 

Everyone joins in with the painting during Carnival in San Pedro