Belize

There is something exhilarating about the wind whipping through your hair as the sun shines down on your shoulders and your legs dangle off the front of a boat. Speeding across the varying colors of ocean blue, you feel free, awake and alive – does it get any better? Personally, I think not.

For one week, we have been enjoying the pleasures and paradise of Belize. Last year at this time, we also found ourselves in the Caribbean sipping mojitos and puffing Cuban cigars in the final days of our year of travel. It’s hard to believe nearly one year has passed since we’ve returned home to the U.S. And while a one week vacation doesn’t quite compare to an entire year of travel, it certainly has been wonderful to explore a new place and enjoy some downtime from the fast pace of American life.

We decided to focus this trip primarily on exploring beneath the surface with some quality time for relaxing and reading when out of the water. We set up camp at the Paradise Villas on Ambergeis Caye – a small island off the coast known for it’s incredible scuba diving and laid back culture. Now that we are working full time again, we decided to splurge and rented our own little one bedroom apartment with an excellent balcony looking onto the garden with less than a minute walk to the pool and the beach. The dive shop is just down the beach, the grocery store a block up the street, and plenty of restaurants, bars and shops all within ten minutes. I wouldn’t say this is an incredibly Belizean cultural experience, but one can’t avoid the local laid back atmosphere so characteristic of the Caribbean.

The highlight of the trip has certainly been the scuba diving. Out of the seven days here, we dove five. Within a 5-10 minute boat ride from the island, there are numerous canyons of reef filled with all kinds of sea creatures and colorful coral. We’ve seen sharks, spotted eagle rays, eels, dolphins, turtles, lobsters, and many types of tropical fish. One memorable (and slightly unnerving experience) was on our third dive when Eric’s mouth piece detached from the regulator at 60 feet. While he quickly swam to the dive master to use her spare while he switched to his own spare regulator, a friendly little fish came swimming up, incredibly curious about all the commotion. As we got it all figured out within seconds, the little fish swam circles and then let us pet him. He followed us the remainder of the dive often coming close enough so we could reach

out and feel his smooth, scaly skin. He was more like a dog than a fish!

Another highlight of our diving adventures this week was the day-long trip out to the Blue Hole – made famous in the adventures of Jacque Cousteau – about 3 hours boat ride from our island. The Blue Hole is an incredibly deep hole surrounded by reefs and resulting from a cave collapsing underwater. We dove to a depth of 130 feet into the cold, dim water to admire and swim between giant stalactites formed God knows how many years ago. It was mystifying and a little eerie being so deep. As we came near the surface and did an 8 minute safety stop at 20 feet, we were surrounded by more than seven sharks meandering along the edge of the drop off. They are graceful creatures – and thankfully all reef sharks so quite harmless.

We lunched that day on little island called Half Moon Caye and visited the Red Footed Boobie colony (of birds), which all the guys on the trip got a kick out of – some things never change. We did two more wall dives along the Lighthouse Reef, which were spectacular and in pristine condition. The variety of coral and reef plants were striking – purples, yellows, reds, blues and even some rainbow shades all in one. On the way back from the trip, we enjoyed rum punch and the beautiful boat ride. We ran across a pod of dolphins and slipped into the water to swim with them for a few minutes before they went on their way. They entertained us with flips, spins and dives above and below the surface – it was amazing.

In addition to our days diving, we also did an outing to the Mayan Lamanai ruins back on the main land. The majority of the trip was the journey there and back, but we didn’t mind because it’s a great opportunity to see other parts of the country. On the boat rides to the main land and up the river to the ruins, we saw more dolphins, some baby crocodiles, iguanas, and even a couple manatees. Our guide was a bird expert so he pointed out many exotic birds though I couldn’t even begin to remember what they were. We had lunch at the ruins and then explored for a couple hours, climbing to the top of one very steep temple and learning about the history of the Mayan people who inhabited this settlement for nearly 1500 years. It truly puts things in perspective.

During our down time, we’ve spent plenty of hours lounging at the pool, reading, walking the beach, napping, watching movies and going to bed very early. We did manage to get out a couple of evenings. Exactly what a vacation should be! One night we headed down the bar at the end of the dock nearby and found live music – a Blues band comprised of old American and Canadian expats who could sure sing. Not surprisingly, they claim to be the only Blues band in Belize. We thoroughly enjoyed the music over a couple beers – reminding ourselves that we need to get out more to do the same back home. Our favorite eatery has been the BBQ vendor down the street who sells pieces of BBQ chicken, coleslaw, beans and tortillas at a much more reasonable price that what the restaurants charge. This little island certainly has developed its tourism industry and the prices of food, souvenirs and beach front property reflect that. We’ve been happy to have our own kitchen and patio dining area for great ambiance.

Today was our last full day on the island and it was complete with plenty of R&R, some souvenir shopping, pool sitting and finishing our books. We are going to dress up and take ourselves out to a nice dinner tonight and then to a beach bar with live music to celebrate the end to a great week. Maybe we’ll even take a dip in the ocean before retiring for the evening. Tomorrow we’ll treat ourselves to breakfast at the best joint in town – Estelle’s – and then enjoy our final hours of sunbathing before boarding our water taxi back to Belize City. I’m sure I’ll savor the last boat ride of the trip – the salty fresh smell of the ocean air, the idyllic sandy islands surrounded by crystal blue waters and, of course, the wind in my hair.