An AMAZING time in San Pedro by Brian Swisher

My three friends and I decided to visit San Pedro Belize this year for a guys trip and were certainly not disappointed.  We put in a lot of research (which is how we came across Tacogirl blog 🙂 and met a lot of great people on the island, including Belizeans, Canadians, Americans, and every mix in between.

Coconut Head at the Chicken Drop

Our favorite spots were Lola’s, Fido’s, and Wet Willy’s to have a few drinks at night.  In fact we all signed a “Baltimore Shirt” and donated it to Wet Willy’s because the owner is from our state, right outside of Baltimore.  Small world.

Baltimore Shirt at Lola’s Pub

You also can’t beat Lily’s and Estel’s for breakfast, the views are phenomenal and the food is amazing!  I also have to throw in a plug for Erica’s stand.  She runs a street food stand in the heart of town and her food is amazing and cheap!  We ate late night at her stand three nights of our trip.  We went reef fishing, kayaking, spear fishing, snorkeled Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley, and even briefly visited Caye Caulker.  Our trip was everything we expected and planned, except for one small set back – the bridge was being repaired.  We really planned on renting a golf cart to check out north Ambergris Caye, but were stuck in the heart of town.. or so we thought.

After speaking to some locals and emailing Tacogirl, we learned that we can rent bikes and walk them across the bridge.  We did this on the fourth day of our vacation.  As soon as we got off the bridge, we jumped on the bikes and followed the main dirt road to Palapa Bar.  It was a bumpy ride, but worth it.  When we arrived around noon, the bar was completely dead and they were not serving food.  Within an hour boats started pouring in and dropping people off and the Canadian and American expats started arriving to enjoy some drinks and the awesome view.  The only pics I have from my bike trip are from Palapa Bar.  I wish I would have taken more from the trip.

Amazing view at the Palapa Bar

Palapa bar

Palapa Bar Dock

Nothing like some float therapy at the Palapa Bar

After Palapa Bar, we cruised up north further on the main road and passed The Hotel, Grand Caribe and Capt Morgans Casino… In fact, I can’t remember where we turned around.  However we did turn around somewhere under a mile passed Palapa Bar due to the heat.  Instead of taking the road back, we decided to take the beach trail.  BEST DECISION of our lives.  If we rented a golf cart, we would have missed this beach front trail that many were walking and riding.  The resorts are AMAZING, so amazing in fact that one of my friends is going to take his fiance there for their honeymoon in 2014.  We did not hear about biking or walking the north side of the island’s beach in our research.  I highly suggest all to do it if the weather is right (it can get very hot).  The sand is pretty compact and you are walking/riding on the coast of the Caribbean Sea, life can not get much better!  Disclaimer:  You may hit some soft sand patches, but you can see them coming.  If you are riding a bike, walk through these areas.  One of my friends went to ride through and ended up on the ground.  A honeymooner couple got quite the laugh out of it though.

Tacogirl – Thank you for assisting us with a great trip.

Side note:  Anyone that lives on the island.  If you can suggest a resort north of the bridge for my buddy and his fiance it would be greatly appreciated!