We Never Run Out of Things To Do in Belize; by Shirlee Arnould

I was very excited when my friends Mark and Andrea from Las Vegas told me they were coming to San Pedro to visit.

As a countdown to their arrival date approached I tried to get as much work done as possible because I knew I probably wouldn’t be working much over the course of the two weeks they were going to be here. I was ready for a break from sitting on my butt at my desk on the internet all day. There is certainly not a shortage of things to do in Belize, but even just staying in San Pedro, I never imagined how much I would actually do in that two weeks.

The first week Mark was solo and he stayed for the first few days at Grand Baymen, because his brother owns a condo there and let him use it. Last year he really liked Exotic Caye Resort so he decided to move to beachfront for the latter part of his stay and for Andrea’s arrival. The unit that he stayed in last year was one that was destroyed in the fire so he got one closer to the office.

My daughter was with me when we went to the Tropic Air to meet him. He had gotten on a later flight than what I thought so I was booking a flight for our FA/CPR instructor for Red Cross at the counter when I heard “mom” then got a tap of my shoulder and when I turned around there he was.

The first night was somewhat laid back. We had burgers at Roadkill Bar, then “called it a night” early because Mark had been traveling all day.

Rather than giving a detailed account of every single night, I’ll just list the number of places that we went during his stay. Each of them have a clickable link so you can check them out. Unfortunately we were too busy having fun and I didn’t take pictures at all of the places we went to.

Hurricane’s Ceviche Bar – Where Josh scored a cool pair of sunglasses courtesy of Mark.
Sunset cruise with Ecologic Cats – I can never say enough about these cruises. They are always awesome! – 2016 Update: Catamarans are now in Roatan.
Roadkill Bar – Karaoke with Sherry Wolfe is always a fun time there.
Fido’s – I finally got to see the boys play again.
Island Time – Always great entertainment there. Update 2018 – No longer exists.
Lone Star Grill & Cantina – Watched the Blue Bombers beat the BC Lions on the big Screen.
Crazy Canucks Beach Bar – Think and Drink Trivia. San Pedro Belize Red Cross was the beneficiaries of that night’s event (and the last Friday of every month) so as Branch Coordinator I was on hand to accept the donation.
Carlo and Ernie’s Runway Bar – One of Mark’s favorites.
El Divino at Banana Beach Resort – Andrea and I love “Wine & Dine Wednesday”
(Not so) “Secret Beach” at Grand Belizean Estates – Such a beautiful swim area.
Palapa Bar & Grill – I never get enough of the view from any angle up there.
Island Buzz Caf̩ & Grill РBest breakfast sandwiches, and Texas style biscuits and gravy

There were a couple of days that I let my friends have some time alone together, but I ended up going out to two more places with my oldest daughter. We hit Rum & Bean and then went for BBQ chicken at Licks Beachside Café during Costa Maya. Wow was it bustling on the beach!

A Different Kind of Adventure Tour on YOLO

Writing this post was inspired by this extremely fun and unique adventure. My friends Paul and Marci had met Mark last year when he was in San Pedro. They had arranged for us to go on the “No Rush” and it was really great, but this year it was not available when we wanted to go. Working his magic Paul negotiated with Kevin, the Manager from Island Dream Tours to charter YOLO – a pontoon party boat. YOLO is fairly new to Ambergris Caye and is known for its dinner cruises out to the reef, but we got a special treat because Kevin wanted to experiment with going to the backside of the island.

We left from the San Pedro Water Jets Express dock, (near the old Sunset Grill) traveled south to the first cut near Maya Islands Resort.  We turned westward and passed by Cayo Espanto, then headed north along the beautiful west side coast. About an hour later we arrived at the sand bar. The tide was considered high for that area so the sand was not fully exposed. It was so cool to sit in the “middle of the Caribbean Sea” with mere inches of water around us. When it seemed like the day had only just begun even though we were at the sand bar for a little over 2 hours, we had to leave to make our way down to the south cut (which is one of my favorite boating places) of Ambergris Caye and back to Fido’s Pier. It was an amazing trip. Captain Andy and Crewmen Lester and Daniel are three great guys and were very attentive hosts. The meal was excellent – Thank you Kim and Jen.

I’ll let the photos do the rest of the “talking” for me. The Island Dream Tours link above is to their Facebook page where you can see Paul’s more “people” photos too. I hope you enjoy them. 🙂

Catching a big one – Not!

Coming up to cut near Maya Island Resort (Stafish)

Cayo Espanto

Heading North on the West side of Ambergris Caye

Andrea & Mark

Getting close to the sandbar

What I dubbed Gilligan’s Island

Blackadore Caye

Knee deep and water all around

Heading back to San Pedro past Secret Beach

Coming up to south cut of Ambergris Caye

Going through the cut

The site of the new Resort – La Sirene

Almost back to the east side

San Pedro