Lobster & Party Lovers

If you love Lobster and great parties Belize is the Place to Be this July.

San Pedro Lobster Festival 2023 dates announced.

The amazing combo crew of the San Pedro Lobster Festival Committee and the San Pedro Business Association were excited to hook up the media houses, bloggers, social media, annual and future attendees with this year’s Lobster Crawl schedule and full festival dates for 2023.

This year marks San Pedro’s 16th annual festival (since 2007) and while we may not be the oldest, we are the biggest – this year the full lobster party is clocking in at 14 days! It’s going to be ‘a triathlon’ and the longest Lobster Fest to date for San Pedro, so start taking your vitamins and get well rested, cause it’s coming up fast.

The party starts July 3rd with the ever popular Lobster Crawl, and finishes up with the world famous annual Block Party on July 15th. The event will be held at the football field in town, also known as Saca Chispas, and sometimes the Hon. Louis Sylvestre Sports Complex. The Lobster Committee made the new addition of an after party this year to really finish it up right. On July 16, set your Sunday schedule to include the colorful Boca del Rio Park Beach Party.

According to the email, there is not a vendor space to be had. The Lobster Crawl and both the Block and Beach Parties are fully booked. “The Organizers would also like to thank each and every person, business and organization(s) that have helped them make the San Pedro Lobster Festival a repeated success.” direct quote.

Here’s a picture from last years opening night at the Beach Bar at Caribbean Villas. Their event had live music, onsite shopping, and a special drinks bar. As for the food, lobster specials were sold out before the well attended event ended.

Other Belize Lobster Festival Dates

Caye Caulker and Placencia both host shorter annual lobster festivals. They also feature lots of delicious lobster dishes, fun activities, live entertainment and beach time.

Caye Caulker Lobster Festival

Our sister island Caye Caulker is also known as La Isla Carinosa. They are the longest running of the three festivals, dating back to 1994. This year, Caye Caulker is holding their 2023 three day lobster festival on July 14th,15th, and16th.

Placencia Lobster Festival

This festival started in 1998 and is organized by the Placencia Village Council. It’s held at the beach and the Municipal Pier. This year’s dates are July 14th, 15th, and 16th.

Lobster Crawl Passport and Venues

Below is the official Crawl schedule and for those who might not know, I will fill in a few details starting with the official passport and a heavenly strawberry chocolate shake. Totally worth getting if you stop by the Belize Chocolate Factory for a sweet treat or souvenir and a passport stamp. I enjoyed this event with my friends who came from Puerto Aventuras, Mexico for Lobster Festival.

The Lobster Crawl passport is available at all the venues. Each stamp you collect at each event you attend will get you a chance to win a big prize at the big block party annual raffle. It’s definitely a prize worth eating and drinking your way around town for. Plus, consider it great karma to help participating businesses before slow season. It’s a good idea to download the schedule to your phone and follow the San Pedro Lobster Festival Facebook page & San Pedro Lobster Festival on Instagram. Not only to build your excitement up till the event, but also for live coverage during. It’s advantageous to follow all the Facebook business pages of the Lobster Crawl venues listed below for extra details as their events draw near. Even if you are not coming this year, it will help you start planning your Belize Holiday in July for San Pedro Lobster Festival 2024.

Festival and Food

The 14 day long event will be a sea-foodie’s dream with a wide array of delicious lobster options. Everything from fresh caught and grilled, to lobster tacos, kebabs, lobster dogs, pizza and more. Both daytime and night time events during the Lobster Crawl will be featuring food specials as well as Lobster Fest themed cocktails. And there’s plenty of Belikin beers to go around! I borrowed someone else’s (beer) for my picture below and paired it with what was left of my lobster bites – it was hard not to eat them all before getting a picture. That was at the evening event at Nauti Crab, it was a full house and a fun time with my friends.

Not a fan of seafood? No problem, all lobster crawl restaurants and a few block party booths always make sure to have something for almost everyone.

Lunch With a View

One of the other Lobster Crawl events my friends and I opted to do was the Palapa Bar and Grill event. It has convenient dockside parking for our Belize Sailing Center friends who chose to arrive by Hobie Cat, and a short walk or drive for the rest of us. We enjoyed a long lunch, several games of backgammon and great music by the Coconut Trio.

Block Party

The highlight of the festival is the big block party featuring a wide variety of decorated and delicious food and drink booths and live entertainment with DJ’s, local and mainland musicians. The block party is a family friendly event and attracts a great mix of people countrywide and many international travelers.

It gets crowded fast, so it’s worth going a bit early, to avoid food and drink lines. When it gets busy, you can always use the buddy system and each pick a line after deciding what you want from vendors. My friend Staci and I did the food lines together so we could chat and opted to split our food to enjoy a variety of lobster dishes. We did a lobster on a stick, and popcorn lobster with fresh cassava chips and lobster dogs – all delicious.

And night time was equally as fun, especially when DJ Debbie got the crowd doing the Casper Slide. It was a sure bet, whether you were dancing or not, you were having fun.

As for eating my words, before last years event I was messaging one of the organizers, Kitty, about the venue change. I wanted to know why they took our charming sea Front Street festival and moved it to a ‘room without a waterfront view’ (the fenced in football field) on the lagoon side of town. She explained why the transition was happening and it all made sense.

However I was still lamenting the loss of the Central Park atmosphere.

While attending the event I had to agree just how smart a move it was and that nothing was lost. So many of us will always have our precious memories of the Front Street Festival era and as for the new location – we totally gained a great country fair atmosphere. And for the organizers? It allows them to work smarter not harder for managing the big annual block party. Win Win Win. And myself? My apartment overlooks the old seaside Lobster Festival grounds so I get to enjoy a slice of that view (between buildings) every day.

A Lobster Festival Review

“LOBSTERFEST! Oh what an experience, so many times, 8 to be exact. From the awesome food to the great music and performances, there’s something for everyone…. Until the sun goes down. This is one event in my life I am so lucky to have been to so many times.” – Maureen Schulz-Sowder

Boca Del Rio Park Beach Party

As I sit here sipping my iced coffee while writing I can almost hear the music and smell the barbecue in the air. It’s a pleasant surprise that they are giving us a bonus beach party to close out the 14 days of fun. A lively beach party is always in style and this is one lobster event you won’t want to miss. After all, who can resist the warm sand between your toes and the succulent buttery taste of a grilled lobster tail?

Visit Belize in July

If you are looking for a fun family friendly event this July for you and your partner and/or friends want to test your party stamina, plan a Belize vacation and celebrate your summer at the San Pedro Lobster Festival. As for the July weather, you can expect late night or early morning showers, with lows around 26°C/78°F and highs of 30°C/86 °F And it can feel much warmer if there is not much breeze., so I recommend packing a bandana and for the ladies, a hand fan.

It is a great opportunity to enjoy something unique for both locals countrywide and tourists. Come indulge in delicious lobster dishes, enjoy an excellent variety entertainment and experience the rich culture and many traditions of celebrating lobster season in Belize.

I will leave you with some parting wisdom from 12 Belize Shop on adding Lobster Festival to this year’s calendar, if you have not already. I snapped these cute hand painted signs while getting Mexico friends my passport stamped at our friends shop crawl event.