San Pedro - Belize

We were collected by our private transfer mini-van on Monday 2nd November around 10am in Tulum for our drive to Belize. This was definitely the way to travel, someone else doing the driving and plenty aircon to keep you cool in the Mexican heat. We stopped on our drive for a quick lunch in a tiny Mexican town, and by around 2pm we hit the Belize border. After being charged the usual exit fee which is a real pain when leaving certain countries, we passed quickly through the Belize customs and headed for our flight to San Pedro. We arrived at Corozal airport after a short 15 minute drive from the border control, to be greeted by a tiny building and a 8-seater propeller plane waiting for us on the tarmac. No problem for some of us, but for those who hate flying ......... lets just say their faces were a picture! We paid for our tickets and then set off on the 30 minute flight from the mainland to San Pedro on the island of Ambergris. It was a pretty smooth flight, and as we were at such low altitude we were treated to some great views along the way, including a glance at the island Leonardo de Caprio has just purchased with a business partner – tough for some! We landed in San Pedro by around 4pm and quickly collected our bags.

San Pedro is the main tourist area in Belize, but is a very small town with only 4000 inhabitants, and tourism the dominant industry. On our drive to our apartment we came across a lagoon full of crocs, some of which we could see resting in the water, and being just a 5 minute walk from our apartment we were given a stern warning not to go in the water or feed the crocs. Don’t think any of us fancied it anyway but always good to be warned. We arrived at our beautiful apartment and once settled into our lovely new home (with firm foundations on the beach, 30 seconds from the ocean and with our own private jetty), we went for a quick walk and did a grocery shop as we intended to eat at home for a change. The first thing we noticed was the price of everything here; it is the most expensive country we have come across so far on our travels. On the plus side the first language here is English, so we finally got to converse with the locals and actually understand what they were talking about. V then cooked us a great chicken pasta, and the girls tucked into some vodka while the boys stuck to the trusted beer, a tasty local Belizean brew called Bellkin. After a long day travelling everyone was pretty tired and it was good to have an early night after a home cooked meal.

We woke up refreshed on Tuesday morning but unfortunately the weather was not so great, very overcast and grey. Lara, who is the early bird of the camp, managed to catch a bit of sun in the morning but unfortunately for the rest of us it ended up being a day indoors watching TV and relaxing. We must have been a bit bored as Georgie decided to bake us a cake, and we tucked into V’s famous tuna for lunch, with Georgies treat for desert. After a whole day inside and with a bit of cabin fever kicking in, we decided to venture into the town centre for dinner and were dropped off at the Blue Water Grill. The restaurant was pretty quiet but it proved to be an inspired decision as we all enjoyed a great dinner, with everything from pizza and chicken, to various seafood dishes. This was all topped off with cocktails and beers all served by some of the friendliest and most helpful waiters. Just as we had paid the bill a huge storm hit us, with gusting winds and torrential rain battering the restaurant. We huddled at the bar for a few minutes before braving it to make our taxi which was waiting, so ran and dodged our way unsuccessfully through the rain. All in all a bad days weather but an enjoyable time nonetheless!

Wednesday was a very early start as we caught the boat to take us snorkelling at 8.30am – fortunately it collected us at the end of the jetty right outside our apartment so we could just stroll leisurely out our back door. We made our way out to the reef for our first snorkel dive. The early start was to beat all the other dive tours and it worked well as we got there first. We snorkelled along the coral and were treated to the sight of some beautiful fish along the way, some of which swim along with you as if to keep you company. We also saw lots of stingrays, and the highlight was a mother and baby cruising along just a few feet below us. The stingrays bury themselves in the sand to hide from their prey, so it’s good fun watching them cruise along before finding the right spot on the seabed, and then reversing into it while flapping their fins to cover themselves with sand. This was a great taster for the next snorkel dive, which involved swimming with nurse sharks.
We made our way to Shark Ray Alley about 5 minutes from our first stop, and were treated to cokes and pineapple slices along the way.

Once we had arrived our tour guide whipped out a bag of fish heads to feed and attract the sharks, and encouraged us to jump in. Nurse sharks are harmless, but at 4 to 6 feet long and with a large fin on their back you can still hear the jaws music playing somewhere in the background! Like a big bunch of scaredy-cats we took our time putting on our fins and masks as the sharks swarmed round the boat in huge numbers, Eventually Lara dived in first and the rest of us quickly followed. Once in the water any fear quickly subsided and it was such great fun to be so close to sharks in their natural habitat. The rest of the tour boats soon arrived and the sharks were darting between them for the food that was being offered, and we got to swim with them and appreciate how impressive they were. A truly awesome experience! Once the food was finished the sharks disappeared and we spent another half an hour swimming round the coral and enjoying more stingrays and other colourful fish. Finally it was time to exit the water and make our way back to shore, suitably impressed with ourselves and very happy with our experience. This was also the perfect tonic to get us in the mood for the big dive coming up ........ The Blue Hole!

We arrived back at our apartment by 11am, and after a quick dive in the pool and shower it was time for some lunch. Again this was not a great day weather wise, so we sat outside for a bit but mostly enjoyed the comforts of a good movie and some reading time indoors. At 5pm we caught a taxi into the town to do some exploring, which involved some tourist shopping along the way. We then made our way to the Tackle Box bar on the waterfront to enjoy some cocktails and beers, along with some pre dinner chicken wings. A rowdy group soon entered the bar to kill the mood, so we left and made our way to the Fido’s restaurant and bar for some dinner and drinks. The dinner was excellent, and V and I tucked into our first lobster on our trip, and we were not disappointed. It was superb! The drinks started flowing and a live band started playing, leading to a competitive music quiz which resulted in much downing of drinks for wrong answers. Lara ordered some Red Indian shooters, which combined tequila and vodka with a squirt of pineapple juice – tasty but it packed a strong kick! The band were brilliant and even managed to coax Shaun and V out of their seats for a dance – this didn’t last too long as the pair of them were more than a little pickled, and so they soon sat down for a final nightcap. At the end of the night we all had a quick dance and then caught a taxi home around midnight and made our way to bed with the thought of packing and heading to our next island in Belize, the much smaller Caya Caulker which looks like paradise!

San Pedro was a great start to our Belize adventure; here are our highlights and lowlights:
- Snorkelling with the sharks, an amazing experience
- Great seafood, freshly caught just before dinner time
- Friendly dogs on every corner who love attention
- This place is expensive, especially for us poor backpackers!