our trip to belize

Happy Friday ya’ll! I hope it’s been a great week for everyone! I cannot believe that Christmas is a week from today. Feeling ready? I’m hoping I can get the rest of my shopping finished today then it will be smooth sailing till we leave for Ohio next week. Which by the way, I was incredibly excited to go to Ohio and see some snow over Christmas since living is Texas just doesn’t feel “Christmasty”, but turns out it will be in the 50s and 60s with rain. What. At least it’ll be cozy and the perfect weather to stay inside with the fam. 

So last weekend Mitch and I took a short trip to Belize. We went 2 years ago when we had been dating about a year and had such a great time and have been wanting to go back. As much as I love to travel, I don’t love the jet lag and travel nightmares that tend to come with it – missing connecting flights, sprinting through the airport with backpacking packs on, fighting sleep when it’s 3am your time, etc etc. Granted, it’s all apart of the experience, but with Belize, you get none of that. From Hobby Intl Airport in Houston,Texas, it’s a direct 2 hour flight into Belize City – Southwest just added these direct flights in October. Then you take a little commuter plane onto whatever island you’re staying on. Belize City doesn’t have too much to offer to tourists and isn’t that safe, so people fly off to their respective “caye” or island in Belize. This time, we went to Ambergris Caye, the largest, most developed and most popular caye. 

The plane ride is 10-15 minutes and so beautiful seeing all of the islands and crystal clear water. Belize is very third world, and this plane ride definitely shows you the lack of development in their country. It gives Belize so much character and creates a very unique vacation experience. But this is changing – resorts are going in everywhere!

Once you land at the San Pedro Airport ( San Pedro is the bustling epicenter of Ambergris) you take a boat water taxi to whichever resort you’re staying at. I love this mode of transportation because I love boat rides, and it’s the only option because the road hasn’t been built to the resort we were staying at. 

We arrived pretty late the first night so ate dinner at our resort then called it a night. I love getting in after the sun sets because you get to wake up and see what your resort actually looks like. This was our morning view from our patio! 

We ate breakfast at our resort, drank lots of coffee, met the cutest resort dog (a lot of the resorts “adopt” street dogs and let them live at the resort) then headed out with our Belizian tour guides for the day. 

First stop – finding conch shells on the sea floor. Mitch and our guide have a good eye, but I didn’t see any. We ended up bringing a few up to the boat because they were planning to make fresh ceviche (seafood cooked in citrus juice) with our catch.

Second stop was spiny lobster spearing. To be honest, I wouldn’t do this again. Cool experience, but I felt wrong taking these lobsters with a spear. The lobster was delicious though! I might be smiling in this pic, but I wasn’t smiling on the inside. Sorry lobster!

Then they took us fishing for snapper, then to a beach so they could cook everything. This was the most amazing meal. 

After that, they took us snorkeling at Shark Ray Alley, where we got to feed sharks and rays. We did this last time we were there and it’s so fun. 

Then, we went home and napped, showered, and relaxed. This was such a fun but super exhausting day in the sun. Our tour guides were amazing and just as friendly and fun as we expected them to be. Belizian people are the best which is another great reason to travel to their country. 

The rest of the trip was really relaxing and we didn’t have any set plans. We ate amazing food, drank cocktails and read a lott. We were really lucky to get our water activity day in the first day, because these crazy pop up storms kept happening the rest of the weekend. The wind picks up and clouds move in, it pours and feels like a hurricane, then it’s gone. 

Belize is such a great place and we loved our second visit. Our resort was really quiet, which was relaxing, but as soon as you take the water taxi into San Pedro, the island life is in full swing. So many fun bars, restaurants, and people to meet – Belize is english-speaking which is another reason we love it. If you’re considering a tropical vacation I would highly recommend trying Belize. You will love the abundance of fresh seafood, the beauty of the islands and crystal clear water and the fun, relaxed Belizian culture.