UnderwaterBumbleBee
Contributor
I just posted a ridicuously long trip report of our trip last week on the Nekton Pilot Liveaboard in Belize under the Liveaboard forum. However, it was not the only thing we did there.
We stayed on Ambergris Caye for three days at White Sands Cove (near Captain Morgans). It was really quiet, beautiful white sand (no real walk in beach but still nice), nice pool with a beautiful new bar and lighting. The bartender is as good as they said on all the tripadvisor reviews I read prior to booking with them. Owners are American and really nice. All the hotel staff always called us by name which I shocked how well they remembered all the time. Didn't dive (we did a Hol Chan Snorkel which is without a doubt worth a visit) but they do have their own dive shop and everyone was really nice. We had our own boat to ourselves on the snorkel trip- guide gave us a history lesson and was great. I totally wished we had our dive gear instead because we saw so many great things just below us (eagle rays cruising back and forth).
At White Sands there are no cars on that side of the island so we rented golf carts (my husband had a blast). Food was pretty good in San Pedro. We hit El Patio, Carumba and Elvi's. Elvi's we ate at twice and was my favorite. Their Club sandwich with jalapeno's was awesome and not really spicy. Also tried Waraguma's (which was nothing like I had imagined from other people's posts). Yes it was an experience alright. It's pretty much a shack (but a really cute shack with two tiny tables). She was out of lobster and lots of things later in the day but we had the best shrimp burrito there! It was huge, the sauce was awesome and everything was fresh. Don't recommend the drinks however and I'd stick to just the seafood dishes. Her shack is just after the bridge into San Pedro. San Pedro was a cute town, loved the colorful buildings, sand and cobblestone roads. Locals seemed really friendly here, even just passing each other on the street. Felt pretty safe there as well. Several places do push time shares which got a little annoying but they weren't as bad as other places we've been. Lots of dogs which isn't unusual but they all actually seemed in pretty great shape! Didn't see a lot of mange and malnourished animals so that made me happy.
We did stay one night in Belize City and I agree with others that told me it's a dive and dangerous. I found their Leaving/Entering Belize City signs humorous. They say something like "Working towards a better city". There were guards at every entrance to our hotel 24 hours a day, most other tourist spots had them as well. We thought there was a board walk nearby the Radisson so we took a walk around the block and were harassed by a man and woman to look at their shop and get hair braided. While looking at their little flea market the guy tried to sell my husband drugs. The Aggressor III and PH Sundancer II were docked at the Radisson. We checked out the Sundancer which looked incredible and I took a bunch of photos. Radisson was fine accommodation wise but had loud music playing until 2 am above our room. I would never go out at night in that city.
We visited the Belize Zoo one day which is about a half hour drive away. The differences in trees, grass, mountains are incredible. The Zoo was well worth the trip. It's unlike pretty much all zoo's in the U.S. and it's pretty amazing. It also had so much shade and wasn't ridiculously hot in the morning. Didn't notice any bugs biting either. Overall we felt like Belize has a ton of stuff to do there even if you don't stay in Belize City. From Mayan Ruins, horseback riding to them and around waterfalls, atv trips, cave tubing, swamp trips, the zoo and all the other islands and diving it's almost hard to figure out what to choose. I think for that reason we would definitely come back some day to see those other sites.
We stayed on Ambergris Caye for three days at White Sands Cove (near Captain Morgans). It was really quiet, beautiful white sand (no real walk in beach but still nice), nice pool with a beautiful new bar and lighting. The bartender is as good as they said on all the tripadvisor reviews I read prior to booking with them. Owners are American and really nice. All the hotel staff always called us by name which I shocked how well they remembered all the time. Didn't dive (we did a Hol Chan Snorkel which is without a doubt worth a visit) but they do have their own dive shop and everyone was really nice. We had our own boat to ourselves on the snorkel trip- guide gave us a history lesson and was great. I totally wished we had our dive gear instead because we saw so many great things just below us (eagle rays cruising back and forth).
At White Sands there are no cars on that side of the island so we rented golf carts (my husband had a blast). Food was pretty good in San Pedro. We hit El Patio, Carumba and Elvi's. Elvi's we ate at twice and was my favorite. Their Club sandwich with jalapeno's was awesome and not really spicy. Also tried Waraguma's (which was nothing like I had imagined from other people's posts). Yes it was an experience alright. It's pretty much a shack (but a really cute shack with two tiny tables). She was out of lobster and lots of things later in the day but we had the best shrimp burrito there! It was huge, the sauce was awesome and everything was fresh. Don't recommend the drinks however and I'd stick to just the seafood dishes. Her shack is just after the bridge into San Pedro. San Pedro was a cute town, loved the colorful buildings, sand and cobblestone roads. Locals seemed really friendly here, even just passing each other on the street. Felt pretty safe there as well. Several places do push time shares which got a little annoying but they weren't as bad as other places we've been. Lots of dogs which isn't unusual but they all actually seemed in pretty great shape! Didn't see a lot of mange and malnourished animals so that made me happy.
We did stay one night in Belize City and I agree with others that told me it's a dive and dangerous. I found their Leaving/Entering Belize City signs humorous. They say something like "Working towards a better city". There were guards at every entrance to our hotel 24 hours a day, most other tourist spots had them as well. We thought there was a board walk nearby the Radisson so we took a walk around the block and were harassed by a man and woman to look at their shop and get hair braided. While looking at their little flea market the guy tried to sell my husband drugs. The Aggressor III and PH Sundancer II were docked at the Radisson. We checked out the Sundancer which looked incredible and I took a bunch of photos. Radisson was fine accommodation wise but had loud music playing until 2 am above our room. I would never go out at night in that city.
We visited the Belize Zoo one day which is about a half hour drive away. The differences in trees, grass, mountains are incredible. The Zoo was well worth the trip. It's unlike pretty much all zoo's in the U.S. and it's pretty amazing. It also had so much shade and wasn't ridiculously hot in the morning. Didn't notice any bugs biting either. Overall we felt like Belize has a ton of stuff to do there even if you don't stay in Belize City. From Mayan Ruins, horseback riding to them and around waterfalls, atv trips, cave tubing, swamp trips, the zoo and all the other islands and diving it's almost hard to figure out what to choose. I think for that reason we would definitely come back some day to see those other sites.
