Start in Belize, end in Utila, or the other way around?

[roneyj]

Couple of questions. We are going in early June for about 2 weeks. We planned to go from Phoenix to Belize (Caye Caulker) for about 5 days, spend a day or two in Placeincia, then to Honduras. About 5 or 6 nights on Utila, then back to Phoenix. We have been to Belize before, but never the Bay Islands.

• First question is does the time frame sound reasonable?
• Any reason to do Utila first, rather than Belize?
• We have never made reservations in Belize before, during the mentioned time frame, should we in Caye Caulker or Utila?
• Seems flights from San Pedro Sula are easier to come by than La Ceiba or am I missing something other than money?
• Any suggestions that could make this trip easier, harder, more exciting, less expensive, anything along the way????

 

[oceancat]

Are there flights from Belize to Honduras now? That is fantastic if so. As for the flights... granted, when we went, it was from the US--but we flew into San Pedro Sula and then took a puddle jumper to La Ceiba and then another puddle jumper to Utila. That was 2003, though--things have changed I am sure. Are you flying or driving to Placencia? It's a longish drive from Belize City to just go for a night or 2. If you are flying there, it's not a big deal.

 

[robint]

Couple of questions. We are going in early June for about 2 weeks. We planned to go from Phoenix to Belize (Caye Caulker) for about 5 days, spend a day or two in Placeincia, then to Honduras. About 5 or 6 nights on Utila, then back to Phoenix. We have been to Belize before, but never the Bay Islands.

• First question is does the time frame sound reasonable?
• Any reason to do Utila first, rather than Belize?
• We have never made reservations in Belize before, during the mentioned time frame, should we in Caye Caulker or Utila?
• Seems flights from San Pedro Sula are easier to come by than La Ceiba or am I missing something other than money?
• Any suggestions that could make this trip easier, harder, more exciting, less expensive, anything along the way????

Is there some particular reason why you want to visit 2 countries on the same trip? You seem to be wanting to spend alot of time traveling from point to point. I don't know how easy it is for an American to travel between countries in Central America - are you flying or taking a bus?
Are you planning to dive at Cay Caulker and Utila? Since your profile shows you are a new diver, remember than you can't dive 24 hours before a flights.
Personally, I think it would be easier and less stressful to pick one destination, say Utila since you have been to Belize already, and concentrate on going there. If you want to do 2 places, then how about Utila and Roatan since they are within the same country and there are flights and boats between the two. There are direct flights into Roatan from US, so no need to go to San Pedro Sula. Just a thought.

robin

 

[Damselfish]

I agree, you're going to spend too much of your time hassling with packing and traveling. I understand the desire to hit a couple places especially when you have more time than a week, but it makes sense to choose places that are relatively quick and easy to move between and I don't think Belize and Utila are that. I would do as robin suggests. Do Roatan and Utila. Or split your time between a couple places in Belize.

 

[roneyj]

While we both love to dive, we always make time to see other parts of the areas we visit. That is why we are going to try to get from Belize to Honduras. It will be less travel time if we do not have to make our way back to Belize City and we can just depart from Roatan or San Pedro Sula. We usually don't make definante plans, that way we can decide when we get there. So far this is what we have planned.

Day 1 - Arrive Belize City, Cab to dock, water taxi to CC.
Day 2-6 Cay Caulker for a couple of dives
Day 6-8 Make our way to Placeincia to catch the Friday ferry to Puerto Cortez, bus to San Pedro Sula. Bus to La Ceiba, water taxi to Utila.
Day 9-15 Utila
Day 16 Either flight out of Roatan or bus back to SPS for flight home.

We travel very light and are ok with the "chicken bus". The only down side is that going light means using rental gear and wearing clothes more than once or twice or......

 

[robint]

well, since you asked in your original post about recommendations for "making this trip easier, harder, more exciting, less expensive, anything along the way????"
I am still going to suggest you look into jut doing Utila-Roatan. You could fly directly into Roatan, take boat or flight over to Utila and spend a week, fly back to Roatan and spend a week, then fly directly home. It would make the trip MUCH easier, less expensive (I bet it would be half the cost), and the two islands are very different. Just my 2 cents.

 

[roneyj]

Thanks for the suggestions so far! I think we have decided to alteast return home via Roatan, so Robint's idea is still in the running. Thanks again.

 

[roneyj]

Thanks everyone for the input. Plans are final. We are going to spend about 4 or 5 days on Caye Caulker. Fly San Pedro(Ambergris) to San Pedro Sula. Spend a couple of days going to Copan and back and then to Utila for about 5 or 6 days. Then move to Roatan for a couple of days before we fly out of Roatan back to Phoenix. I am sure that sounds busy for some but we like to see as much as possible and when you only have a backpack full of stuff, packing and unpacking is easy. Nothing but the ticket to Belize and the ticket home are definate. Who knows we might end up in El Salvador before its over!

 

[robint]

I hope you do a trip report when you get back to let us know how it went.