RestlessNatives.net NativeGuide to
BELIZE
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We visited Belize for a few days during our trip to the US in June 2000. It's a three-hour flight from Miami.
Belize, formerly known as British Honduras, is the latest on our Former British Colonies World Tour (which to date also includes Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and of course the USA). It is a tiny country, but contains jungles, mountains, farmlands, swamps, islands, coral reefs, and more. As the scuba/snorkel/beach was the main attraction for us, we stayed on one of the many cayes (that's "keys" for Floridians) located inside the barrier reef that stretches the length of Belize. Caye Caulker strikes a good balance - plenty of touristy amenities but at the same time a distinct lack of overdevelopment. There are, for instance, no paved roads and no big hotels. A real barefoot kind of place. The photos on the right will give you an idea; also see our NativeCrafts page for some amusing signs.
The Coast
We were expecting the place to resemble Mexico - it is, after all, just next door - but Belize City and the cayes have a much more Caribbean island feel to them. For one thing, the Creole culture predominates in this area, and the music, dress and religion reflect this (e.g., dreadlocks, ska, Rastafarian influences). And there's also the fact that when you're out on the caye there's no sense of being anywhere but on a Caribbean island.
We spent a fair amount of time moseying and lounging, and got in a half-day of snorkelling near the caye. An enthusiastic guide with a well-used dinghy took us out to Shark-Ray Alley, which has an abundance of nurse sharks and stingrays, and not much else besides sand. Our guide has clearly done this a few thousand times, which makes it all the more endearing that he clearly still enjoys doing it and takes genuine pride in showing the sharks to visitors. The sharks and rays know that the boat engine is the sound of food, and they came over to check us out before we could even get into the water (Deb stayed on the boat for fear of accidentally stepping on a 4-foot-wide stingray). The price of their dinner is a cuddle from the divemaster, who's an expert at grabbing them as they collect the food. They're surprisingly relaxed about the whole thing. And yes, George held them too - he knows that's not eco-correct (they can develop skin problems etc) but heck, there was no way the guide was going to leave them alone anyway and it was an interesting experience. We also came across a gigantic hermit crab, and the guide took George to a nearby outcropping to show him the big lobster he was going to come back for as soon as they came into season (can you believe we missed lobster season by a week? arrgh).
Of course, George couldn't go to Belize without doing a little diving, so here's...
George's report on the diving:
Diving is one of the big reasons to visit Belize, and I got in a couple of days while we were there - one day of local diving near Caulker Caye and one full day to go out to the famous Blue Hole and a couple of other dive sites on one of the outer atolls. The local diving was just outside of the barrier reef, in spur-and-groove coral formations. Since I don't know much about driving boats, riding out through a cut in the reef against big incoming waves gave me a moment of concern, but the diving itself was nice and easy. One dive took us to the wreck of a barge which is home to several huge groupers (or maybe cod or jewfish, I can't really tell). A nurse shark or two made our acquaintance, and there were plenty of nice corals and reef fish. On the second dive, I saw an eagle ray and a loggerhead turtle. Sorry, no photos - I didn't bring my u/w camera on this trip. We spent our surface interval at Shark-Ray Alley.
The following day, I went off on a trip to the outer atolls. And when they say "outer", they're not joking. We rode three hours against the waves to get there. The view out the little window at the front of the boat was sky, bottom of a wave, sky, bottom of a wave, ad nauseum. I didn't get seasick only because the motion was too violent for that - I was being thrown 6 inches out of my seat with every wave. In short, the worst boat ride I've ever been on. Once we got there, though, the diving was outstanding. The area around the Blue Hole is maybe 20-30 feet deep, but the Blue Hole itself is a circular, 1000-foot-across, 400-foot-deep hole. It used to be a cave until the roof collapsed, so there are enormous stalactites hanging from the walls at a certain depth. And to make things more interesting, it is home to a bunch of sharks. Our dive was to 40 meters (130 feet) and the walls of the hole overhang a bit, so it was fairly dim, and the sharks just materialize out of the darkness. We saw half a dozen Caribbean reef sharks and half a dozen bull sharks. There was a lot of "electricity' in the water once they showed up, and it turned up another notch when our divemaster gave 'em a bag of fishy bits to snack on. Unfortunately, at forty meters we couldn't stay long. The second dive of the day was a slow drift along a fantastic wall with lots of swim-throughs and plenty of nooks and crannies for the reef-dwellers. Lots of colorful coral and fish, as well as other critters. And finally, we endured the long ride back to Caye Caulker (mercifully, we were going with the waves on the way back, which made for less bruising). On a final note, if you're going to Belize to dive you should seriously consider one of the major live-aboard operations like the Aggressor fleet, or a stay on Lighthouse or another of the outer atolls. You might miss some of the other stuff we enjoyed but it would almost certainly be a better dive trip.
The Interior
So, we'd done the island/water thing (though not nearly as much of it as we'd like to) and thought we'd use our last full day in Belize to check out the Mayan ruins that distinguish this place from a typical Caribbean vacation spot. We hired a driver for the day and headed out from Belize City (on the coast) toward the western border of Belize, to a group of Mayan ruins called something-itlan (make up your own Tick reference).
It was a very hot day, and we felt like we were well and truly in the jungle by the time we walked along a dirt road to the site of the ruins. The ruins were very impressive, and the guide who showed us around had tons of knowledge about the Mayan people and culture. From the top of the main ziggurat we could see the Guatemalan border as well as the whole valley that supported this temple complex in Mayan times. Walking around the grounds, we even saw some nifty jungle insects like leaf-cutter ants. And the best part is that there were very few tourists around, so it felt like a visit to ancient ruins, not to a theme park or tourist trap. This site seemed to be more about archaeology than tourism.
On the way back, we stopped for lunch at an odd restaurant/truckstop in the middle of nowhere. To judge from the banners etc left by former visitors, this place must be some kind of legend in Army circles. Its other claim to fame is as the place where the cast and crew of Mosquito Coast ate every day while filming nearby. After lunch, we visited the Belize Zoo. We were a little dubious about this, but it turned out to be a good idea. Granted, it's not the same as seeing critters in the wild, but that wasn't really an option. And this zoo had an assortment of rare and unusual animals that you're unlikely to find in other zoos, much less in the wild. The most interesting ones were too shy to pose for photos, the light was failing anyway, and the people who developed our b&w film screwed it up, but despite all that we do have a couple of shots to show you (see sidebar). We're not sure of the correct names for all of the animals, but in there are definitely a jaguar, howler monkey (yes, they do), fox, puma, and toucan. That little black cat-thing was really cool looking (very sleek coat), and that stork is five feet tall.
As always, our main regret is that we didn't have more time to explore Belize. There are many more ruins to be seen, lots of wildlife and "adventure" trips, and a whole lot of diving that we weren't able to do. Maybe next time.
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