Azul Resort San Pedro

What a pleasure to endure intercontinental flights, all manner of old school bus connections, lengthy wait on the docks and a covered speedboat ride and then find yourself on a tropical island. It makes it all worthwhile. The day we landed was one of Belize's major holidays, celebrating the arrival of the first carribean settlers. The whole country was in good spirits, but on "Key Corker" the drums were already beating in a rum fuelled frenzy outside ...

13th May Got out of bed to have a look around Belize City. Lonely Planet has some walking tours for most cities, so I decided to take the guide and follow the path. I must say, what a complete dump Belize City is. Absolutely nothing of value here! IŽd say to anyone, get to Belize City before the last ferry leaves and just get out to the islands ASAP, NOTHING TO SEE HERE!!!! We got the ferry to Caye Caulker which took about 40 minutes. On the way we stopped at this island Jason Varcoe ...

... ferry warf and ushered in by the locals, one mentioning there was an ATM around the corner if we needed it - or if we wanted to be robbed we thought. We waited half hour for the next boat to San Pedro. The boat fit about 20 people and stopped at Caye Caulker and then San Pedro which was an hour and a half trip. The water was a vibrant green, the surroundings absolutely tropical and we were thrilled to be here ...

... marche pas! trop de vent pour notre spot de plongee donc on peut pas! GRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrr. on a passe la journee a relaxer sur la beach (qui nest pas vraiment une beach mais bon). on a jouer aux cartes avec un autre ami francais/anglais quon sest fait. bref ca ete une mini journee assez vedge! mardi: on est vraiment sense alle faire notre plongee. on est tout enerve. on arrive la: plonge pas!!! trop de courant!!! ah bin la maudit!! en plus y faisait beau soleil!! fack on ...

We spent the first few days of our holiday in Belize, on shore. The Belizian Shores condos were fantastic! They were located on the quiet upper end of the island, and had a great pool and swim up bar. It was easy to start relaxing right away. We were also able to book some sight seeing on the mainland. We spent a great day (very long day) taking a boat, to a bus to a boat, in order ...

... and ocean scene is just staggering added greatly by indigenous ladies in bright coloured dress wandering along the beach at ease with all their wears balanced on their heads, how do they do that?!! Then it was back to work and our next stop where we had the remote chance of seeing Manatees - the sea cow. Diving in our captain pointed us in the rough direction we might see them and off we all went. Looking in every direction into the gloom neither Nik nor I saw any cow ...

... which I found by pure luck in a Guatemalan bookstore. Walden has been a wonderfully thought-provoking and relevant book for me to read while I'm down here, especially at this point in my trip. Now traveling alone, (Pat headed back to the States a week ago) I have much more time alone to think and reflect on life. But traveling solo has been quite fun, as I have had a chance to meet many more people along my way. I ...

... to the beach at the northern end of the island to sample the local ale and watch the sunset. I woke at 5am the next day and headed to Big Fish to get ready to dive the Blue Hole. They provided a breakfast, of bread and coffee... i skipped the coffee and stuffed down some bread and at 6:20am, I was on my way, speeding 60 miles out to sea with 2Xyamaha 200 HP engines, it shouldnt take too long. 2 hours later we arrived at the Hole. At least, our DM told us we ...

... be out on a boat in, I too would have stayed behind. He encouraged me to go ahead, and I am glad I went, because I saw sharks!!! The divemaster took a cannister of food, which wasn't really the same as encountering them by chance, but we still swam with sharks (nurse sharks, so pretty harmless), and then saw a giant green moray eel AND a TURTLE! A huge loggerhead! That was really cool because my main goal had been to see a turtle while scuba diving, and on my very last dive I did! yay me!

We decided to take a short trip to Belize as it was easier to get to Guatemala from here (border wise). It was a great decision as we just loved Belize altogether. The first thing that amazed us is there language. They speak English here, with a thick Jamaican accent! Wellcom too da Caribbeeean, Mon?! Our first stop was Corozol where we spent the night in a fabulous Guest House with a lovely ...