It was January 1996 in Canada and I had just finished paying for my first vacation to the Caribbean. All I had left to do? Wait until April 18 for my departure.
I had never been down south before so it wasn't as hard as it now sounds.
I was heading to Cozumel, Mexico with very little expectation for anything other than a little warm water diving and way too many cold beer, chased with even more tequila.
Although I was correct about the beer and tequila, I found something I did not expect and there seemed to be no way to turn back once I was on the course. This unexpected finding has followed me to this very day and I am certain that it will follow me for the rest of my days.
Over the next several years I took lots of trip to the Caribbean, not only to Cozumel, also to many other destinations as well, until I finally landed in the place that I now consider to be the most life changing and enchanting location on the planet.
THE DISCOVERY
San Pedro Ambergris Caye, Belize is the place my soul fells completely at peace and my mind seems to wander to several times a day all year long. This stunningly beautiful and personally haunting paradise seems to engulf the emotions and capture the mind with a simple carefree attitude. This is most obvious when you realize that everywhere on the island you go nobody, except the newly arrived tourists, are wearing shoes. I know that when you read this it seems like such a small thing, however, I can assure you the first time you have a surf & turf meal at a nice restaurant and the waitress is bare foot on the sand floor, this becomes an awakening of the spirit that I could never fully explain.
GETTING TO PARADISE
Being a SCUBA diver and traveling the tropical climates of the world for that purpose it was inevitable that I would eventually come to find San Pedro, as it's located directly on the second largest barrier reef in the entire world and was also made famous by the world renowned underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau during his exploration of the Great Blue Hole of Belize. This is one of the worlds best dive locations and has a great attraction to all who love the underwater universe. Also Madonna sang about San Pedro and Ambergris Caye in the song "La Isla Bonita” and so it would seem that destiny alone would bring me to her.
Originally it was planned for me to travel there with the same to friends that had accompanied me to Cozumel and all of the other destinations that I had been for the years since that first awakening, however, one of them was forced to cancel at the last minute due to unforeseen business problems and it was down to just Kevin and I for the trip.
I was disappointed at losing one of the group since we always had a great time together, but I was also very exited for this vacation.
And so it was that Kevin and I boarded the plane in Toronto and stopped in Houston TX as the there are no direct flights to Belize from Toronto or most other North American cities for that matter, and there we transferred to the flight that would land at Phillip S. W. Goldson International Airport (BZE) on the mainland. It would require another flight from there to get us to San Pedro and we chose Tropic Air as the means to get us there.
The flight was on a 10 seat Cessna Caravan and the pilot was very competent and professional for the 15 min commute.
OTHER OPTIONS
Although the travel method we selected was the fastest and most direct means of getting to the island it was not the most inexpensive or, for that matter, the most scenic.
If you are looking to get to Belize you will need to fly in from one of a small group of Cities in the U.S. or you can choose an option that will not only save you money, but will also provide an exiting addition to the trip for those who seek a little extra adventure.
For this you would fly into Cancun MX where you will then board a coach bus that will travel to Chetumal where you can fly or take a boat to the Island. Click here for details.
Either way the best stuff will hit you once you arrive in San Pedro.
ACCOMMODATIONS
We chose the SPINDRIFT hotel as our base of operations for the week. It was centrally located and also right on the beach and that was very appealing to us. The great thing about being located at a hotel with a pier is that all the tour operators on the Island will pick you up at the pier out front of the hotel for every excursion you plan.
