For the past several years, friends of ours have gone to Belize. Not only have their pictures intrigued us, but the fact that we seem to get a freak snow or ice storm every time they go made us say “yes!” when they asked if we’d like to go with them this year. They rented out an entire resort and recruited 22 adults and three children to go along on this adventure. I can honestly say it’s one of the very best vacations we have ever had.
We had a very early flight so we booked a hotel near the airport in Oklahoma City. Even so, we had to get up at 3 a.m. for our 6 a.m. flight. We met up with a portion of our group in the Houston airport where they introduced us to one of their Belize vacation rituals – breakfast and margaritas. David and I didn’t know about this in advance so we had already grabbed a quick bite to eat in the Oklahoma City airport. I’ve never had a margarita for breakfast but there’s a first time for everything, right?
We flew into Belize City, went through customs, and then caught a tiny Tropic Air plane to San Pedro. This is probably where I should tell you that flying is not my favorite thing. Flying on a little, bitty plane? Definitely not on my bucket list.
As we were preparing to board they called all the men out to board the front of the plane. I was a bit freaked out. I think they might have sensed this when I said, “You mean I won’t be sitting by my husband?”. They let me go ahead and board at that point. I wasn’t next to him but was at least right behind him. I leaned forward and whispered in his ear, “I’m way too sober for this ****.”
But then we took off (after waiting for a dog to wander off the runway – not EVEN kidding) and were soon treated to views like this:
It was only a 15 minute flight and honestly, it was smoother than many flights I’ve taken on commercial jets. I wouldn’t say I’m a fan of the experience but it was far less harrowing than I had expected and I boarded the return trip a week later without any qualms.
When we arrived in San Pedro we had time for a drink and some delicious nachos while waiting for the rest of our party to arrive. Each plane only holds about 15 passengers so we didn’t all fly together. When all were accounted for we boarded a water taxi which then took us to the resort.
The owner greeted our group, gave us the rundown on everything and then gave each of us our room keys. He said we were welcome to lock our rooms but that most folks toss the keys into the drawer of the bedside table for the week. Which is exactly what we did. It was SO nice to have the entire resort to ourselves. No one thought anything of leaving shoes, phones, etc. wherever with no concerns.
Speaking of phones and shoes…we spent little time with either during the week. Unless we were taking pictures or using our phones to play music, we left them in our room. And we spent most of the week in swimsuits and barefoot.
Now for some pictures of paradise…
This was the view from our room:
On Sunday, the first full day, it was rainy but no one minded. A number of us played Cards Against Humanity after breakfast. And the bar area was covered so most of us just sat around there together, listening to music and drinking pina coladas. There are worse ways to spend a day.
View from the dining hall:
On Monday we went on a snorkeling trip. I opted to stay in the boat. It was a beautiful trip and watching the others feed the sharks was interesting. We also saw dolphins on our way back. Very cool!
Several of us had already planned a day trip to Caye Caulker so when the resort owner told us that the power to the entire island would be off the next day from 7 a.m. to about 2 p.m. (it was more like 4 p.m.) it was no big deal. Actually, I don’t think it would have fazed us in any case.
Someone getting a massage at the end of a boat dock:
This was where we all tended to hang out. Omar, our personal bartender, kept us all happy and chill. He made so many pina coladas, daiquiris and fruit smoothies (for the kids) that the Vita Mix blender died our last morning there.
This is what the bar usually looked like:
(photo by Melissa Rollins)
In addition to Omar, our bartender, we also had Susan, our cook. We were served two sit-down meals every day, plus what they called a midday “snack” which was served at the bar. This involved huge platters of food and trust me when I say no one went hungry. Every single meal was absolutely delicious. There was always some type of fresh seafood for dinner and even David, who generally doesn’t care for seafood, ate every bite.
One of our dinners:
One thing we found interesting was that we were all up so early in the morning, no doubt due to the bright, tropical sun.
I’m okay with mornings like this:
Sunsets weren’t bad, either:
Most of us were also ready for bed quite early but we did manage a few later nights. Like karaoke night:
There’s so much more I could tell but I’ll just sum it up with this: It was like summer camp in paradise with excellent food and adult beverages. I can’t wait to go again!
