My fiance and I are trying to plan out our honeymoon for August 2014 and our top choice is Belize. We'll be there August 12-22 and plan on hitting Amergris Caye, San Ignacio (and Tikal), and Placencia. We've been looking heavily into it and realize it's the low season, but we're not too concerned with the heat or the rainfall - what we're most concerned about is that it's hurricane season.

Does anyone think we should nix these plans for August because of the hurricane risk? Our backup plan is Costa Rica. We want to keep it in Central America. Both places look beautiful, but there's something about the snorkeling in Belize and the touring of the Mayan ruins that just knocks Belize to the top of our list and gets us most excited!

Any advise would be much appreciated!

We have visited 3 times in August or July/August. In 2012 our plans were changed when a hurricane blew close enough to evacuate the southern cayes. We didn't actually feel the wind of it but had to quickly rethink our plans. Had a wonderful trip! I would still go - Belize is awesome (we're here now!) - but buy trip insurance just in case. Congratulations and good luck!

We went in July and got skirted by a tropical storm. It wouldn't keep me from going then again. I would go for it. I love Costa Rica, but if your heart wants snorkeling and ruins, Belize it is. Don't miss Hol Chan; it's the best snorkeling we've ever done. Saw sea turtles, colorful tropical fish, big rays, and nurse sharks there; the underwater sea life is abundant.

Ok, great! Thanks for all the advice.

One other question: Do we risk a lot of tours being shut down because it's the low season? I've heard that tours and transportation can get canceled often because they don't have enough people sign up for the different excursions.

Caracol and Lamanai ruins look pretty incredible, but I'm leaning more towards Caracol. We were looking at staying on the outskirts of San Ignacio and doing either a day trip or overnight trip to Tikal and wouldn't mind doubling up on a Mayan ruins trip - Tikal in Guatemala, and then one in Belize. Two other things on the top of our list is snorkeling in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve (you're one of many people that have recommended it and I think it's a must!) and cave tubing at some point - I think there's tours that run out of San Ignacio for that as well?

It wasn't a problem for us in July, but you could check specifically with your hotel. I've had that happen in September in the Caribbean, but has never been a problem where we've gone in Belize or CR.

We did our day trip to Tikal from San Ignacio - used PACZ tours, and they were fantastic. We haven't done cave tubing. I don't remember seeing it out of San Ignacio, but we did canoeing in Barton Creek Cave and loved it - there are some artifacts inside, and it's beautiful. The ATM cave is also really popular.