Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Belize trip report and photos Feb/Mar 2009

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Belize trip report and photos Feb/Mar 2009

Background:
We had traveled to Belize in 1995 and went to San Ignacio, Dangriga, Southwater Caye, Placencia and Ambergris back then. It’s still one of our favorite trips that we fondly remember. We’d always wanted to go back. It just took us 14 years to do it! For the most part, we went to different places this time with Ambergris and Caye Caulker being the only places we’d seen before. Having read about the development in recent years and knowing that there are now cruise ships visiting Belize City, we had a bit of trepidation about what we would see. Overall, we had a really great time though there were a few disappointments as well.

My aunt joined us for the first part of our trip and left after Lamanai and my in-laws met us at Chan Chich for the latter part of the trip. The weather was cooler and windier than I expected as a cold front had moved in the second week. It was great for walking around and other activities during the day and kept the insect bites to a minimum (on our first trip I literally came home with over 200 bites). A little brisk for swimming but not bad once you were in the water. I brought a light sweater and wore it much more than I thought I would and could’ve used something heavier for the spotlight boat ride at Lamanai and night drive at Chan Chich.

I’ll just post briefly about each location and would be happy to answer any questions. Scroll toward the bottom if you just want to see photos.

Black Orchid:
Because we arrived in the late afternoon, we decided to stay near the airport initially. While researching places to stay in Belize City, I came across Black Orchid Resort in Burrell Boom about 20 minutes from the intl airport (in the opposite direction of Belize City). We’d also wanted to re-visit the zoo and it seemed like a good place to base ourselves rather than in the city. The day we went to the zoo it poured rain. Luckily it only did so on the way and during lunch. I don’t know if the rain kept everyone way but we had to zoo mostly to ourselves. The zoo was much like we remembered and we had a very enjoyable visit.

We stayed at Black Orchid for 2 nights. It was comfortable and perfect for our needs and they provide complimentary airport transfers. A good alternative to staying in Belize City if you have a late arrival or early departure or for a couple of days as a base for mainland day trips if you don’t have time or don’t want to stay at a jungle lodge. It took us about half an hour to the zoo and 45 minutes to the Lamanai dock. On cruise ship days, groups stop there for lunch and there are a few vendors set up.

Lamanai Outpost Lodge:
We had Black Orchid transfer us to the Lamanai dock where we met up with the LOL transfer boat. Our guide and boat captain was Chalo and we had a spectacular 1.5 hour ride down the New River stopping along the way for any sightings. LOL is set on the New River Lagoon just a short boat ride or walk to the archeological site (the entrance road to the site as well as Indian Church village is right behind the lodge). Our 3 night package included 6 activities which we could choose from the standard activity list that consists of sunrise canoeing, early morning walk, Lamanai ruins, Maya medicine, sunset boat ride, late afternoon walk, spotlight boat ride, and night walk. Activities departed at 6:00am, 9:00am, 4:00pm and 8:00pm. Most guests rested or swam in the lagoon (the morelet’s crocs feed primarily on snails and are much smaller than their African or Australian cousins) during the day but you could also walk or canoe on your own. There were also a few special activities at extra cost which we didn’t do. Tours were well organized with excellent guides. It’s hard to pick a favorite but I particularly enjoyed the night walk and canoeing. We’re not really birders (though we like looking at everything) so I’ll just list the mammals we saw which were a pair of kinkajous, 2 different armadillos, a possum (the former 3 were on our night walk), several agoutis during the day, spider monkeys and of course, the howler monkeys. My aunt also saw a tayra while we were out canoeing. One of the staff told her that he comes around the lodge (in front of cabanas 14 & 15) every morning around 7:00am.

The cabanas themselves were very comfortable though rustic. We had 8 & 9 which are lagoon view cabanas. The cabana numbers go up as you descend from the dining area to the lagoon so being a little higher 8 actually had a slightly better view than 9. There are 6 lagoon front cabanas four of which are in a quadplex with a long shared deck with hammocks and two stand alone ones (14 & 15) overlooking the dock which are probably the ones I’d pick if we were to go back. Occupancy during our stay varied from 11-21 guests. After our stay, we were picked up by Chan Chich for the 2 hour drive and my aunt flew back to BZE.

Chan Chich:
The drive to Chan Chich took us through San Felipe village, the Mennonite community of Blue Creek which borders Mexico and the Rio Bravo Conservation area on dirt and good paved roads. We booked accommodation and meals and paid separately for activities. Guided walks departed at 6:00am, 8:30am, 3:00pm and 8:00pm. There were also day trips available to Laguna Seca (wetland birds), lake canoeing, horseback riding and farm tours.

We went on a guided night walk, early morning bird watch, night drive and walked on our own the rest of the time. Our first evening we saw an ocelot at the edge of the forest by one of the staff housing areas. It was too dark and too far for me to get a photo but other guests also saw an ocelot on later evenings in the same area so I think s/he comes around often, probably trying to scavenge or find the pet rabbit that lives there. There used to be a pair of rabbits but one had already gotten eaten. The story goes that the ocelot tried to go for the female but the male jumped in to defend her and lost his life. We’re not sure if that’s really what happened or if the story has been embellished and romanticized with each re-telling (pretty soon the rabbit will have a machete ;) ). We have a pair of rabbits and I just can’t see Clyde jumping in to defend Bunnie. He’d be the first one to run for cover. Perhaps Clyde is just not as chivalrous of a rabbit.

Other mammal sightings were a coati, white tailed deer, gray fox, howler and spider monkeys. The white tailed deer were all over the farm area and the others were very close to the lodge. Also on the lodge grounds and everywhere else were lots of ocellated turkeys. We’d warned my MIL several times about the howler’s howls but it still took her by surprise when we heard them one afternoon while we were out walking. The look of terror on her face told us she was ready to sprint back to her cabana ;)

The lodge itself is set on a mostly unexcavated Mayan site within the 130,000 acre Gallon Jug farm. Some of the farming activities included coffee, cattle ranching and logging. There are two types of cabanas, standard and deluxe, plus a 2 bedroom villa. We had a standard cabana 7 and a deluxe cabana 9, the only differences being a remodeled bathroom, walk-in closet and day bed/futon on the deck of the deluxe cabana. Guest occupancy during our stay varied from 12-14, very low for this time of year. We chartered a 7 passenger Tropic Air plane for the 40 minute flight to Caye Caulker because no one had ever known 4 passengers and their luggage to fall within the weight limit of a 4 passenger plane (sad but true in our case).

Lamanai vs Chan Chich:
We were asked this by several other travelers who had struggled to choose between the two. First of all, they’re totally different so complement each other well. If you have the time and budget, I would stay at both. Facilities wise, Chan Chich was much more luxurious than Lamanai which was rustic but perfectly fine in comparison. In some ways, we thought Chan Chich was just a bit too luxurious (does anyone need a bidet in the jungle? ;) ). The food was very good at both and the guiding was excellent. Lamanai had a set menu which had more local influences and you could also opt to have simple things like grilled chicken, fries, etc. prepared for you if you didn’t like what was being served. Chan Chich had an a la carte menu for all 3 meals with daily specials at dinner. The food leaned more towards continental fare (surf and turf was offered one night) but also had some locally influenced dishes. If we <i>had</i> to choose, I’d say we slightly preferred Lamanai for the lagoon setting and more frequent mammal sightings (with the caveat that you’re unlikely to see cats at Lamanai), but our opinions are highly subjective and sightings may have more to do with luck. I think most people would be quite happy at either.

Caye Caulker:
We’d debated back and forth on where to go for the caye part of our trip. We came close to booking Turneffe Flats initially because they have a very interesting sounding atoll package and later came close to changing our booking to Thatch Caye after we found out about it, but decided to stick with Caulker in the end for a couple of reasons. After Lamanai and Chan Chich, we wanted to go easy on the rest of our budget and my in-laws were joining us for this part and they said they preferred somewhere with a “town” rather than a more remote, one resort island. Caulker turned out to be a good choice for the purposes of this trip although my in-laws were really unsure as we flew into the airstrip (this is it?), and it was much like the San Pedro that we remembered, laid back with a funky vibe.

We stayed in a 2 bedroom condo at Seaside Villas #6 on the top floor for 4 nights. We wanted A/C and a pool (there are few pools on Caulker) particularly for my in-laws but didn’t end up using either due to the cool weather. The only downside was that there was major construction next door on the south side of the building (even numbered units) which started just a few days before our arrival. It started at 7:00am and finished around 5:00pm but we’re early risers and out most of the day so it was OK. The rest of the time we just tried to tune it out. The only minor problem we had with the condo itself was that the phone line didn’t work. We told Bobbi, the manager, and within minutes someone from BTL was there to fix it. For dinners, we tried Wish Wil, Syd’s, Habaneros and Don Corleone. Habaneros was our favorite but was also our most expensive meal. Actually they were all good for their price point which varied from expensive (for Caulker) to cheap.

We spent our first full day just hanging out on Caulker, took a day trip by water taxi (30 minutes) to Ambergris the second day and went on a manatee/snorkeling trip our third day. Ambergris Caye has changed! We recognized a few places and looked for the place where we’d stayed previously but a new condo complex has taken its place. What was most noticeable for us was the amount of traffic in San Pedro. No more sand streets and just a few golf carts running around. We had a yummy lunch at Celi’s but were happy to head back to Caye Caulker in the afternoon.

Now for the frustrating part of the trip (and really the only thing I didn’t like about Caulker), trying to book a tour to see the manatees at Swallow Caye and go snorkeling. My MIL doesn’t swim and only feels comfortable snorkeling from a beach so we tried to find a trip that goes to Sergeant’s or Goff’s Caye which we remembered as having walk-in snorkeling. We checked with Chocolate first but he was only doing half day manatee/mangrove trips so we kept looking. If we’d had more time, we would’ve gone with Chocolate and opted for a separate snorkeling trip and in hindsight, we probably should’ve just done that and skipped the snorkeling or chartered our own boat. We checked with another half dozen operators and couldn’t find anyone with trips to Sergeant’s or Goff’s (there were several that advertised such trips but no one was really going there). We finally booked with Carlos who said he’d take us to Swallow and Sergeant’s Cayes and to give him a day to find two more people. To make a long story short, we ended up basically getting pawned off to another operator, talked out of Sergeant’s, went to St. George’s Caye (where we were told we could buy lunch which was not correct) and did some boat snorkeling instead so my MIL never went in. Now I can understand why Carlos would prefer to take a bigger group on his regular Hol Chan/Shark Ray tour given the opportunity and he seemed like he kind of felt bad about it, but it just didn’t leave us with a very good impression.

Anyway, onto the trip itself, the manatee portion of the trip was great and we actually saw many dolphins as well, but the snorkeling was really disappointing. We snorkeled on the reef just opposite Caye Chapel and were shocked at the conditions. Few fish and a lot of bleached coral. It was nothing like what we remembered. Granted even 14 years ago we found the snorkeling and diving more pristine in the south and perhaps we had gone to the worst possible spot this time (I’m actually hoping someone will tell me this is the case) but it was hard to believe how rapidly the reef had deteriorated. So it was sort of on a sad and depressing note that our trip came towards an end. We later talked with another couple at the airport who’d also been previously and they said they had some good snorkeling in the marine reserve but elsewhere near Ambergris was disappointing.

Our final morning, it rained hard but cleared before we took our 45 minute water taxi ride back to Belize City. You can fly too but except for our Ambergris day trip, we’d never taken the water taxi before so it was still a novelty to us. From the water taxi terminal, we took a 20 minute cab ride to BZE.

Like I said, we had a really great trip overall. However, we have really mixed feelings about ever going back to Ambergris or even Caulker (especially if it’s just my husband and me) and would probably head to Turneffe or maybe back to Southwater for beach and snorkeling next time. Others love Ambergris and Caulker and would be bored out of their minds somewhere more remote, so again this is just our highly subjective opinion.

Oops, somehow the LY got dropped from Wish Willy.

I was just telling someone that the last week of Feb. 1st week of March was when we would have gone down to Belize. Alas, the economy.
Your report helped to transport this weary old soul - thank you for the peek.
I always love your take on things. A bidet in the bush - who knew.
That will stick in my mind and send me to Lamanai
when I go. Caye Caulker seems more my speed, as well.
As for going with your inlaws, your a good person. I have to dunk mine under a few times, LOL
Enjoyed your report and photos.

Great report and photos.

Thanks, Sherry! Well, only half of the cabanas at Chan Chich have bidets. Does that change your mind? :p My in-laws are actually really easy going and great to travel with. Hope you get to go soon!

Great travelogue - thanks for taking the time to post such a helpful, thorough report for us!!

Thanks for the detailed trip report and the pictures are great. I'd really like to get to Belize in the next year or two and this is really useful! Your trip sounds great!

Thanks, hopefulist and ShellD! How's your planning coming along hopefulist?

Great! I'm getting way ahead of myself, though - planning Panamá for 2010 though I haven't completed the 2009 adventure yet. Because I lead groups for language study now and arrange for university credit, I have to figure things out (including syllabi) much further in advance.

Trip is set for this summer: 2-3 weeks in Guatemala with a group in tow (including son Carlos who was born in Guatemala and joined us through adoption in 1989 when he was 4):

:: 1 week of Spanish study in Antigua
:: Chichi overnight
:: 1 week of Spanish study in San Pedro La Laguna, Atitlán
:: 1 night in the park at Tikal
:: 1 night.

The group will fly to GUA and home and my son and I will head from there to Belize to meet up with my husband Mike and his brother's family (parents and 3 boys); the next 2-3 weeks will include time with our daughter Mariah and her husband Greg as well. Here's the plan:

:: 2 nights at the Community Baboon Sanctuary, day trip to Lamanai between
:: 2 nights San Ignacio with the ATM cave trip between
:: Mariah and Greg fly in, 1 night in Hopkins with entire group
:: A week on Glover's Atoll and another night in Hopkins while the brother-in-law's family hits South Water and Caves Branch
:: Mariah and Greg head off to the Cayo while the rest of us head to Caulker
:: Mariah and Greg join us on Caulker before we fly home (they'll stay for a few more days)

I think it's a good blend of returning to fondly remembered places (San Ignacio, Glover's, and Hopkins) and exploring new ones, (Baboon Sanctuary, Lamanai, ATM, and Caye Caulker). Plenty of adventure, relaxation, time with our wonderful family. Our other son may be in Africa by mid summer but, if not, I'm hoping he'll join us, at least for part of it. Only problem is I'm not sure how we'll manage the ATM with 9 - guess we'll have to split into 2 groups. Carlos and I'll be away for just over 5 weeks, others for 2-3. Can't wait...sigh....

PS Sorry I highjacked the thread - I just got too excited. :o)

We've all been guilty! :)

Thanks a lot, Patty. We are looking forward to next week in Belize, Ambergris and Chaa Creek. I hate to hear of your disappointment in the reef. Maybe we'll think its awesome since we haven't been before and are used to Costa Rica where the snorkeling isn't so great? Wishful thinking. . .

Lamanai sounds really nice. Perhaps another time. . .

Will look at photos tomorrow. Anxious to see them, especially Chan Chich photos.

No worries, I asked! Wow, that's quite the trip, hopefulist! Will be looking forward to hearing about it.

shillmac,
The couple we talked to said they thought the snorkeling was good at Hol Chan. Hope I didn't put a damper on your trip. Sorry about that. Have fun and please post a report when you get back.

Patty

i picked up your trip report from the Africa forum. But as I have been to Belize ( and not yet to Africa) I wanted to see it again. So thanks for your photos.
We also stayed at Chan Chich, and we loved it there. We had a fabulous time, and found the guides to be wonderful, (and saw the ocelot on Gallon Jug Rd.)

so Thanks for posting and including the link on the Africa forum (where I now lurk)

amy

Thanks, Amy! Hope you have a wonderful first trip to Africa.

Hopefulist,
Where are you planning to go in Panama? We're thinking that may be our next Central America trip too.