Hello - The Belize Explorer tour taking us for 4 nights to Cahal Pech Village Resort, 1 night at Tikal Inn or Jungle Lodge and 3 nights at Caye Caulker sounds pretty good, but I have heard so much about the Macal River Camp and the Black Rock that I am wondering if we are making a mistake staying at Cahal Pech. My boyfriend (57) is quite the adventurer but wants ac and is concerned about the bugs if we stay at the River Camp. Any input?? Anyone have any experience with this tour group. It seems an attractive option for our first trip here to have all the transport between places handled for us. We will probably add on another day in Caye Caulker.

We absolutely loved Macal River Jungle Camp but there's no electricity so no ac or fans, even. The cabins are nicely screened and we hardly saw a mosquito in the Cayo, but it is the jungle and you may see bugs and arachnids.

I'm not familiar with Belize Explorer but the timing seems a good split. Have a great trip, whatever you decide, and be sure to tell us all about it! Happy trails!

Hi again,
We stayed at Cahal Pech Village over Christmas. The resort is situated on the top of a hill overlooking San Ignacio and has a beautiful view. It also has a very nice pool. We stayed in the hotel section and the accommodation is basic but clean. Our only complaint was the water pressure. The shower was unpredictable (extremes in temperature and usually a trickle). The advantage to staying there was that we could walk down the hill to San Ignacio. The food at Cahal Pech was good but San Ignacio had a lot of nice restaurants and cheaper prices. Hope this helps.

Thanks for that info - we were wondering about the Cahal Pech resort, did you hear anything about the cabanas - if the shower issues were better?

It looks like we are just going to spend one night in San Ignacio now, 3 at Black Rock lodge and one in Tikal - how to make that all work with the tours and not too much back and forth is the challenge. It seems if you book the tours through the hotels/lodges it is much more expensive.

We are thinking it might be better to do the ATM from San Ignacio since it seems closer.

I really want to thank everyone on this site as I have received so much great information. I cannot wait until our trip in April!!

And I can't wait for your trip report!

From talking to others at the resort, the showers in the cabanas are not much better. They're still manageable though. We were there over Christmas and they had a full house so maybe that was part of the problem. We loved our trip to Belize. If you are on Ambergris Caye be sure to take the snorkel tour with Lil Alphonse to Shark Ray Alley and Hol Chan. He was like the Steve Irwin of Belize.

Lil Alphonse has been mentioned so many times it seems to be a must to do a snorkeling trip with him. How does one book with him? Does he have a store front or is he a part of of a tour company? Do you find him on the beach in San Pedro or through a hotel tour outfit?

Thanks for any info! We are going mid March.

We are staying in Caye Caulker so we will have to find another great tour guide to take us - any recommendations?

btw - Katie Valk was an incredible help in setting up our trip!!!!!

Lvl, Hi, you can find a website for Lil Alphone at www.ambergriscaye.com/diving. He is listed under the Snorkeling Tours. I don't think his e-mail is working but he has phone numbers listed. Alphonse is so enthusiastic and made our snorkel trip to Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley a truly memorable event.

Thanks Calgail!We will be calling him!