Thanks, guys, can someone remind me how long it would take to go between the two? What would be the best way to do that?

2 hours by road. Either LOL or CC could arrange it. We booked and paid for the road transfer through LOL but it was actually a CC vehicle that picked us up.

Wow, that's it? That's not bad at all. I was thinking that LOL was only accessible by water for some reason. Would that include the water portion of the trip?

You would only go by water if you were traveling from Belize City to LOL. The route is one hour by road from Belize City to Orange Walk where you board a boat for an approx 1.5 hour ride along the New River. From LOL to CC, you are continuing inland (no backtracking toward Orange Walk or Belize City) as CC is near the border with Guatemala and the route is all by road (I assume you could charter a plane also if you wanted) and it goes through Blue Creek Village and the Rio Bravo Conservation area before reaching Gallon Jug where CC is located.

And if you went all the way from Belize City to CC, it would take 4 hours by road. They also have an all day transfer option that includes a boat ride and stops at the Lamanai ruins mid-day on the way to CC if you decide to only stay at CC.

But LOL and CC makes a great combination and you'll encounter some variance in wildlife so I would stay at both if you can.

Went to CC two years after visiting BDC with our kids. Couple of personal observations:
- CC a bit more luxurious with excellent food and accommodations. Lot of birds, some non-excavated ruins/mounds right on site, we saw a Jaguarundi when walking one day – pretty exciting. While a large variety of birds, not being birders maybe less impressive to us than the Macaws we saw every day at BDC. At CC Ocellated turkeys roam the grounds everywhere we looked.
- BDC has the seemingly ever present monkeys (four kinds) and seemingly more extensive hiking trails. Also the ocean views and beaches on each side you could hike to. We saw spider and howler monkeys at CC, but only on occasion.
We flew in and out of Gallon Jug to CC so can’t comment on transport.

We saw at least a dozen toucans while we were at Chan Chich in January. Such beautiful birds!

Thanks everyone. I appreciate all the help. Both places look fantastic.

Just a note on the birds we saw at LOL--we saw multiple toucans etc on the property grounds, but the back trail to the Lamanai ruins and the ruins themselves are goldmines for birds. Trogons, trogons, trogons plus hook-billed kites and red-capped manakins near or on the ruins themselves.

On the nighttime spotlight safari, we saw the potoo and an agami heron.

On the drive back to BZE we saw jabiru--the driver knows where a nest is, and apparently they only show it to guests on the way back, trying to keep it a secret so they don't get disturbed.

Forgot to add (when will they add an "edit" button?):

Notable birds on the boatride to the LOL included black-collared hawk, roseate spoonbill. Plus we got within 4 feet of the biggest Morelet's crocodile I've ever seen.

Got a great view of a blue-crowned motmot on the ruins grounds.