judilie

My sister and I just returned from a wonderful trip to Belize through REI Adventures, which contracts with Island Expeditions, a Canadian company. About half of the participants were from Canada and half were from the U.S. It was a terrific group of folks.

We did the Lighthouse Reef trip, which consisted of one night at the Birds Eye View Lodge (BEVL) at the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, six nights on the idyllic tropical island of Half Moon Caye in Lighthouse Reef (white sand beach; clear, turquoise water; coconut palms; frigate and booby birds), and one night in Belize City. We added to this an extra night at the BEVL at the beginning of the trip (canoed the lagoon and visited Altun Ha and the Community Baboon Sanctuary) and one at the Tropical Education Center, by the zoo, at the end.

On Half Moon Caye we stayed in tent cabins (wooden floors, real beds, tall enough to stand up easily) and kayaked and/or snorkeled every day. Sometimes we strapped our snorkeling gear to the kayak and kayaked to the place where we snorkeled. The snorkeling was wonderful – we saw a huge variety of corals, fish, and other sea creatures. We snorkeled at The Aquarium and the Blue Hole, as well as a number of other places, some just walking into the ocean from “our’” island. The food was delicious, and the tour guides were great. Yoga was offered by the seashore every morning. It was the kind of trip where you could do as much or as little as you’d like. “Hammock surfing” was always an option.

I highly recommend a visit to the zoo for anyone who goes to the Belize. We did the nocturnal tour and then visited the zoo the next day. Both are worthwhile.

I highly recommend that anyone going to Belize read “The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw.” It provides excellent background information about the zoo and about Belize in general and is very well written.

All in all, it was a terrific trip, and we are hoping to do it, or something like it, again in the near future.

shillmac

Sounds wonderful. I am trying to determine the best snorkeling option for our Ambergris stay. Lighthouse and Blue Hole sound so cool. If we don't make it there this time, definitely another time perhaps. Half Moon Caye sounds beautiful as well. Thanks for posting. I think you got a great deal (don't know about financially, but otherwise sure sounds impressive!).

shillmac

And thanks for the book recommendation!

StanKase

The REASON AMBERGRris is not an ideal location for rthe avid snorler is that there are not that many tour boats that offer snorkekinf trips to the Blue Hole and Half Moon. We stayed at the now closed Lighthouse Reef Resort and visited them both 3 times as snorkers and they are amomg the best snorkel sights in the Americas.

hopefulist

It really does sound lovely - thanks for taking the time to post! I always drool over the REI Adventure catalogs but have never read a travelogue from someone who has gone on one. Unfortunately, they are cost prohibitive for many of us but luckily Belize is an easy destination to plan our own trips.