We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
It still feels surreal… The crystal clear turquoise water, the warmth of the sea, the incredible sea creatures, the delicious food… How have we been in Belize for three weeks already?!
As with any vacation, time is going by so fast here. It doesn’t really help that for two weeks now we’ve both been fighting ear infections, so we haven’t been able to get much diving in. But our first week here was amazing.
We arrived to Belize City and boarded a water taxi. The boat ride was 1 1/2 hours and we passed many of the small islands that make up Belize, until we finally arrived to beautiful San Pedro. The water taxi ports right next to Central Park, a beautiful, white sandy beach near the center of town. What a view to be greeted to. We arrived in the evening and witnessed our first “moon-rise,” as the locals call it. It was beautiful. Right off the bat people were so nice and welcoming. We sat by a gentleman on the boat who owns one of the restaurants on San Pedro and was very kind and gave us lots of tips. Our taxi driver, George, was there waiting for us with a sign with our names on it, just like in the movies. I never thought I’d see my name on one of those signs, so we felt pretty special.
We loaded up our luggage and George took us to our Airbnb which was south of town a ways. Once we arrived we felt like we were in the jungle. The Airbnb was gorgeous. It sits on a large property off a back road, so it doesn’t get a lot of traffic. The floor is all white sand bordered by numerous conch shells. We checked in with our host and headed up to the third floor suite. We had a large balcony complete with an outdoor shower, a daybed, a hammock, and some lounge chairs, plus all the privacy we could ask for because we were surrounded by all sorts of trees. We saw lots of lizards while we were there.
Our first morning, we walked down to the main street south of town and went to a place called The Baker which had raving reviews. I’ll be honest, it was some of the best breakfast I’ve had. We ordered croissant breakfast sandwiches, cinnamon rolls, and a pineapple-mango smoothie, all handmade and fresh. It was delicious.
Then we met up with a few locals who showed us some apartments all across town. After touring some places we had dinner at Lily’s Treasure Chest and it was some of the best chicken I have ever had and the best ceviche Matt has ever tasted. We can’t wait to go back. We visited 4 dive shops and 7 apartments, got 3 golf cart rides from locals, walked 8 miles and ended it all with an evening dip in the ocean.
The next day was Sunday so we found our cute little church on the island which was just a 10 minute walk from our Airbnb. Coming from Utah, which is the state where our church is headquartered, it was very different to walk into a small building that consisted entirely of 6 classrooms, restrooms, and a chapel. Our total congregation that day was 13. Compared to the hundreds that we have back home, this was a very humbling and special experience.
Later that day as we were walking through town, a sudden downpour occurred. We didn’t even have time to escape under an awing before we were completely soaked through. But at least the rainstorms only last about 10 minutes here in San Pedro, so it was over pretty quick.
By Monday we found an apartment in the north part of town and got settled in. It was so nice to finally have a place to unpack since we had been traveling for the past 2 weeks. This apartment is called Laguna Hotel and located above a hardware shop. It’s close to many fruit stands and grocery stores and about a 15 minute walk to the dive shop.
The dive shop we chose is called Amigos Del Mar and they have been so good to us. They paired us with our awesome dive instructor, Alonzo, who goes by Chewy. He was born and raised here on San Pedro and has a real passion for diving.
We went on our first 3 dives on Tuesday which consisted of 2 day dives and a night dive. On our first dive of the day Chewy found a little sea cucumber sponge crawling along the ocean floor and brought it to us to hold. It was surprisingly light and soft. Our night dive was pretty incredible and we saw lobsters, squid, lots of stingrays, an eagle ray, and super cool bioluminescent organisms. It was a little eery at that point because we had to turn our flashlights off and wait for the organisms to light up after the absence of light. We floated along the ocean floor for a few minutes and took it all in. Little dots of glowing organisms swimming in sequence. We were out in the ocean, in the complete dark, and couldn’t see a thing except these beautiful creatures. It was a very cool experience.
The next morning on our dive we saw shark, after shark, after shark. Both nurse sharks and Caribbean reef sharks. They swam alongside us and circled us for quite a while and got close enough for us to touch them. I’ll be honest, it was a little scary, but also very exhilarating.
After our dives, we walked along the beach and found a cute spot to have lunch and get in the water for a little swim. There was a playground in the water that local kids were playing on and it was fun to watch them.
Our third day diving was one for the books. We saw two species of turtle, one of which tried to eat my hair. We also saw nurse sharks, reef sharks, and a spotted eagle ray among other sea life.
On Friday during one dive we found a turtle egg. Unfortunately, because it was in the ocean, it wasn’t a good egg and was filled with water. We ate lunch at a place on the water called the Palapa Bar. We both ordered tacos and followed lunch by swimming in the sandy area behind the restaurant, complete with a large deck and some tubes.
Within those first few days we were Advanced Open Water Certified and the rest of the weekend consisted of working on our EFR and Rescue Diver courses. We went to church again on Sunday and the power was out so the fans wouldn’t turn on and it was very hot, but still a good service.
Sunday was the day one of my ears started to feel a little sensitive. We figured we better not go diving again until it stopped, just to be safe. By noon the next day, my ear was worse so we decided to make a trip to one of the dive doctors on the island. He checked both of us out and concluded that we had ear infections and gave us a antibiotics to help clear it up.
Fast forward almost two weeks later, today our ear infections are finally clearing up!! We haven’t been able to dive for almost two weeks and it’s killing us. We are stoked to get back in the water again and continue onto our Divemaster course.
These past two weeks have consisted of playing lots of games in the apartment, reading, watching movies, taking a dip in the rooftop pool when it’s too hot, grocery shopping, making meals, blogging, and catching up on other things. I’m not going to complain too much, because while it’s uncomfortable to have an ear infection for so long, I am in Paridise after all, with the love of my life right by my side.
Our first few weeks in Belize have been both eventful and uneventful and we are excited to see what comes next in our Belizian diving adventure.
Until next time.
0
No Comments