I will keep this brief and the elaborate if any questions come up.

We are a family of 4. 9, 13, old, older.

Full trip - jungle 7 days then AC 5 days.

Jungle

Stayed at Duplooys for the first 4 days.

day 1: Canoe trip to San Ignacio, beautiful and good exercise when the currect is slow, as it was when we went. ate lunch in San Ignacio, Cafe Sol, great food. Afternoon we went to Tropical wings butterfly farm, Extremely interesting.

Day 2 Tikal: This is one you will not want to miss. The ruins were great and the plant and animal life was awesome (you see my families priorities). We got great shots of Toucans, spider monkeys, and Coatimundi's. Yes I was worried with a 9 year old going into Gatemala but had no problems whatsoever.

Day 3 Caving: Actun Tunical Muknal, yes I may have spelled that one wrong. This was the Highpoint of our trip, words cannot even describe it. Stalactites, stalagmites, pottery, bones and skulls. Most of the time you have to go to a museum to find this. Awesome.

Day 4 travel: Hit the Belize zoo on the way to Lamanai, cute little zoo, hotter that hot. Arrived at Lamanai via boat (wonderful ride) around 4pm. From the beginning they schedule everything including meals started us off with a spotlight trip the very first night, another perfectly executed tour, I can honestly say that I now have seen birds sleeping in the wild.

Day 5 Lamanai ruins: Since it is right there of course you get to go there, much different that Tikal, they were still excavating this one, and differently beautiful setting. After Lunch went on an "Herbal" walk. This was a very interesting study of the plant life, a look at some new ruins (new meaning only 450 years old!). I could once again go on about this tour.

Day 6: Jungle boat cruise/ evening bug hunt.

Each and every tour I saw things that absolutely amazed me, this day was no exception. Things sighted: Stick insect, red eyed tree frog, tarantula, 4 inch beetle, 3 different snakes (all holdable).

The Folks at Lamanai really have their act together. the food was great and the service second to none. This is especially true when you consider that they do ALL their own tours. You even get the same guide the whole time you are there. Also their accommodations are rustically beautiful.

OK now for the reef trip 5 days total:

Stayed at Banyan Bay excellent Place, I could have lived there. great Pool, Decent food, but the room were wonderful with AC!!!! after 7 days in the jungle...

Did 2 tours:

one: shark ray alley and hol chan: good little 2 hour snorkeling trip, big tame fish.

two: Manatee/goffs Caye/ Caye caulker tour. this one is a little more but infinitely better $75 per person but it is a full day trip. Lunch and all the drinks are free. The best snorkeling I did while on AC.

We had a perfect vacation, a lot of it thanks to the research I was able to do on this NG. That is why I felt it necessary to provide this post, I owed it.

thanks,

Mike

Glad to hear about it Mike, and glad to be of help!!

Mike, what a great time for your family.

Know how you feel, it is the best.

Thanks for sharing, we love it, one more BELIZE IT family.

Oh and also glad to hear you went to Tikal. I gather it can be a bit 'chancy' to do it, but it is truly an awesome place. I'm so glad I went in 2000.

Michael, Sounds like just an awesome trip! Thinking of a family trip just like this and shooting for '04 (when our little guy will be 9 too). I agree about Tikal, went this past Feb, what a place! I also loved Lamanai (howlers were too cool) but didn't stay. I've got questions, hope you don't mind - Did you find 7 jungle days a good amount of time? Where'd you stay at Lamanai and tour with? Did you have a car and drive or what did you do for transfers between places? thnx!

7 days was just perfect. In Lamanai we stayed at I believe the only place around which is Lamanai outpost, but there may be others, but this one was great.

If you set up your trip correctly every lodge will get you to the next one, no real need for a car that I could see. Basically duplooy's was waiting for me at the airport. When I was done there they took me back to the Biltmore in Belize city with a zoo stop along the way. Lamanai met me at the Biltmore and even waited while we ate lunch. When our stay at Lamanai was over we were flown to AC. After that we flew to Belize City and the flew home. It all worked perfectly.

Here are some pictures for everyone to enjoy:
http://www.ofoto.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?UV=33554577330_13180940503&US=0&collid=50203640503

take care and any other questions are welcomed,

Mike


One just love to talk about their vacations....

Mike, a question. For future reference. Was it redundant to go to Lamaani and Tikal? I think they are both Mayan sites? Or did they both have something to offer?

trina The trip to Lamanai is not really about going to the ruins, at least for me it was not. It is a whole different environment. On one side of the lagoon you have the Savannah sp? and on the Lamanai side you have a lower jungle both with entirely different animals and insects. In Tikal you have huge trees and a 50 or more square mile wildlife reserve with Toucans and spider monkeys.

But bottom line they are both well worth the trip. Lamanai is a much smaller site (at least the excavated portion 5%) but it is less travelled and being excavated while you are there, which is cool. Tikal is just massive, a must see.

Those pictures are great.
That is one daring little girl. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Lots of things that I had not seen before.

I had never seen the Modern Day Tarzan and Jane. LOL

Just wanted to let you know I LOVED your pictures...
(have one just like #56, maybe same tree what an awesome place that was huh?)
thnx for your replies - i'm looking forward to the trip already

Michael123 - we will be in the jungle just 2 days. 12year, older, older, older. It is our first time to Belize. We will be in AC the rest of the time. Any clothing, bug spray (or anything else) recommendations?

Just like most have said, 30 deet for the kids and 100 for yourself. You might get by with just 30 for everyone, personally I got bit twice as bad on AC as I did in the jungle, and you never see what gets you!!

Long lightweight pants and hiking shoes if you are hiking (there are alot of different activities in the jungle).

I only got bit by a doctor (horse) fly a couple times and army ants once (those really hurt). Skeeters were not much of a problem.

hope this helps.

mike

my son stepped on a red ant the first night...so watch your ffet. but i agree with mike, bugs were far worse on AC than cayo in june too.

mike, if you get a photo editor (like i just did) you can take your shots & do thios with them:
http://www.pbase.com/image/3529984

http://www.pbase.com/image/3725302

your toucan

I do run the picture through the olympus photo editor, Camedia is the name of the package. Though I make no elaborate changes to the pictures I clean them up, crop, and zoom in on some of them. What photo Editor are you using?

Thanks,
Mike

hey, i used to use camedia too...i have the olympus c-700 camera. the camedia failed upon my return from bz, and i could not get a lot of my pics up. so i bought photosuite 4 platinum. it was only $50, where photoshop was $500.

i found this site to help me figure out what photographers think is a "good pic": http://www.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1008