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