Our trip started off rough, I flew out from LA, GF flew out from San Francisco. at 930pm, half an hour before her flight was supposed to take off it gets canceled! She says the next flight out is the next day, this is not looking good, I'm thinking what am I supposed to do? I didnt want to get to San Pedro and leave her alone, but I couldnt wait at the Belize airport for 24 hours either. I make a dash over to the ticket counter at LAX and try to get a status update, they tell me her flight is canceled due to not being able to crew it, I find alternatives and get her re-routed on stand by to Dallas. She was the number 1 stand by and since it was empty at LAX, I was able to get her stuff squared away while she waited in line in SF. Thank god I did that because only one or two ppl got out, the rest had to wait until the next morning.

We finally make it to Belize, about 2 hrs after we were originally scheduled to, took a taxi from the airport to the water taxi terminal with no drama. We board the water taxi and we meet a couple who we hang out with a few times during our trip. One thing i love about vacations is all the people you end up meeting.

We stayed at Banana Beach and were greeted with a very nice staff. After checking in we decided to go for a walk and find some food. One of the first things I noticed is wow its beautiful out here.














GF buying a necklace from a street vendor






Me taking a picture of the scenery at the Blue Iguana





I believe this is a fish sandwich, it was delicious!


Cobb Salad? I forgot but it was good.


We kept it easy that night as we both had a long day and had to be up early to go to Xunnantunich and ziplining.

We booked a tour through our friend who owns Beyond Belize, our guides Abraham and Sullivan were very nice and very informative about Belize.

We reach the temple and the first thing I noticed is wow its hot! The heat reflects off the ground and adds at least 10 degrees it seems.





The rest of the pics can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/teddyngo/MabelAndTeddySBelizeVacation#

http://picasaweb.google.com/teddyngo/BlueHoleSnorkel#

Glad that after a bad start things worked out. Thanks for bringing back memories. Nick

Report was "looking" very good, but you may want to re-do the pic links. Every pic below "XUN" is not loading.

Great report and pictures!! But I'm having trouble viewing some of the photos ... would LOVE to see them. Three more weeks for us.

Thanks!!

I'm so glad you enjoyed the trip and especially the snorkel day out at the Blue Hole and the Atolls! I gather you've now decided that it was money well spent.

Awesome pics! I'm homesick now for San Pedro! WAHHHAAA!!! Glad you both had a great time!

An iguana we saw while crossing the bridge












My GF at the top of the ruin
[img]http://lh3.ggpht.com/_ILoRY6gVoho/S-ENZE6tY_I/AAAAAAAAGtQ/AmFuJ5qg1W0/s800/belize%20%2823%20of%20185%29.jpg/img]



Sweat soaked shirt

After the ruins we head to lunch then ziplining

We ate at the restaurant right outside ziplinging, this is my first experience with rice and beans and it didnt disappoint!



Me getting my gear on.

Later that night we ended up at Playa.


Here are some of the people we met, some are locals, and others are tourist but they come so often they are considered locals


The first of many that makes me not remember much of the night


The man responsible for the damage





Deep conversations going on.




Getting friendly with a local


Then we have the next day









North part of the caye

We ended up going on two snorkel trips, one to the blue hole and another to hol chan and shark alley.

Many ppl say Blue Hole isnt not worth it, but I think otherwise. The first spot we snorkeled at was the blue hole, you are pretty much swimming around the parameter. While you dont see as much wild life as other locations there is still plenty to see.

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The 2nd location before lunch was the clearest, but had the least amount of fish.

The 2nd location before lunch was the clearest, but had the least amount of fish.




The last location has the most fishes and such to see. We swam with a turtle, and a spotted stingray



Hol chan was fun, lots of fish to see. While returning back to the boat, the big grouper scared me! Stopped me dead in my tracks, i've never swam with a fish so big.



My gf got good pics of the sting rays at shark ray alley


and the nurse sharks

Some of the best food we ate came from someone's backyard on Caye caulker. Some guy was grilling up meat and selling tacos from his house. It was great and cheap! Dont be afraid to try dirty looking places, that was were we found the best food. We were tired of the resort food to be honest.



One of the best things about Caye Caulker is all the colorful buildings when coming from the water taxi.


I dont think a trip is complete without Dande's

Its fixed now, I think there is a limit on the number of pictures in a post.

I think you mentioned something about going to the Blue Hole just to say yup we went to the blue hole. Well that was essentially why I picked Belize for a vacation spot, I saw a picture of the blue hole and said wow i want to go there!

Great pictures, thanks so much for sharing.

All fixed, thanks. Great pictures and glad you two enjoyed it. See you again I'm sure!

Actually Boostted, I didn't mean for it to sound like "just to say yup we went to the blue hole". You originally asked if the snorkeling was any better at the Blue Hole. I was trying to express that the snorkelling is not any better at the Blue Hole, and that the snorkelling at Hol Chan will outdo that at the Blue Hole any day. BUT the whole trip is worth it, the incredible day, Halfmoon Caye, the three snorkelling sites, and finally the trip back to San Pedro, after such a fulfilling day, is just worth it and as a bonus . . . you do get the bragging rights!!

Great pics thanks for posting. Glad you enjoyed your trip - you have me craving DandE's now

nice photos thanks for sharing

Awesome pics - we can't wait to go. I was showing the girl child the pics of the ruins and the zip line and she's ready to sign up. She's not sure about the sharks with the snorkling though. I'm taking notes of all the good hole in the wall places to eat and things to do!

What a great report and wonderful pics. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Hurry back!