What a trip!
3/1 We arrived at about 4:00 in a downpour, got to Banana Beach & unpacked, nothing got too soggy. Our first & lasting impression of BB was that the friendly staff spends most of their time cleaning, sweeping & freshening everything & always had a bright smile & greeting for us. (Maybe we over-tip?) We wandered around a little, checked out a couple of the local bars & the beach was ours alone. Dinner that night at El Divino's was nice, I had the grouper & Mrs B had the chicken pasta, both very good & the wonderful staff made it a pleasure before turning in early.
3/2 We began Sunday AM bright & early, the full breakfast makes Banana Beach a good place to stay, strolled up & down the beach before heading to San Pedro to spend the day arranging tours & seeing the sights. We had lunch at BC's Barbecue, met some other tourists and wandered around for the afternoon, getting back to BC's at about 4:00. The band played & Ebee kept us entertained & well hydrated until hunger took hold, we wandered over to Waragamu's Tortilliario for an enormous shrimp burrito, where we had the pleasure of meeting 2 Old Fartz who were back from fishing. Later we took in the scene at Crazy Canucks, but called it a night to rest up...
3/3 Up at dawn for the sunrise & breakfast before the SEArious boat picked us up to go to Lamanai ruins, Giovanni kept us entertained & lubricated, we all came away with a bit of knowledge & folklore, sometimes it was tricky to see where history left off and his story began...
Dinner that night at Elvi's kitchen, we had a delicious meal & good drinks before making our way toward the surf & met a nice couple from San Francisco & bar-hopped all the way back to Banana Beach.
3/4 Up early again to snorkel at Hol Chan & Shark Ray Alley, took some great photos of the beautiful coral, fish & rays, but had ran out of film when we saw the huge loggerhead turtle & the green moray eel. Enjoyed a late lunch al El Fogon, I had curried chicken & she shared her fish fillets with me, later landing at BC's again, drank mango coladas with a couple from Lafayette LA until late... got a pizza at Pepperoni's & finally called it a night.
3/5 Breakfast was banana pancakes, went fishing & snorkeling with Frank Anderson, later had the crew at Wet Willie's turn our catch into a feast fit for a king. Frank showed us a good time, took care of all the necessity's and dropped us back at our pier to catch a nap. Later, we stopped in at Waragamu's for another fine meal, tried the Palapusa's & shared a burrito, again was just way too much food. We toured around & bar hopped from Wet Willies, BC's and down to Crazy Canucks, and finally turned in.
3/6 Belizean eggs for breakfast, went for a morning walk around the neighborhood south of town, checked out the lagoon, then back to BB to pack it all up. Checked our bags & the airport, did some souvenir shopping & had a lunch of conch fritters at Caliente. Got on the puddle jumper & bid farewell to AC (until next time). Had a few drinks at Jets, filled our luggage with as much One Barrel as would fit & headed home.
Our only regret was not taking a longer vacation, but it leaves some to be explored next time. We'll probably stay on the north side of town next trip just to cut down on the back & forth travel, but Banana Beach was absolutely fantastic if you want to spend more time devoted to relaxation, I tend try to fill every moment, being type A and all that.
Photos are up on Google, there's a lot, beware of the pale gringos !