About three weeks ago, Bob and I took our belated honeymoon in Belize. We spent a week on Ambergris Caye, a small island just a 15 minute flight in a (tiny) plane from the mainland. We stayed at Matachica, on the northern part of the island which is quieter and less inhabited than the southern portion where San Pedro, the only “town” to speak of on the island, is located. San Pedro consists of three narrow streets, all about a half mile long, that are full of pedestrians and golf carts (the preferred method of transit on the island). We only saw a handful of cars the entire time we were there and they were all taxis.
We spent most of our time on the beach or swimming in the pool and the sea. We also got a lot of reading in and definitely caught up on our sleep. And I tried paddle boarding for the first time, something I’d wanted to do for awhile. The highlight of the trip was an afternoon snorkeling Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley – which is exactly what it sounds like – and area full of nurse sharks and gigantic stingrays. They were harmless and swam just inches from us. We even got to touch them in the wild (the sharks felt like sandpaper and the sting rays felt like wet, slimy mushrooms). We also saw sea turtles, eagle rays, lobster and a super long, super scary green eel.
Side note, our resort was just a few houses north of John McAfee’s place and we arrived the day after his neighbor was murdered. We heard about it our first day there, at the bar, from two guests who had heard the gunshot (and met the now-deceased neighbor just days before). A day or so later, it was all over the news and most of the major networks had descended on the island. Dateline even filmed a segment on our resort’s grounds while we were swimming in the pool just a few feet away. If you haven’t heard about this crazy story, you can learn more here.