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We spent one incredible week in Belize right before the kids went back to school in August. Most people don’t think about going to Belize, but scuba divers have knows about this Caribbean paradise for decades. We immerse ourselves for the first three days deep in the jungle surrounded by rainforest, and the last days in the island of San Pedro.
We landed in Belize City and we had arranged transportation directly with the hotel, Ian Anderson’s Cave Branch, I highly recommend doing this since the drive is about two hours, and the roads are rough in some areas.
We had some lunch at the hotel and checked into our luxury tree house. The staff was super friendly and the food was excellent.

The first night at the Lodge the staff went over all the activities available and they helped us book the excursions. It was very easy and well organized. One day we visited the Mayan ruins of Tikal in Guatemala. It’s a very long day, but if you are up for it, it’s definitely worth it.
The other day my husband and the kids did an amazing waterfall cave expedition; while I enjoyed a massage, a tour of the lodge’s botanical garden and spent some time at the Cheese House learning how they make the different cheeses and trying some samples.
There are so many fun activities to do, river tubing, zip lining, hiking, rappelling. I wish we would have stayed a few more days. If you like the outdoors, and have the time, I definitely recommend staying more than the 3 nights we stayed.
We left the jungle by the hotel arranged transportation back to Belize City, and from there, we went to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. Our friends went by small plane, we went by water taxi. Both options are great. Doing on a small plane is more expensive, but much shorter and you get amazing views from the plane. The water taxi works very well. We were surprised how organized and on time it worked. It’s cheaper and you get a nice 90-minute boat ride.
We got to San Pedro, and went straight to the Grand Caribe Belize where we were staying. They helped us rent a golf cart, which is the best way of transportation in the island.
The next day in San Pedro, we took a Snorkel / Dive combo tour to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. We were picked up from our resort and went to the dive shop to get geared up. The tour consisted of two stops. The first stop was our shallow dive at the coral reef zone of the reserve. It was a really nice easy dive, we spotted turtles and nurse sharks. The guide told is that sometimes you can also see eagle rays and green moray eels.
Before we went on the trip, we got the kids certified to scuba dive. They have to be at least 10 to earn their Junior Open Water Diver certification. My son was 10 at that time and he did amazing. So on our second day in San Pedro, we woke up really really early (5:30 am) and embarked on our 3 hour boat ride to the famous Blue Hole.
We did three unforgettable dives that day. The first one near the Great Blue Hole, the largest ocean sinkhole in the world. We did not see a lot of marine life here, but it’s interesting to see the bubbles from the Blue Hole. If you are an advance diver, you can descend to a depth of 130ft and see the cave with stalactites that were form from dripping water when the cave was above sea level . The second dive was at Half Moon Caye Wall, where we had a vast amount of marine life along the deep walls of the island. We stopped for lunch at Half Moon Caye, we had a chance to walk a trail that lead us to the only red footed boobies sanctuary in the world. The last dive was at Long Caye Wall” a.k.a “The Aquarium” because of numerous colorful reef fish of all shapes and sizes that frequent this stretch of wall. We also spotted large groupers, and a big nurse shark.
If you are not into scuba diving, there are lots of unique snorkeling trips, great beaches to relax or do some water sports.
The last day we spend an amazing relaxing day at Secret Beach.
As if I need to recap this, you can see that Belize, with the Jungle in the West and the Caribbean on the East, is full of life, vibrance, and activities fo everyone, yet it’s an undiscovered countries to travel. So, pack your hiking outfit and your bathing suit and book a trip to Belize. Trust me, you won’t regret it!Â
Belize is on my bucket list especially after reading this! What hotels did you stay at?
In Belmopan (The Jungle) we stayed at the Ian Ian Anderson’s Caves Branch and in San Pedro, we stayed at the Grand Caribe Belize . I recommend both, great service, good accommodations.
We loved Belize! It looks like you had a fabulous time!
Yes, it was such a fun trip!
Definitely what I would call an Epic Trip! Looks like so much fun and wow there’s so much to see and do, thanks for sharing 🙂
So much fun, I wish we would have stayed longer…
This sounds like an awesome place. Thank you for sharing.
So glad you enjoyed the post. Really great place to visit.
It looks like you had a ton of fun and that there were some beautiful sights!!
That looks amazing! How fun for sure and what great memories you and your family will have of this. A great way to start off the school year – not wanting to go to school but instead go back to Belize! Great pictures.
Thank you! Yes, definitely hard to go back to school after a trip like this!
What a beautiful vacation destination! I love that you all got to scuba dive together. 🙂
The lush tropical forest and the blue hole is definitely calling me!
Oh the water adventures! That looked amazing!
Thank you, it was so much fun!
Such gorgeous photos. The water looks amazing !
This vacation looks like a dream trip!
It is, and Belize the office language of Belize is English so it’s easy to communicate and it is very affordable.
What a beautiful place! I love your waterfall and diving pictures. The water looks gorgeous! I’m ready to go to Belize anytime!
Thank you! The water is amazing and the sea-life so beautiful.
We stopped in Belize on a cruise. The snorkeling was amazing.
What an unforgettable experience! That luxury treehouse sounds intriguing.
That’s quite the epic week, for sure!
Thank you, it was so much fun!
Superb photos! We absolutely loved the water pictures!!
Thank you! I have so many pictures of the trip, it was hard to pick the ones for the post
Thank you!
these pictures are amazing! I can’t wait to go there one day!
Thank you! I highly recommend visiting Belize
Thank you, I know you’ll have a great time when you visit
It looks like a place for lots of fun and adventures
Yes, lots of options from extreme activities to relaxing on the beach!
The treehouse looks like the perfect place to relax and the excursions look like so much fun!! The cheese making in particular sounds intriguing.
The jungle resort is amazing, it’s the perfect balance of bring in the middle of the jungle with some comfort level to enjoy it 🙂
Have always wanted to scuba the blue hole! Looks like an amazing trip with wonderful memories made!
Thank you! To see the most amazing part of the blue hole, you have to be a very advance diver, my friends did it and they loved it. For me, around 60-70 ft deep is more than enough.
Looks like a great trip!!
What an amazing trip! Belize is on my bucket list and this is making me want to go 🙂
You should definitely go, let me know if you have questions when you plan your trip 🙂
What an amazing trip! I never thought about Belize, but now I really want to go! Your photos are great! Thanks!
Thank you
Your trip looks amazing. I don’t scuba, but I wouldn’t mind visiting a secret beach.
Scuba was fun, but there is so much more to see and do even even if you don’t scuba
Sounds like an amazing trip! I’ve always heard Belize was beautiful and your pictures show it!
Thank you! it was a great trip, I would definitely recommend visiting Belize
Wow, this looks like an amazing trip with beautiful views! My boys would love staying in a tree house!
Thank you!! It was so much fun staying in a tree house!
It looks phenomenal! My husband has been there but I haven’t!
We never thought about going to Belize before, but our friends suggested it, and we are so glad we went. It really exceeded our expectations
Such a beautiful place !
Thank you!
Belize looks like such a beautiful place to visit!
It is beautiful, thank you for your comment!
What amazing trip. The water looks amazing!!
Thank you!! It was so much fun…