I feel the need to start to write about Belize lest I forget it. The sights, the sounds, the flavors! Our trip started off well enough, but quickly turned into a bit of a travel hassle. On Friday we flew from SFO to Miami, hopped a shuttle bus to our airport hotel, and had a mediocre dinner at the only restaurant within walking distance. Up the next day, and over to the airport a few hours earlier to make sure we were comfortably at our gate in time for the flight. No issues there – security was quite quick. Settled in at the bar near the gate and texted our friends John and Laura who were coming in from Knoxville. Met up with them and another friend John from Nashville, and caught up and anticipated our trip.
Hopped on the flight right on time and we were all strapped in and ready to go … when we were told to get back off the plane. Apparently there was some sort of spill in the cargo hold from the previous flight, and the airline had to treat it as a hazmat situation. Took them a few hours to bring in the crew, and only about half an hour to actually clean it up. Found a couple other boogie attendees that we hadn’t met and passed the time griping and playing cards.
Meanwhile, we’re wondering about our shuttle flight – called Tropic Air and they said that they wouldn’t know till later in the day if they could run night flights (they are normally scheduled to end flights at 5, but will go later if they have both passengers and weather). So, we flew to Belize City with no real assurance that we’d get anywhere further that night. Pulled one of my bags off the belt and find it wide open with stuff falling out. The only thing I actually lost was a bag full of vitamins (probably looked attractive to someone as a bag of pills … won’t they be disappointed).
Get through immigration and customs and are met by a Tropic Air representative who grabs our bags, tells us to check in and hustle down to the gate. Yay – we get to get there tonight! The flight was about 15 minutes at a low altitude to San Pedro, Ambergris Caye. Walk across the street to our hotel, check in, and hustle down to the restaurant, where the welcome dinner is just ending. Rich, the boogie organizer is saying his final welcomes and thank yous, and a couple friends spot us coming in, but Rich doesn’t see us. So, I walked up behind him, put my arm on his shoulder, and grabbed the mike to announce our arrival to the group. Rich arranged for seven more dinners to be brought out and we enjoyed a fabulous welcome dinner, albeit a bit late. What a relief to get there – we were dreading having to spend a night in Belize City and miss the festivities entirely.
Sunday dawned hot, muggy, and windy. We rode the boat down to the landing area (about 2 miles north of the hotel/airport area) for the mandatory briefing. I decided that I wasn’t jumping in the high winds that day – I’d rather my first landing at a small landing area with no good outs was in better conditions. So, I hung out at the hotel for a while, then joined a few folks on a nice snorkeling trip. Dinner that night was at the first of the local establishments listed on the boogie t-shirt (each night Rich has arranged for a different place to hang out, often with food and drink specials included).
Monday was less breezy, so I hopped on a couple loads that day. With the amount of time each load takes, it’s not really a “jump your ass off” boogie. There’s about a 5 minute walk to the loading area at the airport, then a ride to altitude, landing, and then everyone piles into a boat to ride back to the hotel to pack, manifest, and do it again.
Tuesday I did another jump, then Wednesday was the big day for the jump into the famous Blue Hole. Oh. My. God. I had put together a “gutter gear” water rig with an old container and reserve that Sean had picked up in a trade, and an old PD 210 canopy that a friend from Davis had pulled out of his closet. Strapped flotation gear around my waist and I was ready to roll. In a way it felt like my early jumps again with a whole new set of nerves – Rich had warned us that the sensation of exiting and seeing nothing but water as far as the eye could see would be a bit unnerving. The dive boat was pointed perpendicular to the wind line, so that gave us a reference point to know which direction to land. When we got out to the Blue Hole, the clouds were low enough that we got about 5,000 feet, which meant that we all did hop & pops. With the views that we were treated to, the canopy ride was the best part anyway, so we weren’t really disappointed. It was a truly surreal jump, but absolutely spectacular. I came in for a nice, soft landing not far from the boat, settled my canopy behind me and waited for rescue.
Noticed someone near me who didn’t seem too comfortable in the water, so I yelled “Doug, are you okay?” Got back a definitive “No!” I said “What do you need?” “I need HELP!” I asked “Are you tangled up?” He said he was, so I swam over, trying to stay calm myself (since I’m not exactly a lifeguard). Got over there, and he immediately chilled out and said he was okay. The boat threw out the rescue buoy to us not long after, and we had a good laugh about it later. Turns out he’s just not comfortable in open water and his imagination got the best of him as his canopy was inflating and deflating and pulling him a bit – he’d convinced himself that he was getting pulled under, when really he was just getting pulled a bit. Glad I could be a calming presence and didn’t have to deal with an actual panicked swimmer dragging me underwater.
Once we were back on the boat, it was time to don our scuba gear and get underwater. I was a bit nervous since it had been over 5 years since I’d been diving, but the guides on the boat were all fantastic and took good care of us on the boat and underwater. The first dive was quite deep – deeper than any I’d done in New Zealand. We went down about 140 feet into the Blue Hole, checking out all the cool coral formations and underwater caves and ledges. Back on the boat for a 30 minute ride to another dive site, where we stayed in shallower water but saw a lot more marine life. Our next stop was Half Moon Caye, a protected bird sanctuary, where lunch was set up. After eating we wandered a few minutes down the beach to a boobie observation deck to see red-footed boobies and frigate birds from a platform above the jungle trees. Very cool.
Back on the boat and a quick ride to one more dive site. By this time I was relaxed in the water and enjoyed that dive the most because I could chill out and enjoy what I was seeing rather than worrying about my gear and whether I was remembering everything I was supposed to do.
The trip back to the hotel was a long 3+ hour ride through choppy waters – I think our method of getting to the Blue Hole was much preferred! Dropped our wet gear off with the rigger who was supervising the rinsing and washing, and got ourselves cleaned up for dinner.
Thursday dawned cool and dry … unexpected for Belize. The clouds started clearing late morning and by 2 I was on a load (needed to wait 24 hours post-scuba). Got in two jumps before the end of the day (they shut down operations early enough to allow for a medical evac plane to take off and land in Belize City in daylight if needed. So far we haven’t needed it, and hopefully we won’t, but it’s good to be safe. Worst injuries so far have been scraped legs and tweaked ankles – the landing area isn’t exactly the most forgiving surface).
Yesterday was similarly cool, and I was able to do two fun jumps before I decided to stand down because of the high winds. Chilled out in the afternoon, then gathered a group of ten for a truly memorable dinner at Elvi’s Kitchen in town. I could write an entire post about the food here, but suffice it to say it’s amazing. Favorite discoveries include a wonderful little bakery with delicious pastries and breads for ridiculously cheap prices, a literal hole in the wall that makes the most massive and delicious mixed seafood burrito, and Elvi’s last night, which had a wonderful buffet filled with local flavors and local ingredients. Things here are a bit pricey, since it can be expensive to bring things onto the island, but moving a few blocks off the beach can find more reasonable prices than the beachfront locations. I’ve picked up a bunch of bottles of hot sauce and jams to bring back so that I can have some of that local flavor at home.
We confirmed our flights back to the mainland yesterday, which is a sad reminder that the trip is almost over. Hope to get a couple more jumps in today if the weather is favorable, and will do night scuba dives tonight. Tomorrow I’m probably going to join in with a group that’s doing a day of touring, including cave tubing, a zip line ride, and Maya ruins. Monday we’ll have a couple hours to enjoy the last of our vacation before we hop a 2 p.m. flight back to Belize City.
San Pedro is exactly what I think a resort area should be – not very “resorty.” Nothing’s too fancy, and a lot of things are casual to the point of being dilapidated. You know it’s a tourist area where the local economy is dependent on out-of-towners, but at the same time, it doesn’t feel overbuilt or overdeveloped. The people are friendly, the vendors will approach you but there’s none of the aggressiveness that has permeated so many other tourist areas. I could definitely come back here and happily enjoy another vacation.