Belize

I had some vacation time at the end of February, and I knew I needed to go somewhere sunny and warm, with a beach. Not only had it been awhile since I got out of Cleveland, but I also hate February. Jessica felt a similar vacation imperative, and had been working her tushy-parts off doing overtime at work to be able to afford a vacation. We kept our eyes open for a deal, and came across one on Livingsocial, for a week in Belize, all expenses included at a small resort on an island in Glover's Reef, which is right near the upper left hand corner of the legend on this map.



It was a very fabulous vacation. We were there for a week, during which there was almost always lovely weather, sunshine, and warmth. Belize has one of the best reef systems in the world, as well as three major atolls, which means that diving is one of it's biggest industries. This resort is definitely geared toward snorkeling and diving, with twice daily boats going out for both, and an opportunity to do a night snorkel or dive as well. They also had some kayaks, which I took out a few times. Jessica knows how to scuba dive, so she did a lot of diving. I have long intended to learn how to scuba dive, but never actually had the time or opportunity to do so, so I went snorkeling a lot, along with my new snorkeling mask with built in camera, which I had a lot of fun with. We saw fish of every description as well as a few sharks and rays. Later on in the week I did an introductory dive course and got to go scuba diving three times, which was awesome. I saw even more fish, more sharks, more rays, as well as an eel, a big barracuda (we saw tons of little ones everywhere, but they weren't very impressive) and a couple of turtles, one of which swam right by me, close enough to touch. I've moved learning to dive to the top of my list of things to do.

What was interesting, and unexpected, was the social aspect of the resort. They have eleven cabins, so there aren't too many people there, and meals are provided at a set time in a dining room with long tables; you inevitably become close, getting to know people you would never otherwise meet. On the first night I found this stressful, but by the second day everyone becomes a friend and meals are fun. We met some really great people while we were there.

I've posted a bunch of pictures on facebook here, but for the facebook impaired, I'll post a few here too, as well as a few new ones.

The island; palms, sand, blue water, kayaks...

Sunset

The hammock on the porch of our cabana. It also had a convenient clothesline for hanging bathing suits to dry.

Jessica and I and the lovely island

The ladies I went snorkeling with most often, and our snorkel guide, who was able to find us a spot to snorkel in the middle of nowhere, at night, with no light, no map or gps. What a rockstar!

A few shots from my snorkel cam

some fun coral

lots of yellow fish

one of the numerous lionfish we saw (they are non-native there, a weed fish)

a yellow ray (trust me about the color :)

a bunch of fish :)

After we (sadly) left the island we had an afternoon to go see some Mayan ruins, which there are many of in Belize. We went to Altun Ha, which was super-cool. It felt a little wrong to climb on the ruins, but they let you do it, so we did. Other than a small Mayan ruin which I saw when I went to Cozumel on my cruise, this was the first of these type of ruins I had been to. They were very impressive, very cool.

Overall, a fantastic vacation, just what I needed. I may plan a tropical vacation every February. It really helped me get out of my mid-winter, mid-residency slump. Yay for vacations!

:)