We just returned from a glorious family vacation to the island of Ambergris Caye off the coast of Belize. When Alaska Airlines first announced that they would start flying to Belize City last fall, I asked Ron if this could be the location of our family vacation for 2022. Since we both agreed that we wanted to find a nice resort with a great pool right on the beach, we set to work to find the "perfect place" to stay. After spending a few hours researching together online, we learned that mainland Belize is really not known for its beautiful beaches and stunning, blue water. We found a beautiful resort outside of the small town of San Pedro on Ambergris Caye that seemed to check all of our boxes. After buying our plane tickets and reserving the hotel back in October, we "gifted" the kids this trip along with our Disneyland trip on Christmas day after they completed a treasure hunt around the house. Since Chris' family had gone to Belize last summer, the three older kids knew right away what a wonderful place this country was to visit and immediately got excited.
After many months of waiting and having to change the dates of our trip two times (since Alaska Airlines kept on cancelling the one flight a day to Belize City from Los Angeles), the day of our trip finally arrived. After getting the kids up at 3 o'clock, we pulled out of our driveway at 3:25 in the morning so that we could arrive at the airport at 4 a.m. for our 6 a.m. flight. After a long, 15-hour travel day and three different flights, we finally arrived at Coco Beach Resort on the evening of July 16th. We then spent the next seven days on Ambergris Caye before flying back home yesterday on July 24th. We had the best time enjoying so many wonderful aspects of this island. We loved swimming in the beautiful, Caribbean blue water every day and went on three different snorkel excursions where we saw many turtles, rays, nurse sharks, and even two manatees. We had so much fun renting a golf cart several times to get around the island and thoroughly enjoyed exploring the quaint town of San Pedro more than once. We loved swimming in our hotel pools, using our hotel's complimentary bikes, paddle boards, and kayaks, and enjoying the local food we tried around the island. The Belizean people were so warm and friendly and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many of them throughout our stay. This truly was a wonderful family trip and I am so grateful for this special time that we were able to spend together vacationing on such a special place in the Caribbean.
July 16th:
All four kids waiting for our first flight at 6 a.m. from Seattle to LAX. The three older kids did great on this long travel day. Poor Emmett struggled with losing out on four hours of sleep and only getting a small nap on our long flight from LAX to Belize City (thanks to me accidentally waking him up while trying to adjust his head). As a result, he had several meltdowns after we landed in Belize before making it to our hotel later that evening. But after a good night's sleep and a nap the next day, he did pretty well the entire week we were there.
The really small and super fun plane we took from Belize City to San Pedro Sunday afternoon. The flight only lasted 15 minutes and we had a view of the water and the islands below the entire time.
Ron, Emmett, and Ella sitting in the back row of our small plane.
July 17th:
Since we woke up Sunday morning to bare cupboards, Ron and Lia set off on our hotel bikes to ride the 2.5 miles into town to go grocery shopping. Since they were gone for a few hours that morning, I took the three younger kids out to the hotel pool for the very first time where they played all morning long. Although there were two wonderful pools at our hotel, the kids enjoyed the one closest to our hotel room that had a massive rock structure in the middle where the kids could ride a water slide down it or jump off the top of it. I can't even count how many times the three older kids jumped off this rock all week long. It was a major source of entertainment and never got old. Here is Logan jumping off the top of it that morning.
Although Ella felt comfortable jumping off the lower section of the rock the first few days, she eventually go the courage to jump off the top by the middle of the week and was just as courageous as Logan the rest of the time while we were there.
The first two days of our vacation, Emmett hung out in the shallow areas of the pool while the older kids swam around in the deeper areas. He eventually got comfortable and began swimming around in the deep water without anyone at his side for the second half of the week. It was so cute to watch him!
This is the cute picture Ron took of Lia standing in front of one of the two grocery stores where they went shopping that morning.
Ella, Logan, and Emmett enjoying the hot tub that is part of the second pool.
After playing a fun volleyball game with some other guests at the hotel, Ron went back to the hotel room with three of the kids for lunch while I convinced Logan to go paddle boarding with me out to the beautiful blue water for an hour. After we returned to our hotel and ate a late lunch, Ron agreed to go kayaking with me out to a buoy that was several hundred feet away from the shoreline to go snorkeling. We spent a fun hour out there enjoying the fish and coral and saw a large ray coming back to our hotel dock.
After Emmett finished taking a well-needed nap, we rented a golf cart from our hotel for the first time that week and drove to the outskirts of town to eat at a really fun, outdoor eatery called The Truck Stop. We all had so much fun cruising around in a golf cart for the first time that evening.
After arriving at The Truck Stop and placing our dinner orders, the kids enjoyed playing in the outdoor game area while our food was being prepared. Here are Logan and Lia playing foosball.
Daddy and Emmett playing cornhole.
Enjoying our dinner under the lights while listening to live music. This was such a fun way to finish off our first full day on the island!
July 18th:
After booking our first excursion the day before, we made it out to the neighboring dock to our hotel at 8:15 where the outdoor tour company was located. After waiting several minutes, we boarded our boat with three guides and a few other guests. Here we are waiting to head out into the open seas!
After picking up a large group of guests at one other hotel, we headed out to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve for our first snorkel experience. We were blessed to be assigned the best guide named Sheri who put Emmett in a life ring and dragged him around with us the entire time while we snorkeled. Although Emmett was really scared at first and was crying, Sheri managed to calm him down which allowed Ron and me the chance to enjoy this amazing snorkel spot. Although Lia had snorkeled four years ago in Hawaii, this was Logan's and Ella's first time and they both did a great job and snorkeled like pros. In addition to all of the amazing fish, we saw three sea turtles, two rays, and six nurse sharks. Not too shabby for their first time snorkeling!
The picture Sheri took of the five of us after returning back to our boat with Emmett at the end of our time snorkeling at Hol Chan.
The cute picture Sheri took of Emmett sitting on the side of the boat with the rest of us in the background.
Since we got back to our boat a few minutes before the other two groups of people (since Emmett was ready to be done), I asked if it was okay if I just jumped back into the beautiful, blue water to swim around until the other groups returned. This is the magical picture Ron snapped of me while I was floating in this heavenly water while a turtle swam around me the entire time.
The darling picture Lia took of the five of us before leaving Hol Chan.
The kids were introduced to orange and red Fanta soda this week as it was served at every snorkel excursion and also was their drink of choice every time we ate out. They drank more Fanta this week than they have drank in their entire life! Here is a hilarious picture Lia took of Emmett chugging down his red Fanta on the boat ride to our next stop.
Although Emmett and Ella opted to stay inside the boat with two of our three guides at our next stop, the rest of us jumped in the water and thoroughly enjoyed watching the nurse sharks feed on chum at Shark Ray Alley which is located just one mile south of Hol Chan. Although there were not any rays who showed up while we were there, I can't even count how many nurse sharks swam around our boat while we were swimming in the water with them. Most of the sharks ranged from 6 to 10 feet and I was so proud of Logan and Lia for willingly going in the water to have this amazing experience with Ron and me!
After returning back to our resort at lunch time, we spent a slow afternoon swimming in our pool and ate a dinner that I cooked in our hotel kitchen. It felt so good to get to bed early that night!
July 19th:
Since Ron had injured his backside in the pool while swimming the day before, he decided that it would be best not to go on a bumpy, boat ride the next day for the second, snorkel excursion we had booked to go to Mexico Rocks. As a result, he stayed back at the hotel with Emmett and Ella (who had decided that she didn't want to go snorkeling again) and spent the morning at the pool while Logan and Lia joined me. I was actually excited to go on this snorkeling excursion without having to worry about the two little ones. Here are the three of us out on the hotel dock before boarding our boat to take us to Mexico Rocks.
Unfortunately, we were joined by one other family from San Francisco on this excursion who could barely swim and who had never snorkeled before. As a result, the guide had to give them 100% of his attention and was unable to take the three of us around Mexico Rocks as planned. So although this was very annoying and a bit of a bummer, the three of us made the most of it and found three rays and one shark on our own. Our guide also attracted three massive Groupers and one large Barracuda back at the boat at the end of our excursion by feeding them small pieces of fish while we were in the water.
Logan, Lia, and me enjoying our Fanta after our first stop at Mexico Rocks.
Logan and Lia returning back to the boat after snorkeling at the second location.
Mama and kiddos snorkeling together before getting back in the boat at the end of our morning.
After returning back to our hotel for lunch and some afternoon pool time, the six of us got ready to head into San Pedro for the first time this week. We rented another golf cart and had a fun time walking up and down the quaint streets of San Pedro looking for places where the locals eat. Here is a fun picture we took driving through the tiny "town" of Caribeville which is between our hotel and San Pedro. We just thought the sign was so funny as it listed the population of the town as "happy" instead of the actual number of residents who live there.
A family photo we had taken in front of the colorful, San Pedro sign in town.
After buying some homemade bread from a darling street vendor, we stumbled across this amazing smoothie drink stand in town. After waiting several minutes (due to the vendor allowing all of the locals who arrived later to order before us). we were treated to the best smoothies around!
Ron and the kids with their smoothies walking down one of of the narrow streets of San Pedro.
While walking down the streets of San Pedro, we saw two families from the first snorkel excursion AND our amazing guide, Sheri! She drove by us in a golf cart with two of her coworkers and just screamed Emmett's name when she saw us. It was so funny! A few minutes later, we found her again while she waiting outside a store that one of her co-workers had stopped at to buy a few items. As a result, we had a few minutes to chat with her and took this great picture of her with Emmett. Just priceless!
After wandering up and down two streets while passing several restaurants packed with tourists, we stumbled across the most amazing, local dive called Middle Street Cuisine. The restaurant only had two tables with two chairs each and was totally empty. As a result, we were able to order our food right away and were blown away by the huge servings and delicious food that one woman cooked up for us for a meager $27! It was such a great find after looking for over an hour. Here is Emmett standing in the doorway of the restaurant while we waited for our food to be cooked.
Lia, Logan, and Ella eating dinner at their little table.
Ron and Emmett eating at our table.
July 20th:
We headed out at 9 o'clock Wednesday morning in a golf cart to spend the day at a public beach on the other side of the island that is called Secret Beach. We were gone for seven hours and thoroughly enjoyed our day spent at this beautiful beach full of restaurants and other amenities.
A family photo one of the locals took of us out on the private dock that we ended up using all day long.
Since we got there so early in the morning, we were able to grab the lounge chairs under the thatched roof at the end of the dock. It turned out to be the perfect spot to set up camp as it was in the shade with the ocean breeze blowing. It was pure paradise out there! All of us enjoyed swimming in the beautiful, blue water before heading over to the floating water park which was the main reasons why we decided to go to this beach. Here is sweet Emmy heading down the dock stairs and into the water.
We had such a great time playing on the floating water park for 1.5 hours before stopping to eat lunch. This is the family picture I managed to take from our "spot" on the dock which was conveniently located right next to the water park.
After swimming all morning long, we worked up quite an appetite and enjoyed eating lunch under a thatched umbrella right on the beach.
After lunch, we returned back to the covered area of the dock so that Lia and Ella could get their hair braided by some local ladies. This is something that both of them wanted to have done to their hair while we were in Belize. This spot turned out to be the perfect place to have their hair done as the girls were able to stay in a cool place under the shade while the rest of us were able to swim in the water around the dock.
Ron took Logan and Emmett swimming down the shore quite a ways when the girls first started to get their hair done. After several minutes, I got in the water to cool down just as Emmett started screaming off in the distance. This is the amazing picture that Lia took of Logan and me as Ron returned back to the dock with Logan and a crying Emmett.
After we all returned to the dock, I started investigating Emmett's leg and foot as he just kept on saying over and over again (between screams and tears) that something sharp had poked him. After looking at his foot, I noticed three very large and bright pink slash lines on his leg and immediately realized that he had gotten stung by a jellyfish while swimming with Ron and Logan. It looked so painful and I felt so sorry for him--especially since he was the only one who had gotten stung! Luckily, the staff at the restaurant next to the dock was super helpful and brought out a cup of vinegar to pour all over his stings. They then had us put antiseptic wipes over the stings and brought out a big bag of ice to cool the burning and stinging on Emmett's leg. After several minutes, Emmett finally stopped crying and fell asleep. He took a glorious one hour nap in the cool shade on a soft lounge chair while the lady continued to work on Ella's elaborate hair-do. This turned out to be the perfect thing for Emmett as he woke up an hour later just after Ella's hair was finished.
Ella posing with Miss Ruth after she had finished braiding her hair. The entire process took about 1.5 hours! After Emmett woke up, we packed up all of our belongings and headed back to our resort at 3 p.m. after a bumpy and long, golf cart ride back. Although we were all sad that Emmett got stung, we were so grateful to the restaurant for helping us to stop the stinging and for the wonderful, covered area on the dock that gave him a cool and comfortable place to rest and recover.
After we got back to the hotel, we spent some more time playing in the pool before eating a second dinner that I made in our hotel kitchen and headed to bed at an early hour which was needed after a long day in the sun and water.
July 21st:
Although Ron had used the hotel bikes a few times this week to buy some breakfast and lunch food from street vendors, we had never ridden them as a family until Thursday morning. We decided to ride bikes to a cute breakfast restaurant called Cafe Sol. Here is the fun family picture we got a guest at our hotel to take of us before taking off on our bikes.
The picture that I managed to take of the kids while riding down the street!
The six of us enjoying breakfast together.
After eating breakfast, we wandered over to the cute park that was located next door. Here are Emmett and Logan enjoying the swings together.
We then walked to the large swamp located behind the restaurant where Ron had heard crocodiles live. After wandering onto the dock, he took off one of his flip flops and banged it on the boards. After looking around for a minute or two, I suddenly spotted a large crocodile swimming towards us. It was the craziest thing as we just couldn't believe that it was so easy to get one to come over to us!
After looking at it for a minute or two, we got a little spooked (especially after Ron said that they can jump up a few feet to attack) and decided to quickly leave the dock at that point. Here is the picture I managed to take of it after the crocodile swam up to us. it was easily six feet long!
We the got back on our bikes in the scorching heat and rode close to town. Although the children were all complaining of the heat and wanted to turn back, I insisted that we ride to some local vendors where Ron had gone a few times this week for breakfast tacos. We stopped at the Coco Boys stand to buy two coconut drinks from the friendliest street vendor I have ever met!
We then rode back to our hotel to cool off in the pool and to spend the day with this wonderful British family who we had met earlier in the week. This family has a 13-year old boy named Nicolas and a 10-year old girl named Simona who Logan and Ella enjoyed playing with several times when we were at the pool. Since this was their last day in Belize, they asked our kids to play with them both in the morning and in the afternoon and to also go out to eat dinner with them that evening.
After renting golf carts from our hotel, we drove together back into San Pedro to try to find another local restaurant to eat dinner at. We stumbled across the most amazing restaurant called La Mulata that is located in the side yard next to the owner's house. We had the restaurant all to ourselves and enjoyed spending a wonderful evening there with Pavol and Susanna and their children. The kids had so much fun together playing on the rooftop terrace and also completed a craft (decorating painted boards that the owner is going to nail up on a pole as a decoration in the restaurant) while waiting for our food to be prepared.
Emmett enjoying his delicious fruit punch while waiting for dinner.
All six kids coloring their boards with whatever words or designs they chose.
All ten of us enjoying dinner together.
Ella, Simona, and Lia posing in the hilarious guitar cut-out.
We had so much fun talking to the wonderful owner, Patty, throughout the evening. Here she is posing with the kids at the entrance of her hotel before we said goodbye!
July 22nd:
We headed out at 8:30 this morning for our 8-hour excursion with a private boat and three guides that we had booked two days earlier while at Secret Beach. This was a big splurge for us, but it turned out to be so worth it as we saw and did so much in one day.
We first stopped at several spots in order for one of our guides, Brendel, to look for lobster for us to eat for lunch that day. Unfortunately, he was only able to find one large one that he speared for us. Needless to say, it was delicious to eat dipped in melted, garlic butter a few hours later!
After hunting for lobster, our captain stopped at a few spots before finding an excellent fishing spot where all four of the kids caught multiple fish! Besides the little ones that they threw back, they kept all of our catch to have cooked for lunch later that day. Here is Ella showing off the first of many fish she caught that morning.
Emmy holding up one of his catches!
Logan showing off one of the beautiful fish he caught that morning.
And Lia holding up this yellow-tailed beauty!
After fishing, our captain, Darwin, took us to a snorkeling area off of Caye Caulker, the island where we were going to spend our lunch time. Although Ella and Emmett opted to stay in the boat with Climson, Logan and Lia went snorkeling with me as we followed our two other guides around while they looked for lobster. Unfortunately, Ron went snorkeling in his own direction after having difficulties with his fins and mask. The water in this area was pretty murky, so I was pretty confused as to why they had brought us here to snorkel. When I finally asked Brendel why we had stopped at this place, he explained that it was a good place to find manatees. After snorkeling for about 45 minutes, we headed back to the boat after having seen a bunch of fish, two rays, and one nurse shark. We then stayed in the boat for about 30 minutes while our guides made us fresh ceviche and cut up a pineapple for us to eat. While we were sitting in the boat eating, Ron noticed something in the water and immediately asked our guides what it was. After looking over the boat, they announced that there were two large manatees right off of our boat. Ron, Lia, and I then threw on our snorkels and masks and jumped in the water as fast as we could. We then spent the most magical 15 to 20 minutes swimming around with these gentle giants. It was honestly one of the most amazing experiences of my life and one that I will never forget. Ella eventually decided to come in all on her own to join us for several minutes. After much coaxing, Logan came in the water right as the manatees swam away and only saw their tails. It was a pretty amazing experience and made the entire day so worth it! After watching the manatees for several minutes, we got back in the boat for the quick trip to Caye Caulker. During this time, Emmett fell asleep in the boat and so Ron stayed back with him and our three guides after we tied our boat to the dock. The three older kids and I then wandered around this small and darling island for several minutes while our fish and lobster were being cooked by a chef at a local restaurant.
The three older kids walking down the "main drag" of Caye Caulker.
Our guides kindly offered to watch a still-sleeping Emmett in the boat when we returned and learned that our lunch was ready. The five of us then enjoyed a delicious lunch with the freshest seafood I have ever eaten in my life under a large, thatched roof.
After lunch, we boarded the boat right as Emmett was waking up from a nice, hour-long nap. We then drove around to the other side of the island to visit a little, sea horse sanctuary located right next to a dock. We actually saw two of them in this little area that is protected by fishing nets right off of the beach. They were the cutest things!
We then got back in the boat and drove a few hundred feet away where a large school of Tarpons swim and feed off of tiny fish that tourists feed to them. We all got the biggest kick out of having giant fish jump out of the water to grab a small fish that we held in our hands.
We then motored the boat a few feet away from the Tarpons to feed the remaining fish to the beautiful, Frigatebirds that we had seen all week long flying above the ocean. Our guides had us stand one at a time on the front of our boat to hold a small fish up into the air. These birds would then swoop down and take the fish right out of our hands. It was incredible! All of the kids were able to do this. Here is Emmett with a big smile on his face after having one of his fish snatched away.
The amazing picture I was able to get of a Frigatebird swooping down to take Ella's fish right out of her hand!
At this point, our captain pointed out that a storm was coming in and that we needed to get back to our resort. Since we were done doing everything that they had promised we could do that day, we were fine to throw in the towel and head back to our resort. During the 40 minute ride back, we were hit by quite a storm with cold winds and torrential rains. It made the ride a little miserable as we all hid under blankets while we were pelted with rain, but it was also kind of exciting and fun at the same time! After returning safely to our resort and bidding our guides farewell, we all had a well-needed soak in the pool before spending an evening in our hotel with a homemade dinner and an early bedtime.
July 23rd:
Ron spent our last morning doing the one thing that he had expressed an interest in doing months ago--going on his first scuba dive. Since beginner dive excursions are offered all over Ambergris Caye, he was able to book one at the same place where we had reserved our snorkeling excursions at the beginning of the week. While he was gone for almost four hours, the kids and I walked back over to Cafe Sol for a post-breakfast snack and then returned to the marsh to look for the crocodile that we had discovered earlier in the week. We then came back to our hotel to spend the rest of the morning swimming in our pool. After Ron returned (with rave reports of scuba diving at Hol Chan), we ate lunch and then headed out for an afternoon bike ride. Here are Lia and Ella riding down the road.
We rode our bikes to the outskirts of San Pedro and stopped to eat an appetizer at a cool restaurant located right over the water called the Rum Dog that Ron had spotted earlier in the week. Since we came between meal times, we had the entire upstairs to ourselves which was pretty cool.
The four kids enjoying their drinks under the massive, thatched roof of the restaurant.
The family picture Ron took of us as we headed back down the dock to our bikes.
The kids and I all lined up and ready to go.
Since none of the hotel bikes had baby carriers, Emmett willingly rode in Ron's basket each time we went on a bike ride. We were so grateful that this actually worked as we would have never been able to go on a family bike ride otherwise.
Ron and the kids heading down the sandy lane back towards the main road.
We then returned to our hotel for one final swim in the pool in the late afternoon. The kids absolutely loved swimming in this pool all week long and I was so grateful for the hours of seemingly endless entertainment that it provided. After eating at our hotel restaurant for dinner that night, Ron and I got the kids to bed by 9 p.m. and spent the rest of the evening packing to be ready for our early departure the next morning!
July 24th:
After waking up at 4 a.m., Ron and I woke the kids up at 4:50 for our 5 a.m. departure from the hotel. Our shuttle was right on time and safely delivered us back to the tiny, San Pedro airport nice and early for our 6 a.m. flight back to Belize City. Here are the kids and me waiting to catch our small plane back to the mainland.
Farewell San Pedro! The stunning view that we saw as we flew away from this wonderful island after spending such a magical week there.
Ella and Emmet smiling at me from the back of our Mayan Air flight.
After waiting in the Belize City airport for 2.5 hours, we boarded our plane for the five hour flight back to Los Angeles. I was so grateful that we caught this flight with plenty of time as it was the only Alaska Airlines flight back to LAX for the next SEVEN days! Emmett took a solid, 1.5 hour nap on this flight and I made sure not to disturb him once to reposition him. Here is the darling picture that I managed to take of him while sleeping next to me. After landing in LAX and going through customs and immigration, we discovered that we had to walk THREE terminals and go back through security before arriving at our gate. We had just enough time to go to the bathroom and buy some lunch/dinner before arriving at our gate to find them already boarding! It is a good thing that we a two hour layover or we would have missed our connecting flight back to Seattle. We safely arrived in Seattle around 6:30 p.m. and were home by 7:30 after another long, 15-hour travel day. With all of the airline cancellations that have been occurring at rampant rate these last few months, I was so grateful that we were able to get home so smoothly yesterday! Overall, this family trip to Belize was a wonderful experience and I am so grateful that we were able to make it there safely and back and that we were able to stay healthy and happy during our seven days there. Thank you, Ambergris Caye, for a wonderful week! I'm not sure if we will ever be back, but we will for sure never forget the fabulous time we spent there.
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