The Road to Belize (and Honduras!!!) 🇧🇿 🏝️ 🇭🇳

YA BETTA BELIZE IT 🇧🇿 

After a 5 am wake-up in Flores, Guatemala, we made it across the border into Belize at around 8:30 am – the moment we walked across the land border, we started chatting with a taxi man. 

“No gracias, no necesitamos un taxi”, I responded in Spanish. He quickly interrupted me, “Ma’am, we speak English here,” while chuckling through his Caribbean twang. 

What the heck?!! I thought we were in Latin America?!! 

After a quick Google search on the history of Belize, we learned it was once a British colony where English became the primary language! The population is now a mix of descendants of African slaves, Mayans, and a few Brits. I will add that there is a stark divide between these two groups(Caribbean vs Latinos). Latinos speak Spanglish among themselves while Carribean people speak dialects of Creole.

We hopped back on the bus that transported us to the ferry port before arriving at our final destination. As we waited for the ferry, I bumped into an old college sorority sister, Savannah, who was in Belize to celebrate her mom’s birthday- small world!!!!! It was such a surprise and treat chatting with an old friend/ familiar face. They unfortunately took a different ferry than us so we couldn’t have a proper catch-up, but it was an amazing run-in nonetheless! 

Caye Caulker, Belize 🐠 🥥 

By mid-afternoon, we arrived in Caye Caulker (pronounced Key Cocker!) - a small island popular among backpackers and a few American retirees. Straight off the ferry, we parked ourselves at a beach bar to enjoy rum punches and free WiFi (but really to solidify accommodation for the next few days, which was a big feat since there were 5 of us!). The beach bar owner was so kind to drive Sam and the boys around to various hotels/ hostels on his golf cart but in the end, we had to book separate accommodations since the island's availability was sparse. 

Caye Caulker is TINY. 3 main streets run parallel to each other and a handful run in the opposite direction, with unpaved dirt roads and only golf carts allowed on the island. By foot, you can explore the area in about 15 minutes. 

The island is chill, so most days were spent beach bar hopping, searching for the best jerk chicken, and bumping into the same travelers over and over again 🙂 

I will also add that some local Belizians weren’t the most welcoming to tourists. After a few interactions, it became evident they have a bit of a chip on their shoulders toward Westerners and aren’t happy with how tourists treat the island. 

There were a few (“questionably unethical” aka very unethical) attractions on the island, like a daily stingray feeding put on by a local hotel and feeding Tarpon fish. The stingrays swim up to shore daily from 4 pm until sunset (or until sardines run out) and are super friendly to humans. By sunset, dozens of stingrays swim over your toes searching for food (their mouths are gummy and it feels like a light suction!). They reminded me of a Roomba vacuum, gliding up and down the shore following a straight path until quickly changing directions when bumping into something. 

Tarpons are HUGE fish (I'm talking 25-50 pounds!) used for sport fishing that jump straight out of the water in search of food. A local Belizian lady sells tourists 5 sardines for $2.50 as bait where you can position your hand for the fish to jump out of the water and snatch the bait. With the bait between your fingers, the anticipation is KILLER. Sam had a blast watching me fearfully hold my hand out over the water, patiently waiting for a Tarpon to catch the bait (thankfully not my hand!). With many failed attempts, here's some proof of successful feedings:

Sadly stomach issues hit the rest of the group, so Sam and I spent a lot of time together while Nico, Natalie, Neal, and Izzy rested. By the last day, everyone had recovered enough to rent a boat and snorkel around the island. We had a great local boat captain that Sam negotiated with to include free rum punch so the vibes were gooood :) 

Belize is home to the second-largest reef in the world (behind the Great Barrier Reef in Australia) and the famous Blue Hole. We snorkeled around the national marine park with stingrays, nurse sharks, and eagle rays (we even saw 2 manatees!). The coral isn't anything spectacular, but that seems to be a trend with climate change (but more on that later!). The water however was so clear and visibility was great!

After 5 days, we had exhausted all the activities around the island. We said our farewells to our travel crew (Izzy, Neal, and Nico), which was bittersweet after a belly laugh-filled 2.5 weeks together. Traveling with new friends is such a treat and didn’t happen often for Sam and me throughout the year. But when you click with a group of people, it makes the experience so much more rewarding. We're looking forward to reuniting in England and Italy with them this summer!!

Thankfully, we convinced Natalie to join us in Honduras next, where we were gearing up for a 20-hour bus ride to get to the islands. Well, 20 hours turned into a 35-hour travel day consisting of 2 ferries, 4 buses, 2 border crossings, and 2 tuk tuks. We left Caye Caulker at 10 am and didn’t reach Utila Island in Honduras until 5:30 pm THE NEXT DAY. That was… rough. 

Utila, Honduras 🇭🇳 🏝️ 🤿 

Utila is known as one of the best and cheapest places to scuba dive in the world (on par with Koh Tao, Thailand where we got our PADI certifications!). Diving in Belize was absurdly expensive so we opted out of that and decided to add a quick trip to Honduras to dive for cheap lol. 

As another tiny island, it didn’t take us long to get our bearings and explore around. The main road was filled with motorbikes and tuk-tuks zooming past but maintained an easygoing vibe. A dozen scuba schools are on the island, making it a popular hub for backpackers and scuba enthusiasts. Locals were way more receptive to tourists here, which we think is because this island was initially owned by the British too- Hondurans don’t claim it as their own and many speak English perfectly. 

When we set out for our dive, I had lowered my expectations for healthy coral and wildlife because the underwater life underwhelmed a friend who dove in Utila a few months earlier. But wow were we pleasantly surprised!

The boat captain drove us to unnamed dive sites called Seamounts (basically huge mountains of coral in the sea) for half of the boat to go lionfish hunting (FYI lionfish are super invasive/ harmful for the ecosystem so it’s encouraged to hunt them! And eat them in ceviche 🙂 ). While they spearfished, our group explored the surrounding area and coral. It was sooo healthy and beautiful. Pampas-like corral leaves surrounded us while gracefully swaying in the water. The colors were a mix of vibrant and pastel hues of purple, green, and orange (exactly what you would imagine Ariel would live in!). It genuinely reminded me of the little mermaid with the classic “mermaid” colors. 

Wild Dolphins🐬 🐬 🐬 

But the best part was between our two dives when the boat captain spotted a huge pod of wild dolphins. They told us to grab our masks and fins before abruptly shouting at us to jump in. We all swam as quickly as we could towards the dolphins, which were swimming SO FAST. Nearly 50 dolphins swam below us, twirling around one another, and some came close to the surface right at eye level. As we swam, it was amazing to hear their little squeals. I swam faster than most of the group (EAT MY BUBBLES, SAM!!) and at one point, had 4 dolphins swimming alongside me. It was MAGICAL. 

We then got back on the boat to catch up to the pod and do it again. This time, people were more prepared for what was about to happen. Just when you thought the dolphins had swam past you, more appeared behind you swimming deeper than the others! It was one of the most magical experiences we’ve had with wildlife. Sam and I were truly so giddy after the experience we decided we didn’t need to dive any more days in Utila. Our hearts were genuinely so full and content after that. 

Roatan, Honduras 🍹 ☀️ 

We ended up island hopping over to Roatan, the vacation island and cruise ship hub for the rest of our time in Honduras. Our friend, Jenn, works as a lead performer on a Royal Caribbean mega cruise, Harmony of the Seas, that ports in Roatan every Wednesday. We were so happy our timing lined up with Jenn that she worked with boat security to grant us clearance to hop on the boat for the day! 

As we ferried over to Roatan, we met a fun traveler couple and shared a taxi across the island to Half Moon Bay, a touristy area of Roatan. Sam and I had scheduled one final dive in the afternoon after hearing Roatan had amazing diving. We immediately felt a different vibe of Roatan vs Utila- it’s full of American vacationers and the prices reflect that (we accidentally paid $7 for a LEMONADE!!!). The dive was suuuuper chill, with incredible visibility across tons of coral. It was still healthy but is starting to bleach/ die- Utila was way prettier IMO :)

We ended up booking accommodation within walking distance to the cruise ship port which was 100p a TERRIBLE idea (my fault completely!! I was looking for a cheap hotel deal LOL). You’d think Coxen Hole (the port) would be super touristy and safe given that 5,000+ tourists stop there a day, but after hours once the cruise ships leave, the town has no tourists in sight and is a bit dicey (It’s literally the hood and reminded me of East Oakland after dark 😨 . 

As our taxi driver drove us to our accommodation that night, he warned us not to walk around at night or go anywhere for dinner. Thankfully our hosts offered to cook us dinner (homemade fried chicken!)  and Sam was even able to teach the host's 2-year-old son how to kick his soccer ball without using his hands to reposition the ball (Honduran national team, here he comes!!). The room we stayed in was super simple with paper-thin walls that echoed the hosts loud yelling and blaring TV all night. 

The next morning we woke up early, ready to get the HECK out of there (and thankfully cancelled our second night's stay).  We eagerly walked to the port at 7:30 am to register with the cruise ship before meeting Jenn!! 

Harmony of the Seas 🛳️ 🎭️ 🕺

Seeing all the cruisers leave the boat for their day in Roatan was hilarious people-watching. We haven’t interacted with loads of Americans for so long, let alone the 'classic American tourist'. It was genuinely so fun to see. After various security checkpoints, we met Jenn with open arms!! (Seriously- the security on this boat was WAY tighter than TSA.. it took AGES!!). The boat holds over 6,000 passengers and 2,000 crew members.

Walking onto the boat immediately transported us to Las Vegas. The promenade is full of flashy lights luring cruisers into a jazz bar, pizza shop, Irish pub, Starbucks cafe, jewelry store, electronics store, and MORE. It felt like a huge mall!!! Naturally, we found ourselves in the Irish pub at 8:30 am and grabbed a couple of beers with Jenn. 

She showed us around the boat, walking through “Central Park", an open-air garden and park with cafes and steakhouses lined across, the “Boardwalk Promenade”- inclusive of a full-sized carrousel, rock wall, surf simulator, ice rink, 9-hole mini golf, pickle-ball courts, water slides, the list goes ON. It was INSANITY how large this floating city is with endless activities and attractions. 

Sam and I helped ourselves to the breakfast buffet, which was surprisingly tasty! Made-to-order omelets, avocado toast, and moist banana bread for us- a classic American breakfast!! What a treat!

Between Jenn’s meetings, we caught up over coffee, which we quickly realized is so hard to discuss our travels and sum up in small talk (need to get better at this!! lol). 

We then sat in on Jenn’s rehearsal, where the cast performed dance numbers for Grease, one of the shows they perform on the boat. They perform shows 6 a week in a packed 1,200-person theater and let me tell you, this was a SPECTACLE. The production value blew me away! The set had people swinging from the ceilings, a full car replica where it dropped down into the stage, over-the-top costumes, and more. It was insane. Broadway & West End directors consult with Royal Caribbean productions because often, the show can be more over the top than some Broadway/ West End shows due to limitations with old school theaters.

Mid-rehearsal Sam snuck out for a bevvie (and to watch a football game) while I stayed back and quickly turned into Jenn's stage mom, filming her at every angle, with my jaw on the floor the entire time. It made me so happy to see her do what she loves and get a glimpse of her life onboard. Plus, I’m a sucker for a musical!!!!

After the rehearsal, sadly we only had time for a quick lunch (in Central Park, of course!!) before getting kicked off the boat. Time flew by so fast!! We said our goodbyes as guests stumbled back onto the boat burnt like lobsters and drunk as sailors 🤪. 

We grabbed a taxi to the safe part of Roatan for the night and enjoyed the sunset and happy hour drinks. We even managed to wave goodbye to Jenn's boat from shore. Such a special and silly day!!!! 

Once again, we were on the move the next day, gearing up for our LAST COUNTRY in Latin America 😭😭😭 12 days left to explore El Salvador!!!! 🇸🇻