2013 Belize (I)

I just got back from a wonderful adventures in Belize. I felt I lost part of my heart there and can't wait to visit again. Thanks Will for introducing me to the adventure vacation. It's really unique and different from every vacations I had before. Although I still got panic sometimes during this trip but I like it.

There is no direct flight from New York to Belize city so we had one stop in Miami. Our flight left JFK at 8:55AM which means we needed to be there before 6:55AM. We took 4:55AM LIRR from Port Jefferson station and arrived Jamaica at 6:15AM. We took the air train to JFK. The flight attendance took a while to check if I need a visa to enter Belize. They said if someone doesn't have proper documents and being sent back, the flight company need to pay a $500  penalty fee for that.
We had an hour laid over in Miami. It's lunch time so we decided to get burger~worst decision ever. The counter said they need 15 mins to prepare it. We didn't realize we had really tight time so we said ok. It ends up we ran and arrived the gate about 15 mins before the plane took-off. 

The Belize international airport is the smallest international airport I have ever seen. There are only 6 gates and there is no jet bridge. Our connection flight to the village of Placencia supposes to departure at 14:40 but we waited for an extra half hour because other passengers' flight was delayed. The flight is a 10-12 passengers propeller plane. It flew over the sea for most of time so it's really scary experience.  The flight was actually much smother than what I expected. Luckily, we didn't have any stop before it landed in Placencia. Once we arrived, there was a taxi driver sent by the resort took us to the boat dock to meet with other guests. We were the last group arrived so the boat took off Hatchet caye, which is 18 miles offshore from Placencia. The water is really choppy but we didn't get really wet since we picked the seat at second floor. After about half hour boat ride, we saw an island with a coconut tree from far away. It seemed like our boat was heading to that island so we asked captain Leo is that the island. The answer is yes. When we got closer, the island became greener and we can see the small red-roofed cabana on it. When we arrived it's around 6pm. The welcome drink, which is a fruit punch including watermelon, pineapple, and mango, is really delicious. We got a little tour to the resort and  were escorted to our cabana( number 6)

Our flight from Miami to Belize city 

Propeller plane of Maya island air 

Hatchet caye on the map

cabana 6

We went to adventure center before dinner to check if we can get kayaks for tomorrow. It is the place we visited most often in our four day stay. There are inflatable kayak, sit on top sea kayak, stand-up paddle board and hobie cat. You can also get fishing tools and snorkeling gears there. The most important thing is except scuba gears, almost everything there is free. One day, we wanted to try night snorkeling and they lend a waterproof flashlight. Thanks to the adventure center, we stayed activities from early morning to late afternoon and never felt bored or lack of things to do.
Then it's dinner time. Our package includes all meals. For breakfast and lunch, you can pick one dish from the menu, but for dinner, it's a three courses meal including soup/appetizer, entree, dessert. The restaurant on the island is named lion-fish grill. Just like the restaurant's name a lot of dishes are made from lion fish. Lionfish is an invasive species that threatens Belize's saltwater fish and wildlife. Eating it is one of the solutions to protect the native reef creatures. Actually, lionfish meat is really tasty. It has moist and buttery flavor.
In the four-day stay, we almost tried everything on the menu. My favorite includes,
Breakfast: island style breakfast with fry jack( fry jack is a traditional Belizean cuisine. It's made out of flour tortilla dough with baking soda and deep fried until they puff up and turn golden color). Belize dollar pancake(I tried pineapple and banana, and I love both)
Lunch: fish and chips( Shrimp is also a good choose. It supposed to be British style dish. However, they put  some panko crumbs, so it's more japanese style deep fried fish. The fish was more tasty than what I ate in UK. )
Dinner: they had special for dinner everyday and a lot of my favorites are on the daily special. I loved the eggplant with parmesan and roosted tomato basil soup. Hatchet caye lobster was really yummy. The desserts menu changed day by day. We had carrot cake, chocolate cake, key lime pie, and brownie with ice cream. For a people have sweet teeth like me, having different dessert everyday is like living in the heaven:)
We also asked for coconut water everyday. There are a lot of coconut trees on the island. I was dreaming about grabbing the coconut from the threes every time I passed. Finally, William help me to ask the staff if we can pick the coconut. The staff is really nice, even it's already out of their working hour, they still sent someone to pick the coconut for us. The coconut juice was so fresh and delicious.

Our favorite spot in lionfish grill 

Bar of lionfish grill

Island style breakfast with fry jack