Trip Report: Honeymoon in Belize

I had gotten married in July 2023 to Eleonora, but had no immediate plans for a honeymoon. We had travel plans, of course -- we visited my brother in Berlin and met my parents for a week in Italy near Lago di Garda in August -- but nothing with just the two of us. With winter fast approaching making New York dreary, I scheduled a week-long getaway for us in Belize. It was going to be a glorious tropical honeymoon! 

We went during December 9-15. Early December is a wonderful time to go to Central America, I highly recommend it: Late enough to enjoy the contrast with the oncoming winter up north, yet early enough that the holiday tourist influx hasn't started yet. This means cheaper tickets, less crowded tours, and some peace and quiet. 

I grabbed my camera and work gear as well, aiming to take advantage of the beautiful locales to pretty-up the Volgia website before launch.

The first three days we spent at Ramon's Resort on San Pedro, on the island of Ambergris Caye.

The touristy highlight was definitely our snorkling trip, which included a section for snorking with nurse sharks. These were supposedly not violent, but unlike any "snorkling with sharks" experience I've heard of before, these sharks were actually very large and intimidating. The owner of a local restaurant we ate at (Argyle at The Hungry Grouper) later told us that he once ran into a panicking giant sea turtle with a leg and some of its shell torn off during a night dive. Glad I didn't know this story before swimming with the sharks!

Apart from the tours, eating and a bit of work, I spent most of the time there swimming. I love swimming, it makes me feel great, and even the Belizian rain couldn't stop us from diving off of the docks. The beaches were surprisingly not very popular, and they didn't get deep for a while -- but San Pedro had many docks with easy descent into the water.

One of the restaurants we went to, Palapa, was actually located on such a dock and had a convenient place to bobble in the water after we had a few drinks. 

After three days, we headed back to the mainland on the local water taxi, grabbed a car (an old yellow Jeep Rubicon), and headed towards our next fancy hotel, Blancaneaux Lodge. Along the way, we stopped by Belize Zoo, where we saw some rescued animals, including Howling Monkeys, Jaguars, Tapirs and even two Harpy Eagles. 

Our hotel, located in the jungle a two hour drive from Belize City, it was the most expensive hotel stay I've ever booked, but I didn't regret it. It was fancy, quirky, and the staff had a slightly creepy way of tracking your movements so they could clean your room transparently when you're away. Surprisingly, I liked it.

We arranged two tours from our hotel over the next few days. The first was to Crystal Cave, which was a grueling, super-muddy (because of the rain) 3 hour caving expedition (after an hour hike, both ways). It was amazing, but physically very strenuous, and there was no chance to avoid getting muddy.

At several points, we had to remove our backpacks to crawl through an opening that was otherwise too narrow. It wasn't very hot, but it was very humid and I started overheating on the way back. My heavy jeans didn't help. Thankfully, there was plenty of dripping cave water to splash on myself to cool down. It was a great thing to do once, but just once. Never again.

We took it easier on the next way, and booked a trip to Caracol, an ancient Mayan city discovered by our guide's great uncle in the 1930s. It was a huge complex, and gave me an impression similar to when I visited Tenochtitlan with my brother a few years ago. The main pyramid was very large, and for a while we were the only group touring this hard-to-reach pyramid. Once they finish paving the road here, I expect the number of tourists will rapidly increase!

 The next day, we headed back to Belize City to catch our flight to New York. It was an action-packed week, both romantic, adventurous and productive. It won't be the last time I visit!