Back in October of 2017 I went on an unbelizable trip of a lifetime! Yep. You guessed it. I went to Belize! I’m going to tell you all about what I loved about to and what I didn't, and show you some cool pictures.

So wait, why did I pick Belize? The first answer is because SouthWest Airlines was having a discount and roundtrip flights were cheap! Like, $350 cheap. I could not pass it up! Once I saw the prices I immediately called my mom and asked if she has ever been scuba diving in Belize, and guess what, she hadn’t! It wasn’t hard convincing her to come along. The second part to the answer is because why not? Some times I do spontaneous things.

For the first few days we stayed at an AirBnb on the island of Caye Caulker, we took 45 minute boat taxi to get to it. The island is the smallest I have ever been on. There are some restaurants, one poorly stocked supermarket, and lots of people! When you think of island, sandy beaches come to mind. Well, this one didn’t have much of a sandy beach anywhere. Since we went on the off season, the temps were very high and it was humid. You’d think islands come with an island breeze, but this one didn’t, this too made me sad.

Do you want to know what didn’t make me sad? SNORKELING! It was amazing! Frenchie’s dive shoppe took us to the ever so popular Blue Hole. On the boat ride out, I saw something jump out of the water in the corner of my eye, but it didn’t splash when I thought it would. Flying fish! I saw flying fish for the first time. They would glide over the surface of the water for ten Mississippi seconds (yes, I counted) and then disappear back into the water. My mom dove down with the other certified divers, while I snorkeled around the edge of the whole with the non divers. Our guide pointed out several types of tropical fish and I saw my first barracuda. I was truly startled! He was just sitting there close to the surface just looking at us with his big eye and mouth full of gnarly looking sharp teeth. I turned to try to get someones attention and when I looked back it was gone, they’re freakishly fast! After more snorkeling, we went to an Island to eat and rest a little. The island was called Half Moon Caye.

The Island was home to the red footed boobie birds, iguanas, and many tiny hermit crabs.

We did another snorkel tour with Caveman Tours, they took us out to Sting ray alley. This is where I was able to swim with sting ray, a sea turtle, a moray eel, and nurse sharks! I tried using my moms underwater camera, it was so heavy that it made it difficult to take pictures. It was really quite amazing to experience! I was also able to free dive through a small underwater cave which looked about 25 feet down. I tried on my own a few times, but I couldn’t swim down. One of the guides grabbed my hand and pulled me through! My lungs felt like they were going to explode and my ears felt immense pressure because I was unable to equalize them, but it was SO COOL. Afterwards I honestly thought my ears were going to bleed, but I’m fine so… (I probably shouldn’t try that again)

When we made our way back to the main land, we rented a car to take us to Belmopan. We stayed at a place called Jaguar Creek. It was like we were camping with beds. I slept with two fans on my face, it was close to 98 degrees with humidity. We were in the jungle! I didn’t realize how close we were to the border of Honduras. One night there was a terrible thunderstorm that kept me up. If you know me, you know I love thunderstorms. I usually sleep really well during them, but this one kept me up for at least an hour. The rumble from thunder was so loud it felt like we were inside the storm clouds themselves. The crash echoed off the metal roofs of our cabanas. It was truly frightening, and yet exhilarating.

We were able to see a couple of mayan ruins, one where we had a guide. I would definitely advise you to get a guide, I learned SO much about he mayans and their culture. When they wanted to call for rain they would burn a certain plant. Our guide showed us which one and burned it to show us how it gave off a unique smell. Not a minute passed and it started pouring down rain out of nowhere for an hour. WEIRD. We also went to the zoo, and at that zoo I saw a picture of one of my childhood heroes, Steve Irwin. Thought that was pretty cool. I loved seeing the jaguar they rescued. He was playful and looked very happy in his very natural habitat.

Belize is a truly beautiful country with so much to offer. I would recommend it to for sure to anyone who is looking for a good adventure, cave tubing and horseback riding are a few things that would be fun. I hope you have the chance to see it and experience it for yourself!

Thanks for reading <3