Fast forward two hours we're on board a yacht, cruising to Hol Chan Marine Reserve. I first had my doubs about the location, wondering if we'd truly see any memorable marine life as Hol Chan is the largest and most visited reserve in Belize. After diving into the water, I was soon swept away into my very own marine world and every doubt seemed like a distant memory. Sting rays, sharks, mulitcolored fish, eels, and even a green turtle danced around in the waters, oblivous or simplly uncaring of the two legged creatures swimming around them.
Disembarking felt like floating on cloud nine. My traveling partner handed me a Pina Colada and we sat on our beachfront deck until our group snagged some golf carts and toured the town of San Pedro. The best part about Ambergris is the fusion between local culture and tourism. You'll find no towering resorts or fake cultural gift shops and you never really know who is a tourist, who is a townie and who just decided to up and move to Belize for good.
Further North...at least I think it was North though my proclivity for directions is quite non-existent...there is a bar situated on a dock almost floating in the water. Here you'll find Ambergris regular vacationers who either own a vacation home on the water or are lucky enough to know a friend who does and a large shot-ski. Typically, I shy away from large processions and the cheering of onlookers as shots are taken, but hey- when in Belize. I highly recommend the Chocolate Cake Shot taken out of a wooden plank with three other people.
To close our first and last day in Ambergris, we had cocktails and appetizers at the Phoenix and retired to bed much too soon in order to prepare for the trials and tribulations of jungle life, Belize style.
