San Pedro Town, located in the south of
Ambergris Caye, is about a mile long and only a few blocks wide.
The streets are sand, which is great for walking around barefoot
and bad for motor vehicles. There are few cars; instead, the
vehicles of choice (besides feet and bikes) are electric golf
carts, which are available for rent. San Pedro is a laid-back
town, and most of the activity happens near the waterfront .
ABOVE: Golf carts are the preferred mode of transport on the islands.
A special favorite of both scuba divers and snorkelers is the
Sand Bar, sometimes referred to as Shark and Ray Alley . Hundreds
of sting rays of all sizes congregate here, often accompanied
by families of nurse sharks .
With a depth of only 8 feet, the Sand Bar offers great photo
opportunities to aspiring underwater photographers .
The Sand Bar is not far from Hol Chan, and only a few minutes
by boat from San Pedro.
Scuba Diving and Snorkeling the Outer
Atolls and Blue Hole
Southeast of Ambergris Caye are several groups of cayes that
are popular dive (and fishing) destinations. The Turneffe chain
of small islands offer diverse scuba environments, including
shallow coral head diving, wall diving and wrecks. Small lodges
cater to serious divers and fishermen; including the Turneffe
Island Lodge on Caye Bokel and the newly built Blackbird Caye
Resort, an ecotourism resort that doubles as a research station
for the Oceanic Society. Blackbird Caye Resort is also attractive
to snorkelers because of its proximity to the reef.
Lighthouse Reef is best known for its famous Blue Hole--a circular
limestone sinkhole 300 by 400 feet that was the subject of a
documentary by underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau. The Blue
Hole is probably Belize's best known scuba diving attraction,
but Lighthouse Reef is also the site of Half
Moon Caye National Monument, established as Belize's first nature
reserve in 1982. The reserve is managed by the Belize Audubon
Society; its most well known inhabitants are its thousands of
booby birds . Endangered hawksbill and loggerhead turtles nest
on Long Caye's beaches, as to several species of iguanas, lizards
and large land crabs. Camping is permitted by arrangement, as
are swimming, diving and snorkeling. No food or services are
available.
Several dive operations on Ambergris Caye offer one, two and
three day trips to these outer cayes; the few accommodations
generally require a minimum one-week stay.
Fishing,
sailing, windsurfing, and swimming
A low-wake area has been established on Ambergris Caye for the
safety of swimmers and snorkelers; a few luxury hotels and resorts
even have swimming pools.
There are even glass-bottomed boats for visitors who want to
experience snorkeling without getting wet. Several boats offer
twlight cruises, complete with rum punch!
Nature tours by foot, bicycle, golf
cart or boat
Bicycles are available for rent at several locations, for touring
the island. You can even bicycle down to the southern tip of
the island for a visit to the Marco Gonzalez Mayan ruin site.
Golf carts are also available for island tours .
Because only a small part of Ambergris Caye is developed, there
is abundant bird life, including egrets, herons, roseate spoonbills,
flamingos, pelicans, cormorants and frigatebirds. About a mile
north of San Pedro, an 80 foot channel, the San Pedro River,
separates the southern part of Ambergris from the rest of the
island. A ferry operates most days to take people back and forth
across the river. There are several resorts north of town, but
they are few and far between; your chances of catching a glimpse
of wildlife increases as you proceed north. On rare occasion,
margays and ocelots have been spotted in the northern part of
Ambergris; and even an occasional jaguar.
Boats can also be hired to take you up the coast, where turtles
have sometimes been found on isolated beaches. At the urging
of environmental organizations, the Belizean government has expanded
the "no-hunting" season for turtles; as a result, the turtle
population is slowly increasing, and scuba divers are sometimes
lucky enough to encounter them. Many environmentalists are urging
the government to institute a complete ban on the killing of
sea turtles; it is already illegal to export turtles out of the
country.
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Offshore Banking
