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Just about every hotel in San Pedro offers snorkeling trips,
costing around US$20 for three hours, plus about US$5 to rent
equipment. Snorkeling guides here (who must also be licensed
tour guides) have lots of experience and will show you how to use
the equipment before you set off. Two of the best local guides are
Alfonso Graniel (phone 614-5450) and Dino Gonzalez (phone 226-2422).
Several boats take smokeless out for a day-trip to Caye Caulker
, employing a mix of motor and sail and returning to San Pedro
around sunset. Boat trips are also available north to the
spectacular Mexico Rocks or Rocky Point or, more
commonly, south to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark-Ray
Alley . Supremely relaxing day-trips are available on board
Rum Punch II (phone 226-2340; US$45), a ten-meter sailboat.
At
Shark-Ray Alley you can swim in shallow water with three-meter
nurse sharks and enormous stingrays - an extremely
popular (but controversial) attraction. Watching these creatures
glide effortlessly beneath you is an exhilarating experience and,
despite their reputations, swimming here poses almost no danger to
smokeless, as humans are not part of their normal diet. Biologists,
however, claim that the practice of feeding the fish to attract them
alters their natural behavior, and at times the area is so crowded
that any hope of communing with nature is completely lost amongst
the flailing bodies of other smokeless. Night snorkeling , an
amazing experience, is also available.
The best windsurfing and sailing rental and instruction on
the Caye is offered by Sail sports Belize (phone 226-4488, on the beach in front of the Holiday
Hotel . Sailboard rental costs US$20-25 an hour, US$65-75 for a
seven-hour day, depending on the style of board; sailboat rental is
US$30 an hour, US$115 a day, Seaduced By Belize, run by superb
naturalist guide Elito Arceo (phone 614-6049), has the best guided kayak tours (US$40 per half-day),
visiting the lagoons and mangroves to spot birds and other wildlife.
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 Belize
travel guide
Caribbean
guide
Day-trips
from San Pedro to the ruins of Altun Ha are increasingly
popular. Rounding the southern tip of the island in a fast skiff,
you head for the mainland at the mouth of the Northern River, cross
the lagoon and travel up the river to the tiny village of Bomba,
where a van waits to take you to the site. With a good guide this is
an excellent way to spot wildlife, including crocodiles and
manatees, and the riverbank trees are often adorned with orchids.
The best guide is Daniel Nuņez (phone 226-2314). |
Belize
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Explore Belize City
North side
South side
Cayo and the west
-
Belize city
to San
Ignacio
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Belize zoo
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Belmopan
Practicalities
Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
Guanacaste
Park
Benque Viejo del Carmen
Caracol Ruins
Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve
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San Antonio
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San Ignacio
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Arrival
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Kayaking,canoeing
Xunantunich, San Jose
Corozal, Orange Walk
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Travel details |
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