Belize - What's Up ?

[lorenzo b]

For months now we've been hearing lots of tales from folks who have recently been through Belize.
Some have had a great no hassle trip after checking in, some say they just stay away from the big towns and cruise the outer islands without checking in at all, and many warn that the country is going through hard times and that large fines are slapped on cruisers for the slightest infractions.
In any case, all agree that it very expensive to cruise there, at least in relation to Mexico or Honduras.

What has your experience been?

[bkupmstr]

I took a trip there via plane about 5 years ago, to Ambergris specifically.
We had a great time there, its not the hair on fire kind of place very laid back.

We're looking to charter there in the coming year and also very interesting in hearing of current experiences.
Jim

[bstreep]

Our last charter was in Belize. It is not in our cruise plans when we visit the area. No desire to go back, AT ALL.

[AnchorageGuy]

Belize has been Belize for a long time. It is so cheap and easy to check in that it does not make sense to avoid it. We found it to be a great cruising ground. Belize City is not so much fun but we travel inland extensively and visited the Mayan sites and the Zoo. Had a great time and found it to be very inexpensive other than Belize City. It is all a matter of perspective. If you go through Belize without checking in and try to check into Guatemala you may find you have problems. It is best to play by the rules anyway. Chuck

[sck5]

We loved the south cruising out of placencia. We didnt like the northern parts too much which are much more developed and touristy. But the ruins in Tikal are mind bendingly amazing and well worth the trip.

I have heard that there are some security problems with Belize City. We didnt notice any but didnt stay there very long either. Placencia was very laid back, very relaxed - We liked it a lot.

[Kettlewell]

Was last there in 2007, so my info. may be out of date, but we had a good time in Belize and no major hassles. The reef areas were beautiful, and of course there is the amazing Blue Hole which is worth visiting. We did not go to Belize City, but stayed mostly in the smaller towns along the coast and out on the reefs. We went by the books and paid a few bucks for staying in one of the nature parks, but a lot of the time we didn't see any officials or even any other boats in the places we were. This was in the spring. Tikal is in Guatemala by the way, and is well worth seeing, but you can get there overland from Belize. I wouldn't go out of my way specifically to get to Belize alone, but it makes a pleasant place to cruise when headed south from Mexico or north from Guatemala and Honduras.

[donradcliffe]

Check into the NW Caribbean net (6209 khz @1400z) for the latest info. Early this year the situation changed daily depending on which port captain you checked into or out of the country with. The worst case I recall was $10 per day per person for the total time in country for an 'anchoring fee', separate from what the marine parks people collected. Based on what I heard on the net, we bypassed Belize and went to Honduras, which charged a total of $3 per person on check-in while check-out was free.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Jim (bkupmstr).

[defever]

we have lived in belize (placencia area), cruised it (early/mid 2000's) and travel thru it every year by bus from guatemala to mexico and feel it is a necessary evil. the place is a pit, the officials are extremely rude and corrupt, the prices for EVERYTHING are very expensive and it's hard to properly provision (outside of belize city) since the stores are not well stocked. the cays used to be fun and beautiful but now you must pay at many places to anchor (be careful of the fake "wardens"). many areas are off limits to spear fishing (except of course to the illegal honduran/belizian fishermen). we can't figure out the appeal except to those newby's who have not cruised much and don't know the difference.

when we lived there (2005-07) we cruised to the rio dulce (we LOVE it there) to shop...after spending 4 days in search of any vegetables off we went to the land of plenty and even shopped for all our friends. in our minds, the rio is where it's at...cheap, plentiful everything from food to hdwre. to marine supplies and since marinas are so cheap ($100=200/mo), you can leave your boat there and travel throughout c.a.

don't see any reason to go too belize except to pass thru---wouldn't even stop there since it may cost you a fortune. keep on truckin' to guatemala and points south... have fun..