We happened to read a few weeks ago that Belize’s Ambergis Caye had been voted the world’s best island by the users of tripadvisor.com. Since we were heading in this direction, we thought we’d check it out and indeed, there is a lot to like; white sandy beaches, Caribbean waters, excellent food and the world’s second longest coral reef that runs parallel to it, sheltering it from any rough sea conditions and providing some great snorkelling and diving.
There is a definite ‘island’ feel to the place with people getting around at a relaxed pace on cycles and golf carts, and there is an abundance of beach bars and restaurants. Our only frustrations with the place are with the amount of litter on the beach and around the place (which has been a constant annoyance almost everywhere on our trip so far), and the cost, which is possibly cheap by Caribbean standards, but much more than everywhere else we’ve been this trip. I very much doubt it really is the best island in the world, more likely the results are more to do with the large number of Americans who come here who rate it on tripadvisor with no real frame of reference for comparison. However, it certainly has been a pleasant place to stay for a few days.
We’ve been doing our best to access what the island has to offer on our modest budget and I think we’ve done quite well. We went on a great snorkelling trip to the Hol Chan reserve, we’ve eaten very well, and we experienced the ‘chicken drop’ – a gambling event involving a chicken, lots of numbers, and a poo (see photos).
The highlight though was half a day spent on cycles, riding a few kilometres north of town to some nice beaches and relaxing at a cool bar on a pier over the sea and stopping by for a swim at a nice resort.
Which literally cost 20 times as much as our humble lodging (yes, I checked)
