Placencia, Belize – rest, swim, eat, snorkel, dive. Not much else.

We arrived in Placencia, Belize, pretty late at night after our chicken bus broke down. We quickly found a place to stay (Lydia’s Guesthouse) but didn’t have time to see much. Went to the grocery store, had a beer, walked to the beach, which is never more than a 2 minute walk from anywhere, then headed back to our hostel to get cleaned up. Then after V got tired and I got a bit of work done I went looking for a meal around 10:30 which so far in Belize had been essentially futile and this place wasn’t particularly different except that it was. Sure there weren’t many options but there were a couple and in fact at least one cool one and that was more than I had had previously in Belize. The Tipsy Tuna was open, had a few patrons, its kitchen was still serving food and even better the vibe was quite nice. It was open air, had a completely uncovered upstairs which was windy and faced the sea, and the service was surprisingly good.

On top of that, they actually provided the best burger I had in Belize up to that time, including the fries. Now keep in mind that’s not a glowing review, the good in the 2 towns we went to in Belize up to then was not particularly impressive. Sure there was decent seafood but in general the food was flat, passionless, sometimes even quite poor and almost always overpriced. In all fairness it’s not always easy living up to the standards set by Mexico in terms of food and activities but I was underwhelmed in Belize. Tipsy tuna wasn’t great but it was good and that made it all the more special for my first night, leaving a good impression of this latest exploration.

Placencia was mainly about relaxing. Truth is, as with Caye Caulker, there isn’t much to do here. You can rent bikes and ride around, you can hit the beach, a beach which is decent but not great (in our case it was covered with seaweed), or you can go on boat excursions, snorkeling, fishing or diving. We wanted to dive but opted for a snorkel. Well, this is where things changed. From Placencia we took a snorkel tour with a small tour operator linked with the cabana hotel (Bull’s Beach Cabanas) we stayed in after failing to get decent internet at the first hostel. It took a good amount of time to get out to the Laughing Bird Cayes where we got into the water. It was a bumpy ride, but fun if you’re not prone to seasickness. Upon getting there, we were really treated to some of the clearest and cleanest water you’ll ever see, thriving with life of all colors and shapes. In my opinion Belize has little to offer compared to all other countries in Latin America, but it’s snorkeling is second to none, and while we didn’t dive there, I have no doubt that as well would have been breathtaking.