The Journey to Ambergris Caye
As long, tiring, and eventful as our trip from Tikal to Belize City had been (read about it here), our travel was still not over yet. Our final destination was Ambergris Caye, an island that could be reached from Belize City by water taxi or airplane. We had opted for a plane to save time.
Whether or not we ultimately saved time is questionable. After our van broke down between San Ignacio and Belize City, we weren’t sure we had the time and definitely didn’t have the patience to stop for lunch. As a result, we got to the airport earlier than we needed. The flight before us was full so they couldn’t put us on that. So we waited in the tiny airport for over an hour. There was no place to buy food or drinks (not even a vending machine) but they did have a room with air conditioning and TVs.
We sat and watched NBA basketball while we waited, and I immediately realized that this leg of our trip would be very different. We hadn’t seen a TV since we arrived in Belize. Neither of our jungle lodges had them and we didn’t miss them at all. Here, not only did we have them but they were showing American sports. I had mixed feelings about this – after a long trip, the familiarity was nice and it definitely made it seem like this leg of the trip would be easier (which was welcome at this point). But I also appreciated being disconnected and seeing how easily the boys had left behind television in favor of adventure.
Finally our plane arrived and I was pleasantly surprised at how new it was. I had read a lot about the old, small planes and the flight being a bit of a harrowing experience. This didn’t look bad at all. We handed them our boarding passes, walked onto the runway, and took the steps up onto the plane. We were the first to board and sat at the front of the plane, directly behind the pilot.
Flying on this type of plane is definitely a different experience. This plane probably fit 10-12 people with one seat on either side of the plane. There is obviously no flight attendant and very little in the way of communication from the ground crew or the pilot.
Before we knew it, we were in the air and on our way to Ambergris Caye. Or were we? I knew the flight was short, only about 15 minutes long. But after a little more than 5 minutes we seemed to be coming down to land. I looked out the window, slightly confused. Although I could see water, this didn’t look like an island, or certainly not a small one like Ambergris Caye. We landed and as we approached the building, I saw the sign for Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport. What?
I was slightly confused and will admit that I panicked a little. All we needed after the long and stressful trip from Tikal was to have gotten on the wrong plane. They had taken our boarding pass, but that was little more than a color-coded reusable plastic pass. There was no flight information on it. Everyone on the plane seemed confused but the pilot didn’t say a word. We pulled up to the end of a long building and some workers rolled out a staircase and opened the door. Still nothing from the pilot. Then two people hopped on board the plane. The door closed and we were headed back out to the runway.
Apparently we were only picking two additional passengers up. It was strange to me that they operated this flight as if it were a bus, making stops along the way to our final destination. And even stranger that no one at the airport or on the plane told us this was going to happen. But I guess this was our first tip that we needed to start acclimating ourselves to the laid-back, island attitude.
So off we went again. This time we truly went out over the sea and left Belize City behind us. The short ride was beautiful. Small islands were splattered throughout the ocean and you could see the line of the reef from above.
We landed at the small airport in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. The dozen or so of us got off the plane and walked to the luggage pickup outside the small building there. I saw a van from Sandy Point Resorts and a man with a clipboard. We were staying at Coco Beach Resort, one of Sandy Point’s properties, so I figured he was there for us. I walked up to him and he asked if we were the Smith family. I said no, told him our name, and pointed to it on his list. He said ok and told us that our ride would be coming in a few minutes.
So we sat and waited. And waited some more. The van never moved. The Smith family never showed up. A second van never showed up. So finally he said “Ok, this van is for you” as if it had just arrived to come get us. Confused but just happy to be on the last leg of our trip, we loaded up and settled in for the drive to Coco Beach. The resort is about 15 minutes and 3 miles north of San Pedro. We drove through the bustling town and were enjoying the sights when the van pulled over after about 3 minutes and the driver said “you get out here for the boat.”
Boat? Was he serious? I had confirmed twice with the hotel that someone would pick us up from the airport to bring us to the hotel. Nobody ever mentioned a boat ride. The man with the clipboard never mentioned a boat. The driver of the van never mentioned a boat until he literally pulled up at the dock. Knowing it was a short trip, I asked if he couldn’t just drive us the whole way there and he said he could but he would have to charge us.
Stunned, we got out of the car. Someone loaded up our luggage on a cart and said they would take it to the boat for us. Slightly disoriented and confused, we followed the luggage. A boat was already at the dock but a man working there said the next boat would be coming in 30 minutes. A half hour. Would this travel day never end?
We grabbed some sodas at a little drink stand next to the dock, listened to the band playing live music on the beach, and watched the pelicans diving for fish in the water. We seemed so close yet so far away at the same time. At least the view was pretty, although the changing colors of the sky did make me start to wonder if we would make it to the hotel by dark.
Thirty minutes passed and no sign of another boat. I could see the guy working on the deck checking his watch over and over and looking out into the water anxiously. Then he made a phone call. Then he waited about 5 minutes more and finally came out and said “I’ll just take you in this boat”, pointing to the boat that had been sitting there the entire time (much like the van at the airport). So to recap, we had now spent well over an hour waiting to take the van and the boat that had been sitting there the whole time. This travel day was getting ridiculous.
So we got into the boat and as soon as it got out of the harbor and picked up some speed, the boys were ecstatic. It was super windy and fairly bouncy, but they could not have enjoyed the ride more. Watching them laugh as they bounced around on the boat, all the stress of the travel day finally seemed to melt away for me. We had gotten up at 5am, taken a 4 hour tour of Tikal, had a 6+ hour drive from Tikal to Belize City, had our van break down at the side of the road in Belize, taken a tiny airplane with an unplanned stop at another airport, waited 20 minutes for a van to drive us 3 minutes away, and then waited 45 minutes to get on this boat. And we hadn’t eaten anything but snacks since our 5:30 am breakfast. But seeing their faces made it all worth it. Pure bliss. Plus we got to see an amazing sunset over the island.
Finally! We arrived at the dock of Coco Beach. But you don’t think actually we’d just get to get off the boat and go to our room, do you? Ha. They took our luggage but held us there and told us someone would be coming to show us around. After about 5 minutes, someone came running up and said they couldn’t find the concierge so he would just show us around. I still can’t quite figure out what happened here. Clearly they were expecting us – our reservation was confirmed, I had emailed with someone mere hours ago to confirm transportation and our flight time, our name and arrival time was on their list of arriving guests. Yet nobody seemed prepared for us to actually be there. It was bizarre.
As soon as we got off the dock, the concierge came running up and apologized and took over the tour. From that moment on, everything there was fabulous. The boys were literally awestruck when he walked us around the property – I will never forget their reactions to seeing the pools for the first time. So the longest (and least smooth) travel day in the history of our family was finally over and we got to end it in paradise. All’s well that ends well.
Return to Belize City
Fortunately, the return trip from Ambergris Caye to Belize City was not nearly as exciting. Actually, it did start off a little rocky. The hotel had told us what time to arrive at the lobby for the shuttle to the airport. When we got there, there were about 4 other groups also waiting. I quickly counted up the number of people there and asked if everyone could fit in the van. They assured me that they would. The van pulled up and loaded up the luggage, and people started piling in. It quickly became obvious that we would not, in fact, all fit in the van. They were two spots short.
There was one couple there and the rest of the families were 4 or more people. The couple clearly had no interest in volunteering to take another shuttle and were not budging from their seats. The concierge told Blair we could go in a golf cart instead so we volunteered to get off. Our bags went without us and we waited for a golf cart. Except they changed their mind and called for another van. The boys had really wanted to take a golf cart and I felt a little like they pulled a bait and switch on us and tricked us into getting off. Regardless, another van arrived within 10 minutes and we were off. In the original van, the boys had taken a seat in the front seat, which was endlessly exciting for them since they aren’t old enough to ride in the front at home yet. So they asked if they could still sit in front and the driver kindly obliged (even though that meant sitting three across in front and it was a 15 passenger van with plenty of room in the back).
The drive to the airport was fine. (Interestingly, the hotel provided a free van to get to the airport but when we had asked to take the van from the airport to the hotel instead of the boat they said it would be a charge. Hmmm…) We made it there in plenty of time and our bags were waiting for us in the back of the first van.
We waited for a little while until our flight was called. When we got in line to board, we noticed we were the only people getting on the flight. It was literally just our family getting on board. We also noticed that it was a super old airplane. We got onboard and Blair joked to the pilot “you don’t get to fly the new planes?” He just laughed and said “not today.” He commented on how hot it was in the plane and said that he was going to leave the door open until takeoff.
And he meant that literally. We started down the runway, and the pilot continued to hold his door open as we picked up speed. As we got about halfway down the runway, I was confused both about the door still being open and about why we were going fast but not seemingly fast enough for takeoff. He started to slow down and eventually turned around and I figured out that he was going to the end of the runway to takeoff in the other direction.
What happened next was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The pilot finally closed the door. He leaned forward to see up and out the front windshield. He looked up and to the right. He looked up and to the left. And then he started down the runway for takeoff. No air traffic control. No tower. Nobody on a headset telling him he was clear for takeoff. He literally just looked up in the sky and checked in both directions for traffic, as if he were crossing a street. It was awesome.
Once in the air, it was also clear that he was navigating the plane by sight. The newer plane we had taken to the island had a GPS screen. This one had old-school navigation with coordinates and whatnot, but it was obvious he just knew what direction to go and headed that way. The difference between the technology (and comfort) on the two planes was huge.
But our pilot was clearly experienced and knew both how to fly the plane and where to fly the plane. The views on the return trip seemed even more stunning than on the way out.
We got off the plane in Belize City and headed to the international terminal. We had two more legs to go (including a long layover in Houston). We had a long wait in the Belize City airport as well. They recommend arriving 3 hours prior to an international flight. You may need that on weekends but on this Wednesday, we cruised right through security and customs and were waiting in the terminal for almost 2.5 hours. Better safe than sorry I suppose, but we would have been totally fine taking a flight an hour later.
The flight between Belize City and San Pedro on Ambergris Caye is quick and easy but it is not cheap. The water taxi will save you some money and give you a different experience and perspective. But for us the flight was part of the adventure and part of the sight seeing in Belize. And now we can say that we have been on a private flight. We’ll just leave out the part about it being a 40 year old plane with manual navigation.
