Belizean Cove Estates
An Eddie Global dispatch from Belize.
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Belizean Cove Estates
An Eddie Global dispatch from Belize.
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The Great Blue Hole
Why this is the first thing I do every time I land in Belize.
Read MoreBelize compresses an astonishing range into a country smaller than most American states. I’ve dived the Blue Hole, dropping through a chimney of clear water into darkness where stalactites hang from what was once a dry cave, and I’ve hiked through jungle the same afternoon to reach Maya ruins still half-swallowed by vines. English is the official language here, a colonial holdover that makes navigating easier than almost anywhere else in Central America, but the culture is a genuine mix of Creole, Garifuna, Maya, and Mestizo traditions that show up distinctly in the food and music. The barrier reef running along its coast is the second largest in the world, and I’ve never snorkeled anywhere with such density of color in such shallow, forgiving water.
Chapter One
The reef and the Blue Hole
Diving the Great Blue Hole requires a decent boat ride from Ambergris Caye or Caye Caulker, but the descent into that perfect circle of deep blue, ringed by shallow turquoise reef, justifies every minute of the crossing. Even non-divers can appreciate it from the air on a scenic flight, the geometry almost too clean to look natural. Closer to shore, Hol Chan Marine Reserve offers gentler snorkeling among nurse sharks and stingrays in water barely over your head. Caye Caulker keeps its motto, ‘go slow,’ literally painted on signs around the island, and after a day in that water I’ve never once wanted to argue with it.
“Belize fits an entire hemisphere of scenery into a country you could drive across in a day.”
Chapter Two
Jungle and Maya ruins
Inland, the country turns dense and green almost immediately. Xunantunich rises above the Mopan River, its main pyramid offering views across into Guatemala, while Caracol, deeper in the Chiquibul forest, was once home to more people than modern-day Belize City and remains far less visited. I spent an afternoon there hearing only howler monkeys and my own footsteps on limestone steps built more than a thousand years ago. Cave tubing near San Ignacio adds another layer entirely, floating through limestone caverns the Maya considered sacred entrances to the underworld, headlamp the only light against the dark water.
The Short List
Do not miss in Belize
At a glance
Belize in numbers
- Capital
- Belmopan
- Language
- English
- Currency
- Belize Dollar (BZD)
- Best time
- November to April
Did you know
The Belize Barrier Reef is the second-largest coral reef system in the world, after Australia’s.