Ambergris Caye
In Mayan times, Ambergis Caye was a trading post supporting 10,000 people. At 40 km long and up to 1,5 km wide, it’s the largest of 200 cayes studding the coastline of Belize and lies off the southernmost tip of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. In fact the Mayans created the island by digging a channel to provide a trade route and border between Belize and Mexico. Then and now there’s only one major settlement San Pedro, built over Mayan ruins and home to the most of the population. Photo by: CastAShadow
Visitors flock to Ambergris Caye because the 310 km Belize Barrier Reef, second only to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, runs parallel to the island only 370 m from the beach. It’s one of the world’s greatest dive sites with every feature of caves, walls, columns, cathedrals and bridges that fantasy can dream up. Photo by: mathomas81
The island itself is a wildlife bonanza of white, red and black mangroves and buttonwood trees; littoral forest plant like gumbo, limbo, sapodilla, fig, coco plum and palmeto; egrets, orioles, kiskadees, cinnamon hummingbirds, blue herons and rose-throated becards among some 300 species; and forests full of deer, peccaries, raccoons and occasional jaguar. And the night life in San Pedro is excellent. Photo by: CastAShadow
When to go: November to June. Population: 8,000. How to get there: By air via Belize City to San Pedro, by boat (fast ferry) from Belize City to San Pedro. Photo by: Cosmojojo
