First Week in Belize, Post 26-14

Jimmy Lee
Apr 5
7 min read

Updated: 7 days ago

We finally made it to Belize! We spent our first week resting from our trip and getting familiar with the area and venturing out to Belize City and visited some Mayan caves.

Friday, March 27 – Thursday, April 2

Total Distance Traveled: 12.0 miles | 10.5 nm

Cucumber Beach Marina

Friday, March 27-Thursday, April 2

Our first stop in Belize was at a marina for a couple of reasons. The first was it was a convenient spot to check into the country and second we knew we would want to rest and reorient after a multiple day trip at sea.

Old Belize Synopsis

First let’s talk about the marina grounds. This location is called Old Belize and it’s about 5 miles south of Belize City. It includes:

Cucumber Beach Marina - The marina is mostly commercial docks and charter boat docks (Belize Sailing Vacations). Within that there are a few transient docks where sailors can come in and stay a few days. The channel and depth of the marina are quite shallow, and we needed to time the tide to get in. They had us on a face dock coming into the marina so every boat that entered and departed went by our boat. It was entertaining. Due to the shallow nature a few of the boats in the actual slips were sitting in the mud for a few hours a day. Most people took this in stride. The marina also had showers and laundry (wash only). All the staff at the marina were genuinely nice and very accommodating (shoutout to Collette and Luis) and the price was right ($0.60/ft/day = $170 per week).
Kucumba Beach - This is a cool little man-made beach and large treated saltwater pool with inflatable obstacle course, a rope swing and a very tall water slide. The beach area has little tiki huts scattered around. Marina guests can get a free pass to enter.
Old Belize Food Court & Gift Shop - Various food vendors and a cool looking bar, both which close at 5 p.m.
Old Belize Museum - Most of this was closed when we were there but they did have a little train you could ride.

Spots around our marina complex

Friday, our first full day in Belize was spent resting and going on short walks through the marina grounds. We ended up having lunch at the food court (Jerk Chicken) and it was very good. Other than poking around on the boat, we didn’t do to much. I cooked chicken/sweet potato tacos on the boat, and it was good.

Saturday and Sunday were general the same thing with walks and boat chores. I troubleshooted our water maker leak and tachometer and Sondra defrosted the fridge. A highlight of the day was getting lunch from a little kiosk under the marina office. The food was tasty, large, and cheap ($14BZ=$7/US per lunch).

As a side note, currency calculations are quite easy in Belize and for the most part US dollars are accepted. It is directly tied to the US dollar and is always 2 Belize dollars to 1 US dollar.

There is a big US and Canadian expat community in Belize. One reason (we think) is that the national language is English and the other is that there is inexpensive land/housing available.

Monday we had planned to go to Kucumba Beach, but it was a very rainy day so the park closed up. We ended up doing some work around the boat and Sondra did a bit of City work.

Belize City

Tuesday was an adventure. We needed some fresh vegetables, and we knew there was a farmer’s market in downtown Belize City. Unfortunately, downtown is over 5 miles away and it isn’t really viable to walk down the road without taking your life into your own hands. So, we decided to take the local bus. We were out on the road next to our marina at 7:30am and within a few minutes the bus picked us up. It was jam packed and standing room only full of morning commuters. Fare was collected during the trip, and it was then that we learned that the one-dollar bill is generally not accepted in Belize. We paid with what coins we had leftover from our 2018 visit to Belize, and they forgave us for the rest. We sure felt like a couple of gringos.

Next we started strolling through the farmer’s market where we chatted with a shrimp vendor. He ended up offering to exchange some US cash (50's or 100's only) for Belize cash for free so we would have some money for purchases. What a nice guy! After picking up some veggies and visiting an ATM for more Belizian funds, we began a small walking tour downtown. We just did the highlights (swing bridge, Memorial Park, Belize sign etc.) but it was a nice stroll, and it was good to walk in a different location other than the marina grounds.

Our stroll of the largest city in Belize was mixed with a bit of charm with a dash of sketchiness. Like all large cities there are questionable elements. We never felt unsafe, but you wanted to keep aware of your surroundings and stick to the populated areas.

We ended up eating at Martha’s Café and had a traditional Belize Breakfast (eggs, Jonny Cakes, beans, and fruit) and it was yummy. After that we strolled some more, purchased some bread and tortillas at Brodie’s and headed back to the bus station where we rode back to the marina with no issues. Overall, an interesting trip.

Fun in Belize City

ATM Cave

Wednesday was the highlight of our stay in the marina. We decided to go inland to tour a cave with Myan relics at the Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave (called ATM cave).

Since this is one of Belize’s most important archeological sites and you can only enter with a licensed tour guide. Collette at the marina hooked us up with a local tour operator to coordinate the day which started when they picked us up from the marina at 7 am. We always like to drive around a new country, and this was no different. Belize geography is varied and we immediately started seeing hills and low mountains on the horizon. We made our way west of Belize's capital city of Belmopan and stopped at a convenience store where we were handed off to the licensed ATM tour guide. From the convenience store I saw a sign that said ATM cave 7 miles so I figured we would be there soon, right? Amusingly we transferred to a more off-road vehicle and took what I would say was one of the rougher roads I have been on in a while. We took 30 minutes to cover that 7 miles.

Once at the site, we could see this was a large deal since there were multiple vans and lots of people milling about waiting for their tour to get started. Only 125 people per day are allowed in the cave each day, each group of maximum 8 people stagging their start times.

ATM Cave Trip (remember no photos were allowed on actual cave explore)

Eric was our ATM tour guide and including him, we were a group of seven. We donned our helmets and our life jackets, and we began our 45-minute hike to the cave. Within five minutes of the hike, we came to the first river we had to ford across. The water was considered low at the time but still nearly got up to our chests. There was a rope that assisted you with walking, but it was definitely an adventure. During the rest of the walk, we crossed that same river two more times (not as deep) before we made it to the cave. Our tour guide said during the rainy season they must close the caves since the water is too high to walk across and the water in the cave is too high and dangerous.

So, to get into this cave you do not walk but swim ino the entrance, crossing a deep pool before climbing up onto some rocks in the cave. Then you walk in a stream for most of the remainder of the trip. The water ranges from calf deep to needing to swim at times. Most of the cave is in pitch darkness, but we had headlamps. Also, lots of close quarters squeezing through rocks. At least half a dozen times I was glad I had the helmet since you can’t help but bump your head a few times. All along our trek our guide told us about the cave and how the Mayans used it as a church and in grim times (i.e., lack of rain) a sacrificial chamber to entice the gods to make it rain. The cave itself is 3.4 miles long, but we only went in 0.6 miles since that was as far as the Mayans went, using torches. At that point in the cave we climbed higher and out of the water making our way to where the Mayans left their gifts for the gods and held their sacrifices. Many of the artifacts have not been moved and are left as they were found, cordoned off to keep people away. (Note, due to people dropping phones onto skeletal remains while trying to take photos, no phones or photos are allowed in the cave). Most artifacts included clay pots, fire pits and lots of human remains, which appear to all be from sacrifices.

From there we mostly reversed our path moving much faster on the way back and it was just as fun going out as it was going in. There is no way this would be a thing in the States due to safety issues (however, we were required to sign waivers). One of the reasons we really like this type of adventure.

Once back at the base camp, about four hours after starting the hike, we were served a Belizean lunch. By the time we got transfered back to our local Belizian Raindrops Adventures tour operator, Jeevan, and back to the marina, it was 5 p.m. Overall, this was a once in a lifetime experience and we are so glad we did it.

Cucumber Beach Marina to Drowned Cay

12.0 miles | 10.5 nm

And that brings us to the end of our marina stay. Thursday morning we woke up, prepared the boat for departure and waited for bad weather to pass and for the tide to rise. We started to sail, but ended up motor sailing most of the 10 miles out to a place called Drowned Cay.