Pelican Beach, Belize

“Well, I have to admit, you definitely got this one right”.

These were the words of Mrs _H as she stood under the palms on the soft white beach of the tiny island we had to ourselves looking across the clear Caribbean sea with only the reef surrounding the lagoon in front of us in sight. In the distance, a few similarly tiny palm covered islands could just about be made out. 

This was long intended to be our trip of a lifetime, and the resulting discussions of where to go, what to spend, had been lengthy, as had the actual journey to get there. But once there, this was the ultimate paradise island. There were so many things that made Pelican Beach Resort so perfect – the setting, the size, the service, and so on – but the ultimate thing is that while we were there, this felt like our own secret island. The resort has only a handful of rooms, each in its own separate chalet, all named after the local bird-life. With August being the low season, we were the only guests, so had the entire island with its facilities, and a bunch of attentive staff to take care of us. The freedom that the children had to run around was absolutely unique, there really was very little option for them to get into trouble.

Active excursions might have seemed thin on the ground. There was no concierge desk to book us onto a series of planned activities for the week. However we managed to busy ourselves with a series of trips out on the boat owned by the resort, captained by the brilliantly named Ishmael, and occasionally joined by his cousin Nelson (honestly, I am not making this up). They happily took us out snorkelling and fishing. Whilst the children managed to hook up numerous little fish off the reef, I was assisted in catching a barracuda one afternoon which we took back to the island to eat. Nelson meanwhile inadvertently hauled a nurse shark on board (which we didn’t eat).

The lagoon created by the reef outside our chalet was perfect for shallow swimming and snorkelling, or canoeing when we felt energetic. Even here we saw numerous colourful fish in the crevices of the reef, seahorses and jellyfish lurking under the little pier, and one on occasion another Nurse Shark.  Our regular evening canoe trips revealed more, looking for Turtles a huge Manta Ray surfaced under the front of our canoe. The boys delighted in the deadlier animals, Ishmael pointing out a Reef Shark in attack mode on one trip (fortunately a good distance away), Ospreys were nesting in the tops of the palms and on the tip of the reef, and the staff of the hotel delighted in sharing stories of previous guests and deadly stingrays.

This was a holiday that we were all sad to reach the end of. But the journey away was still an adventure in itself, Ishmael’s trusty craft taking us to the sister resort on the mainland, where we transferred to the smallest airport to catch the smallest plane that we had ever been on. It felt like an estate car with wings, pulling out from a small shed. I was terrifically excited, but our 5 year old slept through the whole flight.

It will be the beach that we will always remember. I would not describe myself as a beach person, and for this reason had generally avoided the Caribbean. However this was the trip to demonstrate just how it feels to be completely, utterly, relaxed.