The Modern Nomads

We planned a destination wedding to Belize at the end of November. We looked at several dive resorts and decided on Ramon’s Village Resort in San Pedro. San Pedro Town is in the south part of Ambergris Caye, in northern Belize. Ambergris Caye is the largest of the 200 plus islands that make up Belize. It is about 25 miles long and only 1 mile across at its widest point.

Ramon’s Village Resort is a beautiful resort that is filled with lush vegetation and Mayan sculptures. You feel like you are nestled in a lush garden sanctuary. Ramon’s had a “Scuba I Do” package that was exactly what we were looking for as it included scuba diving along with all the amenities to have the perfect beach wedding.

Getting to Belize

Let’s start off with just getting there because that deserves a section all on its own. We booked out ticket out of IAH (Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston) because it was an easy direct flight to Belize City. Once we arrived in Belize City we had a second little hopper flight booked with Tropic Air to get us to San Pedro. I have flown on small aircraft’s before but this tropic air flight a whole different situation.

We quickly realized once arriving to Belize City airport the next leg of our trip was going to be interesting. The only way I can explain it is to compare it to a bus station. There were employees with clip boards calling names, lining people up and directing us where to go. We actually missed our connection for our original flight but the guy told us not to worry and just put us in line for the next flight. I’m not even sure they looked at our ticket. This part of our trip was an adventure to say the least. No safety briefing, no seatbelts and not much info other than we were told we would eventually make it to San Pedro. We booked what we thought was a direct flight on Tropic Air but after being herded on this tiny plane we realized we had to make a pit stop on another island to drop a few passengers off. And let’s just say this was a tight landing.

Once we arrived in San Pedro we had a driver there to greet us. The only thing that wasn’t there was Pete’s luggage. We were assured it would arrive and that they only could fit so many bags on the plane and it would come over on a later flight (which it did).

Ramon’s Village Resort

The resort itself was immaculate. There was a constant flow of staff that literally would rake the sand behind you after you walked through the resort. The entire staff was friendly, engaging, and referred to us by name from the moment we arrived. They did a great job of making us feel welcome. One of our waiters was super funny, he would ask where you were from and then list all the things he knew about it. He must have memorized details of every state in the US. He quoted the state motto, football teams, state bird, and for a minute I thought he was going to sing us the Texas, Our Texas (the state song)!

Our accommodations were perfect. We had the Grand Suite which included a living area, mini kitchenette, and four poster king bed facing a wall of French glass panels opening to a full length verandah with beach front views.

Most all of our meals were eaten at Pineapples which is located at the resort. Not because there weren’t other options in town, simply because the food was AMAZING, the waitstaff was top notch, and you can’t get a better view in our opinion!

The “Scuba” Part

We are avid divers and since we chose the Scuba I Do package lets talk about the diving first! Pete has been diving his entire adult life and has been diving all over the world. I got certified in 2017 and have been lucky enough to dive in some pretty spectacular places myself. I think that both of us agree that Ramon’s Village Dive Resort by far exceeded our expectations in regards to their dive operation! We would definitely give them 5 stars if we were rating them.

Ramon’s is a dive resort which by nature sets itself apart from just a dive operation or hotel that offers diving. Most guests at a “dive resort” eat, sleep and breath diving. We have stayed at several dive resorts in the past and Ramon’s is doing everything right. They would probably rank at the top of our list in regards to the resort itself and how they cater to every need of a diver.

• Their fleet of boats was amazing. They were new and/or updated.
• The dive masters and staff were friendly and super helpful. Before I could even switch my tanks, they had already done it for me!
• Lockers are provided to store gear on the dock and they even offered to let you leave your gear on the boat if you were diving the next day if you wanted to.
• You could be flexible with your schedule as you didn’t have to sign up ahead of time for diving. You simply had to show up before the scheduled dive you wanted to join.
• The location of the dock and boats were so convenient could literally walk over barefoot from your villa and get on the boat if you wanted to.

The flexibility was one of our favorite parts of this resort. There were several times where we decided last minute to dive and just walked out of our villa, grabbed our gear and jumped on the boat.

Situated on the Caribbean mainland cost of Central America, Belize has a reputation as the region’s best diving due to the longest stretch of coral in the western hemisphere. In addition to its barrier reef, it also has three distinct Caribbean atolls and probably the most famous dive attraction is of course the Blue Hole which was one of the main reasons we chose this area.

Overall the diving was great. The visibility during the time we were there was just “okay” but nothing to complain about. The weather was cooperative for the most part as we only had one day that tested our athleticism when getting back on the boat. And those that dive know what I mean.

We opted to take one day to dive the Turneffe Reef atoll and it was great! Some dive spots are a commitment as it can take several hours just to get to the dive location. We chose Turneffe because it was a shorter boat ride which allowed us more time to dive and explore. We decided against going to the Blue Hole to dive (which we surprised ourself with that decision since that was one of the reasons we went to Belize). The Blue Hole is a very long boat ride to get to and we realized that the dive was going to consist of a decent, and due to the depth, a really short bottom time. Most everyone we talked to that had done the dive said they wouldn’t do it again and they would opt for an aerial tour of The Blue Hole if you really wanted to see why it is considered one of the most beautiful and fascinating places on the earth.

The “I Do” part

We planned a 8 day/7 night trip to Belize with our ceremony on day 6. When we first booked our package we were put in contact with Wendy who would be our wedding coordinator. She was amazing and handled all the pre-wedding details, the day of details to the post wedding stuff. Our wedding was more of an elopement since it was just us but you wouldn’t know it from how she took care of us. We didn’t have to think of anything, Wendy handled it all, we just had to show up and everything we perfect!

We knew that we would need to find someone to be our witnesses since we didn’t have family coming to our wedding. We met a very nice couple from Dallas on our first day on the dive boat and quickly became dive friends. We asked them if they would be willing to come to our ceremony to be our witnesses and they graciously agreed. Turns out they had a destination wedding at this very location when they got married 14 years ago.

Belize is Unbelizeable!

While we only had a week in Belize we were able to see a little of the island in between scuba diving and you know, that getting married event we threw in there. Here are a couple of the other highlights from our trip:

Secret Beach

Secret Beach, Ambergris Caye, is commonly seen on most “things to do” lists for Belize. And even locals recommended it as well so we picked our day off of diving to go check it out. Ramon’s Village offers golf carts so we took one for the day and headed out. The drive was longer than we thought and honestly we weren’t even sure we were headed the right way. It took about an hour to get there and we only passed 2 people during the trek. The first stopped and said they turned around because they couldn’t get through the road and was headed back to find another way.

The road itself was just a dirt road with areas that were washed out and did seem questionable as to if you could get through. Pete, as an avid golfer, was comfortable enough on the golf cart and decided we could make it through. Some of the road was almost completely under water but we were successful in our journey and finally made it to the infamous “Secret Beach.”

There are several little restaurants(tiki hut style nothing fancy) and bars you pass and even several parking lots as you approach the beach. You will be flagged down and told you need to stop and park but we simply thanked them but continued a little bit further until we found a spot we wanted to stop at. We had a couple drinks, listened to some music, had a little food before we decided to head back. If planned right you could spend all day on the beach soaking up the sun but we got there a little late and didn’t want to be driving that dirt road after dark.

Saul’s Cigar and Coffee House

Saul’s Cigar and Coffee House was a great break during our day of exploring. The shop had a humidor with a wide variety of cigars as well as beautiful carvings and souvenirs. Pete got a couple of hand rolled sticks while they gave us sample tastes of local rum liqueurs. Once we picked our favorites we sat outside to enjoy a couple cups of iced coffee and people watched. We even got some local entertainment during our visit!

Caramba Restaurant

We were given several recommendations to try this place out. It is actually located across the road from Saul’s Cigar and Coffee House. Caramba’s specializes in local, Mexican & Caribbean cuisine and Pete’s favorite part was that you get to pick you own seafood. The food was delicious and would consider this an entire dinner experience!

We had a wonderful week in Belize and ended the week in a hammock dreaming of where we might go next….