Barefoot and Blissful on Belize’s Ambergris Caye Ambassadair’s Journey, April 2000
Copyright 2000 Dale Leatherman
Barefoot and Blissful on Belize’s Ambergris Caye
Ambassadair’s Journey, April 2000
Copyright 2000 Dale Leatherman
Barefoot. I want to go barefoot in the worst way. Not on cushioned Berber carpet and tile floors, but on sun-warmed sand damp from the ocean. I want to spend my days in a big shirt thrown over a wet bikini with a few soggy dollars tucked in the shirt pocket -- just in case I meet a local vendor peddling something handmade and irresistible.
There are many places in the Caribbean
that come close to fulfilling the fantasy. But I’d like my beach to be relatively
untracked. Unfortunately, along with the rest of the world, the Caribbean is shrinking.
"Deserted" islands are an endangered commodity, and most of the ones that do
exist are devilishly hard to reach – and generally lacking in creature comforts.
Then there’s Ambergris Caye, a 25-mile-long sliver of land off the coast of Central America. The island is part of Belize, but in reality it is a land unto itself where English is the official language and going barefoot is de rigeuer. The island motto is "No shirt, no shoes, no problem."
My kind of place. And it’s a perfect combination of isolation and accessibility. The island’s tiny San Pedro airport is a 15-minute flight from Belize City’s modern international hub, which is only two hours from Miami, New Orleans or Houston. There are few autos, rental golf carts being the vehicles of choice – convenient if you travel with young children or the elderly.
Named during Colonial days for the
whaling byproduct used in perfumes, Ambergris Caye (pronounced "key") is one of
Belize’s 200 offshore islands, most of which are uninhabited. It’s the only one
with a town. Seven thousand residents live in San Pedro, which has packed-sand streets
lined with small hotels, shops, and a plethora of dive outfitters. 
Ambergris Caye caught on first in the 1960s as a scuba diving destination, and in that respect its stature is undiminished. During the past decade, the search for pristine marine environments inevitably led divers to the Western Caribbean and the world’s second largest barrier reef (next to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef). The Belize Barrier Reef lies just off the eastern shore of Ambergris Caye and extends 185 miles along the coast of Central America. Divers still gravitate to Ambergris Caye, but an increasing number of visitors come for other reasons. . . .
Contact me to read the rest of this story and discuss second rights or a rewrite. Daleatherman@cs.com