My family and are are visiting next week for 6 days. Staying at Ruby's Hotel. Two adults, two kids ages 2 & 4.

For those of you that have been to Ambergris Caye before:

What is the closest grocery or convenience store to Ruby's? Will they have sun screen, shampoo & lotions that I would find in US stores? We don't like to check bags and we will go though more than 3.4 ozs each of these products and it would be nice to simply buy them once there.

What price should I expect to pay for a day trip back to the Mayan Ruins? Any suggestions on who to seek out in Ambergris Caye to set this up?

What about a boat ride to see the reefs/blue hole? My kids aren't old enough for an all out snorkel trip, but is there a suggested boat operator to seek out to show us around for a half day?

We are going to be content to spend most of our time each day on the beach, but can anyone suggest any thing else to do with the family while in Ambergris Caye?

Any good suggestions for places to eat with the family?

Yes, there are a few grocery stores. The one closest to Ruby's I believe is calle Billy's (iahphx could probably confirm). Exit Ruby's onto the street. Make a right. Take one of your next lefts to the next block and make a right. Billy's will be a few blocks down on the left. Beware, it will be expensive. Take as much as you can in the 3.4oz bottles. I had to purchase deodorant and I think I paid about $6 for a 3.4 oz bottle. There is the Island Supermarket w/in walking distance too. Prices might be cheaper there, but can't substantiate. Just ask at Ruby's. They'll happily direct you.

Can't comment on diving prices or trips to the Mayan ruins. Didn't do either myself. Easy to find operators who will set this up for you. I think Ecologic Divers can do this for you. Go out the back of ruby's onto the beach. Go south along the beach (left foot in the water) and you'll see ecologic divers shortly down. But again, there are many.

As far as family things to do... the Mayan ruins will be great for families. While, I haven't been, I also understand the zoo in Belize City is very, very good. On Ambergris Caye, to be honest, not much in the way of family oriented things to do. Couple things come to mind:
1. The Chicken Drop at Caliente/Pier Lounge- Youtube it. For kids and drunk adults, can be fun. Pier Lounge is VERY CLOSE to Ruby's. Exit out the back of ruby's onto the beach, go north about 200 yards.
2. Not sure how old the kids are, but even snorkeling right at Ramone's pier can be fun. You and the wife bathe on the beach while they snorkel away in and around the pilings of the pier. While not as good as the reef itself, you still see a LOT of marine life. Huge schools of fish right under the pier. You'll need your own snorkeling gear.
3. Head out fishing for a half day. If you go to the Pier Lounge, you'll most lkely happen upon Choc. He owns one of the little yellow boats out front. Just ask at the bar if he's around... they'll know. Either that, or he'll be sitting on the steps beneath the bar or working on his boat. He took us out fishing for a half day inside the reef. Caught plenty of small grouper and red snapper. He then BBQ'ed them on the beach for us. Can't remember the exact price, but I want to say he charrged us $80.

The Belize zoo is supposed to be a nice family day trip that can be combined with other things, such as a Mayan ruin visit.

This is my first time to be in Belize and here's what I found out at BZE. Maya Air is offering a 25% off to San Pedro for US$90 roundtrip total when paying cash. I was told that the taxi to watertaxi is US$25 plus the water taxi for US$13 for a total of $38 one way or US$76 return. For time and convenience, taking the flight to San Pedro gives the best offer.^^^

Does that require you to arrive with no reservation and take your chances on whether there is availability on a connecting flight, at least on the inbound?

From what I've read, Tropic Air has a better reputation than Maya. In particular, Tropic is known for good customer service including operating a delayed final departure to San Pedro when customers with ticketed itineraries are delayed upon arrival by their inbound flights from the U.S.

My wife, our two infant children, and I will be staying at Ambergris Caye on this trip. Is it feasible to do a jungle tour, see some Mayan ruins, or do some tubing being based in Ambergris Caye? By "feasible," I mean both reasonably-priced and reasonable from a logistics standpoint (i.e. no lengthy bus or van rides or more domestic flights).

Can anyone who's recently flown AA to BZE tell me whether they've had to pay an additional departure tax? One of the Belize guidebook authors says that the tax is included -- except on AA! :eek:

Since the tax is now almost $40 and I have a family of 5, I'm hoping it's already included. If I remember correctly, our crazy $130 fare was $30 plus $100 in taxes, so I'm guessing (hoping?) I've already paid this.

BTW, if I do have to pay, can I do it with a credit card?

this is not based on experience as i am in the same situation but from what i understand it is $35 cash only if you are on AA. CO and DL include it in the fare (and when booking, the fare differences for me were exactly 35). however, i do not know this for sure as I haven't been through it yet.

I'm in Ambergris Caye right now, took the wife the 4 year old and 2 year to Lamanai today - 8 hour trip total: Boat ride, bus ride, another boat ride, tour of the site, then the trip in reverse. My kids did great, even in the rain today, but I won't suggest it for infants.

Best bet, ask at your hotel if they have sitters and you and the wife do a side trip while the kids stay with a nanny for the day.

Belize - Ambrigris Caye - partial trip report

The family and I have been on the island for three days now; we arrived Friday afternoon on the AA flight from Dallas. The flight was about 10 minutes early. Because I'm traveling with the kids (ages 2 & 4) we were towards the back of the plane. After about the first ten rows were off, they pulled up a set of stairs to the back door and we were able to get off the plane rather quickly. The immigrations and customs hall is not air conditioned, so if you can change into shorts in DFW or MIA. Immigration took about 15 minutes - first tip: there are four lanes, get into lane 3 as lane 4 is for citizens of Belize. Once they have finished up with citizens, they start calling people over from lane 3 (I find this strategy works in most counties) We made the mistake of checking two bags - normally we don't but with the kids... Anyway one was out on the belt already, but I had to wait maybe two minutes for the second. By the time I had both bags, the line for customs was quite long. It took another 10-15 minutes to pass through customs. We grabbed a taxi to the San Pedro express (Taxi fixed rate $25 - no tip expected) and made it to the water taxi terminal only to just miss the 4pm ferry. I bought tickets for the 5:30 ferry - Second tip, carry lots of cash. The ferry takes credit cards, but charges and extra 3%. Additionally, I would estimate that about 50% of establishments only take cash, and out of the places that do take credit cards at least 50% add a surcharge of 3-10%! Everyone takes US dollars at a rate of 1us = 2bz.

When we arrived at the ferry terminal porters took our bags and tagged them for San Pedro (no tip expected per our taxi driver) while we waited for the 5:30 ferry we grabbed a snack at one of the open stores. Make sure you use the bathrooms at the terminal before getting on board as the trip to Ambrigris Caye was over 1.5 hours and there are no toilets on the ferry. It was raining and rough when we landed and if it was only my wife and I, I would throw away my return tickets and just fly back when we leave, but with 4 of us it's still worth it to take the ferry and save some money.

We are staying at Rubie's and only had a 2 minute walk from the ferry dock to the hotel. However no one was in the office and it took us over 45 minutes to get the room key. To say the rooms are Spartan would be generous. The beds aren't garage sale worthy, tread bear sheets; two ratty towels, dirty walls, plywood floor. I realize it's a cheap hotel, but I still expect a room that's clean and comfortable - it's not clean and not comfortable...

We had a quick dinner at Mango's: great food, but expensive. In fact, I would have to say that food in general is much more expensive than I had expected. Dinners for 2 adults, with the kids splitting something, with no alcohol runs $70-90us, even a very basic breakfast has been $30-45us.

After breakfast on Saturday we got directions to the local grocery store about a 5 block walk (Superbuy - it was all locals so it must be the cheapest spot) and bought stuff of a picnic lunch, we then grabbed the beach gear and walked down to Ramon's beach and as promised it was a nicer beach than else where (not great, but nicer than others) we spent a couple of hours on the beach and complemented out picnic items by grabbing a couple of big burritos from CB's bar (15bz each) We made it back to the room for showers and a nap for the 2 year old around 2:30, and I went walking down the beach to excursion shop as we wanted to visit one of the Mayan sites. Most places were charging 75-90 to visit Altun Ha and $135-160 to visit Lamani. It took some doing, but I was finally able to find an operator who didn't charge for the kids - we booked a tour to Lamanni on Monday. It you are staying on Ambrigris, and don't want to pay so much to tour a site inland I would suggest you talk to you taxi driver. My driver from the airport to the ferry terminal offered to drive us for the day for $100US - so if you have a family of four you could take the ferry back of the mainland and get a private driver for the day and easily visit the zoo and Altan Ha or some other sites.

We aren't diving or snorkeling with the kids, but it would seem snorkeling tours start at about $30 and one tank dives start at about $60.

The tour of Lamani today was awesome. Even in the rain here today the trip was worth while just for the fact that I got to climb to the top of the high temple with my daughter. We took a boat ride to the mainland, then a bus ride, then another boat ride to the site. They had lunch for us, then a guide who showed us around Lamanai. It was raining today so that wasn't much fun during the boat rides, but it was still a great day. We left at 7am, got back around 5:30. I paid $135, plus 10% tax for the two adults, it took some doing, but found an operator who would take the kids (ages 2 & 4) for free - most wanted 50% for the older one.

I found out on Sunday that the place where we've had breakfast has free wifi, so that's where I'm posing from.

Fun trip so far.

Thanks for the update, MKE.

I'm headed with my family to Caulker, so when I get back (I doubt I'll have internet access there), I'll post a "compare and contrast.".

From what I do know already, though, food seems to bes MUCH less expensive on Caulker. People have told me you can have complete seafood meals for less than US$15, including an alcoholic beverage.

Accomodation costs are also significantly lower on Caulker.

I was thinking of taking a tour with the family to Lamanai: I'll see if I can find a "kids go free" deal from Caulker. I was also hoping to find someone who would deeply discount a snorkel boat trip for the kids.

Keep up the trip reports, MKE. Love reading those things. Glad you are having a good time. I'm surprised that you are hving a hard time finding cheap food!? For breakfast, next time, head to Estel's. Walk out the back of Ruby's to the beach go north (right foot in the water). Estel's will be about 100-200 yards up (next to the Spindrift/Caliente). Relatively cheap food there. They have great boody marys too. God, I miss that place.

Look forward to the future trip reports.

iah, you will find it to be a bit more cheap on Caulker. Also, a great place. Do me a favor and go to the sports bar there and snap a picture of the Steeler shirt I signed. Also, look forward to a trip report from you!

I am heading there next month and just starting to get things figured out. I will be solo for much of the time, and going on the way-cheap end so that I can dive (and read and drink) as much as possible (can you tell i'm still a student?). Particular highlights or suggestions for the non-kid toting crowd?

I'm meaning to ask as much about value as dirt-cheap :) I will probably hit the market as much as possible for food.

And lest you think I'm a heathen, like any good FTer I've traded for evips so I can at least arrive and depart in comfort ;)

Are you thinking of Caulker or Ambergris? From a budget perspective, it seems that Caulker wins hands down. The "problem" with Caulker is that there's not much more to do than eat, drink, dive and read. :cool: But that may not bother you!

As far as "hitting the market for food," it seems that -- on Caulker -- you'd be better off just eating in restaurants and the open-air eateries. People are quoting me $3 to $5 for breakfast and dinner from $5 to $15. Since there are no supermarkets, and the restaurants are reportedly very good, it would seem a bit silly to skip the restaurants.

oops yes, currently only planning to hit caulker. an ex's family has a house on ambergris but I don't think I'll be getting the invite there. Eat drink dive and read is cool by me, and doing it for less is even better.

Good to know re food - I had thought that someone mentioned a market on caulker, perhaps not. No problem having someone else cook for me :)

I did not find any hostels but found various places that didn't seem too expensive, will make a list and bring that back here for advice.