The Language

While backpacking throughout Europe or other parts of Central and South America can also deliver an amazing experience, the language barrier can often prove to make traveling difficult. Unless you’re bi- or multi-lingual, hopping from country to country isn’t always easy. One poor turn and you could be lost and clueless.

Because Belize is a British Commonwealth, English is its first language – and is the only Central American country where this is so. The lack of language barrier for native English speakers makes it incredibly easy to get around or to ask locals about great local eateries or sites.

Inexpensive Transportation

Belize has one of the best bus systems in Central America, and it is incredibly cheap. Backpackers can get to nearly every corner of the country via the Hummingbird, Coastal, or Southern Highway for around 7 USD. Not only are the buses cheap, but they also offer a great way to interact with locals.

Flights to Belize from the States are also relatively inexpensive. A flight into Belize City or into Cancun, which is only a short taxi away, can easily be secured with the miles saved from a Capital One Venture 100,000 card or another frequent flier card.

Friendly Locals

Belizeans are some of the friendliest people to travelers. If you happen to hop on a wrong bus or are simply looking for a great place to grab an authentic meal, they will be more than happy to point you in the right direction. For backpackers, the Belizean willingness to help is often a godsend, and can provide a much more intimate look into the little country.

Easy Lodging

Because of Belize’s history as a backpackers’ paradise, lodging is incredibly easy to find, and rarely requires reservations. If you stay away from the touristy cayes, such as Ambergris, you will easily be able to find a hotel or bed and breakfast room for around $30 a night for a single to two person room. In more touristy areas, prices are higher, but again, rarely require reservations.

For backpackers this is great, as it allows them to pick and choose how much time they would like to spend in certain areas and travel on a whim when necessary.

Same Currency

In Belize, the US Dollar is just as good as the Belize Dollar, and nearly every vendor is willing to accept US currency – if not more so than their own Belizean dollar. This is great for US backpackers because it keeps them from having to exchange currency or paying currency exchange rates.

Major cities, such as Belize City, San Ignacio, and Dangriga, all have ATMs as well so you don’t have to carry around large lump sums of cash. However, that doesn’t mean that you should avoid bringing a credit card with you for emergencies. A good no foreign transaction fee credit card can be a life saver when cash is lost or stolen.

While staying in a luxurious resort is often what many think of when considering vacation, they shouldn’t shy from a backpacking vacation in Belize. Although the country does offer 5 star stays, it is on its open roads where the country can truly be found. So if you are looking for a bigger adventure for your next vacation, consider grabbing a backpack and heading to Belize. The diverse countryside and friendly people will be sure to do anything other than disappoint.

Source:  Beachcomber Pete

Over fresh fish and cold beer at Placencia’s Barefoot Bar, I pick Graham’s brain. “Whale sharks are an iconic species that open doorways and help people become acquainted with sharks in general,” she says. “These are animals that evolved over millions of years, perfection in predatory form. They also have an important role in the ocean — healthy, resilient reefs are dominated by sharks. They’re beautiful, magnificent, graceful, and big. The world would be an incredibly poor place without these animals.”

Not everyone can search for whale sharks in Graham’s company, but anyone can book an outing to dive or snorkel where they most often show up. We join other divers aboard an Avadon Divers craft and pound over miles of rolling blue water, past green cayes like a string of stepping stones, each sending out a siren song of white sand and palm trees. Some have a single, brightly colored house and neat dock, but most sit empty and inviting.

Dark clouds line the horizon during the one hour and 15 minute ride to Gladden Spit, where whale sharks gather in the spring to feed on fish spawn, and where Belize created a whale shark reserve.

Rain stipples the sea surface as we stop to pay three rangers in a well-weathered boat the $15 entry fee. The rangers work for Southern Environmental Association Belize, a non-governmental organization that enforces limits on the number of boats and people and the required certification of guides who bring them here. It’s a working model of that all-important, well-managed tourism.

The physical conditions at Gladden apparently put fish in the mood, and some 26 different species spawn here en masse after full moons in the spring. Graham recommends looking for Cubera snapper, whose spawn whale sharks favor.

The dive site lies outside the wave-dampening barrier reef, and what feels like the entire Caribbean fetches up here, huge swells that send the boat rearing into the air to crash back down, with plumes of white spray reaching the top deck.

Geared up, I jump into the water and waste no time descending beneath the wave action. At 80 feet, our bottom limit on this dive, the reef lies another 50 feet or so below us. Beyond, the view drops off into endless blue. On the 50-minute dive, I see a school of swirling fish, a few moon jellies, and a pod of dolphins circling above with audible clicks and squeaks. But no whale sharks.

When they do appear, Graham says, the huge figures seem to materialize out of the blue, sometimes above, sometimes below. She’s even turned around to find one right behind her, a Mack truck of a fish in perpetual first gear, with a flat, wide mouth for a grill. So, I constantly turn as I fly through watery space, eyes peeled for dark shapes and tell-tale spots.

I feel as if the giants lurk just beyond my field of vision. And there they remain, as the dive master signals time to surface. While I’m disappointed, of course, part of me celebrates the fact that these are wild and free animals that still call their own shots.

The next trip to Gladden is two days away, and Graham has work to do, so I dive Glover’s Reef the following day instead. It’s a two-hour trip to this remote atoll, but worth the reward, a still-thriving reef all to ourselves, no other dive boats in sight. We make three dives along the reef, a wall of vibrant corals, sponges and fans at about 50 feet, dropping into more deep blue space. Clouds of fish — the usual tropical suspects: queen angelfish, butterfly fish, blue tangs, damselfish, parrotfish, wrasses, only more of them — as well as goliath groupers, balloonfish, batfish, and barracuda inhabit this vibrant reef. The third dive, I cruise at about 50 feet, remaining submerged nearly an hour.

When it’s time to ascend, I scan the abyss, willing a whale shark to appear. None does.

Not seeing one gives me a reason — a need, even — to return. I mark next April’s full moon on my calendar.

Source:  The Miami Herald