What’s 25 miles long, one mile wide and chock-full of fun things to do with kids? Ambergris Caye, an island off the coast of Belize.
With fine white sand, beautiful beaches, crystal blue water and the world’s second-largest barrier reef, it’s an ideal beach vacation for families. Here are my five favorite things to do when we visited Ambergris Caye with a toddler and preschooler.
Read More:
• A Day on & off of NCL’s Harvest Caye, Belize
• Make the Most of a Day Beautiful, Rugged Roatan
• Here’s how to snorkel that Barrier reef on a Riviera Maya vacation, too.
5 Easy, Quirky & Fun Things to Do With Kids On Ambergris Caye, Belize
1. Drive a golf cart everywhere
The island is walkable, but the primary mode of transport is golf carts. You can rent them in San Pedro. My golf-crazed hubby and kids loved it.
Towards the north end of the island, before the bridge, there is a place where you can drive your carts on the beach. It’s a beautiful drive, past some lovely restaurants.
Do this drive in the late afternoon, and you’ll find a great spot to watch the sunset.
2. Snorkel a Barrier Reef
Plenty of tour providers leave from San Pedro for snorkeling trips to the barrier reef. We chose a tour on a motorized sailboat, and even with very small kids we had a fine time.
The first stop was Hol Chan Marine Reserve where there is a natural cut in the barrier reef, which is as shallow as five feet in some places.
The kids enjoyed the 45 minutes we spent snorkeling and were even able to spot some fish and corals. If you are patient and sharp-eyed you can spot sea turtles, too, but we didn’t.
We brought our 2-year-old’s floating ring and our 4-year-old wore a life vest; not ideal for every parent but it worked for us because that part of the reef was so shallow.
The next stop was Shark Ray Alley where you do indeed get to swim with the sharks. The sharks are much more interested in their food than you. Nevertheless, my kids decided to skip this experience.
Some of the tour boats feed the sharks, which brings them close enough to the surface to see them from safe perch on the boat. If you have ethical issues with feeding wildlife in this way, inquire before you book a tour.
The day-long tour also stopped on Caye Caulker (above, pronounced Key Cawker), the quaint sister island to Ambergris Caye.
Five-miles long by one-mile wide (with some 30 tiny hotels on it!), it’s a lovely place to enjoy a lazy lunch, sample freshly made ice cream and romp on the beach.
We managed to tire the kids out enough that they were happy to chill out on the bouncy deck of the catamaran for the trip back to Ambergris Caye.
There are shorter, three and four-hour excursions, too.
3. Book a Laidback Beach Hotel
The island has many beaches to choose from and several are public. But one of the favorites was attached to Ramon’s Village Resort, which has a comfortable Robinson-Crusoe-inspired vibe and a nice stretch of beach with white sand and clear water.
They have a good variety of room sizes and breakfast is included. You can book fishing and diving excursions with the resort or stay by the picturesque pool that’s surrounded by greenery.
Our little kids were happy to play in the sand and wade in the water to spot fish. Bigger kids and grown-ups jump off a boardwalk that winds out into the sea to swim and snorkel.
It’s an ideal choice if you want a smaller, laid-back hotel with some amenities.
4. Dine Al Fresco
The restaurants that line the beach are expensive, and it can be hard to find any real treasures.
We looked for places decked out with beachfront lounge chairs, hammocks, and a restaurant, providing a whole day out. We spent about five hours at one such place that even had a pool. We swam, ate pizza and chilled our with umbrella drinks when our kids eventually conked out and napped.
5. Try the Chicken Drop
Every Thursday night in San Pedro, a game of Chicken Drop happens on the beach. Your child will think it’s hysterically funny.
Here’s how it works: There is a large square checkerboard in the sand with 100 numbers on it that participants can choose. One lucky person gets to catch the chicken, rotate it in a circle, blows on its bottom for good luck and then releases it onto the board.
Then the crowd yells and screams to encourage it to poop. Whatever number the chicken poops on, wins. But there’s a catch! The winner has to clean up the poop before claiming his or her prize.
The kids giggled a lot over the idea that all the adults were waiting for the chicken to poop .Between drops, they danced and played in the sand.
Make sure to check it out; maybe you’ll even get to throw the chicken!
How To Get To Ambergris Caye
From the U.S. you’ll fly into Phillip SW Goldson Airport in Belize City. Take a 25-minute taxi ride to the Belize City ferry dock, where you can settle in for a two-hour ferry ride.
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Erin and Josh Bender rented out their house, packed their bags and left town to travel the world with their preschoolers. You can follow her latest travels at Explore With Erin.