We had quite a weekend and finally made it out on the water to visit the Belize barrier reef and local cayes (islands). This blog entry will be three parts because there is so much to show and tell.

Part I – Happy Go Luckie Tours

Belize has a Great Barrier Reef that runs from Mexico down to Honduras. It is the second largest reef in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and runs over 580 miles.  It sits about 30 miles off of Hopkins and famous for diving and snorkeling.  The Smithsonian even has a research station on one of the islands right off of Hopkins.

There are a number of boat operators that will take guests diving, fishing, or snorkeling. We asked around, and everyone kept recommending Happy Go Luckie Tours.

They were fabulous! They are owned by a local Garifuna man named Luckie (hence the name) and his Canadian wife, Cheryl.  They met when she visited, fell in love, and eventually she moved down here.  They run their office out of a shipping container – which we thought was very clever.

We hired a boat to ourselves for a full day of fishing, snorkeling and even a beach BBQ.

We met up with our guides – Medz and Beru – both who grew up in Hopkins. They loaded the boat, told us our options, and said we could help plan what to do – it was our day.

Then we took off down the Sitttee River to the Caribbean Sea. This is going to be fun!