Final post.

Thursday

Hubby decided that after the Blue Hole dive he didn't think any other site would be better and he was done diving. We instead elected to explore the island a bit, so after another delicious breakfast at Pelican Reef we headed south in the golf cart. As I wasn't aware of other resorts that were south of ours, I was surprised to see one or two along the beach. We found Hol Chan Reef Resort, which looked fairly new and nice and right on the beach, but it also looked rather deserted. A few other buildings, both new and old, were scattered along the waterfront farther down.

Turning around we headed to San Pedro to do some shopping; I found a beautiful amber sun pendant at the little shop attached to Fido's called, appropriately, Amber. Hubby scored a wood shark sculpture from the vendor in front of the post office, and we also picked up the obligatory souvenir Tshirts, postcards and coffee mugs in various shops around town. Packages tucked into backpacks, we drove over the bridge to check out The North. Carts Belize said we could go as far as Journey's End with the golf cart, but no farther. No worries, though; we got as far as the Palapa Bar where we had lunch and drinks, then turned around for the bumpy ride back. One more stop in town to Ecologic to pass out gratuities to the crew, then back to Pelican Reef to relax on the beach under a cloudy sky.

We couldn't decide on where to go for dinner, but Terry recommended Red Ginger at The Phoenix hotel. Excellent suggestion! A beautiful place with top-notch service and food and drinks (I highly recommend their signature Red Ginger rum punch), although it was nearly empty of patrons. Once again, a rainstorm greeted us as we got ready to leave, so we waited for it to stop before going back to the resort.

Friday

Today was to be our relaxing day - kayaking and walking the beach and maybe taking out a sailboat. But Mother Nature had other plans, mainly in the form of wind and rain. It rained all day; not just off and on, but all day. Reports were that the Caye received 1.5 inches of rain that day. Thankfully we were able to get some decent movies on the TV, which we watched between taking a wet trip to town for lunch at Elvi's Kitchen. On the way back we stopped at Mr. Joe's to pick up a piece of their fabulous chocolate rum cake for dessert that evening. Dinner reservations were at Victoria House, and included pick up and return to the resort, very nice. The restaurant, service and food were all excellent. Then back to the resort to enjoy the rum cake and sadly pack our bags for the trip home in the morning. Despite the weather, neither of us wished to leave.

Saturday

Last delicious Pelican Reef breakfast and sad goodbyes to the staff before a taxi took us to Tropic Air for the first leg of our trip home. A minor change to our itinerary got us home a few hours later than scheduled, but at least this year we did not arrive home to two feet of snow.

Pelican Reef Resort Review

Here is what I posted on TripAdvisor:

"A Piece of Paradise in South Ambergris Caye: What can I say that hasn't already been said? From the spotless condo to the beautiful beach to the service-with-a-smile staff, Pelican Reef Villas was the absolute perfect place for us to enjoy our first trip to Ambergris Caye, Belize. We did a lot of research before deciding on PRV and we could not have been happier. Terry, Ruth and Carol worked to meet our every want and need, from booking excursions, golf carts and dinner reservations to blending up fabulous drinks at the end of the day. On days where we had early morning pickups for diving and snorkeling, arrangements were made for an early breakfast so we wouldn't leave hungry. The breakfast (included in the villa rate) and lunch offerings were varied and delicious. The owner, Greg, was onsite and greeted us several times, checking to see that we had what we needed. Our condo, #13, was in the back on the first floor, only steps away from the bar/main area, and was quiet, comfortable and well equipped. In short, we loved Pelican Reef and will stay here again on our next trip to Ambergris Caye."

That pretty much says it all. As far as negatives, I really can't think of any that affected us. We would arrive back to the resort after dinner, around 8-9pm, and the bar area would be closed and dark. We're not late-night people and enjoyed the quiet, but anyone who likes to party at the bar after dinner might want to stay elsewhere. I had heard the pool was cold but I never got in it; the week we were there wasn't very sunny or overly hot so I didn't feel the need to cool off. And yes, there were 'skeeters and no-see-ums, but they were everywhere, not just at Pelican Reef. My poor hubby is a bug magnet -- within one day he was covered in bites and resembled a chicken-pox victim, despite the DEET and other sprays he tried. But that happens every time we go to the Caribbean.

There were things on our list that we didn't do at the resort, including taking out a kayak, snorkeling the man-made reef under the pier, strolling the beach to see other resorts to the north and the dragon trees to the south (I took pictures from our dock). Those were planned for Friday but it rained all day. And there were a zillion things we didn't see or do on the island in general. We'll just have to do them on future trips.

Restaurants

I've listed the places we went to in each day's posting. Our favorite place was Wild Mangos for the food, service, atmosphere and location. Red Ginger rates high as well, but the ambiance was a bit upscale and I felt like I was back home instead of in the Caribbean, although the enclosed location worked well for us on the rainy night. We went to Mr. Joe's twice mostly because it was easy -- we could walk to it and the food was decent. Elvi's, Palapa Bar and Waraguma were on my "must do" list after reading the forum and they did not disappoint. Hidden Treasures was nice, too, but hubby was mercilessly attacked by the bugs.

Thanks for reading, and thanks again to this forum and all the help it provided to me in planning our trip to Belize! grin