After almost two weeks in Belize, including four nights on Caye Caulker, my friend Sharon and I had reservations to leave. We actually had reservations and tickets to return to the mainland via the water taxi that brought us there from Belize City. But so we could spend a few more hours on the island rather than sitting around in the airport because of schedules, we decided to fly there with Tropic Air in one of its 14-passenger Cessna Caravans. The trip took just 10 or 15 minutes.

Just a few feet from the landing strip was an Osprey nest, and an Osprey was sitting there. Taking advantage of the few minutes between check-in and flight time, I walked the few feet until I was directly under the nest.

An Osprey Calls to its Mate

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Then we left the island. We flew over several uninhabited cayes.

En Route from Caye Caulker to Belize City

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We didn’t fly over the Great Blue Hole, one of the country’s greatest tourist attractions. I had thought about seeing it from the air. But when I checked, I couldn’t find anything less expensive than chartering an airplane for $700 or more. I decided that even for me that was too much money to pay for one shot. Instead, Mo Miller of the Lazy Iguana B&B where we stayed gave me a shot that he had taken a few years earlier.

The Great Blue Hole; Photograph by Mo Miller

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We visited two distinct parts of mainland Belize through a great Wildside Nature Tour. We explored a third unique environment, Caye Caulker, on our own.

During our 12 days in Belize in those three different areas we did a lot of birding, went snorkeling, and explored a friendly foreign country. Belize felt welcoming, because it is stable and democratic where most people speak English, the only country in Central America where English is the official language. Even the currency was easy, since they use Belize dollars and U.S. dollars interchangeably.

A few hours after we left tropical Belize we were back in Boulder. Not too surprisingly, just as we returned home a snowstorm hit.