Beaches in Belize

The second largest barrier reef in the world runs the length of the country a few kilometres offshore, and that single fact arranges everything else: the mainland coast is mangrove rather than beach, and the sand is out on the cayes behind the reef. Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye hold most of the accommodation, both a short flight or boat from Belize City, and the smaller cayes south of them are day trips or single-lodge islands. The reef stood on the UNESCO list of World Heritage in Danger from 2009 until 2018 and was removed after the country banned offshore oil exploration in its waters and strengthened mangrove protection — one of very few sites ever taken off that list because a government acted rather than because the assessment changed. Whale sharks aggregate at Gladden Spit around the full moons of March to June, drawn by spawning snapper, and the Blue Hole in the Lighthouse Reef atoll is the country's other underwater fixture. The Hol Chan Marine Reserve off Ambergris was among the first in Central America and is the reason the fish there are used to people. English-speaking, Central American and Caribbean at once, with Kriol, Spanish, Maya and Garifuna all in daily use. Practically: the dry season runs December to May, hurricane season June to November, and the cayes are reached by water taxi or a fifteen-minute flight rather than by road. Sandflies are a genuine consideration on the smaller cayes, and the reef means almost no surf anywhere along this coast.