Trauma Bay Runaways

Funny enough, we are not big beach getaway people. But, we had travel credits to burn by the end of the year, so we wracked our brains on where to go that would fit our travel credit budget with a destination that will also not break the bank. With the stress of the year and the upcoming seasons, we thought it would be nice to go to a more tropical destination and plan to do… NOTHING! So, nothing we did. This should be a pretty easy read, since there is not much to report on for activities that we partook in, however, I will mention some fun things we found and just chose to not do for the sake of a beautifully lazy vacation. You can find all companies/activities listed at the end of this blog. 🙂 But first, enjoy this gorgeous sneak peek of our own private beach…

November 4, 2025 – Oh Boy, Travel Day…

We left Albuquerque around 8 am and had only a two hour layover. We landed in Belize city around 1:30 pm, and needed to take a taxi to the Belize City Water Taxi dock in order to get to San Pedro. After collecting our luggage we made our way through customs and got a taxi; luckily, we seemingly made friends with the taxi driver and were able to get his contact info for the trip back. When we got dropped off at the water taxi dock, we had just missed the 3 pm water taxi. The next departure was at 4:30 pm, so we had some time to kill. We were starving and were able to grab some food that was in the area of the departure dock. I felt like I was starting to develop a cold at this point, but couldn’t tell quite yet. I ordered some nachos with jalapeños to help me breathe, and it worked temporarily. Once 4:30 came around, we loaded into the water taxi, where it would be an hour and a half until we reached our island of Ambergris Caye (San Pedro is more less the downtown area where we were to be dropped off, Ambergris Caye is the entire island). This is where I dropped the ball, and take full responsibility for it… I never looked into how far our Airbnb was from the dock we were dropped off at. To be fair, the listing never provided an address, and it completely slipped my mind to ask for it until we were going through customs in Belize City and we were asked for the exact address to where we would be staying during our trip. I quickly messaged the host while still on airport WiFi, and got what sounded like an approximate location… which was good enough for the customs agent, thank God!

The island of Ambergris Caye is 90% traveled by golf cart – otherwise people walk if you are located in the downtown area or ride in one of the very few vehicles on the island. I did indeed rent a golf cart, but once I typed in where our AirBnb was, it was still another 45 minutes to get to! They gave only an approximate description, i.e.: “10 miles north of xyz…”, but once I put it into my Google maps it gave me an exact pin, so we departed on one of the roughest roads I’ve yet experienced. We did not prepare for this either, all of the books, blogs, and photos we have reviewed for this trip never mentioned anything about the road conditions. Downtown San Pedro had numerous and extremely tall speed bumps, which I thought was rather silly since nearly everyone was driving in a golf cart. Although, I suppose some of those things can really boogey!

We crossed a bridge that seemed to serve as a border for downtown and the rest of the island. We were no longer on paved streets; it turned into clay-like paths for us to navigate around ginormous potholes. I included a photo but it is super poor quality, as I had to take a screenshot from a video I made of the “street” conditions. Sorry. The speed bumps were gone, however! Yay to that. It was finally nearing 7:30 pm when we finally arrived to our AirBnB, which was listed as a treehouse alongside the ocean. There were a husband and wife caretaker team to greet us upon arrival, to which they expressed their kind concern for how late we arrived! I explained it was my fault we never looked into the journey into how far north we really were from most of the island, however, it was privacy and seclusion we were after. They showed us to our treehouse and we were amazed by how beautiful everything was, even in the pitch blackness of night!

November 5th – We Landed Paradise!

We woke up to the shaking of the treehouse, only to find the caretakers waiting at our door to deliver us a hot and delicious breakfast! We were thrilled and had no idea that this was included. I even rechecked the listing on AirBnB and there was nothing that mentioned complimentary breakfast. I noticed that there was a name to the resort we drove into, so I Googled it and sure enough, it shows that it is a 6-unit (all other units were empty when we stayed there!) resort bed and breakfast! Score. This helped us save a lot of money, as they also provided complimentary lunches. We were not sure if they offered dinners, as we went out every night for dinner to explore our section of the island.

I wanted to start to explore low-impact activities we could do, to which I realized just exactly how far north we were. We were nearly to the end of the road, so as far north as you can get on the island, and were mere miles away from the border of Mexico. This left us with a nearly hour long, bumpy and wet ride if we wanted to go exploring anything that was of interest. So, I took note of things we could do in clusters around the island, and of several restaurants that I wanted to try. (I usually prepare for vacations much better than this, I promise. This was a rather last minute vacation and we wanted specifically to do nothing but relax on our private beach, anyway.) I also woke up 100% confirmed sick, so I didn’t feel like parasailing or diving unfortunately.

When we both were ready to start our day, we both grabbed our books and laid on the beach and read for HOURS. We read so long that mid-afternoon, the caregivers found us and brought us an amazing lunch. We read for a few more hours and went back up to our treehouse to change and get ready for dinner at a local spot that was highly rated.. but was kinda disappointing for Ryan and I. It was a beach side pizza spot, and apparently the lobster pizza was a must, because it was in season and that is what made this spot so popular. We tried it… it wasn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t good. The lobster was extremely salty on both of our pizzas and we also were not fans of the texture of lobster on nice crunchy pizza, even though we both LOVE lobster. Oh well, we tried it! We stayed for a few coconut mojitos and got to pet some pups people brought with them, then took a 20 minute bumpy ride back to our resort.

November 6th – What to do today?…

The day again started with the gentle swaying of the treehouse from the caretakers climbing the steps to deliver us our breakfast. Instead of eating breakfast in bed like we did the day before, we took breakfast to our little overlook deck we had. It was so peaceful to listen to nothing but the waves coming in and watching the sun get higher in the sky. We then read as the morning grew into afternoon, but that’s when we started to notice the MOSQUITOS! Oh man, they are another level down there. They are microscopically small, but they come with some force. Poor Ryan literally had over 100 bites just a few days into this trip. Needless to say, we visited a local shop just a few minutes down the road and bought them out of mosquito spray!

We made it a new regimen that before we went outside the treehouse to lather ourselves in not only sunscreen but also bug spray. It worked, but just a little too late for poor Ryan. We had another day of laying by the beach, and this day our caregivers brought us the BEST homemade fried chicken for lunch! Ryan couldn’t get enough, and now I have to learn how to fry chicken at home. If anyone has any tips, I’ll take em! We then wanted to try out our own private pool. It was chilly but felt SO good in the Belize sun!

Dinner was at a bar that also served as a golf and axe throwing center. We chose to go there this day because their axe throwing was 50% off I believe. They featured daily deals such as karaoke, discounted food, discounted golf, etc. The bartender/server was super sweet, and gave us jokes that made Ryan even blush. It was cute. We ordered a spicy ceviche, which the bartender warned us was super spicy. Us being from New Mexico, laughed it off and told him how great our Green Chile was. Well… I usually am good on spice but I accidentally took a chip with a large amount of habanero peppers and nearly PASSED. But, it helped clear my sinuses once I stopped tearing up for 15 minutes straight! Embarrassing.

We got to pet some more sweet local dogs and finished our night with some axe throwing. Of course I won. When we returned back to our treehouse, we decided to start watching “the Office” again, since it was available on Netflix to stream, and also started watching the Ed Gein show… oh my Lord don’t get me started on that. I don’t get uncomfortable easy at all but that show had my skin crawling! (Pun intended).

November 7th – The Art of Doing Nothing

Ah yes, we have come really to the beef of this trip. Enjoy our core pictures of doing *nothing*. Dinner this night was an easy 2 minute walk from our retreat. We were the only ones there, and although the service was great, the food was nothing to ride home about.

November 8th – Exploration Day!

Today I decided I wanted to drive all the way back downtown and explore the city a bit. We also planned to head to Secret Beach after a quick brunch on the border of “Up North” and downtown San Pedro. We stopped at a cafe that claimed they had the best french toast on the island, and Ryan is no newbie when it comes to french toast. He LOVED it! The food here was delicious, and so were our watermelon drinks! We drove around the buzzing San Pedro, taking in what we missed when we first arrived due to it already being nightfall. It was plenty busy, golf carts parked everywhere and coming at you in all different directions. I was coming dangerously close to finishing my book and we were hoping to find a bookstore, but no luck. We stopped at a local grocer to pick up itch cream for poor Ryan and headed to Secret Beach.

Secret Beach is notably not so much of a secret on the west side of the island, and although we came during shoulder season, it was still pretty packed. We wanted to hit up a bar that had in-water tables. We paid for a storage locker and headed out into the water to party, eat, and drink. We both stored our phones for safety, so no pictures were taken of the place. I took a quick video on the way out, so again, a blurry screenshot taken from a Snapchat will have to suffice. Sorry 🙁

We honestly waited about 30 minutes until we were greeted by a not-so-thrilled-to-be-there server took our order, and waited about another 30 minutes for our drinks to arrive. We spent about 2 hours in the water, and decided we wanted to check out the bar on the shore to eat some lunch at. We again, waited for 30 minutes and were never greeted by a server, so we left to eat elsewhere.

Secret beach is an awesome party spot, and I would definitely have loved to have been there for a bachelorette party or celebration, however Ryan is a bit over the partying phase so it was fun, but not an all day place for us.

We then went to a gorgeous shore-side restaurant for some fish and chips. This was about a 20 minute drive from the west side of the island to the east side. They were pretty good, but nothing on those Midwestern beer battered Friday fish fries! Then, another 25 minute drive straight north back to our treehouse where we ended the night with The Office, Ed Gein, and reading.

November 9th & 10th – Dinner Highlights!

Ok ok, surprise surprise, we did nothing but read, nap, and swim all day!

BUT!

We went to the most amazing resort with the best food we found on the island. It was super pricey but well worth it. The food was so amazing we went back the night after. I got the seared tuna while Ryan got a seafood pasta for the first dinner. We ended both dinners with a key lime pie dessert that was delectable! The drinks were also super delicious, with some fun themes. They had so many to select from! The atmosphere was also so stunning and relaxing, I think it was definitely a trip highlight.

November 11th – Bye Bye Belize 🙁

So take the first day and just reverse it, haha.

The photos were of our awesome caregivers of our resort, who informed us that later that day they were expecting a couple with FOUR YOUNG CHILDREN to arrive, and that we were leaving just in time! Bless the Lord! HA. We had a great experience with the golf cart company who was super responsive and flexible. We took the water taxi back to Belize City where our awesome taxi driver was awaiting for our arrival. He got us to the airport in no time, and we flew back home to what felt like a very cold high 50’s weather for Albuquerque!

All companies/places/ideas:

• Our AirBnB: North Beach Retreat. 18/10 recommend.
• Golf Cart Rental: One Love Golf Cart Rental. 15/10 recommend, best pricing, great service.
• Best Taxi Driver in all of Belize City: Dion! 200/10 recommend. Fast, friendly, funny. Whatsapp: +501 604-3233
• Night 1 Pizza Dinner: Moon Bar Pizza. 6/10. Eh pizza, good drinks, good vibes.
• Night 2 Axe throwing restaurant: Up North Bar. 8/10, friendly, good food, good drinks, fun activities.
• Night 3 easy walk dinner: Gem Restaurant. 4/10, server was nice, nothing else stood out.
• Day 4 french toast cafe: Tres Cocos! 17/10. Super delish + great service.
• Day 4 Secret Beach In-Water Bar: Blue Bayou. 5/10. Such an awesome experience but man did the service SUCK.
• Night 4 dinner: Tropical Escape. 8/10, beautiful, good food, good service!
• Nights 5 & 6 dinner: Mambo Restaurant! 900/10. Only not 1000/10 due to the prices.
• Parasailing, fishing, snorkeling, diving all huge with several companies that offer these tours. I found the highest rated tour to be “Adventure Time Belize”.
• PRO TIP: GO DURING OFF/SHOULDER SEASON! The weather is still gorgeous but the crowds and prices are a fraction of what they are during peak season.

Thank you for following along in our adventures. We really, REALLY appreciate you taking the time to look through and read our stories. We hope you enjoyed them as much as we did telling them. Onto the next!