Although we windsurfed in Belize, the following information would be useful to kiteboarders as well.

Belize was typically Carribean - warm, clear water and beautiful fine sand beaches. We spent most of our time on an island off of the northern coast of Belize called Ambergris Caye. All of the locals believe that the island and the main town, San Pedro, are the subject of Madonna's hit song, La Isla Bonita. Well, Madonna, is it?

To get to Ambergris Caye, we flew into Belize City then we took a prop-plane flight on Tropic Air from Belize City to San Pedro, Ambergris Caye. We arranged our main flight from LAX to Belize City but Sailsports Belize arranged our flights between Belize City and Ambergris Caye. Tropic Air uses those tiny prop-planes with huge windows so we had great view of the large "bay" between mainland Belize and the island.

We stayed at a small hotel called the Mayan Princess. It wasn't very fancy but our junior suite was large, clean and had a great sea view. It was within 10 minutes walking distance to the windsurf rental place which made renting a golf cart not necessary (the town was way too small to need a regular car).

The wind was marginal overall. It stayed around 10 mph except for two of the seven days we were there when the wind got up to about 15 mph. The water was pretty flat in the reef protected area but got a little choppier and swellier close to the "opening" in the reef. Still, nothing was very intimidating except for the occasional stingray that decided to shadow your board while you cruised around. When the wind blows directly onshore, the reach is extraordinarily long. You could technically go up to seven miles on one reach and yep, thatÕs how far Jeff went! This would be ideal for kiteboarders.

The only windsurf center on the island, Sailsports Belize is owned and operated by an English couple, Chris and Jo, who were extremely hospitable and helpful during our entire stay. They even helped us find and book a great restaurant for our wedding anniversary dinner. There equipment was limited but it was newer stuff and in great condition. During our stay, we were the only almost-daily sailors to show up except for the extremely friendly locals. Wind or not, we had a great time hanging with the Chris, Jo and the locals. When the wind was light, Chris even taught Jeff to sail a hobey cat and hang from the mast with a harness.

The locals on Ambergris Caye were friendly and helpful. It always seemed safe to walk around. The town of San Pedro is so small that they have only 3 streets that go across the width of the island, Front, Middle and Back streets. There are lots of little shops and restaurants, mostly catering to tourists.

The hotels were all relatively small, by American standards. There are no big "chain" resorts or hotels, which suited us just fine. There were plenty of restaurant options and almost all of them served great food for reasonable prices. The types of food available ranged from local and Mexican to gourmet.

We also did a few non-sailing activities which were great fun. We went on two snorkel outings - both were fantastic. We also went on a tour of a Mayan ruin which took all day but was quite an adventure in various travel methods. First we started on a relatively small boat that took us to the mainland. On the way in to the mouth of a river, we all had to move forward on the boat because it was so shallow. The next leg of the boat trip was weaving back and forth up this river. The boat drivers must know the river very well because we were going full speed up an extremely windy river. At some point inland, we docked at a tiny village (and I mean tiny) for a pit-stop (basically an outhouse) and we boarded what looked like an old school bus. We rode for about an hour through the back country of Belize then we got on another boat which finally taook us to the area of the ruins. We toured the ruins with our guide then settled in for a barbecue type lunch while watching howler monkeys in the trees. There were a few very rustic handicraft shops and we browsed until we did the whole traveling thing back. All told, it was an eight hour day with about six of it on boats or a bus, but seeing the ancient Mayan ruins were well worth it.