As soon we arrived at San Pedro Airport somebody was waiting for us to drop us off at a nice little restaurant with quite a large mooring dock for little boats. About 15 minutes later Moh picked us up and took us by boat about 20 minutes north from San Pedro to our first destination, Portofino Beach Resort. Portofino is located in a more remote area on the island and we believe it’s an ideal spot to recover from jetlag and to start your Belize holiday with ease.

Arriving at the resort we were met by Stephanie and Henry and presented with a cold tropical drink and moistened towels to freshen up. They gave us a quick introduction to the most essential places to visit, while we planned a full tour of the resort for another day. We had a long journey behind us with a short night, and we really needed a good rest. Stephanie guided us to our accommodation for the next three days. We stayed on the main floor of a large beachfront mansion with a spectacular ocean view

A good number of palm trees created nice shade on the sun-drenched beach. The rooms were clean and beautifully furnished, with fresh exotic flowers in all the rooms. This created a nice romantic ambiance in barefoot luxury. We unpacked as quickly as possible, took a cold shower and plunged into beach chairs in front of our apartment.

Sadly, my relaxation didn’t last very long because when I saw a few pelicans, a great white heron and a group of frigate birds, my fingers got too itchy and I simply had to grab my camera. I connected my 400mm lens and started hunting around to try to get some luck in capturing my first shots of the birdlife on Belize. The white heron is better known as the great white egret. In just one-hour’s hike I saw three more species of herons, a few pairs of white ibises, four ospreys, different warblers, sandpipers, three woodpeckers, and at least a dozen mockingbirds. As soon I got back we had dinner and we chose the snapper from the menu. It was delicious, but our eyes started to become heavy and we went off to bed early to be sure we would be well rested for a new exciting day.

The next morning I woke up at around 5 a.m. when the first signs of daylight got a few warblers active in our area. It was like a special wakeup call to tell me to grab my camera and take some shots of the colourful sunrise above the ocean. I was just on time because sunrises and sunsets on tropical Islands usually don’t last that long. 

Shooting a rising sun that pops up fast in a tangle of colours above water is a real challenge for every photographer. Just imagine an early morning hike on a tropical beach, walking between palm trees with a beautiful scarlet sky flaming in the background! This was exactly what I experienced that first morning of our holiday on Ambergris Caye Island.

After breakfast we got an exclusive sightseeing tour from resort owner Sandra who guided us around the resort and we were most impressed by all the cosy beach cabanas, the beachfront rooms, treetop suites, colonial suites, VIP suites, the honeymoon suite and the beach-front mansion. All cabanas have hammocks out in front of them, which is great for relaxing or reading for people less hyperactive than I am.

Two hammocks connected to poles in the ocean was something I had never seen before and I had to shoot quite a few pictures of them. It was amazing to see what Sandra and her husband, Jan, have built up, especially after she showed us a bunch of pictures from the day they bought the place. All the stories that Sandra had told us in Utrecht we were able to see in real life and that was breathtaking.

Portofino Beach Resort contact information:
www.portofinobelize.com
info@portofinobelize.com

Phone: + 501.226.5096
Phone: + 501.678.5096
US Tel: 305-848-1980
US Fax: 253.660.0145
BZ Fax: + 501.226.4272
Skype: Portofinobelize
MSN: PortofinoBelize@live.com
Facebook/Portofinobelize

Will be continued