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Portofino is a small luxury beach resort on Ambergris Caye, the largest island just off Belize's coast. The resort is reached by a short high-speed boat ride northwards from San Pedro.
The resort itself consists of a handful of cabanas around a larger similarly-styled main building, that houses the reception, bar and restaurant. Free broadband net access is also available from here.
Shark Ray Alley
The Belize Barrier Reef system is the second largest in the world, and lies just off shore from Portofino. You can hear the waves crashing against it from the beach. The hotel will loan you a kayak and snorkel gear. A good spot within easy range is Mexico Rocks where there is a nav post to lash your kayak to.
We took a trip over to Shark Ray Alley. Located in a marine reserve, this area used to be popular with fishing boats and the resident fish are still attracted to boats, hoping for chum. No sooner had we stopped the boat, jacks, blue tangs and nurse sharks were circling around. Our boatman threw a few small dead fish into the water, turning it into a rolling mass of large brown nurse sharks. He invited us to jump in with them.
I hesitated but was persuaded that it would be ok. I got in as the boatman continued to chum. The 2-3m sharks were close enough to touch, their skin rough and sandpapery. Attractively spotted eagle rays glided through, closer to the bottom and an immense grouper hovered nearby waiting for titbits.
Pro-mosquitoes
Ambergris Caye is clearly where professional mosquitoes go to train. These hyper-evolved beasties operate 24 hours a day, are nearly silent and rather than buzzing around haphazardly, zero-in with unerring accuracy and speed. On a still day, exiting the cabana without bug-spray on invariably meant a cluster of them would be plugging in seconds later. On the plus side, once connected up to your intravenous system they clearly get a bit caught up in the moment and are easily squished. To be fair, only around 40 days a year are more mozzie prone and bug spray (so far) keeps them at bay! The hotel also invested in a mozzie "gun" while we there that seemed pretty effective at clearing the zone.
The resort itself is peaceful and relaxing. Even at full capacity you do tend to feel like you have most of it to yourself. The restaurant is generally excellent, although, as someone who actively likes to stare their fish dishes in the eye, there is a tendency towards more elaborate presentation. All the staff are cheerful, friendly and excellent sources of information on good spots to visit and wildlife to look out for.
Our photos from Portofino are in the Belize & Guatemala album.
Do:
- Go on a trip to Shark Ray Alley and snorkel with the sharks
- Take decent bug spray (particularly if you visit in Oct/Nov)
- Kayak out to Mexico Rocks for some reef snorkeling
- Raid the pot of freshly brewed coffee in the restaurant and watch sunrise from the dock
Don't:
- Leave your room without bug spray on (unless there are gale force winds around)
- Take a golf cart into town. We did. Mud and mosquitoes. Lots and lots of both. It's probably ok in the dry season but personally I'd stick with Mo's high-speed dash in the boat.
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