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     May 2008, my husband and I got to visit Heaven on Earth. It is the most beautiful tropical place that I have ever seen. The place I am speaking of is Belize, Central America, and we stayed on one of the small islands adjacent to the coastline, Amergris Caye (pronounced key). This Caye is known world wide as a Dive destination due to the Second Largest Reef on Earth, second only to the Great Barrier Reef close to Australia. The Reef in Belize is 185 miles long, parallel to Belizean coastline, which is in the Caribbean. Although we are not Divers, we do love to snorkel. We snorkeled several places along the reef, during our week long vacation. It is easy to say that in ONE two hour snorkel trip I got to see with my own eyes, more beautiful, colorful tropical fish and marine life than in all my years combined. The snorkeling was outstanding!

     Ambergris Caye moves at a much slower paced life. Tourism is the ony real trade so most people are very friendly, speaking English and happy to help in any way. The residents don't drive cars, they use Golf Carts, or bicycles. There are a few cars, but almost all of these are taxis, shuttling tourists here and there. Quite a bit of travel around the island is done by boat, and each resort, hotel, restaurant, bar, or dive shop has it's own dock, where launches or water taxis can conveniently convey passengers and cargo.

     We stayed at a small resort on the northern end of the Caye, away from the town and it was even more slow paced. Each resort on this end of the Caye has it's own dock and just in case you may have to wait a few minutes for your water taxi, there is a bench and at least one hammock, under a giant palm frond covered Palappa. This sight just makes me feel relaxed looking at it, and it causes me to take a deep breath and just sigh. It was the most relaxing vacation that I have ever experienced, and hopefully we will be returning in the future.